13. Geniuses and fools

[Diana]

I came on the rooftop, looking for Reese, and found him sitting on the edge of the roof, sobbing silently.

“Hey, you crying?” I asked.

“No, I am having the best day of my life,” he sniffled a sob. “Why are you here? Go away!”

“I will… once you get on the safer side of the roof,” I said.

Reese didn’t reply.

“What are you thinking?” I asked.

“Nothing!”

“If you think that if you jumped from there and died, would people care? Would father care? They will,” I said and Reese turned and looked at me with the ugliest frown.

So, he was indeed thinking about jumping off the roof.

As a child, maybe I can play it off, but as an adult, it broke me how a fifteen-year-old was thinking of ending his life just to see if his parents would care.

I cautiously walked closer to him.

“The entire world cares once you are gone. But when you are here, suffering, alone, they are blind and deaf and dead. It’s strange how death can make the world love us instantly, isn’t it?”

“If I jump… will father love