1 The End

In a classroom full of undergraduate students, a professor was trying his hardest to explain the nightmarish complicated equations on the board. Some of the students were staring blankly at the board, trying their hardest to understand, some were talking to each other, ignoring the professor completely, some were on their phones, and the rest were sleeping.

Suddenly, one of the students raised his hands and said, "Professor, I have a question."

The professor was thrilled that someone finally started asking questions. He was talking to himself for the past hour and started to feel very uncomfortable. Honestly, who wouldn't? Most of the class were not paying attention and the few who were, didn't seem to understand.

"Sure. Go ahead, Avren." The professor was happy. But the students looked at Avren strangely. This was not like him at all.

It's true that he was the student with the highest GPA in the class, but he never was the type to ask questions or engage in discussions with professors. After all, he once said, "You don't need to pay attention in class because this is not the College of Engineering and Technology, this is the College of Assignments and Self Learning." They looked at him with interest, wondering what his question might be.

Avren said with a very polite tone, "Professor, I don't feel so well today. Can I leave?"

Hearing his words, all the students started laughing. The professor, on the other hand, was speechless. He sighed in sadness and said, "Yes, you can. You don't have to ask for permission either." Then he turned to the rest of the class, who were laughing, and said with disappointment, "The same goes for all of you. I don't want to force any of you to stay. If you don't want to attend the lecture, you can leave. I won't deduct any marks from you either." Then he turned to the board and continued with his lecture.

The laughter subsided as the students felt ashamed of themselves. They wanted to leave, but their shame held them back. Except for Avren, of course.

He seemed unfazed by the words of the professor and said, "Thank you." Then he took his backpack and left.

In front of the room, Avren stood there for a second and checked his phone. He had several missed calls and a text message. They were the reason why he left the room. The message was from the hospital and said, "Your sister just passed away. Please come to the hospital."

Avren put his phone back in his pocket and leaned on the wall. He raised his head and kept gazing at the ceiling, his face was calm without any ripples. But his heart was torn apart from grief.

'*Sigh*, here goes the last one.' As he thought, tears streamed down silently on his expressionless face.

Avren had his fair share of misery in his life. His mother died 2 days after giving birth to him due to heavy bleeding. His father tried to raise him along with his older brother and sister who were 5 and 3 years older than him respectively. Their relationship wasn't ideal, though, as they inwardly blamed him for their mother's death.

7 years later, his older brother was kidnapped by some unknown organization. Later they found his body in a dumpster, devoid of his lungs, heart, liver and kidneys. A few days after that, his father died from a broken heart syndrome due to his grief and depression. Avren and his sister moved to live with their uncle. But a few years later, he died by a car accident.

5 years ago, his sister was diagnosed with cancer and was held in the hospital. Her condition kept getting worse and worse until she finally passed away today.

'Is it my turn now? I hope I go without suffering.' Avren thought as he was walking out of the building in a daze.

As soon as this thought crossed his mind, something clicked inside him and he dropped dead instantly. He died without suffering, just as he wished.