Finn thought this might be the longest day of his life, as he sat through the tortuous wait at his desk, following the study schedule Dad had made for him and tacked up on the pinboard. The same routine as everyday, mechanical as every time, and that screaming in his chest that he was not a robot. Except this would be the last time. After every few pages he turned or notes he scribbled his mind would go blank, and surface that one thought. Never again.

He went to bed at eleven as usual, and lay awake with his eyes squeezed shut, listening to his heart beat like a time-keeper, so many times per minute. His phone was in the pocket of his pajamas and he'd set it to vibrate at the time he was supposed to go. Eventually he sensed the buzz and quiver and got out of bed, changing into jeans and a hoodie. When he shut the wardrobe door his reflection hit and froze him for a few long moments.
Who was the last to see me alive?
I was.
A chuckle, strangled immediately in his throat before it could escape, and he was able to move again. He padded downstairs in his socks, gently closing each door behind him before he was out under the night sky. He headed towards the bridge, walking in the middle of the road, out of range of the street lights. Walking and thinking.

His Dad's voice saying, "Work isn't worship, it's warship." The constant pressure to be the best, better than anyone else, to be perfect. But perfect didn't exist, and he'd been unable to please anyone... least of all himself. He hadn't known how to break away, he'd been too weak to stray from the path of least resistance. And now, he thought wryly, he was too weak even to live.

He picked up pace once the bridge was in sight. His heartbeat picked up too, as though it could really increase his time if it beat out more seconds within the second. He stopped on making it, placed his hands on the smooth stone, and leaned over to look into the dark water, ripples glimmering around the jut of unyielding rocks. Nothing could go wrong. If he didn't drown, he'd break his skull on the rocks.

He was preparing to climb on and jump off when suddenly he was hit by a presence. Someone was here, just beyond his line of vision. He whipped around and saw... a boy.