Her life had been nothing but a series of misfortunes and failures. For the first time in her life, Zee finally understood what it meant to be on the outside looking in. She felt secluded like dirt, like everything was closing in on her.

She sat in front of the TV screen and watched as the MC called out what she referred to as “The class of 2017 top scholars”. Ten smiley faces popped out from ten different places in the ICC hall and headed towards the two-stepped stage in the front.

Seeing the scholars made her even more depressed and frankly, jealous. Her life had been nothing but a series of misfortunes and failures and she did not want a “failed to kill herself” on the list.

She shifted her gaze to the bottle of Xanax on the table between her and the screen. A bolt of pure energy coursed through her veins as she considered the gruesome thought of taking her own life. This was the to-be-or-not-to-be moment. The red or blue pill.

“Zee! Zee! Zee! Open up, I know you in there,” a voice from the other side of the front door barked.

“Zee! Zee! Zee! Wake up! Wake up! You know if you keep doing this you’re going to fail and I won’t be at your funeral telling people how much of a great person you were.” he was sitting on the left edge of her bed, rocking her gently with his right hand.

Zee was yanked back to consciousness. She opened her eyes and saw Spha, her friend from school frantically staring at her.