"Why are you so useless, Liam? Why don't you just die already?"
"Look at your brother and sister. They're so successful, so established. And look at you… nothing but a parasite leeching off us. Can't you see you're just torturing us?"
"No, I am not, Father.. Mother. I'm trying my best. Believe me, I can prove I can do better!"
"There's nothing to believe, Liam. There is no place for you in this house anymore."
"Leave! And never come back. From this day on, we'll consider that we never had a worthless son like you."
Bang!
The door slammed shut, the coldness and indifferences reaching Liam's bones. His chest tightened, suffocating under the weight of their cruel words.
Sadness, pain, anguish; none of those words were enough to describe what he felt. It was as if the very air had been stolen from his lungs, leaving behind only an indescribable emptiness.
Liam was now 25 years old, a complete failure. A good-for-nothing shut in, who once dreamed of soaring through the skies as an Actor.
But that dream had been destroyed, quite literally, at the age of 19. A roadside accident left him with fractured bones, a damaged leg, and a broken hand. His future was stolen in an instant, leaving him with nothing but regrets.
He wasn't a prodigy like his older brother, who was on the path to becoming a great scientist. He wasn't as ambitious as his sister, who had carved her way to becoming a CEO.
Liam was just… Liam. And that, it seemed, wasn't enough.
After the accident, everything crumbled. He was determined almost a cripple. No advanced medicine can treat his condition to his old healthy days.
In grief, he became a complete shut in.
As a result, his so-called friends faded away, their calls and messages stopping like he never existed. His devoted girlfriend, who once promised to be with him forever, walked away without looking back.
And his parents? At first, they had shown concern. Pity, even. But over time, that pity turned into frustration. Frustration became resentment. Resentment became disgust.
Now, they saw him as nothing more than dead weight. A burden to their life.
But wasn't a parent's love supposed to be unconditional? Weren't they supposed to stand by their child no matter what?
How could they throw him away so easily?
How could they abandon their own Crippled son, in the middle of the night, like he was nothing?
Liam stood frozen in front of the closed door, the silence pressing down on him like a heavy mountain.
He was now all alone. Truly alone.
Everything he had, his dreams, his love, his family, all had been stolen from him.
And now, there was nothing left.
He didn't have any reason to live anymore because he didn't want to rot as a homeless beggar. That would've been the most humiliating thing to his deep-rooted pride.
He dragged his crippled body up the stairs to reach the rooftop of the building.
Each crawl, however, sent stinging pain throughout his body, as if countless needles were poking inside him in a manner of torment.
He gritted his teeth to endure, to escape from this suffocating reality. And eventually, he somehow reached his destination, as if the very fate was willing for his demise as well.
With exhausted breaths, he leaned on the railing of the rooftop, looking above the open sky, where a bright moon was hanging alone like he was.
His eyes narrowed down at the colorful neon city, full of people and activity. Yet, in the final moments of his life, there was no one by his side.
With a heavy heart, he crossed the railing, standing at the very edge of the rooftop. Below him lay a five-story drop. It was a distance that promised certain death.
Jumping from here meant the end.
He took a deep breath. Of course, he was afraid of death. But more than that, he feared facing the world in his most miserable state.
He wanted to say his goodbye to this world silently.
Standing at the boundary between life and death, his mind drifted back to the memories he once held dear. But now, looking back, he realized none of them had been real.
Perhaps, when a person loses their value, the world simply discards them, just as it had done to him.
Trembling, Liam took a step forward, his right foot hovering over the emptiness below. The lack of support beneath him sent a chilling realization through his body. He was going to die today.
Just one more step, and it would all be over.
Surprisingly, there was no fear in his eyes. Only a cold, unshakable resolve.
"Craang!"
But just as he was about to take that final step, a sudden creak broke the silence. The sound of the metal door swinging open behind him rached his ears.
He turned his head slightly, his gaze landing on a familiar figure. A female. She was his elder sister, who stood there, breathless, her face expressing of shock and desperation.
"Liam... Stop! Don't do anything foolish. We all love you!"
As soon as she saw him on the edge, she ran toward him, her beautiful eyes filled with panic and desperation.
"I'm sorry. Please… forgive your sister."
Liam closed his eyes for a brief moment, then turned his head away, refusing to meet her gaze.
There was no going back. He had endured enough.
"Whoosh!"
"Swoosh, Swoosh,Swoosh!"
She ran forward, and her fingertips were mere inches from his broken hand.
But she caught nothing but empty air.
Her eyes widened in horror as she watched his body plummet, his form swallowed by the night, descending with accelerated speed.
Her breath came hurried gasps, her heart hammering against her ribs. She felt as she had lost something precious to her.
"L-Liam…" Her voice broke as tears spilled from her eyes, blurring the gruesome sight of his broken body, lying motionless amidst a pool of crimson.
She fell to her knees, her anguished sobs turning her figure more miserable.
"It's all my fault. I should have brought you to my side. If only I hadn't been so engrossed in my work. If only I had paid more attention to you.
I'm so sorry, Liam."
Then she clasped her hand together in praying motion.
"Please, God... If you're real, please give him the happiness he deserved."
At that very moment, a shooting star streaked across the night sky, its light burning brightly before vanishing into the void as if answering her silent, anguished prayer.