16 and Suicidal
A fictional short-short story
Like most teenagers, I wanted to fit in but I couldn’t. I hated all the shallowness: the focus on looks, clothes, cattiness, and BS “virtue” signaling. The kids (and the teachers) talk about “we not me,” “together, “for all, “the community,” helping “the less fortunate” but what do they do? most kids try to choose the best: the best looking, the best athletes, the smartest. Most of all, they do mainly for themselves, even if they screw other kids. So I spend a lot of time in my room reading, playing video games, and watching TV.
I was lonely so I figured I’d try college students. But college kids are even worse — I guess having lived longer, they’ve had more time to absorb all that.
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Then I tried old people. After all, they grew up before all this. But they were slow and talked too much about their diseases — scary.
And thanks to AI, even many smart people don’t get good careers — They’re going nowhere. That got me sadder and sadder, so I decided it was smart to end it than face a lifetime of bad. I searched Google and found that most people do it with a gun because it’s hard to get the painless pills.
So I took the bus to where there’s a lot of street shooting, asked people on the street if they knew where I could get a gun cheap — No problem. Then I went into the woods and shot myself.
I don’t know where I’m writing to you from. It doesn’t matter. I’ll just end by asking you to not be a lemming. Instead, think and be wise.
I read this aloud on YouTube.
Marty is a career and personal coach and author of 34 books including Starting Out Stories. You can reach him at mnemko@gmail.com
