aw man, I was hopin this was gonna be like, a sad things thread
When I was in high school I sat next to this shy, quiet kid in my English class. He always seemed like a nice guy, just kept to himself. I'd often try to start up a simple conversation with him to break the ice and see what he was all about, but he never took the bait. He definitely wasn't rude, just sort of indifferent to everyone around him. Our teacher was kind of a lazy piece of stuff and would have us partner up with someone for the majority of the class time and we were supposed to discuss a book or whatever piece of literature we were talking about that week. That's hard to do with someone who's talkative and outgoing, let alone someone who's practically mute. We fumbled over some awkward conversation of a particular book we had been reading in class but he quickly became disinterested and stopped talking. It was his first year in our school so I tried asking about his last school, where he was originally from, any hobbies...the kid stonewalled me. Again, wasn't rude, just disinterested entirely.I had tried and struck out, so I accepted that we would probably be sitting in silence for the next hour or so and figured I'd just entertain myself. Here's where I tell you my hidden talent - I can make an incredible noose. And I can even do it with just about any string/rope-like material you can find. So to pass the time I pulled a shoelace out of my backpack and started making a noose...He. Was. Amazed. His eyes immediately lit up and he scooted in closer, watching very closely. Then he said "could you teach me to do that?" I had done it! Of course I would teach him, I was thrilled to have broke his wall down, even if only partially for now.He caught on very quickly and I'd catch him practicing making the tiny nooses in class, we'd exchange a nod and crack a little laugh. By the end of a week he was making Grade A nooses. I was proud! That friday when class had ended he pulled me aside. He thanked me for teaching him and said he appreciated it more than I would ever understand, it was the most I'd ever heard him speak. I was pumped and said that we should hang out that weekend and gave him my phone number. He informed me that this was a bad weekend and maybe some other time, thanked me again with a big smile and went the other direction.He hung himself that night.
