Myungsoo sat under a tall tree, glancing over the rest of Center Park. The gray clouds over head moved along the gloomy sky, and not for the first time, he wished for his life to end.

He wasn’t an angsty teenage boy, he was almost 22, and a senior at Dartmuth Univeristy. His hard work had opened many doors for him; economics, business, psychology, but none of them seemed right for him.

And now, four years after his entire family had died in a horrific car crash, four years after he had vowed to make them proud and to live for their sakes, he found himself unable to keep going.

He never managed to keep relationships going. All of the girls he had dated liked his reticent personality at first, but after a while, they had claimed him too “cold” to continue seeing. But he wasn’t “cold”, he was just very quiet, and very much apathetic. All emotion had drained out of him after that car crash. There was nothing to keep living for.

Friends? He had plenty, and several close ones. And even though they were as close as brothers, the pull toward his family in heaven was infinitely stronger than the pull toward this group of friends who had ironically called themselves Infinite.

And so here he sat, under a tall tree, wondering if today was a good day to die. He wasn’t particularly suicidal, he wasn’t even particularly depressed. There was just nothing to keep going on for. Nothing.

Nothing. A pang of emptiness came with this realization, and abruptly, he stood up and started walking toward a taxi. What was he waiting for? He was being a coward, why was he trying to put death off for later?

He got into the taxi.

“The bridge by Lincaln Tunnel”.

The driver nodded in response, and they sped off.

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“One two three four, two two three four” Coach Owen’s voice rang across the rink.

Naeun flared her arms, before twisting into her signature layback. She swirled to a stop in the center of the ice as her coach turned off the music.

“Your technicality is as strong as ever, I can sense the artistry, but your emotions fail to reach across to me.” He began.

Naeun inwardly sighed. Lately, she was having difficulty in conveying emotion, both on and off the rink. Regardless, she had managed to trump all opponents with ease. Due to her meticulous-

“Like I’ve said before, you can’t just rely on your precise executions and artistry at the Olympics, Naeun. The judges will want more, the audience will want more. They want to feel your sorrow, your happiness, your passion. I know it’s in there; it’s just not getting through. I know you well enough to know that you’re going to push through, but it’s already October. Five months, Naeun, that’s all you have to deal with the emotional difficulty you’ve been having lately.”

Naeun nodded silently, knowing that her coach wouldn’t want to be interrupted.

“We will fly up to Vancouver next Monday so you can get a feel for the environment. Maybe it will also release some of the stiffness and tension inside you. The ice is glossed differently, and we might stay there for a few weeks to train.”

Naeun nodded again. It wasn’t as though it mattered if she wasn’t in New York. Lately, it seemed like nothing mattered except the Olympics. What was she going to do after the Olympics? Compete some more and wait for the next Olympics to roll around? What would she do when she was too old to compete and skate?

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After standing there for hours, he slowly climbed the railing of the bridge. Below, the black sea shimmered and twinkled, reflecting the inky sky above. Taking a deep breath, he counted to three and jumped.

As he fell through the water, he saw that the water around him was emitting a strange iridescent glow. Ribbons of the luminous green light wrapped around him as he continued to sink, lungs burning. And suddenly, as he felt like his heart was about to burst, the streams of light tightened around him and everything went black.