There is a classroom, inside of it there are the students and their teacher. This is happening a day before graduation. The teacher wanted to make an informative session to help his students find a job in their respective careers. This was, of course, optional, and surprisingly more students than expected presented themselves. That confused him; he thought that they would just stay home and spend the morning sleeping, but some students showed up.
All the students he taught in this course showed up, the ones that stood out the most for him were his star student, a girl called Maria. She was a Hispanic girl who worked hard all year to get her college degree, get a job, and send money home. He learned that information after his after-school sessions, where he helped her understand the parts of the subject she didn't understand. Also present was Jacob, a student who narrowly passed as he spent most of his classes sleeping. He still didn't use his lack of sleep as an impediment to helping him. Jacob told him in one of their after-school sessions where he helped Jacob, that he slept in his classes because when he got up very early and had many exams to prepare for, he took the opportunity to sleep in his classes. After all, he didn't scold him for it, and Jacob was thankful to him for not letting him down and helping him study and approve his respective exams.
Jacob and Maria were two examples of his teaching philosophy. What he did with them, he did it with all of them. Every single one of the present students was having a hard time, many were even considering quitting their chosen career because it was more difficult than expected. Even so, he did not give up and worked hard with all of them, always being available to help them in whatever they needed, and managed to get everyone present to pass.
Who was this teacher?
He was Aidan Burke, a famous teacher who has taught many students throughout his career, and achieved that all will pass using a personalized method of education. And that made him a locally popular teacher. He didn't believe that, he considered himself a regular teacher doing his job, and he didn't think he deserved that fame. Of course, that didn't stop him from continuing to do his job.
But his job was not going to last much longer. Since he was going to retire early, they were the last students he was going to teach. When the news broke, many tried to convince him to stay, but they couldn't change his mind. This was his last day in that institution.
He proceeded with his explanation of job applications, companies that would be interested in employing them, areas where they operated, tips on how contracts and job interviews work, along with other tips.
Then he proceeded to call each student to his table to give them some papers with personalized employment information for each one to help them in the future, everything proceeded as he expected until it was Maria's turn. After collecting her papers, she pauses longer than the other students, then looks at the teacher for a moment before she begins to speak.
"I know that this is your last day working here...."
She pauses for a moment before continuing to speak.
"Uh.....just wanted to ask you if you would like to come to the graduation...."
She is clearly nervous. This question may seem normal, but for her, after discovering the news she wasn't able to speak to him.
After announcing that he was going to leave he became a different person, he started avoiding others, and all the time he had before to speak was severely cut off. You were able to speak with him if you found him, and he will politely answer you like always, but he will show himself distant as well as reluctant to receive any kind of goodbye party. That made everyone who knew him to feel concerned, something must have happened to him, and this wasn't normal behavior for him. But still, even if they wanted to ask him, he refused to answer.
That made talking to him a difficult task since he wasn't the same, Maria knew that and that this was supposed to be his last day before leaving. But she still wanted to ask him that, for her and the other students, no matter what had happened to him, he was still their favorite teacher, they all wanted him to be there like always, but no one was brave enough to ask him that after his change.
"........."
Aidan looked at her with a cold expression. That made her feel like she just asked something wrong, and all the confidence she mustered was slowly fading away. That tensed the atmosphere of the room making everyone feel uncomfortable, and making Maria feel terrible.
A hand then fall on Maria's shoulder, that hand was Aidan's hand on her shoulder. Maria then looked up meeting again with his gaze.
"Of course, I will never lose your special day"
That caught everyone off guard. Everyone was expecting him to refuse the request, instead, they were greeted with an affirmative answer to that question. After the answers, everyone was able to see the cheerful and friendly Aidan one more time, relaxing the atmosphere and changing it into a more cheerful one. Maria, of course, could stop her emotion.
"Really!!??"
"Of course"
Without thinking, Maria jumped at him to hug him, and Aidan hugged her back. Shortly after, they all left in high spirits going back to their respective homes to prepare for graduation day.
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A door opens, on the other side is Aidan entering his house. The design is nothing special, it can even be called minimalist since it only has the basic furniture. He leaves the keys on the key chain in the entrance area and then proceeds to head into the living room. There is nothing special about it, there is a sofa, a medium size TV, and a table between the TV and the Sofa. The table would be empty if it wasn't because there was only one object on it, that object was framed photo.
Aidan sat down on the sofa and then started at the photo. The photo was of his family, his parents, and his big sister. Seeing the photo, Aidan's expression broke. He took the photo and began to hug it tightly. His neutral expression broke and turned into a pained expression as he started to cry inconsolably.
He started muttering something over and over again without stopping.
"Just one more day....just one more day........just one more ..............just one more day"
His mind had gone completely dark, he couldn't think clearly, his mind had only one thought, reunite with his family. But that wasn't the only thought, there was another one stuck in his mind that he couldn't get out of his head.
The promise he made.
"Why did I accept?.....why did I accept?.........why did I accept?"
Tears continued to flow, and his mind continued to plunge into darkness, but that thought clung tightly to his mind. Aidan perfectly understood the reason, for him, when you make a promise, you have to keep it no matter what. And his mind was reminding him of that.
He remembered his family had always been there for him every time he needed them, in the good and the bad problems.
He wanted to be like them, someone always willing to help when needed. This way of thinking was inspired by them, and for years he followed that philosophy to the letter.
Although he was at a breaking point, unable to continue, he wanted to continue with that philosophy until his last moments. And that's why he wouldn't miss their special day.
He promised them he would go, and he was going to go. Using all of his remaining mental strength, he spent the rest of the day psyching himself up.
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The next day everyone attended the graduation ceremony as expected. Titles were awarded to everyone, speeches were given, and everything is going as expected.
Aidan was there watching everything unfold. They reminded him of himself when he was there. Seeing them grow up and succeed as he did filled him with a sense of nostalgia for when things were so much simpler. But that time had already passed. There was now nothing that could be done to recover it. Still, reliving it, even as a spectator, made him happy.
As he focused on his thoughts, he didn't realize that someone had approached him.
"Hey"
Looking quickly at the source of the voice, he found Jacob.
"Hello there Jacob, I see your stealth skills are as good as ever"
"Je Je Je"
Jacob responded with a mocking laugh.
Their next conversation was their typical stupid conversation where they talk about random things for no reason. The conversation then ended up leading to more serious and personal topics. The main topic was love, specific advice on how to talk to the girl he liked, and dating advice.
Aidan was thoughtful, he wasn't an expert on love, but he still tried to give him the best advice he could.
"Mmmh.... I'm not a love expert but my advice for you would be to never renounce to yourself. Everyone is different in their own unique way, renouncing yourself should never be the answer. And if the woman you like doesn't accept you the way you are, then she doesn't deserve you"
Jacob was thoughtful after hearing those words. Then he spoke again.
"I thought you weren't a love expert"
"Hey, I only said what I believed"
""Ha ha ha""
They laughed a little to ease some of the tension in their conversation. Then Aidan noticed that he was looking too much in one direction in specific. Aidan then followed his gaze to see where he was looking. Jacob noticed it and look away, but Aidan already knew who he was looking at.
"Oh, OH....I see...."
Aidan started to smile as he looked at Jacob.
"So, I guess she is the one, Maria. Am I right?"
Jacob began to blush with embarrassment.
"Please don't tell her"
In a soothing tone of voice, Aidan answered him.
"Don't worry, I will not tell her anything about this conversation. You will tell her when you are ready"
"Thank you"
Jacob said in a shy tone of voice.
Aidan then quickly changed the subject and they went back to randomly talking about whatever popped into their heads. Their conversation didn't last long, as the rest soon found them. Before he was overwhelmed and started talking to the rest, Aidan encouraged Jacob to be brave with himself and not be afraid.
The other students were happy to see that he had come to see them just as he said. They don't hide their joy, as they were very vocal about it, thanking him for coming. Everyone was excited to go out and conquer the world and achieve their dreams, and Aidan excited them not to lose that energy and keep advancing.
They wanted to go celebrate their graduation, but Aidan wasn't going to party since he doesn't like parties, they decided to take advantage of the fact that they were all together to take a group photo. The person in charge of taking the photo was a member of the cleaning staff who was passing by.The photo was then sent to all of them through their group, and to Aidan through his email.
Aidan then encouraged them to go with their parents and friends to celebrate their accomplishments. This was a special day after all. At first, they didn't want to leave since they wanted to invite him, and given his refusal, they ended up giving up and saying goodbye to him with a big group hug. Without anyone noticing and before they left, Aidan made a "you can do it" gesture to Jacob. He laughed a little and happily gave him a thumbs up.
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When Aidan came home the first thing he did was sit on the couch with his hands on his face. He was exhausted as his mental state was about to break during the whole parting and he was suffering keeping his kind face. He is thankful at their kindness, and happy at their accomplishments, which brought a smile to his face. He was happy to have helped them grow, spending time with them getting to know them, accompanying them in their problems and helping them solve them.
Thinking about his life, he looked at himself, how he lost all the people he loved. He then thought of all the people he helped and saw that they still had their loved ones and were happy. Their happiness reminded him of himself when he was younger and everything was simpler. That other people's happiness helped him gain strength to move forward.
But another feeling was growing within him as he helped them, the feeling of longing and loss.Gradually, that feeling grew more and more each time. That degraded his mental state to a point that hid mind couldn't think clearly as a thought invaded his mind, that of feeling the same again. Trying to ignore him only made things worse, his mind only deteriorated further because of it
Now, Aidan was closing the windows and drawing the curtains over them, closing and locking the front door.Then he took a chair and went to his room. On it was a hook firmly fixed to the ceiling, and hung from it a rope. His mind was completely clouded by a feeling of happiness to see his loved ones again. His body moved like a robot as he locked the door to her room, put the chair under the rope and wrapped it around his neck.
The sound of a chair moving was more than enough to indicate that it was too late.
[E̴̙͇̲̹͇͒̈͒̋͛̒͗̓̈́Ŗ̴̥̙͉͓̎̆̈́̈́ͅŖ̴̧̲̭̺̞̮̹̈̉O̴̱̔͒͌̒̈̈́̋̋̇͜R̷͔͆̊̐]
[E̴̙͇̲̹͇͒̈͒̋͛̒͗̓̈́Ŗ̴̥̙͉͓̎̆̈́̈́ͅŖ̴̧̲̭̺̞̮̹̈̉O̴̱̔͒͌̒̈̈́̋̋̇͜R̷͔͆̊̐]
[E̴̙͇̲̹͇͒̈͒̋͛̒͗̓̈́Ŗ̴̥̙͉͓̎̆̈́̈́ͅŖ̴̧̲̭̺̞̮̹̈̉O̴̱̔͒͌̒̈̈́̋̋̇͜R̷͔͆̊̐]
[E̴̙͇̲̹͇͒̈͒̋͛̒͗̓̈́Ŗ̴̥̙͉͓̎̆̈́̈́ͅŖ̴̧̲̭̺̞̮̹̈̉O̴̱̔͒͌̒̈̈́̋̋̇͜R̷͔͆̊̐]
[C̴̝̙̉͌͆́̽̈́͝o̵̮̩̥͌͠͠r̴̡͆̅̇̃̽̽́̾̅̔ȓ̸͚̭̗̙̪ủ̸̫̮̳̮͚͊̋͑p̷̰̠̰̦̟͈̌̀͋̂̊ͅt̶̩̺̐̊͋̑͋͗̚ỉ̵͈̦͔͓̹͓̲͑̂̈̔ọ̷̢̱̹͉̰̟̰̱̔͐̐̐͘͠ͅn̷̼̭̠̳̦̰͑͛͌̽̐̍̿͛̚ ̴̳͔̥̣͙̼͙̦̂̐͗̄͌̀͝d̸̨̮̰̻̳̘̹̟́̈̎̄͊͆͋͝ͅͅe̶͉͖̮̯̗͂͂̐͒̕͜ţ̴̣̳̮̪͐̈̉͋͠ͅe̸͈̼̓̑͑̀̉̈́̉̚͜c̶͖̪̈́̿̆͝t̵̛͓͓̱͖̋̌̍͂͘͝ȇ̷̡̢̯̝̘̱̰̙͙̽͌̕d̷̻̩̽̾̇]
[Ĕ̶̼͖̝͙͚̄͐̃͑̑́̋͠l̵̡̬̗͚̪̓̀̾̎̀̌̓͑͘i̷̦̾̎͌͆̔͝͝m̵͍̙̱̮̅͆̾̒̋͋̆͒̌͝į̴̹̳̞̬̠̪̥͓͋n̴̻̗̱͈͙̯͈͓̾̄̈́͒̑́̚ă̸̧͕͔͙̯͖̣͍̻͘ẗ̷̡͕̲̠́̽̊̿̆͗̈́͐͠͠ĩ̸̩̻̱͗ǫ̷͙̈̿̑̏͑n̷̦͈̮̱̖͊̂͐ͅ ̶͚̣̤̱̤̻̮̙̜̈̀͗͗͜͝ṋ̷̓̅̂͗͆̎͝͠ó̷̬̂̿͘͝t̷̜͛̋̅̐͝ͅ ̷̖̮̻̳̥̄̂͑͒͘̚ͅp̸̡͙͓͈̲̈̽o̸̗̹͈̲̔̊̇s̵̭̐̄͗̍̅͑͂͝s̸̻̹̱̈̀i̴͈̹̭̮͔̍b̶̨̧̞̜͈͔͌̓̅̆̅l̴̥̪͕͖̲̗̗̙̔̐̉͒͒̈̆̔̍ͅe̴̡̨̲̙̯̽̿̂̔̃͌̕͠]
[F̶̛̟̻̣̼͉̙͈͖̪̅̋̈́̓̈́̚͘ǫ̷̡͉́͗̾̔͑̔͘r̵̢͕͉͍̓̊̔̇͜c̷̢͈͉͓̘͉̮͇̏̔̕͝ͅï̵̳̲̭̬̤͎̀n̶̺̼̪̣̖͕̗̗̩͌̈́̿̆̎̀̌̏̀̓͜g̸̬͕͓͙̾̃̿̃͌ ̸̡͖̪͎̣̺̌͑͝r̶̼͒̆̿̎͂̄͗̏̏e̵͙̪̩̒̏b̴̮̗̘̰̮͗̀̍̈͝ớ̸̦̰̳͆̽͂͌͝ȯ̸̗̲̮̼͓̮̝̗̿̇͛t̸̲͔̘̜͇͐̈́͌͌̓͜]
