That Penknife

Chapter One

Julius is a high school student. Every morning, he takes the subway to school. He then proceeds to get his textbooks out from his locker, and proceeds to the classroom. He plops down his bag with a skull design on it, and continues to read his e-book while listening to the music from his headphones, with a skull design on it as well.

But Julius absolutely hates stories where there is a happy ending. He find it lame, just like his life, and also felt no point in those endings since at the end of the day, all will die. When listening to the music from his headphones, he does not listen to the catchy tunes where everyone is listening to. When he hears a group of students singing to "Shape of You" by Ed Sheeran, he walks away. His preference was the dark songs, that almost no one listens to right now. Some even date back to the 60s. When he opened his bag, his red penknife was revealed. "I use it for arts and crafts," he often said. It may be true; he is currently working on complex origami diagrams. But he often stares blatantly at his penknife, thinking something. Ideas for origami? Self-harm? No one knows.

But the truth is, he wants attention. He was often neglected by his family just because he was the middle child. They do not give a hoot about Julius. They never concerned about him when he walked in through the door. They never concerned about him when he skip his meals. They never concerned about him when he locked himself in the room. They never did. Is that what family supposed to be?

In his room, there are vandalism and posters all over the walls. 

"I DON'T WANNA LIVE"

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF LIFE"

"NO ONE CARES ABOUT ME"

"I AM WORTHLESS"

The words screamed at Julius, which led him to wallow in self-pity.

He then stares at his penknife again. Should he do it?

Julius snapped out of his mind. He did not have the courage to do so.

Author's Note: This is my first take in writing stories. Please give me suggestions on how to improve my story. Thank you!