Before the Semester Ends

Stand-alone Story | He gave the world his voice, but no one listened until it was gone.

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A novella.

Elian, a third-year psychology student, was found dead in his rented apartment-a day before the semester drew to a close. The cause was ruled self-inflicted. For those who knew him, it was difficult to accept. He was thoughtful. Bright. Studying the very things that might have saved him.

They say it happened in just one night.

But stories, like people, don't always begin or end where we expect them to.

Told through the voices of those whose lives he brushed, they pieced together Elian's story from scattered memories. In a special tribute, Ang Migising, his university's student publication, collects the accounts of classmates, colleagues, and friends-each holding a sliver of who he was before the day he left everything behind.

• The story is written in English.