Suddenly, only darkness surrounded him. The school, classroom, students, Pravda. Everything was gone.
Slobodan started looking left, right, up and down. In all directions that he looked, it was dark. He tried to move, but he couldn't. His arms and legs were chained to the wall.
But for some reason, the place felt familiar.
Before he could even started to think of what this place was supposed to be, a voice started talking to his left.
"I bet you are feeling really good right now, after hitting the only person that wanted to help in your life."
Slobodan turned his head to the direction where the voice came.
What he saw there was a person staring at him. Or at least, a shape of the person, sitting in the dark.
Slobodan, now feeling fearful, went with his usual, taking a deep breath in and out, and emptying himself of all emotions.
Although he felt calm, some feeling of uneasiness was lingering is his body.
In a shaky voice, he asked the shadowy figure:
"Who are you?"
The brown eyes we're starring at him, not blinking even once. The shadowy figure responded, in an amused voice:
"Me? Oh, I go by many names, but I will introduce myself with this one. My name is God of Struggles. "
'The god of wha-? '
"The God with a capital G! And it's God of Struggles. Why I'am telling you this, is because, you are about to inherit my powers. But before I do that, there are some questions that need to be asked. First, why haven't you killed yourself already? "
Excitedly he asked:
"What powers? And who are you exactly?"
" Your answers will come, don't worry. For now, answer my question. "
Slobodan was a bit uncomfortable. He never talked about his suicidal tendencies with anybody, so being asked that so nonchalantly threw him off a bit.
" How do you know about that? "
"I'm the God of Struggle, remember? I can see people suffering and their will to live with this shitty feeling. So I am asking you, what is your reason to live with it? "
"Mom would be sad, I guess? "
The shadowy figure chuckled a bit.
"Would she, though? After your father death, you saw how much she changed, how many bottles she drank and how she started living in the past? You saw how she stopped caring about her two sons? To me, it looks like she would be relieved if you were dead. She wouldn't have to clean after you, cook for you, pay for stuff. She could be free. But, you deny that for her, because you need to live. So tell me, why do you want, why you you struggle to live? And don't give me that:" Somebody would be sad" Thing, nobody cares whether you live or not. "
Slobodan knew that already. His father passed away fours ago. His mother was in a difficult state, he hates his older brother, and he didn't had any friends at the moment.
He didn't really have any reasons to live, now that he thought about it. He didn't believe in the concept of Heaven and Hell, he didn't have any person in his life that he wants to live with, and he didn't have some sort of passion to pursue.
He just, existed. Day to day, pondering about life and his purpose.
And because he did that everyday, he had an answer ready.