Chapter Text
Robert was a normal kid. With normal friends. And a normal family. But deep down, he was not normal.
It was a normal Sunday morning. Robert was in a Discord server when he heard that someone in the server got banned. Everyone was really angry that he got banned. Someone said that he "will rise like a phoenix from the ashes. He will be avenged by his people, the wrongs will be turned right. Justice will prevail. another said about the same thing: that they "will rise from the ashes like a phoenix, the server will be reborn, his people will avenge him," but Robert thought that the person who got banned deserved it, and so, he said that in the server. People replied by saying that he didn't even know who he was in the server, so he asked them to tell him why he was banned, but no one listened and started spamming nerd emojis in the chat all because of what his views were on this situation. Then, someone told Robert to kill himself and he decided that maybe he'll cut himself later and then that would make them satisfied. Of course, people opposed his decision, but one even said that he was asking for attention. Here, Robert started to cry. Someone called him edgy, while another told him that he could just tell people that he doesn't want to be told to kill himself, but Robert said that he wants everyone to be happy. He got temporarily muted by a moderator who asked him if he wanted to talk about it, but he didn't. Then, he went to another server to vent about it and there, people supported him, saying that he shouldn't cut himself just because some people on a Discord server told him to, but he didn't listen to them.
He had a tin of thumbtacks for decorating his room. He took one out, rolled up the sleeve of his iconic green jacket with its big zipper and moved the thumbtack along his arm. He did this multiple times, and while he tried his very hardest not to break skin, a feeling of euphoria overcame him and he lay on his pillow and sighed with relief. After he cut himself, he shoved the thumbtacks under his bed.
After he did that, he grabbed his phone again and called the suicide hotline, but it couldn't connect since his phone wasn't registered to a network. Therefore, he could only make emergency calls, so he didn't call for a few hours and played Roblox until he decided to call again and it finally connected.
"Yes, this is Jennifer," the woman on the phone said.
"Ok, so, uh," Robert said, kind of awkwardly. This was his first time calling the hotline, "I was in this Discord server when someone got banned, presumably for no reason, from what I saw in the chat. I thought that he deserved that ban, so I said it in the chat and then everyone started sending nerd emojis in the chat. I told everyone to stop sending the emojis.
"And then..." Robert paused. "And then people started telling me to kill myself. And I was like, you know what, maybe I'll cut myself later. I want people to be satisfied. and I did."
He didn't exactly remember what Jennifer said to him afterwards, but they talked for a good fifteen minutes, working on strategies so he wouldn't kill himself and in the middle of that, Radford, his older brother, walked in. "Hold on," Robert said to Jennifer, and then to Radford, "I'm talking to someone."
"Oh, okay." And he shut the door.
They continued and after the call, He told his brother her name. Robert felt quite a bit better about himself because one, this was his first time calling the hotline and felt a bit proud of himself, and two, he felt... happier. Lighter. However, for some reason, as time went on, he started feeling less proud.