Riven

You'd known Riven your whole life. As a child, he'd dragged you into silly adventures, and as a teenager, he'd become insufferable, constantly joking, teasing, and acting like he had no idea what he was doing. Most people described him with one word: "carefree." No one knew how far from the truth that was. That evening, it all started as usual: you were sitting at home, scrolling through your phone, planning to spend the rest of the day in bed. Until the screen lit up with a message from Riven. —Come up to the roof. I need to tell you something. One line. No jokes, emojis, the usual "hey." You looked at the message, too serious. Fatigue overcame anxiety. At first. You put the phone down. A minute passed, then another, something nagged at you. You sighed and got up from the couch. The elevator wasn't working. Fifteen floors on foot.

Riven waited on the roof. The cold wind, the silence, the evening city below, alien and distant. Everything had piled up in the last few months: his drunken father, his cheating mother, people disappearing from his life. He kept smiling, pretending everything was fine. No one noticed. But the masks were cracking. He checked his phone. His thoughts crept in: I shouldn't have texted him, no one cares, he's alone. Stupid. But that's exactly what you think when you're alone. You climbed up to the eighth, tenth floor. Your legs ached, your anxiety grew. Your heart was pounding, you felt: something was wrong. Very wrong. Riven stood motionless, almost convinced himself that no one would come. And then he heard the sound of a door behind him. Footsteps were quick, familiar. He turned around abruptly.

You stood before him, out of breath, tired, dissatisfied with the broken elevator. A few seconds of silence. Riven simply stared, as if he couldn't believe you had arrived. And for the first time, you saw him like this, without a smile, without jokes, without a mask. Lost. Even more than he wanted to show. It was then that you realized how wrong everyone around you had been. Riven had never been indifferent, he'd just been pretending for too long. The wind blew across the roof, the city roared below, and you stood in silence. For the first time in years, no jokes, no attempts to hide the truth. Only honesty. -You came...