A note is handed to the student during class, it asks him to the counselors. The student obliges quietly, down the bare white hall. He enters the counselor’s office and takes a seat in the hard plastic orange chair next to her closed door. A moment passes and the closed door is opened. In the doorway stands a smiling woman who greets the student and waves him in. They sit and the woman’s smile fades. With a serious tone she begins.

“Now, we have a serious issue to talk about, George.”

“Do we?”

“Your psych teacher tells me you’ve been having suicidal thoughts.”

“Well, don’t we all?”

The woman is taken back. “It’s generally not healthy to be depressed, George.”

George stares at the woman for a second before finally replying. “It’s not depression, I’m just curious.”

Entering the new territory carefully, the counselor replies “Curious, George?

“Temptation, to be truthful. I mean when you pull the trigger, ka-blammy. All your worries, your fears, your ailments, your sadness, they all go on the wall with you. Nada.”

The counselor immediately responds. “But what about all the happy moments, George? What about your dreams, your aspirations, your goals?

“Well, I suppose those go on the wall too.”

The woman manages to stutter “George, I think we need to get you more qualified help.”

Smiling, George responds to the woman. “Please don’t misunderstand me. I would never kill myself. I like those happy moments, and I do have dreams and aspirations too. In fact, I quite like living. We were going over a chapter on depression in psych when the teacher asked the class.

Upon hearing the statement above, the counselor recomposes herself. “So you of course replied yes, which is why you’re here.”

“Yes, I replied and that’s why I’m here.”

“So if you’re not depressed, why think suicide?”

George gazes into the woman’s eyes and says “Because suicide is Pandora’s box.”

The woman’s brow furrows. “The fairytale about evil escaping? How is that relevant?”

“The fairytales not about evil escaping. It’s about the curiosity, the temptation, that unscratchable itch. And that’s what suicide is. It’s the burning desire to find out what’s in Pandora’s Box. That’s why suicide pops into my head. I’m dying to know what’s in the box. Some can’t wait. Some hope it’s better than what they have now.”

The woman forgoes her counselor duties and asks, “So why wait?”

George smiles at her. “What if it’s just an empty box?” George gets out of the chair and leaves the woman’s office. The student walks down the white hallways from where he came.