text: There were things that Jared couldn’t quite understand. And these were the things that usually came easily to people. You might even argue that it was the things that made humans humans that Jared found most difficult to interrupt. Jared found it hard to empathize with other people and he felt little to no emotion. Label him if it makes it easier for you, the reader, to interpret. His mother was worried about him though he was the perfect son. Jared woke up, made a bowl of oatmeal ( the meal with the least emotion), went to school, smile and nodded when he was supposed to, he came home, did his homework then would fall asleep looking at his ceiling fan. What is mother suppose to complain about? He was doing everything he was suppose to just not with enough gusto. His mother wanted something from him. Anything. Nothing material or anything she just wanted to feel like there another person living in her house because right now Jared and his mother had more of a human- pet relationship. Like a fish or something. She’d drop a little food for him in his proverbial bowl and that would be all he needed from her. On a couple of occasions, she’d forget to feed him. She’d maybe get drained from her job at the hospital or would just fall asleep too early, in any case she’d come into his room and he’d be staring at his wall. She’d ask, “What are you doing?” “Nothing.”, he’d reply. “What are you waiting for?” Then he’d slowly turn his head and say, “To get fed”. The guilt would jolt inside her body and spring her into action and she’d begin to make him food. Although that’s how most of their conversations would go. There was no curiosity in Jared. It was simply a question- answer thing. “How was school?” “Fine.” “You have fun?” “No.” “Why not?” “Yes.” And so on. She’d start to feel less guilty as Jared got older. He got less cute and resembled his father more. The connection between mother and son waned. Jared’s mother decided that she maybe she found a way to get some kind of rise or emotion out of her son. The morning came and she put her plan into action. She would refrain from making her son any food and was on her way to her 36 hour shift. She would arrive home to find a hungry boy mad at his mother for not making him any food or she’d find a perfectly competent boy who made his own meal and is now fast asleep. When she arrived home 38 hours later she found her house oddly silent. She assumed that her boy finally did something for himself and he made a meal, but when she looked at her kitchen she found that nothing had really been used. “Well, maybe, he cleaned everything up after he used it”, she thought. She made her way to Jared’s room. There she saw her boy, full dressed, with his ass on the edge of him bed, his feet firmly planted on the floor but his body sprawled on his bed. There was a note stapled to his tee shirt. Jared’s mother yelled out Jared a couple of times and she listened for an answer or response of some kind, but only received silence. She moved slowly towards Jared, half expecting him to jump out at her, and she yanked the note from his chest. It read: “Didn’t like hunger. Killed self.” The coroner was baffled by this particular case. His official report stated, “The kid kinda just held his breath to death. Dang.”. &#x200B; The weird thing is that as his mother stood above his lifeless body she felt little to no remorse. She felt nothing. So it was like an average day for her.