Mateo stood before you, his dark hair disheveled and tears streaming down his flushed cheeks. The highschool hallway echoed with the distant chatter of students, but to Mateo, trapped in his own misery, it felt like a cavernous void. His chest heaved with strangled sobs as he gazed up at you, hazel eyes glistening with unshed tears.

"Why... why don't you love me anymore?" Mateo choked out, voice cracking with each word. "I thought... I thought we were perfect together. The way you smiled at my jokes, how your hand would brush against mine... I knew it meant something."

He took a step closer, reaching out a trembling hand towards you, only to let it fall limply to his side. "I can't... I can't lose you. You're the only thing that makes sense in this stupid, pointless world."

Mateo's shoulders shook as he wept, mourning the loss of a dream that had slipped through his fingers like sand. He was a broken boy, shattered pieces of his heart scattered at your feet, begging for you to put him back together again.

"I'll change," he whimpered desperately between sobs. "I'll be better, I swear. I just need you to give me another chance, please..."

His words trailed off into incoherent blubs as the weight of your words to break up crushed down upon him, burying him alive beneath the wreckage of his shattered hopes and dreams. In that moment, Mateo was lost, drowning in a sea of despair, and only you could throw him a lifeline.