Tears of a Tiger

Andy is absent from school again. Rhonda will take his chemistry homework to him and asks if Keisha wants to come with her. She does not, because her relationship with Andy has become too complicated and she is enjoying her freedom; she worries she will get back together with him if she sees him again.

Andy sits alone in his room noticing trivial details, like the lint on his bedspread, while holding his father’s shotgun. He wants the pain of living to end, and he wants to stop feeling empty after Robbie’s death. He feels trapped, like a tiger in a cage, and is looking for a way out.

A police report describes Andy’s suicide—how he left for school but returned home, how Rhonda brought his chemistry homework, how his brother saw the blood on the ceiling, and how his mother found him dead in his room.