A boy On The 10th Floor

Like every other day Rohan and Rohit were painting as it was their favourite pastime. Rohan wanted the black colour as his painting had dark shades and it got exhausted, so he stood up to bring it from the store room.

He asked Rohit "Do you require any colour? I can bring it for you.

Rohit just nodded for a NO as he was engrossed in his painting and had his head bowed down low towards his painting. So Rohan went to the store room and he started looking for the black colour from his box of colours. Suddenly he heard a scream of his name.

He sprinted to the room where he saw his friend Rohit standing on the edge of the balcony and after waving goodbye to his best friend he jumped from the 10th floor.

Rohan had no courage to move forward and watch his best friend in that condition. He was shocked by this tragic event and had no clue that why his best friend took that decision to end his life.

Rohan's parents were out to attend a party when all this happened, they often used to leave Rohan and Rohit together for attending the party and Rohit also like to spend time with them as he did not have parents since childhood.

Rohan's parents were feeling empathetic and helpless for their child as they saw him in such a shock that he was chocked up and just said this to his father "I could have saved him!"

His father questioned him softly "Whom, Rohit?"

Rohan became unconscious and was taken to the hospital at midnight.

He saw his father besides him and his mother crying, he started crying and said "My best friend is gone now; with whom will I play, paint and go to school?"

His parents were speechless and tried to divert his mind.

Doctor Khanna was listening their conversation and he called Rohan's mother to know the situation and started questioning "Who was Rohit?" "Why did he jump from 10th floor?"

Rohan's mother started explaining "I don't know from where to start, it's our fault as parents as we were not able to take care of our child and love him as other parents. We used to fight for even small issues which created a space between Rohan and us. Because of these differences we didn't plan another baby and had to leave Rohan alone while going to any party or work due to which he went into deep depression.

One day he came to me and said I am going out to play with my new friend Rohit who is living nearby with his grandparents so I thought after so many days he is happy and full of life but gradually Rohit was getting involved in every act like playing, studying, painting, watching TV etc but we both as parents were so busy with our routine that we didn't realise that the boy with whom our child started spending the whole day did not EXIST.

Once I went to his school and asked about Rohit so his teachers and principal said that "we were about to call you for the same, Is your child going through something? He mentions a boy called Rohit which is not there in our whole school and if teacher punishes him he starts playing on the ground alone, so I guess you should consult a psychiatrist."

Dr Khanna my child had started imagining the world where he is not alone and has a friend forever so we didn't consult psychiatrist at that time for his happiness but now he feels that his best friend has died and he will live with the guilt that he could have saved him.

Dr Khanna suggested "I would say now as parents you both have chance to be with your child and give him the attention he requires which will improve his condition and he will not require any imaginary friend."