The next day found him in yet another conference center, waiting to present. But this time it would be different. There would be no lies, no thinly veiled disapproval. No delicate balance.

No, truth would rule here.

As Harvey walked across the stage, the sound of his footsteps echoed in his ears, playing a steady backdrop to his pounding heart. He looked over the crowds of people gathered to listen to him, feeling uncertain. What he would do today was a condemnation of them. It was treachery. He had been inaugurated into their hierarchy and he reaped the benefits of it. To turn his back on them now was unforgivable. But it was only another trap. Another mechanism of control. A part of him cried to stop this madness and quietly return to the fold, jockeying for position once more.

But his will still held strong.

It would need to be enough.

Taking one last gaze over the audience of his once-peers, meeting Dr. Vlader’s eyes. He had been there for the first conference. He would witness the last.

Harvey took a deep breath.

“What is the purpose of sociology?” He questioned.

After a second of silence, somebody in the audience yelled back,

“To understand the construct we call society!”

A wave of approving murmurs swept around and the man who had yelled it smiled proudly. Harvey knew that feeling.

“Wrong.” he said.

The audience looked at him confusedly, wondering at his angle,

“The purpose of sociology, “ Harvey continued, “is to better society, not understand it.”

The disapproving murmurs only reinforced his resolve. He finally understood why they had laughed at him in the comedy club.

“This,” he said waving his arms in their general direction, “is a joke. All of it. The supposed ‘intellectual discussion’, the backroom deals, the endless struggle for hierarchical positions. It's all a joke.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

He let a moment of silence hang between them, observing their faces contort in confusion and hurt and anger. It wasn't enough.

“I frequently speak of the cycle of ego, and its danger to society. Well, we are trapped in such a cycle. And you all are content to run around it like a hamster in its wheel.”

Anger was growing in the audience,

“You know what I think?” Harvey projected, voice growing, “I think Intellectual discussion for the sake of intellectual discussion is useless! I think it's pathetic that not one of you can even name the purpose of your life's dedication! I think it's pitiful that the world is falling apart and all we do is engage in dick-measuring contests! I! Am! Done!”

The audience stared at him in shock, unable to connect his screaming rage with the ambitious social climber.

“The cycle remains unbroken,” Harvey continued, voice becoming melancholic, “and we do nothing to say otherwise. We stagnate on the altar of progress, our purpose purged in the flames of ego. We embrace the chains that bind us, ignoring the possibilities around us in favor of their cold comfort.”

Harvey took a deep breath.

“You condescend one and they condescend another and the cycle continues. Everybody ends up hurt. Everybody ends up angry. Everybody hides that anger, passing it on to the one below. This is the nature of the cycle we are trapped in. These are the chains that bind us, one of hate and anger and prejudice.”

As he observed them, their audacity to feel anger in response to truth, their inability to admit their wrong doings, a laugh came to his lips.

He couldn't help it. He let it loose. He laughed long and hard.

It was freeing in a way he couldn't explain, like a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Chains broke in the face of his impending deliverance.

“It’s all a joke.” he finally managed to say, shaking his head ruefully “Equality. Freedom. Choice. So long as this cycle binds our purpose, we will never be free. We will never be equal. And we can never choose. It's all a joke.”

And with those parting words, he walked off the stage.

—------------------------------------------

Harvey stood on top of a skyscraper, looking out at the city beneath him. A place of vibrant lights and unimaginable complexity. Harvey smiled and turned his head up to face the evening breeze. He wondered if this was how Ludon had felt in his final moments.

As opposed to popular view, suicide is in fact not an act of cowardice but rather an act of courage. To look nothingness in the eyes and walk into its quiet arms is brave. Plain and simple. It takes someone special to walk away from the trappings of mortality. After all, divinity is merely one path to eternity.

With a sigh like a winter breeze, Harvey stepped off the tower.

In the instant, before he struck the ground, the confusion that had plagued Harvey for his entire mortal life melted away, and he knew one thing with almost painful certainty.

He was finally free.

Ground met man and Harvey Marks was no more.

Sometimes, when the ladder is clogged with people, there is only one way to move.

Jump.