The office workers seemed extremely ready to just get home, something about a widespread problem within the commercial and financial sectors leaving the vast majority with extended office hours and involuntary overtime.

It quickly tuned dark, the later it getting the quieter the boardwalk got. At the moment there was a single man sat at a bench on the park side of the path, his mind mostly blank as he finished his cigarette.

The man finished, standing up and was about to drop his cigarette to the ground to stomp out the light when he stopped himself. In his mind he remembered the complaints of his younger sister, who seemed to be in the ICU at the hospital nearby with tuberculosis. Apparently this young girl constantly ranted about her older brothers littering and the young man pearly doted on his sister to a level where it could almost be considered a complex.

In the end, he started to walk in the direction of the hospital, putting the cigarette out on the ashtray on top of a nearby rubbish bin instead.

It was as he was walking away I noticed an overwhelmingly strong aura of hopelessness nearing me. I watched as a young boy came over, almost collapsing at the base of my trunk. He was trembling a little, emotions and thoughts in a messy state. He pulled his knees up and dropped his forehead on top of them.

"I can't believe I came back here," I heard him mutter bitterly and I immediately recognised this boy as the hopelessly insecure boy who scorned himself earlier in the day, one of the exam students. It was impossible for me not to read him a little deeper than I usually would.

Earlier in the day he was very composed, extremely proper. It was a vast comparison to his current state of confusion and desperation.

Whatever logic he used to keep himself before seemed to no longer work, he couldn't convince himself he was fine anymore, he hadn't the faith in his own mind to believe himself. To him it was almost as if the logic he applied were just excuses, excuses and false hope. The part of him that had no belief in his abilities was now dominating his entire being.

In his hand he was clutching an important charm, one of the few things he had received from his sister, a very dear family member his father had stopped him seeing. She seemed to have been his rock in before the beginning of this year. However his parents underwent a messy divorce and the siblings were both separated and forbidden to talk to one another.

It seems that his sister attends the university he so desperately wants to enter, she seemed to be his main motivation. His sister had sent him the charm via a very beautiful friend of hers with a note telling him to do his best. He clearly wanted to meet his sister again – the second sister complex of the night, now that I think about it.

However, regardless of how much he wants this and how hard he has worked for it and all he assurance he has received from his teachers and friends in regards of his grades, not an ounce of his being believed he was capable. He was terrified of disappointing his sister, disappointing himself.

A slightly less pure motive of his was to meet this beautiful friend again, he was just a teenage boy I suppose, not so weird for him to have a crush. I decided not to verify if this girl was in fact a beauty, I was already reading deeper than I usually do, I can't afford to use more of my HP, especially since the usage increases exponentially.

That aside, a part of me honestly felt for this youngster, his self-esteem was so low it was almost terrifying. Last time I had come across someone so fragile they were suicidal, I used 5 years of my life to stop her walking out in front of a speeding truck. That woman was ready to give up on everything.

This boy was the same, he seemed to have given up on any hope of getting into the school of his dreams. In fact, the longer he sat there, marinating in his self-destructive thoughts, the more he gave up on, he didn't have the will to do anything he wanted.

It hurt to see him like this, I have absolutely no clue why I was feeling so much for this one student but a part of me told me that there was no way I could leave him like this. At this rate he may even decide to end his own life, he very well could if he goes ahead with his horrific idea of ditching the national exam he prepared so much for all together.

This boy was no longer the calm and collected student from earlier who was quelling his desperation, he was a broken child, seconds away from tears.

I couldn't watch this, I am aware of that. Why that is, I am not going to bother think about, it seems almost inexplicable. But it seem like I had already come to a decision, I was going to intervene, use my influence.

Clearly this boy would do amazingly if he just tried, but it seems he at such an end that he no longer had it in him to make an attempt, he was too scared of trying, no matter how deep in his head I get, that was the most prevalent point.

I only implemented one influence once considering thing; I made him think he had to courage to try. It should work, and as he succeeds along with his sister's presence, he should be able to build his own self confidence over the coming years. Thankfully he seemed down to earth enough to not become big-headed but a part of me believed that was still better than his current state.

The boy froze for a couple seconds before coming to his senses, his body had stopped shaking in fear of what would happen. It seemed to have worked.

"What good is sitting here going to do?" He whispered to himself, looking up at the clear sky, all the stars were perfectly visible tonight. It was quite the view. He had calmed down significantly.

After some time of gazing at the stars, he stood up, a new resolve to do his best tomorrow no matter what. It was an admittedly weak resolve, which he was very aware of, but somehow I had the confidence to believe it would not break.

As the student walked away, back towards his home, I thought over what had just happened. My HP had dropped to 100; 3HP meant approximately 15 years. I spent 15 years on this boy. Strangely enough, I did not regret it despite my clear fear of what would happen one this gauge reached 0.

Just what sort of person was I for me to usually be so self-preserving yet so selfless so randomly? Gah, there is no use in thinking about it, humans are such fickle creatures, I'm sure I was just the same.

It was mostly silent for the rest of the night, leaving me time to collect my thoughts and lose myself in the stars.