The Brilliant Writer by Andrey Shokin

Richard was a brilliant student.
He always was cleverer than his classmates, he read a lot and spent less time on all homework then anyone else.
When he entered the University he started to learn history and poetry. All around him, his group mates, girls and just friends wanted to stay close to him. He became a leader and an authority for students around. Once at groom autumn evening boy whose name was Mike, very shy and unconfident person came to Richard and asked his opinion about poem that he has wrote recently.
At that day Richard had split up with his girlfriend and was in a bad mood. He said Mike to send him a poem with an E-mail. Few days later Rich read the poem and he was surprised about how beautiful it was. He haven’t replied to Mike, because he was in a very bad mood. Neither that day nor later.
Few months later in winter Rich was sitting in tiny cozy cafe near the University thinking about his writing career. Suddenly someone called Rich and start talking to him. It was his ex-John his loud and boring neighbor from hostel.  He said that some boy from Faculty of Humanities have died recently from pneumonia. Rich was surprised and tried to get more information about an accident. He found out that guy, who died was Mike, author of that brilliant poem. He became depressed because no one estimated his creation (one guy criticized it, others didn’t say anything at all).
Rich scared, he recognized that he was not only able to prevent it, but to help Mike become a famous writer. He was astonished about what he have done for a few days, but later he decided to publish story as an anonymous author. Poem received great feedback and people wanted author to continue, but Richard was only one who knew that there will be no second chapter nor other stories from author. What did he feel about it? When he saw the poem he realized that Mike’s story was much better then any of his once. This poem made him feel even more miserable than he was before and he didn’t want it to succeed. After he heard about the accident he felt guilty but after some time he almost forgot about this accident. He was rising as a one child in a family, had too much attention and love. 
Years have passed, Richard became a successful writer, had a great carrier and got married. He had a child, a brilliant boy, named Max. Max was growing up and became successful entrepreneur passioned about extreme sports. Max and Richard were very close, they contacted almost daily, except days when Max was offline in a trip. One day Max hasn’t called. That was the day, when he had to return to the city from Amazon jungles. Rich was scared and only a few days after Max’s friend contacted him and said that Max has died in a jungles due to rattlesnakes bite. That friend was experienced tourist and visited Amazonia dozens of times, but he wasn’t nearly as good as Max at business. Rich couldn’t find place for himself. He didn’t know what he had done wrong or what Max done wrong.
Few years after Max’s death Rich started to teach in the University he was studying before. He visited his favorite cafe, drunk a cup of tea and suddenly remembered. That gloom day, Mike’s and his poem. He realized that he were able to change life of that boy, save him and make him happy. But he didn’t, because of jealousy and lack of empathy. That is actually what Max’s friend done in this jungle. Now all come together to Richard. He realized that we all pay for what we have done.