Our Creative Writing student teacher wanted us to do this: Look up a word and make a story from the definitions. This is what I came up with; collapse is one of my favorite words. Look at all the connotations...

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Collapse v. intr.

1. To fall down or inward suddenly; cave in: There wasn’t anything to do after the collapse of a mine except pick out the dead they could find and leave the ones they couldn’t. There was something unnerving about seeing those pale, bloody bodies being pulled out of the rubble, but he supposed he would get over it eventually; all the men said he would, and they had been at this job for decades, much longer than he had or planned to be.

2. To break down suddenly in strength or health and thereby cease to function: Nevertheless, he couldn’t help but wonder about these collapsed workers’ families. He made the mistake of visiting each one of them, not to give them the bad news; no, they had already heard that. He wanted to ask if there were anything he could do for them, and when they politely declined with tears unshed in his presence, all he could do was stare at the door as it shut in front of him.

3. To fold compactly: He hadn’t assumed a fetal position for over twenty years, but he did that night, collapsing in on himself like a flower blooming in reverse. Tears caressed his cheeks as he realized each and every man in that mine was gone, gone forever, and he couldn’t even do anything for their families, who had done so much for him before: Riley’s wife, who had gone to the trouble to make the both of them a wonderful homemade lunch every day; David’s daughter, who he babysat from time to time; Cody’s parents, god, he had only been eighteen.

4. v. tr. To cause to fold, break down, or fall down or inward: There was something funny about the collapse in the mine; he was almost certain that it hadn’t been an accident. It was midnight when the thought struck him, but now that he’d had the time to think about it, he didn’t see any way it couldn’t have been on purpose. Why would someone want to do that, kill the town’s economy, kill Riley and David and Cody and all the others? Who would do such a thing?

5. n. The act of falling down or inward, as from loss of supports: He shone the beam from his flashlight through a hole in the wall of rock, trying to find signs of collapsed support beams and fallen dirt, but all that met his eyes was darkness. He couldn’t very well dig his way in there; that would have required more strength and machinery than he had, really. Perhaps if he had a couple of sticks of dynamite, it would be doable, but no, not barehanded. Flicking the switch of his light, he walked away in darkness, head down in shame.

6. An abrupt failure of function, strength or health; breakdown: He collapsed in the days leading away from the accident. He stopped eating, stopped sleeping, spent hours staring at the watermark on his ceiling that looked kind of like a top hat. Concerned neighbors would knock on his door at all hours of the day, and his boss came to his window and yelled that he was fired. He didn’t care. There was nothing left. He couldn’t see his friends, and they were gone, trapped in the darkness of an underground cavern. He didn’t care anymore.

7. An abrupt loss of perceived value or of effect: Suddenly, there was a collapse in his shelter of grief. He looked down and saw how skinny he had become in his days without food. Dried salt stung his cheeks from tears long dried, and his muscles ached like he had actually been to work. One more time, he went around to his friends’ families’ homes, and this time he collected old snapshots. He went to the supermarket, bought rolls and rolls of scotch tape, went home. Soon, there were pictures of everyone he had lost plastered on his wall: Riley, David, Cody, Rudy, Jason, Avery, Jimmy, Will, Gale. And when he was done, he stepped back and smiled; never forgotten, my friends, he thought.

(Latin collabi, collaps- – to fall together)