Suicide- The Failsafe

I have been up for hours and am exhausted before the clock strikes eight. I eye the sink full of dirty items while the dishwasher lies four inches to the left. The house is silent and soon I know the air will be filled with anger.

The lord of the manor is not in a good mood so I will embark on a journey somewhere else today.I pose him a few questions and nothing but silence follows my words and I immediately blame myself for his reaction as I did for years.

I know in my heart that I do not deserve this treatment but in my mind I am shaking with fear and anticipation that he might lash out at me for hours. How many more days can I endure this without falling apart? Yesterday morning I sank to the depths of hell and barely crawled out in time. There is no answer except possibly death that will find me relief from his distant presence. I am free but yet I am not, and I slowly sink into a hollow world where nothing hurts me.

In my dream I awake with tears in my eyes and remember the day that was going to be the last day of my life. I dressed slowly that morning as I glanced around at my surroundings and knew they would suddenly be alone. I had made up my mind, ran down the stairs  and jumped on the bus to my destination. As I sat on the subway I closed my eyes as I went through the 6 minutes of darkness while the train went through the tube under the bay. It was almost like the dark before the storm and my fingers grasped the edge of the seat knowing there was no turning back.

I took the bus to the shore and watched the waves come in one by one. They were dark angry waves and I walked towards them inviting them to take me away to the sea. The edge of the waves tickled the toes of my shoes and beckoned me to walk further out into the bay. I knew if I followed their dark directions I would be immersed in a riptide of cold water with no chance to correct my mistake.

Instead I sat on a bench and wondered if I was going to suffer much when I carried out my obsessed ambition. I looked to the bridge and the fog still hung like Christmas stockings on the edges of the gray metal. Maybe if the bridge was merciful that same fog would carry me down softly to the depths below and simply ease me down slowly into final peace.

 

For weeks I had thought of Golden Gate Bridge jumpers and mentally replayed them, fascinated that the end could be so near.  As I walked along the narrow road to the bridge my fear suddenly disappeared.   I had walked its length once before and knew that in 4 seconds I would be flying towards what I considered final freedom of my mind.

Death might take minutes as my body would plunge deep into the salty water where no angels would be rescuing me just yet. It would not be a pretty death and suddenly a silly thought of fish dining on my mortal remains scared me. Years of not being afraid to attempt the almost terminal extension of life had now been thwarted by the fear of fish.