I had a friend who passed away six years ago. We hadnât talked for a while. I was distracted with my own stuff, plus we lived and attended school in two different cities. I felt some guilt after for not recognizing and reaching out more. There were signs and symptoms, but hindsight is 20/20. According to a news article, he actually had dinner with some friends the night before, so itâs likely I couldnât have done much to help anyways.
He mostly liked to keep to himself. But he had a great sense of humor. One time in high school he wanted to borrow a quarter from me to buy a bottle of water. He gave me a penny as âcollateralâ and the next day opened my purse and put 24 pennies in there.
Also high school: one time we got into an argument because I said that sarcasm isnât too effective if there isnât somebody who is in on the sarcasm. He disagreed. Then later that day in English class, the teacher talked about how the best type of sarcasm is when nobody realizes youâre being sarcastic. We sat pretty far apart in the classroom but he blatantly turned and pointed at me and started laughing.
In freshman year of college, he had a roommate who he didnât care for. And he talked about once how the roomate got mad at him because the roomateâs poster got defaced. And told me on skype, âpersonally, I think the scantily clad girl looks better with the beard and devil hornsâ đ
He signed up for a Facebook account senior year of high school and entertained everyone with his trolling.
He was the one who initially linked me to the song âGangum Styleâ when it got released. He really liked it. And I still think of him whenever Iâve hear it occasionally.
He had a large and loving family. He had no logical reason (as far as I knew) to face the issues that he did, but brain chemical imbalances can mess things up severely. He was a good person who had so much potential to offer to the world.
Somebody else in my social circle was very affected by that. She was the one who called me when he initially went missing, and called again a few days later when his body was found. There was a couple of times she had suicidal thoughts a year or two before that. She even stole a bottle of painkillers from me and took 20 pills. And I went with her family to check her in to the hospital.
After that happened, she never did anything like that again. I think she realized the pain others feel when they needlessly pass away too early.
TLDR
Suicide is a very painful thing, for all parties involved. Definitely reach out.