The Wrong Brother.

The initial idea was to jump off the window and start flapping the wings and maneuver away into the oblivion. But he felt that the trees were a bit tricky and calculations always ended uncertain. He did not want a speck of uncertainty anywhere. That's when he decided to use the tree itself as the solution. That fateful day he climbed up the tree and jumped off it wearing the wings and fell down and died flapping his wings on the ground. 
Mr.X, avid collector, art connoisseur and the da Vinci expert in the Town Council, died in a freak accident, falling of the balcony, his manager announced to the press. No one, including the press, was allowed inside the house. His relatives were unavailable for comment.  

Dilemma.

Being a gun expert and choosing a gun to shoot yourself with is much like a surgeon trying to find the right place to amputate his leg. It’s either too crass or too subtle; too strong to too feeble; too loud to too pussy. A noose is like acknowledging one’s incompetence in one’s profession. Three months is too long to be thinking about such a problem. But then again, it should not matter - it’s the last and most important decision in his life. The bus reached his stop and he snapped out of his thoughts.

Across the River.

8:45 p.m.

He has 15 minutes to complete his assignment. It is not a tough set to finish, but he should not waste even a second. He took out his book and got with it.

8:55 p.m.

He was done with the home work, but he decided to wait till 9 before starting with the procedure. He knew he was not going to turn back; he had decided to do it.

9:00 p.m.

Time to start. Took out the paper and pen and started writing the note. He had decided on the contents long ago; in fact that was the first thing he had decided.

It was a short note, nothing melodramatic, matter of fact note. No remorse no pain nothing.

9:10 p.m.

He took out the syringe and the vial of Mercury that he had obtained from the lab. You might think he had to hide these, but he had absolute privacy in his room, something which his parents were really particular about. He had read that since Mercury is thick normal hypodermic needles won’t help. He had done enough research on this. He injected himself with it.

9:15 p.m. +

He switched off the lights and lay down on his bed. He had read about the effects of Mercury, but he had decided to write down symptoms as and when he was going through it. His lips were getting heavy. His eyes were starting to droop. He could no longer write anything.

** There was a news about a teenage boy’s suicide in Kerala more than a decade and half ago. The boy was a perfect 10 - be it academics, relations or extra-curricular activities. He had no known love affairs or failures; family was well to do. No domestic issues. Nobody knew why he committed suicide and why he chose Mercury. I hope he got what he wanted.