My jaw was set and my eyes dry. My muscles were tensed and my hands slightly clammy in the warm summer air as I balanced on a thick, strong branch, high up on the willow tree behind our country home. A heavy loop of rope rested loosely in my hands, the other end of which was tied tightly and onto the same branch as I sat on.

I looked over to the house; a couple hundred metres away and a rush of emotions flooded my thoughts as I remembered everything from the photos of friends on my bedroom walls to the black Ipod Nano I used to escape from the world. From the family dog that drowned in the lake in the eastern end of our property to the new baby sister who is meant to solve everyone's problems. From the B- I got in mathematics last year to the black and purple shaded bruises fathers' black belt left on my forearms as a result. I tore my gaze away and stared at the grass covering the ground below where I sat and had a moment of dark wondering if it would still be green tomorrow.

A single tear escaped and slid slowly down my cheek as I allowed the pain to flood my being once more before it would be ended forever. I raised my thin, translucent arms and placed the noose around my neck as a handful more tears dripped onto my lap, soaking into my denim shorts. Raising my head one last time, I breathed in the clean country air. Looking to the west, I watched the orange and pink glow of the sun set over the low, empty hills at the edge of our property and fell forward into a world of pure blackness, where I felt no more pain.