Case 4: The Perfect Ending

                There are always moments that stand out throughout every individual’s career. For some people it’s getting the most sales in a year, or winning the company softball game. Unlike most people, I am not very proud of my most memorable moment. I honestly wish I could forget it all together.

                I’ve dealt with many murders and suicides in my life, but the death of Jerry stuck out more than anyone. I’d been meeting with Jerry for regular psychological check-ups for a few weeks. When Jerry first started coming to his appointments he seemed very humbled and scared. Right off the bat he told me that he had just lost his job as a writer, and his fiancée left him. Immediately I knew he was most likely going to be suffering from depression. Everything in his life was spiraling downward. I could also tell by his appearance that he stopped taking care of himself. He couldn’t look me in the eye out of shame. His speech was very erratic and unemotional. Every single part of him screamed shame and sadness. Every part of him screamed depression.

                I started conversing with him and I asked a simple, but very important question.

“Where do you find happiness through this tough situation?”

                His answer was simple and straight forward. He loved and found happiness in writing stories. The more I talked to him the less and less we discussed anything else but making stories! Every time we meet it became a show and tell of what he had wrote the past week. Since he seemed to be happy I ended the sessions, thinking he was going to be ok.

                I had never been more wrong in my life. About 3 weeks after our last session Jerry came storming in yelling that he had made the perfect story. It was about his day at the zoo. He simply called it, “The Zoo Story.” He wanted me to help him write an ending to what he said was his masterpiece, but I said no. I asked him to please go home several times, but he started to became so desperate to talk that he eventually started getting angry and putting his hands on me. I had to call security to get him out of my office. That was the last time I saw Jerry alive.

                Two days later I got a call from the Chief, he said that they had a guy named Peter come in claiming that he had just helped somebody named Jerry commit his own suicide. I dropped my phone to the ground in disbelief. I felt guilty and disgusted, but I got over it quickly and headed back to work to interview Peter.

                I interviewed Peter and he told me about Jerry telling him a story called “The Zoo Story”. Peter said Jerry got upset when he thought Peter wasn’t acting interested. So Jerry pulled out a knife and handed it to Peter. Before Peter could even move Jerry thrust himself upon the knife and said these final words, “Thank you, Peter. I mean that, now; thank you very much.”

                I got a warrant and went to Jerry’s house. When I walked in all I saw was a single desk and chair with a bunch of paper on top. I walked over to the desk and in big bold letters on the front of the stack of papers were the words “The Zoo Story”. I flipped to the very back and read the last page. I was astonished by what I read. The last page read of the main character committing assisted suicide by knife. Jerry had ended his life the way he had ended his masterpiece. With what he thought was the perfect ending.