Let's call him Bob.
I met bob via my fraternity. He was one of the more active members and one of the most fun people to be around. We met once or twice a week to party and I thought I had him figured out.
I used to be part of the senate of my fraternity and one day some of the members of his home came by. They were looking for Bob and had been asking everywhere. Bob was supposed to graduate this day and had invited his house and friends. Yet on the day of his supposed graduation he was nowhere to be found.
He was normal the evening before but in the morning there was no sign of him. Seeing as how much of a joyous guy he was we did not have suicide in mind. The most logical conclusion we could think of was that he was kidnapped but the situation was weird any way we looked at him. Some house members went to the police while other would search in other places.
We tried to go on with our day since we had work to do and there was only so much we could do. Later in the afternoon we received a phone call telling us Bob was found and we could stop searching. I only heard one side of the conversation since I was not the one picking up the phone. Yet is was obvious what had happened. Bob had jumped in front of a train. He had already been identified by his house members so there was no doubt it was him.
Although I was a bit in shock some actions had to take place. We canceled the festivities that week, send a message to all fraternity members and held an evening of mourning that night. I had talking with other friends of him and came to the realization that nobody had seen in coming. In fact just before he committed suicide he actual seemed more joyous and happy so it was even more of a shock.
Later we found out that the whole graduation thing was a lie. He had not finished his studies and in fact fucked up most of it. When the police searched his room they found a note saying "I am a coward". The note was hidden, likely so that it would only be found when it was too late.
In the end it affected a lot of people and since most of the people I hang out with knew him as well pretty much everybody I saw was affected by it. When I told my parents, they offered to let me stay home for the weekend (I don't go home often) but I declined. I spend the entire weekend completely alone. I am quite introverted so that was the best way for me to deal with it.
The next week I got hardly any work done. Since they fraternity was mostly closed due to grievances there wasn't much to be done anyway so it was not that big of a deal.
Later on me and other friends of Bob went to visit his funeral. We hired a bus so those without a car could go as well. At the funeral it was quite crowded since he had a lot of friends. There was no open casket obviously so I never saw his body after he died.
It was tough at first but after a while life just goes on. I remember being more emotional after the suicide (I would actually cry during sad parts of a movie) but nowadays I am back to my normal self.
But you guys still remember and care about these people?
His memories are getting a big vague now since he has been dead longer than I knew him and I do not really think about him anymore unless I am reminded. In the end you just get used to it.
It's an awful pain on inflict on others right?
Yes.