(Location 400 of Kindle version)I asked myself, ‘Should I climb off the wall and onto these boulders to get to the deep water?’ I shuddered at the thought of losing my footing and banging my head on one of these large, slimy rocks. ‘What if I slipped and got caught between two boulders and died there without ever making it to the sea? Would I be attacked by the crows and experience a painful, slow death?’ I began to feel an increasing sense of panic and sought a different approach. ‘What if I waded into the water from a different part of the wall and walked towards the jetty?’ I asked myself.... ‘How long does it take to drown?’ I asked myself. I remembered hearing someone describe drowning as having a lot of water in one’s lungs and being strangled slowly. I thought of my lungs filling up with salty, fishy smelling water....And suddenly I became incredibly frightened as I pictured being suffocated from the inhalation of muddy, refuse filled water. I started walking away from the shore, climbed back onto the seawall and lowered myself onto the street. I concluded that there had to be a different solution to my dilemma and my desire not to return to my insufferable life and home.
Above quote shows how the author's mind worked when he thought to commit suicide following a harsh punishment of his mother for something that he didn't do. Luckily he saw other options to face the situation.
Upon reading this did you feel these thoughts as actual thoughts of a kid? Or did you feel like the author has attempted to provide some dark humour? As per the topic of this book, could this have been a strong defining moment of the author's life?