Cody told people he was coming back to Boston to start a new life. It was a likely story. He'd gotten sick of New Haven, Connecticut pretty quickly and had been thinking about coming back for months. Homesickness was a common problem among new college students. It was a believable excuse if there ever was one.
But it wasn't the truth. His coming back home had nothing to do with life.
In fact, on the contrary, he came back to Boston planning to die.
He had everything figured out. He'd called his twin brother Zack and asked if he could stay with him for a while. Zack had been thrilled; he hadn't seen his little brother in almost a year and he'd been missing him terribly. Cody debated about whether or not he was going to bring himself to tell Zack about what happened between him and Brianna, because he already knew that Zack was going to say "I told you so" and Cody really did not want to hear that. But at the same time, he wanted Zack to know that he'd been right about everything. Zack had warned Cody that Brianna would break his heart, and Cody had not listened. He'd argued with Zack repeatedly, mainly over the phone, continuously defending her. In all truthfulness, he'd thought that Zack just wanted her for himself. After all, it was just like him to try to steal his girlfriend; he'd done it enough times when they were younger. And Brianna was beautiful.
But it was different this time. The whole situation was different. Cody had been devastated when she'd left him for another guy…after admitting to cheating on him. Apparently, she used to sneak away while Cody was in class to meet with another guy, and they'd go up to his dorm room and screw. Screw each other's brains out. She'd done it no less than ten times before Cody ever found out.
He was shocked. He couldn't believe it.
He never forgot Zack's exact words to him after meeting Brianna for the first time: "I don't like her. She strikes me as a slut, and believe me, I would know. I've dated a couple of them myself. The way she acts…I don't know…I don't think you should get involved with her. I'd hate to see you end up getting hurt. You could do better than her anyway. I know you can. Bailey was a decent girlfriend; Barbara was a decent girlfriend. You should try to find someone like them. At least find a girl who actually cares for someone else other than herself."
Of course, Cody disputed such comments. He played the faithful boyfriend and told Zack off. "You don't even know her, Zack!" he'd yelled. "She loves me. She'd never hurt me. I've always picked good girlfriends, Zack, unlike you. Trust me, I'm a better judge of character than you ever were!"
As it turned out, this time around Zack had been the better judge of character. And Cody was shattered. He felt so stupid, and used. Like one of those boys you have to pity because they're just so gullible. For days he did nothing but lay in bed, trying to endure the sharp pain erupting in his chest, killing everything that had been there before. Nothing mattered to him anymore. He didn't care about life, or goals. He stopped going to his classes, his grades dropped, his friends were neglected…his world came crashing down and all he wanted was for the avalanche to stop. His heart was throbbing and his whole body felt exhausted, drained, and worthless.
So eventually, he decided to die. He was sure it'd be easy. He'd stay with Zack for a while, tell him that he'd known better all along (he figured Zack deserved that much), apologize for not listening to him, and assure him of his love. Then later, when Zack went off to work, he'd rummage through Zack's bedroom until he found his .45-caliber handgun. He'd load it, point it at himself, and bang…clock himself out early.
Just like that.