Relatively minimizing emotional fallout of one's suicide
The character in my book is resolute and at peace with their upcoming self-inflicted demise. They have their tragic but solid reasons, and they know there's no way to be swayed from their course. Their only regret, though, is the way it'll cripple their family with grief.
They're a smart person, so they'll figure out the relatively least-bad circumstances under which to actually do it. The problem is that they're a smarter person than me, so I don't know what these circumstances might be.
Obviously no matter how they go about it, the family will be gutted. But there's got to be a way to at least soften the blow, even if slightly. Some ideas I've had:
- They plan a solo trip to a national park and "get lost". Pros: an accident would be relatively less devastating and avoid the "we could have saved them if only we'd done better!" mentality; they like hiking, so the cover story would hold up; and the method could be anything from falling off a cliff to drowning in a river to letting the elements/fauna do what they do, so even if/when their body is found, it still appears accidental. Cons: they've attempted suicide in the past, and their mental/emotional issues have been a recurring plot thread throughout the novel, so it might be fairly easy to see through.
- They could just be upfront and plainly honest about their mindset and worldview, explaining in no uncertain terms in their note that it's nobody's fault and that the decision was made with a restful heart. Pros: a "veiled confessions/goodbyes" chapter would close a lot of loose threads and resolve a lot of character arcs; it would be cleaner, more direct, and better at providing closure than faking an accident or something (wouldn't ripping off the bandaid be a good idea?). Cons: it would only very slightly minimize the family's distress, if at all. A smart character with the goal of hurting their loved ones as relatively little as possible would surely find a better way than to just full send their own death and hope that their note can provide padding against the grief.
There's also the timing. The character is melodramatic enough to wait until their own birthday to do it, for the sake of both poetic timing as well as to spare their family from having to experience the most acute grief on two days of remembrance each year (reducing it to just one instead). However, their birthday isn't for a few months from the current point in the story, and long story short I can't change that without having to completely rearrange the chronology and giving myself a huge headache. It just creates an awkward gap in time where this actively-suicidal young adult spends several months twiddling their thumbs. Maybe I could incorporate a bucket list, but that fucks with the narrative pacing even more.
On the other hand, it can't be too soon, because their sister's birthday is in just a couple of weeks from the current point (and I again can't shuffle it around without altering some key plot points in a way I really don't feel like doing) and they definitely are not the type of character to taint that event for her every year for the rest of her life. Thinking of it from their perspective, would a month or two be enough of a buffer to RELATIVELY preserve the ability for the sister to feel joy on her birthday ever again? If not, what do I have them do?