Chew on this

So, this young guy from the south gets back home from the war in Iraq. He's so depressed and fucked up after everything he did/saw there that he's really horrible to be around. He's mean to everyone, he hardly does anything, and he just hates life. One day his dad (this old southern dude) gets fed up. He hands his son a loaded shotgun and tells him, "Here son, take this out into the woods, real far from here and... you know." He meant shoot himself. So the kid, surprised as fuck, takes the gun into the woods that night. He walks into the middle of the forest, where it was so dark he could barely see his own hands. He couldn't believe what his dad had asked him to do, but considering the recent state of things it kind of made sense. The kid sat alone, in the middle of bumfuck nowhere holding the shotgun all night, thinking about the life he was about to end. He made sure he was really far from home. He thought about who would find his body, what his family would do, if his dad would admit to handing him the gun. He tried to wrap his head around the whole situation; tried to make sure he was ready.

Finally he takes a deep breath, puts the gun to his mouth and shoots. He realizes his dad had purposely loaded the shotgun wrong. The kid goes back home that morning, tired and confused. He hadn't slept all night. His dad is at the kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee. He looks at his haggard son and asks, "You get it now?"