Very Strange But Very Short Stories #6

Child Killers

Child Killers

Dr. Farnborough’s Diary - 08/07/82

There are child killers, yes. And they are terrifying, evil people without morals or shame. But then, there are child killers. Children, who kill. 

There are cases of children as young as 6 who have murdered. I remember when I first learned of the Mary Bell case, I was positively flabbergasted. Never, had my mind even attempted to conceive of a child so young having the capacity for cold blooded, intentional, seemingly pre-planned murder. The innocence of children indeed. 

But as I began working with young children who have displayed homicidal tendencies, I began to discover that more often than not - there was some unspeakable trauma sitting just below the surface. Some unmerciful injustice that had been put upon the child, causing he or she to lash out in worrying, complex ways. I refuse to believe that any child is ‘born evil’. They are pushed into it. They simply have to be. 

Dr. Farnborough’s Diary - 11/07/82

This case with Girl B is keeping me up. In the conversations I’ve had with her so far, she presents as positively delightful. She’s keen to learn - she’s talkative & displays clear signs of seemingly genuine empathy. And yet, when asked about the things she’s done - the terrible, terrible things, she talks of them without passion. Without regret. Her speaking is as plain as some of the top  clinicians in the facility. And she’s five. Dear God - five. 

I am due again to talk with her tomorrow. I indeed wonder what we can hope to glean from our meetings, or if someone who has done the things she has is even capable of true rehabilitation. I suppose only time will tell. 

Dr. Farnborough’s Diary - 13/07/82

Today’s session with Girl B was a sincere worry for me. A lot of the staff are convinced that due to her young age, she must be given another chance at life, but she has said things to me of late that I cannot in good conscious square with such an assessment. 

Tell me, what five year old anywhere else on this earth speaks of the ‘joy of innards’? This was her justification when I asked about the disemboweling which took place at her nursery.  Her use of language unsettles me almost as much as her misdeeds, being that she speaks far too eloquently for someone of her age. 

And yet, I still cannot bring myself to completely distrust her. Her appearance jars with her murderous intentions, and in so many other ways she is very much a typical five year old. She enjoys children’s television, and struggles with continence. Yet she never cries. I will be recommending she not go into foster care. Not yet, at least. We could learn a lot of valuable things from studying her, and I shudder to think what she might do, left to her own devices in the care of kind-hearted people. 

Dr. Farnborough’s Diary - 16/07/82

I was overruled. Girl B is due to go into the foster care system in all but a matter of days. I have never felt so professionally complicit in the inevitable murder of another person. At the very least, I did recommend against it. Documents will show this. When the time comes - documents will vindicate me. 

Dr. Farnborough’s Diary - 24/07/82

I had one more conversation with Girl B before she left the facility, and it has been playing on my mind over and over. 

She told me that she was grateful for the care she had received while in our building, and commented that she will even miss some of the staff. Again, her eloquence gives me shivers. But she told me that she knew that I had petitioned against her release. She said this to me - face to face - holding my gaze like any adult might. She wasn’t upset, or angry. But I actually felt sheepish in her company, like I had let her down. 

I denied it, naturally, and shifted the conversation into a different direction. I asked her what she most looked forward to in the future. She told me that what she most looked forward to was ‘growing up a bit’. I said that I thought this was a nice thing to look forward to. 

‘Yes’. She said. ‘I look forward to growing up, finding you and your family, and proving to you all just what I am capable of’.