ATW

WARNING: This story involves potentially triggering language and subject matter, and is intended for mature audiences only. Discretion is strongly advised.

Sometimes the mind is a terrible thing…

Perhaps it's true that some people are simply born evil. A destructive genetic mutation, perhaps; some dark strand of DNA that, when activated, provides fertile ground for the worst of human capabilities.

Adam Thomas Whitmore, Jr.—sitting in the back of his math class and wearing a hoodie that conceals more than just his body—is one of those people.

As his deranged mind obsesses over twisted fantasies of the devastation he is soon to carry out—devastation that will lay waste to the innocent lives of classmates and teachers and haunt the memories of an entire community forever—a disturbing truth is revealed, one too dark and troubling to admit.

Sometimes, the most evil of intentions can be thwarted…

…and sometimes, they can't, with tragedy following close behind.

Sometimes, there is no happy ending.

The mind is a terrible thing…