9 year old boy arrested for
murder; a crime that shocked the nation
James Houston. Age 19. I moved to Croydon when I was 15,
after my parents had a rocky break up, my Mum decided it would be best start a
new life. ‘Where did you live before?’ Oh, you probably wouldn’t have heard of
it, it’s a small village in the middle of nowhere. ‘I recognise you from
somewhere’ Yeah people always say that to me, I’ve just got one of them faces.
‘why are you acting so weird?’ Why all the questions?
I’ve learnt every trick in the book now. It’s all about
being vague, but not too vague, and then you sort of change the subject. Or if
in doubt just deflect the questions… Why are you asking? Living under a false
name has become pretty easy; my life depends on people believing I’m James
Houston. James Houston has friends, people who care about him, who don’t judge
him… But I don’t.
It was a mistake; I was too young to understand the
consequences of my actions. He bullied me for years, it never stopped… I
thought I was the only person who could stop it. I was a scared and angry child
but not an evil one. Before I knew it was all other the papers, people were
threatening me, they would write horrible things and put them through my door.
Really horrible things. I was hated by society. Rejected. Outcast. Even my own
family despised me.
I wanted people to understand why I did it, what drove me to
it. But before I knew it I was front page news; ‘murderer’… ‘Murderer’…
‘Murderer’… I was too young to be arrested; I was put into a secure unit for
‘children like me’. The threats got worse and worse. It was not only me who
faced rejection, my mother lost her job, her friends; she would receive hate
mail, and abuse everyday. They blamed her for raising a criminal.
So I left my ‘life’ behind and became James Houston.
What I don’t understand is, society accepts James Houston;
they accept the way he looks, the way he speaks, the choices he makes. I look
just like James Houston, I speak the same as him, act the same, make the same
choices as him, but I will never be accepted. One day of my past will always
define how people see me. One mistake I’ve made. A terrible one. But take away
that one day, that one hour of my life and James Houston is me.
Rejection.
JASMIN EVE
Well done Jasmin! Another superb piece of writing that also shows your versatility and ability to adopt different styles and voices. Your writing is very well structured in terms of what you tell the reader when, which makes the piece very compelling and engaging. Your character is interesting, convincing and believable.
ReplyDeleteIn your response, please answer the following questions:
• What are you, as a writer, saying about the theme of rejection in this piece? Do you have a message you want the reader to take away, or is your intention more ambiguous?
• Can you make any connections between the way the theme is explored in your story and in ‘Huckleberry Finn’?