{"id":1235,"date":"2018-06-21T17:00:14","date_gmt":"2018-06-21T17:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jonathanharker.co.uk\/theghostlyworld\/?page_id=1235"},"modified":"2022-10-26T21:36:49","modified_gmt":"2022-10-26T21:36:49","slug":"boy-genius-3","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jonathanharker.co.uk\/theghostlyworld\/boy-genius-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Boy Genius – 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Joe Stanley<\/span><\/p>\n

III<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

One evening not long after, I was home watching the local news. A terrible tragedy had occurred. A house had burned to the ground killing the family in it.<\/span><\/p>\n

While I sighed for the loss of life, the reporters noted that due to the intensity of the blaze, arson was suspected. I had wondered if this was some awful instance of domestic violence, but then I heard the family name.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was Wells.<\/span><\/p>\n

I sat in confused disbelief. For a time, I dared not indulge the idea, berating myself for such a thought. But it wouldn’t go away. I tossed and turned that night and began making plans to get to the truth.<\/span><\/p>\n

I knew the boy was intelligent, very, very intelligent, but I was willing to pit my experience against it. I was hoping against hope that it wasn’t what I thought, but becoming more and more certain that it was exactly what I believed.<\/span><\/p>\n

As the days ticked by, I made my plans and back up plans. I checked and rechecked them obsessively.<\/span><\/p>\n

The next time Bobby walked into my office, I found myself wondering how this child, could be the monster I thought he was. He looked so innocent, so helpless and I was torn, but I resolved the issue quickly. I told myself that I had to find out the truth.<\/span><\/p>\n

After a few minutes of our usual talk, I began.<\/span><\/p>\n

“There’s something really important I need to talk to you about, Bobby.”<\/span><\/p>\n

“Oh?” he asked in a way that almost felt mocking, “What is that?”<\/span><\/p>\n

“There was a fire near your house. Did you hear about that?”<\/span><\/p>\n

“I thought you might ask,” he smiled slightly, just ever so slightly, as he glanced out the window.<\/span><\/p>\n

“A whole family died.”<\/span><\/p>\n

“Mikey and his family died.” he told me coldly, “I know.”<\/span><\/p>\n

“What do you think about that?” I asked, “How does that make you feel?”<\/span><\/p>\n

“I haven’t thought about Mikey since the last time we spoke about him. He may be dead, but he was mean. I don’t feel any different about him.”<\/span><\/p>\n

“You almost sound a little happy,” I said, lying.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I never said that,” he informed me, “Why do you ask, are you?”<\/span><\/p>\n

“You were happy when the bees burned up, weren’t you?” I pressed.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Wasps,” he corrected me, “I never said that either, I thought the explosion was neat,” his tone had not changed in the least, I wondered how much mine had. I started to ask another question, but he started talking first.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I remember every word I have ever said. I remember every word that has ever been said to me. Maybe your memory is not as good as mine?” He was actually challenging me in a subtle way and I was taken aback.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Bobby,” I asked going for the throat, “did you have anything to do with that fire?”<\/span><\/p>\n

He looked at me, his small blue eyes burning into mine and replied, “Your question is not a real question, it is an accusation. It is a serious one. If you think I did, show me the evidence you have.”<\/span><\/p>\n

His response was perfect, almost professional. I recalled that his mother had studied law before she studied medicine. I knew at that moment that he had started that fire and that I had absolutely no evidence of it. “Bobby,” I began but he cut me off.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I’m sorry you think I did,” he informed me with a note of regret in his voice, “That means I can’t come and see you anymore.”<\/span><\/p>\n

“That’s up to your parents Bobby.”<\/span><\/p>\n

“You think so? I think they’ll agree with me.”<\/span><\/p>\n

We sat in silence for a moment, as the hopelessness sunk into me.<\/span><\/p>\n

“What if I call the police?”<\/span><\/p>\n

“Call them. They will want to see your evidence, too.”<\/span><\/p>\n

“Why didn’t you answer the question Bobby? Yes or no?”<\/span><\/p>\n

“I didn’t answer because it’s not a question. I don’t have to answer a so-called question like that. This will be our last session,” and here he glanced up at the clock, “and your time is running out.”<\/span><\/p>\n

A few moments later, he got up, smiled and said “thank you” and walked out. I watched the little monster go, helpless.<\/span><\/p>\n

next part<\/span><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

back to previous episode<\/a><\/p>\n

back to list of stories<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Joe Stanley III One evening not long after, I was home watching the local news. A terrible tragedy had occurred. A house had burned to the ground killing the family in it. While I sighed for the loss of life, the reporters noted that due to the intensity of the blaze, arson was suspected. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1235","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonathanharker.co.uk\/theghostlyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonathanharker.co.uk\/theghostlyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonathanharker.co.uk\/theghostlyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonathanharker.co.uk\/theghostlyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonathanharker.co.uk\/theghostlyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1235"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/jonathanharker.co.uk\/theghostlyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2980,"href":"https:\/\/jonathanharker.co.uk\/theghostlyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1235\/revisions\/2980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonathanharker.co.uk\/theghostlyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}