How the Trouble Started by Robert Williams

How the Trouble Started

Robert Williams

Eight-year-old Donald rides his bike into a toddler who subsequently dies – resulting in life-changing consequences. Now 16, Donald is needy and consumed with guilt over what happened when he was a child. His decision to befriend an eight-year old, equally vulnerable, boy is hugely worrying. His story delivers an unnerving, thought-provoking read – directly from inside the mind of a lonely teenager.

Extract
I'd been expecting repercussions, I should be clear about that, but I didn't expect those repercussions to be an interview at the police station. They asked a lot of questions but I didn't say too much. It wasn't that I was scared, they were nice enough, they didn't shout or anything, but I didn't want to get into more trouble and the more I spoke the more trouble I might get myself into, so I went quiet. 'I was just playing', I told them, but that wasn't enough. They kept going back to the beginning and tried to work out every second of everything that had happened that morning .... 'It's important for us to know what you meant to do, Donald, what you were thinking in the few seconds before it happened and why you did what you did afterwards.'
Parallels
  • Luke and Jon by Robert Williams
  • The Guilty One by Lisa Ballentine