“THE TRUTH IS NOT DELICATE AND IT DOES NOT SUFFER FROM DENIAL—THE TRUTH ONLY DIES WHEN TRUE STORIES ARE UNTOLD.”   -KEN LIU

                              Based on a true incident. Name of the characters and the place were changed.

                                                                       THE YOUNG DEVIL

It was a pleasant morning. The village is full of trees and birds. Most of the villagers were illiterate. They were daily wages. Job is crucial in this world. Everyone works hard to earn. The villagers worked on their fields. They almost harvest rice. It was the year 2010 November 22. Everyone thought that this was a usual day. But none knew that hardest day in their lives.

Time 11 am.

The phone at the Anna Nagar police station in Trichy kept ringing, which was quite unusual. The policemen who were engaged in their usual jobs wouldn't have imagined that those phone calls would unravel one of the strangest and gruesome mysteries of a serial killing spree. The phone calls came from a small hamlet in Tamilnadu. The villagers informed the police that they have captured a ruthless killer. They asked the police to come to the village to arrest the criminal. The police rushed to the village immediately. It was then that the world knew about the youngest serial killer in the country. 

The villagers had handed over an eight-year-old boy named Sitharaman Sithu as the killer to the police. The police had initially rebuked the villagers, asking how such a young boy could commit a heinous crime. However, the policemen were shocked when they learned the truth from the villagers. They couldn't believe that the innocent-looking young boy was behind a series of murders in the village. Sithu was unperturbed when he explained how he had committed all the murders. The policemen looked petrified listening to Sithu confessing his crimes. Even when he was taken away to the station, the young boy was staring, with an icy glare, at the police. The police asked him why he had committed such gruesome crimes. But all Sithu did was smile at the policemen. 

He told the police that he was starving and that he needed some biscuits. The police gave him biscuits and asked him how he killed the children. Sithu said that he took the kids to deserted fields and hit them hard on their faces using bricks until they weren't breathing anymore. After making sure that they were dead, Sithu hid their bodies using grass and dried leaves. 

SITHU

On the brightest sunny day, a woman gave birth. Everyone was happy that the first baby was a boy. After a few months, Sithu behaves well like an ordinary child. He tried to speak and play with other children. The days were running quickly. At the age of five, there was a change in his behaviour. he was not ready to play with other children, he became very naughty. Climbing and hanging on trees were his hobbies. He was the only company on his own. Even they didn't have money for their daily meals so, it was impossible for them to buy toys. Sithu was a creative boy, whatever he had, he imagined them as toys. He used to play with stones, bricks and sticks. 

When he turned 7, Sithu's aunt entered his house with a six-month-old baby. She got a job in a nearby city as a chef. She told to Sithu's mother to take care of her child for some days coz it was unsuitable for her to leave a six-month child alone. However, Sithu's mother didn't like that idea. She thought that already three in her family and it was hard to feed them. Sithu's aunt explained her situation and told her that she would give her a little amount from her first month's salary. Then she hugged and kissed the little baby and left.

Two weeks later:

Sithu's mother insisted that she wanted to go market until he was needed to take care of that six-month-old boy. When she left the house, Sithu came out and watched his mother's dispersal. When she disappeared, Again he entered his house and stared at the little kid. The kid was sleeping. There his thoughts became cruel.

(ominous music rises)

He screwed the kid's ear and enjoyed the kid's cry. Next time he pinched the kid’s cheek and belly. The kid cried louder. Then his hands were running into the kid's neck. He strangled the neck with his cruel laughing, after a few minutes the sound of the kid became muted. Then he lifted the kid's corpse and went backyard. He slowly kept the child on the ground. He took a brick and hit the kid vigorously. The kid was beaten on his head until his brain came out. 

After two hours:

Sithu's mother back to her house. Sithu was playing with his broken toy. When she entered the house, she was astonished. There she couldn't find the kid. Sithu was asked about the kid. And his answer was, he killed the kid. Hearing his answer, she became a statue. Again she asked him if he hid him. He answered that the kid was hidden. Then Sithu's mother got relaxed. She asked him where did he hide him and said that the kid will be beaten by insects. 

Sithu brought her to the backyard and showed her a tree. But she couldn't find the kid. He again showed her under the tree and told her that it was dug. She dug and found a broken head. Her heartbeats were bumped. She didn't know what to do. She beat him ferociously and asked him why he did this.

When sithu's father back home, she informed everything that happened. Both tied him and beat him. So there they did a blender mistake. After a few days, Sithu's aunt back to Sithu's home to get back her kid. In that situation Sithu's father didn't know what to do, so he asked to forgive him. However, Sithu's aunt didn't know what was going on. Sithu's parents explained what happened to the kid. if it was spread, Sithu's future became dark. And asked for forgiveness. However, none didn't get that how she accepted. this was the exact cause, Sithu continued his cruel hunting.

After a few months, Sithu's mother gave her second child. She always advised him that the kid was his own sister; he had to take care of her. Even though she had a fear of his son Sithu. Every day at midnight, she woke up and looked into her little girl. It continued for eight months.

On a new day, Sithu played outside and return home. There he saw his eight-month sister, was laughing at him. He took his sister and strangled her neck. After some time, Sithu's mother woke up and tried to feed her however there was no motion. She thought that the kid was sleeping. So she tried to wake her up but she failed. She became speechless. She found Sithu and asked him if he killed his sister. Sithu smiled and nodded his head. She shouted at him and cried. Then his father beat him. Due to that noise, neighbours were surrounded there. Sithu answered his father that it was fun. Neighbours advised Sithu's father to inform the police. However, Sithu's father apologized to them and informed them that Sithu's future would become dark if he informed the police. Everyone accepted him. However none knew, he would kill again.

A few months later

A woman named Lekha needed to go to market. She didn't like to leave her daughter alone in her house. So, she laid her sleeping daughter in a nearby primary school before returning home to do her chores. However, the mother couldn't find her daughter when she came back to school. The villager searched her daughter everywhere. Then everyone's suspicious vision did go on Sithu. 

By then, Sithu had already strangled out of the little kid's fragile body. When the people of the locality caught him and questioned him, Sithu confessed without even showing an iota of remorse. And he showed them where he dug her corpse. The villagers were shocked to see that inhuman activity. Sithu was asked how he did that. Sithu answered them that he broke her head with a brick, and laughed.

Lekha told Sithu's parents if they confessed his previous murder to the police, then her child could be alive. Sithu's parents stood speechlessly. 

Finally, the doctors who treated Sithu diagnosed him as a sadist who found joy in hurting others. Sithu was affected by conduct disorder. Conduct disorder is a type of disorder. It's when a child has antisocial behaviour. Sithu was shifted to a juvenile home where he served his sentence.

All the family members were aware that it was Sithu who had committed the murders. However, they tried to save him by not revealing anything. That only helped in fanning the murderous instincts in Sithu.

                                        

                                    "Don't try to save your child from the crime, it leads to another."