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Since I can’t seem to care about my academics right now, I’ve been wasting my time on the internet all afternoon. My surfing as caused me to land in various random websites, and it occurred to me then that I have a strange fascination for child murderers–particularly if they are girls. There’s something frighteningly cute about a young girl’s plump face shining with innocence as the blood drips down from the knife she clutches in her hand.

My online reading on the prepubescent psychopaths began when I stumbled upon the Wikipedia article of an 11-year old Japanese girl known only as Nevada-Tan. She was nicknamed so because in a class picture shown on the Internet, the girl was wearing a sweatshirt with the word “NEVADA” in front. The suffix -tan is a childlike way of saying the Japanese -chan, an affectionate term. One lunch hour at Sasedo Elementary School, Nevada-Tan lured her friend Satomi into an empty classroom, covered her eyes, and slit her throat with a box knife. The latter then returned to her classroom, her clothes splattered with her friend’s blood. It didn’t take her too long to break down and confess to her teacher that she did a “bad thing”.

The motive behind the murder? A lot of people think that her violent tendencies were influenced by the movie Battle Royale and a horror TV show called Monday Mystery Theater, which involved killing people efficiently with box cutters. Apparently, Satomi insulted Nevada on her popular blog and when Nevada demanded an apology, the former called her “pretentious”. Ten days later, Satomi was dead.

What I find kind of creepy about Nevada-Tan (aside from the look on her face that says, “you’re next”) is how people on the internet started celebrating this crazy kid. Believe it or not, she has her own fandom; people have drawn fan art, written songs, and even cosplayed as her. I’d be a hypocrite if I started lamenting about how terrible this is because to tell the truth, I wouldn’t mind dressing up in the bloodied “NEVADA” hoodie for Halloween. Not because I think kids who kill kids are “cool”; rather, it’s a lot more frightening to see a kid with a bloody knife than an adult with a bloody knife. Since I look more like a kid than an adult, it’s such a fitting costume.

Perhaps that creepiness factor I just mentioned can explain why there are more fan sites for Nevada-Tan instead of memorial sites for Satomi. It’s like something that stepped out of a B movie. Nobody cares about the first person who dies in a slasher film; all everyone wants to find out is who was the psycho who did this and why? When the killer turns out to be the least likely person - a child - it’s even better because it’s a new and unexpected plot twist.

At least Nevada-Tan was a normal girl who had a motive for doing what she did. If there’s anything worse than an adorable-looking child killer, it’s an adorable-looking child killer who is genuinely psychopathic. Mary Bell was also eleven years old when she killed two young boys, Brian Howe and Martin Brown while she was accompanied by her friend, Normal Bell (no relation). She also made cryptic statements such as, “Brian Howe has no mother, so he won’t be missed” and left the following note when she and a friend vandalized a nursery: “I murder so THAT I may come back.”

Both were eventually caught and tried for the murder of the two boys. Although both girls accussed each other, it became more evident that Mary was the more intelligent and manipulative of the two. During the trial, her behavior did little to evoke sympathy from the jury; she looked emotionally blank, and it didn’t help that her mother behaved like a bad soap opera star with her wailing and sobbing. Norma was declared innocent, whereas Mary was found guilty of murder and diminished responsibility. Her sentence: “detention for life”. Mary cried while the verdict was said, uncomforted by her family.

She was eventually released when she turned 23 and gave birth to a daughter of her own in 1984, which she fought to keep. Mary insisted that if there was something wrong with her when she was a child, it isn’t there anymore. I find that a little doubtful considering that she didn’t have proper psychiatric treatment when she was in prison. In 1998, she published a book called Cries Unheard to set the record straight about her story, although a law was made afterwards so that crimminals couldn’t profit from their misdeeds. Which is fair enough. I mean, if all it takes for to get me published is to have a psychopathic childhood, I’d be very pissed.

Finally, there’s the tragic and slightly depressing story of 2-year old James Bulger who was beaten-up, sexually molested, and left on the train tracks to die by two 11-year old boys back in 1993. I won’t even bother making a commentary on this one because I don’t think I can begin describe the atrocity of the crime.

Reading all that just reinforced my opinion that children are bloody little beasts. I’m pretty sure not all kids are like that but just the same, I’m going to take even more care to avoid children for a while.