This is a short story I’m very proud of — thank you to the editors at Mystery Tribune for giving it a home!

Damaged

A lonely, neglected sixteen-year-old boy finds a man who seems to care about him. Desperate for an encouraging father figure, he’d do anything to please this man, even if it meant hurting a stranger. But humans are complicated, and even for skilled predatory adults, outcomes can be unpredictable. Sometimes unimaginably so.