Pure Evil

Tony Grace is pure evil in my book The Possessor. There is no right or wrong in Tony's world. He is anti-social, angry, and very lonely. He is an outcast in a world he can't comprehend.  I came up with the idea for Tony from two individuals that crossed my path earlier in my life.

I met the first boy when I was in grade school. He lived in a shack in the middle of a vacant lot. I'm sure that they didn't own the property, but were "homesteading" until someone kicked them off. The outside was nothing but discarded lumber. The inside was flattened tin cans nailed to the walls to keep out the cold. The yard around the shack was bare dirt littered with trash. This boy knew he and his family were different, and that dichotomy was evident in the classroom by his dress, social skills, and intelligence. He truly was a product of his environment. He was very angry and struck out at the other children. If you neared his home, he would attack you with homemade spears. This boy was truly a wild child.

The other boy lived in the Northeast part of Kansas City and came from a large family. The family harassed their neighbors, was always involved in petty crimes, and lived outside the boundaries of society. The children were truant most of the time. Although the children were taken out of the home from time to time, no foster home could handle them. If they did come to school, they struck out at the other children. I remember one incident where the boy went to court and the charges were dismissed on a technicality. Thinking she was alone, the mother grabbed him by the shoulders, violently shook him, and said next time he was not to get caught.

These two individuals have always been in the back of my mind because they had no control over who they were or what they would become in life. At times you pitied them, but most of the time you were petrified of them. One died early and the other is serving a life term in prison for murder. Combining these two individuals into Tony Grace produced a very evil individual.