Something that happened in my high school

I've been thinking about old things a lot recently. Maybe it's due to my brother's death, or maybe it's because I'm simply older now (and 'the past' make up a lot more of my life). Or maybe it's because my job isn't exactly taxing my mental bandwidth. Regardless, I've been remembering a lot.

Something I haven't spoken to anyone about -- at least not in three decades -- was this one kid at my school named Willie Carlson. I remember that -- during my freshman year -- I rode the same school bus as Willie. I also remember having sat with him at least once.

During my sophomore year, Willie shot and killed his parents, then drove off to Quebec and crashed his parents' car. [Source] Further details of the story are really awful, but I'll not provide them here. Suffice to say that was a horrible way for his parents to meet their fate.

I didn't read the newspaper back then, and there was no internet, so I was never exposed to the full impact of what followed. Plus, I had enough stuff going on in my life that I didn't really pay much attention to that situation once the typical "Did you hear...?"s were over.

But I remember visiting the prison he was in later the following spring, when I had a "Practical Law" class. I don't remember seeing him, but we'd been told not to be stupid if we did.

That's all I have to say about my experience with Willie Carlson, but that incident has stayed with me. Sometimes, life throws some horrible **** at you. And sometimes, the things that happen are just plain unspeakable -- things that should not be allowed to happen to anyone.

And yet, they do.