The Ballad of Black Tom

by Victor LaValle

“I bear a hell within me,” Black Tom growled. “And finding myself unsympathized with, wished to tear up the trees, spread havoc and destruction around me, and then to have sat down and enjoyed the ruin.” “You’re a monster, then,” Malone said. “I was made one.”

“I was a good man, right? I mean I wasn’t like my father, but I never did people wrong. Not truly.” “No, you didn’t,” Buckeye said, looking his old friend directly in the eye. “You were always good people. Still are.” Black Tom smiled faintly but shook his head. “Every time I was around them, they acted like I was a monster. So I said goddamnit, I’ll be the worst monster you ever saw!”