Outside Reading #3- pgs. 99-146

This new chapter in the book brings to light the early years of Billy. What went wrong that made him snap and fly off the handle? When he was 15 years old, Billy and his parents went to go meet with someone who works for Children's Services. He had a caseworker whom evaluated his behaviors and moods on a regular basis. The caseworker said in an assessment, "I believe that Billy is a very troubled you man. Billy is withdrawn and impulsive. It appears that Billy responds to others in whichever way will give him the most attention. He refuses to divulge his memories of his past. I believe this is because he does not want to deal with his emotions. Psychological tests indicated that Billy is a very sensitive person and easily hurt. I believe that Billy is suppressing much hurt and/or anger. He has also found that as long as he attracts attention by doing either responsible or irresponsible acts, he never has time to deal with his inner thoughts and feelings" (100). The social worker strongly suggested Billy be sent to a reform school, and Linda asked Jody what she thought about that. Jody immidiately said he should go. This hasty answer suprised our author in an interview, and she finds that "Billy's creeping into Jody's bedroom late at night, while she was sleeping, with the purpose of molesting her..." (101). So we begin to learn that yes, Billy loved his sister so much, but did he love her almost too much? Or in the wrong way? We can't really know for sure, but we do know that there was more going on then first said. And by the way, Billy later denied this ever happening, and said it was their father. The social worker still released Billy back to his parents, and a week later he was charged for burglary in the first degree, and also arson in the first degree.

The following chapter explains in detail exactly how Billy Gilley murdered his parents and younger sister. I'm not going to go into extreme detail, but we'll leave it at that Billy murdered his sleeping father first, then moved onto his mother, asleep in the next room. Becky was in that room and he sent her upstairs to Jody. Becky obliged, being half asleep, but quickly returned after Jody got frustrated with her for waking her up. Meanwhile, Billy was beating his mother to death. Jody heard Becky scream, many thuds of the bat, and silence. Then Billy came upstairs to Jody's room. Jody heard him coming, and contemplated jumping out of her window, sure that Billy was coming to kill her next. And then he came upstairs. "The first thing he said was about Becky. That he was sorry he killed her and that we were free. And over and over he said he wasn't crazy" (144).