"That's life," he says, and it is. For him, at least, and a lot of the other kids in his neck of the woods. Nobody really cared. "And don't you tell me I'm not tough. I know what tough is."

At least, he hopes he does. But it's not antagonizing a child that makes him doubt it. It's the fact that he couldn't take on and defeat the grown man who killed him all by himself.

"She's the one who came up to me. I gave her every chance to run away. She didn't, so I grabbed the fucking bear. I wasn't actually going to attack her, I just wanted to scare her off. It's better if she stays away from me, anyway."