Ten Birthdays
James Moriarty
No one remembers his birthday.
It's his sixteenth birthday, and no one cares. That's the way he likes it. Birthdays were so dull. He wasn't allowed to go out, because he had to 'spend time with the family', but no one actually wanted him around anyway. He knew because his brother had told him so.
"You do know you were an accident, right?" says Dominic. Jim sees the malice in Dominic's eyes, and he wants to hurt him.
"Dominic," he starts, barely able to keep his voice level. "I am going to kill you." And Dominic laughs.
Which makes Jimmy smile. Because Dominic thinks it's a joke.
But it's not.
Jimmy always looked back on that birthday as special. It was the day he realized he was meant for something more, the day he left home.
The day murdering his own brother showed Jimmy a way to stave off the dullness and the boredom.