Bad Little Kid - What would you do if targeted?

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agolosha

Member
Jun 25, 2007
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30
When I read something like "Bad Little Kid" or watch a film like "It Follows", I like to put myself in that world, as I am, and think how I would react.

Premise is you were told the story of the Bad Little Kid and you're the next target (just how the story ends). What would you do?

The thing or "kid" is immortal, and possibly has the ability to teleport or turn invisible. Anticlimactically, I'd probably just go with it. Ignore the kid when he comes, mourn the loved ones driven to death (consoling them the best way I could at the time).
I'd carry a camera or video recorder 24/7 to record the kid when I could to convince certain people that the kid did exist. That is if the recordings didn't turn into static.
I'd probably research all I could on "entities" that most resembled the "Kid". Reach out to people who I could find that had similar experiences. Build some sort of database or self publish a book or website so later people could stumble across it and help them. Or the very least give them something to build on, so they could help later people.

Basically Clive Barker's "Jack Polo" but not being nearly as successful in the end.
 
Mar 12, 2010
6,538
29,004
Texas
When I read something like "Bad Little Kid" or watch a film like "It Follows", I like to put myself in that world, as I am, and think how I would react.

Premise is you were told the story of the Bad Little Kid and you're the next target (just how the story ends). What would you do?

The thing or "kid" is immortal, and possibly has the ability to teleport or turn invisible. Anticlimactically, I'd probably just go with it. Ignore the kid when he comes, mourn the loved ones driven to death (consoling them the best way I could at the time).
I'd carry a camera or video recorder 24/7 to record the kid when I could to convince certain people that the kid did exist. That is if the recordings didn't turn into static.
I'd probably research all I could on "entities" that most resembled the "Kid". Reach out to people who I could find that had similar experiences. Build some sort of database or self publish a book or website so later people could stumble across it and help them. Or the very least give them something to build on, so they could help later people.

Basically Clive Barker's "Jack Polo" but not being nearly as successful in the end.

I don't remember Bad Little Kid but SK's stories often make me wonder what I might do too :)
 

AnnaMarie

Well-Known Member
Feb 16, 2012
7,068
29,564
Other
When I read something like "Bad Little Kid" or watch a film like "It Follows", I like to put myself in that world, as I am, and think how I would react.

Premise is you were told the story of the Bad Little Kid and you're the next target (just how the story ends). What would you do?

The thing or "kid" is immortal, and possibly has the ability to teleport or turn invisible. Anticlimactically, I'd probably just go with it. Ignore the kid when he comes, mourn the loved ones driven to death (consoling them the best way I could at the time).
I'd carry a camera or video recorder 24/7 to record the kid when I could to convince certain people that the kid did exist. That is if the recordings didn't turn into static.
I'd probably research all I could on "entities" that most resembled the "Kid". Reach out to people who I could find that had similar experiences. Build some sort of database or self publish a book or website so later people could stumble across it and help them. Or the very least give them something to build on, so they could help later people.

Basically Clive Barker's "Jack Polo" but not being nearly as successful in the end.

And then people would roll their eyes and offer you a tin hat. ;)
 

Walter Oobleck

keeps coming back...or going, and going, and going
Mar 6, 2013
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34,805
Run like hail? Have not read the story...had seen the title one among many before the collection was published and thought, yeah, great title, wonder what it is about? Not to worry though as I have a touch of the Anderson's Disease...age I guess, forgetting things. Or, could be the way I am. There was this once, or more than once, someone provided me with detailed instruction on how to go about cleaning up the garage? I listen, nod in all the right places, and then?
cue Frank, arms spread wide, I DID IT! MY! WAY!
But yeah, looking forward to a read at some point. What are those fish?
 

agolosha

Member
Jun 25, 2007
13
30
...dissing King's story?.....
Explain.

And then people would roll their eyes and offer you a tin hat. ;)
Agreed. But that's where research and outreach to other people who've experienced similar occurrences. Something I noticed in a fair bit of supernatural stories. No serious period of research and outreach by the protagonist.

I'd reason with him, and if that didn't work, I'd tell him the family down the block in the yellow corner house thinks your fat, stupid, and lazy; I heard them laughing at you as well.
That's why I brought up "Jack Polo". Trying to outwit something supernatural doesn't seem likely. But if it's confirmed that the thing is attached to me for life, I might as well strike up dialogue. But could you out wit, or bore, a mentally unstable troll online... that could kill your loved ones?

I'd just shrug him off as a nuisance, at first. If he decides to use violence, I've got a cabinet full of shotguns by the laundry room door. I plead the Second.
Doesn't end well for the guy who did that in the story.

As for those asking what the story is about, it's about a supernatural child (or something in child form) stalking the protagonist throughout his life, harassing him and causing the death of his loved ones on purpose. He eventually confronts and kills the kid. He's executed, and we find out the kid is also immortal, moving on to other prey.
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
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Cambridge, Ohio
Explain.


Agreed. But that's where research and outreach to other people who've experienced similar occurrences. Something I noticed in a fair bit of supernatural stories. No serious period of research and outreach by the protagonist.


That's why I brought up "Jack Polo". Trying to outwit something supernatural doesn't seem likely. But if it's confirmed that the thing is attached to me for life, I might as well strike up dialogue. But could you out wit, or bore, a mentally unstable troll online... that could kill your loved ones?


Doesn't end well for the guy who did that in the story.

As for those asking what the story is about, it's about a supernatural child (or something in child form) stalking the protagonist throughout his life, harassing him and causing the death of his loved ones on purpose. He eventually confronts and kills the kid. He's executed, and we find out the kid is also immortal, moving on to other prey.
...explain?....ok, it's what I said...you use the story as a basis for your imaginings and insult King's tale telling as a pale imitation of someone else's writing...that may not have been your intent but it's the way it came across to me...
 

agolosha

Member
Jun 25, 2007
13
30
...explain?....ok, it's what I said...you use the story as a basis for your imaginings and insult King's tale telling as a pale imitation of someone else's writing...that may not have been your intent but it's the way it came across to me...

1. Yes, not only do King's stories stay with me after reading them, but they can still provide further enjoyment. Like imagining what if I were the protagonist.
2. Yes, other authors exist, and some of them write horror/supernatural fiction too. Which I also read.
 

Gerald

Well-Known Member
Sep 8, 2011
2,201
7,168
The Netherlands
There's a mistake in this story. I only have the translation, don't know if it's in the original. The town Talbot first is said to be in Indiana, and later on in Alabama.

I also wondered if it's really true that children in the US when they first go to school have their fingerprints taken, in case they get lost, abducted etc. And that it's even mandatory in some states.

I like this story, it feels like quite classic King, reminds me a bit of Sometimes they come back, or even Suffer the little Children - in the sense that a child is bad and an adult knows it, but no other adult will believe.
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
358,754
62
Cambridge, Ohio
There's a mistake in this story. I only have the translation, don't know if it's in the original. The town Talbot first is said to be in Indiana, and later on in Alabama.

I also wondered if it's really true that children in the US when they first go to school have their fingerprints taken, in case they get lost, abducted etc. And that it's even mandatory in some states.

I like this story, it feels like quite classic King, reminds me a bit of Sometimes they come back, or even Suffer the little Children - in the sense that a child is bad and an adult knows it, but no other adult will believe.
FINGERPRINTING OF CHILDREN SPREADING
 

Gerald

Well-Known Member
Sep 8, 2011
2,201
7,168
The Netherlands

It seems it's not mandatory as said in the story, where Bradley suggests it is in Kansas. It seems smart to do it, especially in such a big territory as the US. Who should keep the prints? I would say police - seems to me parents are more likely to lose them, and the police will need them anyway in a missing person case.
 
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GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
358,754
62
Cambridge, Ohio
It seems it's not mandatory as said in the story, where Bradley suggests it is in Kansas. It seems smart to do it, especially in such a big territory as the US. Who should keep the prints? I would say police - seems to me parents are more likely to lose them, and the police will need them anyway in a missing person case.
...I agree, but more pundits seem to think it’s to Orwellian if the authorities exclusively have such info....