: How to create this scenario The novel I am writing hinges on an orphan boy, who is not evil, but merely frustrated and angry with the world and how it is treating him. I need him to do

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I'd suggest a prank gone wrong.

In real life, literally playing with matches or starting a prank fire has caused apartment buildings to burn down and kill several people. Maya can know Bob was prone to this, trying to scare people, and perhaps have even scolded him for doing it on the day of the fire.

Other pranks: Messing with somebody's car and causing a crash. I know a girl that nearly crashed because somehow a squirrel had gotten into her car, and the first she knew of this was when it leaped up onto the dash in front of her. Bob could do something like that intentionally, with a grass snake he found. It comes out from under a seat and kids start screaming hysterically, the person driving is panicked and crashes into a school bus, or veers into oncoming traffic and cause a lethal pile up.

On the same idea of messing with a vehicle, the vehicle can be an 18-wheeler and Bob can think he is just nicking a line with his pocket knife or poking a hole in something to cause the driver an inconvenience, but whatever he does causes a fluid leak (like brake lines) and the truck loses control to cause a big lethal mess on the highway.

Perhaps some prank about sabotaging the water supply could make people very sick, and kill elderly and infants with compromised immune systems. Bob may think this will only cause much vomiting, and not realize it will kill dozens.

Pranks are the kind of thing people can get away with and kill, and know they killed, dozens of people. In fire, in traffic accidents, in illness.

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