I'm not really sure how I justified it to myself. Maybe it was the fact that they were just plastic toys, just various versions of Barbie and Ken and the occasional toy pet like those Sony robot dogs. They were so small, usually no taller than 16 inches, so cheaply made and featureless--most didn't even have bendable elbow joints--how could it be wrong to kill them? That's what I told myself every time, as I looked at their smoking remains, shattered and melted on the floor, the stench of burnt plastic filling my nostrils. But I didn't buy my own story. Sure they weren't really people, but most of them were shaped like people, and probably cost at least 5 dollars each--a lot more in the case of the Sony robot dogs.

So many children are crying today because of me. I am a monster.