A 14-year-old sociopath I once 'entertained' in my counsellor's office lacked the skill to cover his 'reading' of me.

He'd say something to engender compassion and, like an ambush predator, he'd check in on my reactions to his 'feints'.

It chilled me to the bone when he'd smile and nod his feral thanks as he exited to look left and then right down a busy corridor, filled with sheep.

And he got better each and every time he was in my office for a myriad of offences.

Thankfully, there weren't that many more as a short time later he was expelled.

There was absolutely no impulse control...it wasnt so much a lack of 'cause and effect' cognition as it was 'I want to do this...to see what will happen'.

Won't go into any more details as he was a minor at the time and he may get out of prison soon.

After reading in the local paper that he, at 19, had murdered his father who was asleep in his bed, I phoned a colleague and asked his opinion now that our former student had become psychopathic:

"He'll only get better in prison, telling those who control his parole hearings what they 'need to hear'...and God help us when he gets out and finds himself gainfully employed at the end of a telescopic rifle."

Thanks for the read even though it had me saying 'yikes, that sounds familiar'...familiar enough to turn the morning coffee from slurp to sip to sigh.