Jillian Burcar
English (Creative Writing)
Prose work, 2007

One of the most unusual entries ever received for the contest involves this series of documents that together compose a bizarre murder mystery. Burcar’s work proposes a scenario in which a girl named Alice (Arisu in Japanese, the name she used for her blog) methodically plots to kill her mother with thallium, a toxic metallic element with a long and sensational history of use as a poison. Included in this piece is a scientific flow chart of Alice’s experiments on rodents, as well as a printout of her sixteen-month online diary where she tracked her progress and discussed her dissections of rabbits. In addition, documentation of the aftermath of her “success” includes a local newspaper article and a memo detailing what can only be assumed is the attempt by her abusive father to profit from the sad chain of events with a tell-all exclusive story.