Eric LaRue

Janice LaRue is the mother of Eric, a 17-year-old boy who shot and killed three of his classmates in school. Now, three months after Eric has been jailed, Janice has not yet gone to see him, nor has she found any way to deal with what happened or to show herself in her community. She goes to her Presbyterian pastor—a man who seems to see religion as a kind of therapy—to ask for guidance. He tries to convince her to come to a meeting he has set up with the mothers of two of the murdered boys, but she resists. Janice talks about the meeting with her husband, who, since the murder, has become "born again." He argues for her attending a meeting at his church instead and giving her burden to Jesus. Angered by his blind faith and inflexibility, she decides to go to her pastor's meeting, which quickly spirals out of control, ending with Janice being verbally attacked by one of the mothers and defending herself by recalling how the other boys had taunted and hurt Eric. Janice finally visits Eric in jail and tells him that she believes he "did the right thing" in killing those boys.