Columbine

Chapter 31 begins by focusing on Dylan Klebold. Cullen writes, “Dylan was in pain. Nobody got it. Vodka helped.” Dylan would IM in his room at night, for hours. Sophomore year, he begins journaling. He titles his journal “Existences: A Virtual Book” (173).

Cullen holds that “Loneliness was the crux of [Dylan’s] problem” and that he “felt cut off from humanity.” He adds that Dylan was “profoundly religious” and his “belief was unwavering.” Prior to the Columbine massacre, Dylan “craved death for at least two years” (174) and believed that there would be repercussions in the afterlife for the actions he and Eric were planning to carry out. This notion was also what kept Dylan from taking his own life.

FBI Agent Fuselier, in analyzing Dylan’s journal, found it promising, in regard to locating motive, as Dylan’s journal “began a year earlier than Eric’s, filled nearly five times as many pages, and remained active right up to the end” (175). 

On April 25, the first Sunday after the shooting, and following packed church ceremonies, a mass vigil is set up in a shopping center across from Clement Park. Organizers plan for 30,000 people. More than 70,000 show up.