When he's not busy doing schoolwork, playing basketball or engaged in the daily dramas of teenagers, Adam Ahmed likes to spend time in a fantasy world. One of the short stories he wrote and posted on his Web page included his character's battles with goblins, an encounter with a dragon that "roared an icy breath," and a quest to find "affordable housing" near the edge of a cliff.
Adam, 13, is a perceptive kid with a great eye for details. So it's not a stretch to think the reference to the cliff-side affordable housing might have some roots in reality. Adam lives at Seward Towers East, just a few blocks from the store where three men were murdered recently.
At least one of the victims lived in Seward Towers and was a friend of Adam's family. A large percentage of residents of the towers are East African, so it's like a small town.
Adam also knows one of the suspects. "He seemed like a nice kid," said Adam. "I was really surprised."
But bad things can happen near the edge of a cliff.
Adam remembers seeing a relative of one of the victims shortly after the slayings. "She was crying. I'll never forget her face as long as I live," he said.
"Things have calmed down now," he said.
For Adam, and his brothers Omar, 14, and Hamza, 7, normalcy has returned. Today that means their weekly "Study Buddies" meetings at the Advantage Center in the east tower.