Crybaby

"Crybaby" is a short story by Harry Turtledove, published in Twilight Zone 12/87; Kaleidoscope, Del Rey 1990 and; 3 X T, Baen 2004. "Crybaby" is a horror story, charting new father Pete Flowers' slow descent into paranoia as his colicky new born Doug erupts into fits of crying at increasingly inopportune times for Peter. Peter becomes convinced that Doug is deliberately interfering with his happiness, with a tragic result.

"Crybaby" is one of Turtledove's most effective stories. While it's clear that Peter is not in a healthy place mentally, Turtledove also provides subtle hints that perhaps Doug really is trying to make his father miserable. The story's ending further suggests this unsettling possibility, as Turtledove makes use of the horror cliche of an evil being passed to an unsuspecting victim after it's destroyed the protagonist.