A Course in the Creation of Monsters
I listened to my mother rant. "Why on earth would anyone in their right mind take a course on creating monsters?" She asked with disgust.
"But mother, you always say I am not in my right mind, so I guess you have your answer!" I stormed out, as usual, and ran for the bus to college. I sat next to a mouth breather and made myself small on the edge of the seat.
I sighed when I finally reached the campus and headed for the forum. Friends waved and I waved back, gesturing that I needed coffee. I grabbed an extra large cup and headed to the table.
Flopping down on the molded plastic seat, I hugged the two friends I could reach and touched hands with others. They eyed my coffee, but I didn't feel like another night in jail for breaking the 'Dispersal of Intoxicants' law. I had been jailed too many times for that one. I tapped my Rx Card that was pinned to my chest and they all looked sad. I had told all of them what to say and do when they went to the doctor, but they were all too wimpy to try it.
I passed around a box of cookies, loaded with caffeine, and they were soon more lively. No one thought to check food, routinely, for caffeine.
We headed to class, all of us excited about creating monsters. The lecture hall was full of students, but empty of a teacher. That was nothing new. Many preferred to make an entrance.
They waited and reviewed the course info. Some left, some wandered around and even went through the desk looking for more info.
Suddenly the hall went black and a few squealed in alarm. My group chuckled, high on caffeine.
A playback of us was projected on the huge front wall and some faces and people were circled.
The lights came back up and there was a professor. He was tall and gorgeous, in my opinion and I was captivated with him.
"Which of you will become a monster?" He showed faces caught up in anger, storming out in frustration, searching. There were some pretty scary faces in the class.
"It won't be one of these people! Let's give them a round of applause!" We all laughed and clapped. Some people walked out, now realizing this was to be a more mentally applicable class than an actual monster creating class. Idiots!
"As you have now surmised, we are going to learn how monsters are created by society and/or inner demons. These are often found in combination."
"At least one of you will become a monster and most likely, more than one. My course is not accepted at many colleges, for some feel I am actually giving permission to the young monsters to surface and act. I am not. I want us to be able to identify the warning signs and possibly help them."
People were still leaving the class and the professor wasn't the least disturbed, it seemed. My group sat there attentively, for we had each known a monster, a monster now dead...
Our monster was named Loomis and was created from parental madness and addiction. He was raised by multiple foster parents who were not much better than his parents and when he had sought help when he became of age, he was rejected due to, 'No Discernible Mental Illness Found'.
He hadn't known how to act in society and my group had come upon him one day in the forum, for one thing that made him acceptable was his high IQ. He was tiny in size and in spirit. His skin was a bluish white from malnutrition and he was very small, about the size of a average ten year old. He was 22 years old.
It took a long time to get him to talk, but we had plenty of time. We had just begun our post mandatory education, so we had twelve years yet to explore the world and learn.
I remembered his first word. 'Coffee?' He had followed me to the coffee section, the way it used to be, and poured a huge cup and loaded it with cream and sugar. He sat with us and slowly became more 'real'. He looked faded before, but after the coffee and sugar, was in full color. He even smiled; the smile of a child.
As long as we kept him in coffee, which we did, he was alive and often happy. He lived in a half way house and we all joked about 'half way to what?' He had no answer.
His course load was huge and his focus was on the sciences and in particular, chemistry. He loved to invent things. Some of them actually worked. He invented a successful anti-hair loss treatment and was soon a multimillionaire. Did he forget us? No, but invited all of us to move in with him. Many did, but I was stuck at home with my aging parents. I stayed over a lot though.
He had everything in life, but love. We were his friends and could be trusted in that, but none of us liked him romantically and he craved a girl friend. He bought them for a few hours and sometimes longer, but he knew they didn't love him, just his money.
When he was getting really low, he met Amy. Amy was also small in size and they seemed to hit it off really well. He never wanted her to leave his side though. He craved her touch; holding hands, hugging, etc. He needed contact.
She tried to break off with him nicely, but it was soon a war. Restraining orders and court rooms were soon part of his life and his fortune began to dwindle. My friends moved out when he was evicted and the house locked by the courts. He was on the street. The half way house refused his return.
We bought him coffee and food and he couch surfed until parents became uncomfortable, for he had developed a hundred yard stare that freaked many out.
He went back to classes and was working on a personal protection weapon. His professors had faith in him and never queried him about the project.
The 'weapon' was presented at a press conference. His agent spoke first, for Loomis was shy again.
"Mr. Boyer has invented an item which will enable everyone to be safe! It is in this tiny vial." He shook a tiny item out of the vial and then placed it behind his right ear.
"May I have a volunteer?" A reporter stepped forward.
"Slap me." The reporter hesitated. "Go ahead, slap me." The reporter pulled back his hand and tried to slap the agent. He was suddenly frozen in place. It was momentary, but gave the agent time to run from the scene.
Applause roared through the room. Loomis stood and approached the microphone now. "It interferes with the electric current in the perps muscles for a short while. It gives you time to escape." He nodded and went back to his seat.
He was given fifty million as a deposit on the riches he would accrue, but it was soon evident that the weapon had a problem. It worked all the time. Anecdotes were soon spreading around the world.
'Police officer foiled by new PPW when trying to grab a woman falling from the Eiffel Tower.'
'Mother unable to save toddler at zoo.'
The weapon could not discern if a movement was peaceful or not, so it stopped all movements. Of course, no court had a case since Loomis had never qualified what it would stop. He was now a pariah, a very hated man.
He stayed in his mansion wearing PPW's and worked on new inventions to retrieve the respect he was due.
His first invention in his new mind set was to develop a blocking patch for the PPW. It nullified the PPW. His goal was to sell to 'the bad guys' since 'the good guys' had turned against him. And sell he did!
There was a reemergence of violence worldwide and warrants were constructed in every nation. He was wanted worldwide for crimes against humanity.
There was one experiment he had told no one about; PPW magnifier. It enabled not only blocking of an assault, but turning the assault against the perp with a huge force. He constructed a garment for himself that was embedded with the new PPWM and went into the world.
He drove to our school. We saw him, but his eyes burned through us and we withdrew. Well, most of us withdrew. Amy approached and tried to take his hand in apology. She was thrown into the air and broken in half and then thrown to the roof of the forum. We gasped and ran.
Not everyone for away. Some of us were injured, some killed, some lost our minds.
He was unstoppable until a scientist on campus asked why they couldn't use a simple EMP. It worked and a quick head shot, actually six, put him down.
The monster was dead.
"Ms. Johnson?" The professor was standing over me and my friends were all around me. I was crying quietly. "Are you alright?" I nodded.
"Just remembering the monster we knew... "
"Yes, Loomis... a creation of parents and society; a monster... "
He walked back to the podium. "We will end class one now and I will see you next time."
He came back up to me. "How do you have a prescription for caffeine?"
"They figured I had suffered enough and the only thing that makes me want to live is caffeine. I need it, otherwise I just sleep all the time and want to die."
He nodded. "Were you injured during his last stand?"
I nodded as did the others. "Yes, Loomis decided that I was the one who had caused all his problems by being nice to him and getting him coffee. I am mostly made of titanium and plastics now. I am my own monster now."
I stood and looked up at the lovely man and he shook his head. "You are no monster." He stared into my eyes and smiled, but I watched as the smile faded, for he could not break eye contact with me. I gave him a break and looked away first.
He left quickly and my friends left with me. I gave them each another cookie. We had lab experiments next class, many lab experiments...
No comments:
Post a Comment