International Legends

Chapter 31 - Leo

10 Years Ago

Back in my own world, there was an emphasis on strength in numbers. Eugenics, quite honestly, was supported. It was often a frequent discussion of a topic with my dad, and an understanding of how the world was designed. Sure, animals and humans lived in harmony, but that didn't mean that the "survival of the fittest" motto wasn't the main guiding philosophy of our society. Adolf Hitler, which I had googled in the sacred timeline, turned out to be nothing more than a villain in this world. In my world, he was perceived as a hero. In this world, it was accepted that diversity was a strength of humanity. In my world, uniformity was the main guiding principle of all reactions.

After Norma had died, I was forced to go back to school and study for my career. Of course, the emphasis was on marketing, and I was forced to study cultural and psychological tactics that drove people to spend money regardless of whether or not they were able to support the lifestyle. I was surrounded by many beautiful women, and I began to resent my own father. No, it wasn't that I didn't love my mother, but I very quickly began to see it as a relationship of convenience rather than that of love. He didn't really love her - he used her at country clubs and other events. Not for any loving reasons.

I was shocked, for example, when he brought me to the state of Winona, a place of wild violence and lawlessness. My father took me through the woods, hiking through the mountains, and seeing the ways of the state. Murder was a constant surrounding us, seeing bodies that were left on the side of trails, but there was so much radical beauty that it was hard to see all the darkness that had surrounded me. We met many of his friends, and I began to realize that he had quite a community out here - one which he had left from. It wasn't good exactly: There was a lot of bullying, fighting, and belittling. One of his friends was murdering his own daughter Hana. She refused to go outside, said that she didn't see the point in the society, and was only interested in reading books from intellectuals who questioned religious normalcy. She believed that society could be remade through critical thinking and philosophy.

"She seems uninterested in every guy that comes near her," said John to Dad, looking frustrated. "No matter what we've done to get her outside, she just can't stop being an individual. She doesn't realize that she's embarrassing the rest of us. We took her to cotillion classes, dragged her to Bible study, and have even talked about her getting into the field of Education. I wish I didn't do that. She thinks way too much about the education field."

So, her parents were putting Deraymx in her drink, a chemical compound that would slowly rot her brain from the inside out. They thought that this would make her more supplicable, more agreeable to the rest of society. Instead? It made her immobile, paralyzing parts of her spine, making her unable to use her hands and legs effectively. It also affected her by making her paranoid, talking at great length about the downfalls of society and the pointlessness of circular (and aesthetic-driven) thinking patterns.

This made me upset after seeing her and dealing with the death of Norma. I couldn't stand the fact that this girl would not fit in society, nor that she was being poisoned by her parents. I went to the police about it, but they considered her a invalid and therefore a liability once put under the government's domain. I don't know why I felt like it would have been different. I had never seen a disabled person in my life, to be sure. I heard about wheelchairs limitedly, never met an intellectually challenged individual as they "lived in their own communities," and never saw anything but traditional representations of gender norms and sexuality. Hell, most of the country was blonde and blue eyed, so it wasn't common to see anyone much different. Yet, looking upon this girl, I found her to be so beautiful and intellectual. She would have been a benefit to society, not a loss. I hated my father at that moment. I went off wandering in the woods, and I couldn't care less than what my father had thought of me. I was nothing more than an extension of his own pride - nothing I would do would ever satisfy him.