Join My Cult - Original Falcon Press

The bus continued on as Johny became lost in thought. Blocked memories
from his childhood, now bubbling to the surface…
Johny was seven and standing in his backyard, his plump belly sticking
out under a short green shirt. His parents didn’t usually let him out,
but he often managed to sneak away when dad was at work and mom
was drunk.
The sun beat down on his bare back, warm and stinging. It was then,
while looking at the rose bushes in his back yard, that IT suddenly came
to him. He was intently studying the Japanese beetles scurrying about the
roses lining the cracked picket fence, when he realized that they weren’t
alive at all.
He picked one of them up. The light danced off its iridescent back
while its legs continued to move. There was a definite pattern in the tiny
shell—what looked like the letters “M” “H” “B.” He ripped the thing’s
antennae out, and it suddenly ceased moving, just like his remote control
car when he tore the receiving antennae from its hood. There was no
twitching of pain, no attempt to escape. It simply ceased moving and fell
limp.
The car had been a present for his fifth birthday. He got a good beating
for “spoiling it.” Even more so when he told them that the car had
said “mother hive brain” in an effeminate, un-car-like voice, which naturally
frightened the boy. It frightened his father even more. Especially
when Johny cocked his head to the side and repeated over and over in a
monotone drone:
motherhivebrainmotherhivebrainmotherhivebrainmotherhivebrain
motherhivebrainmotherhivebrainmotherhivebrainmotherhivebrain
He had been locked in the closet for three weeks, his parents slipping
food and water in once a day. Ultimately, he had lived in a closet all of
his life.
The bus pulled to a hissing stop in front of a large, glowing sign. The
dazzling neon distraction read “Lenny’s.” Realizing a cultural Mecca
when he saw one, Johny stepped off. A number of teenagers were milling
around outside the double glass doors. Their skin appeared ashen. It
could have been the bright fluorescent lights…or a complete lack of
proper nutrition. He wondered if these were also Agents, but then reminded
himself that although all MHB agents pose as malnourished
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