Join My Cult - Original Falcon Press

Alexi flashed a warm smile.
“For a long time, I was this social thing,” he started. “I like to refer to
him as the Jester, because he’s all false mirth and empty promises. And if
this group doesn’t work out, that’s what’s going to happen to me again.
All overcompensation. I lived many years of my life inside of that shell,
and I didn’t even see it. But I started thinking about my childhood. I am,
by nature, female.” His voice grew soft at this proclamation, as it always
did. “It’s really confusing, because I am not attracted to males, so if I
was to become female, I would be lesbian.” He sighed and then
continued. Alexi caught something in that sigh, as if it was slightly
forced. Was the last statement untrue? Or was it something else? “That’s
not even quite right, the female part of me is almost like another person
inside me, striving to get out. In that way, it’s like having your own
girlfriend, although it’s far from narcissism. That’s Alexi’s department,
right man? Well, anyway, my father’s death intensified this problem,
although it didn’t create it. So, to the dream bit: I’ve had this reoccurring
dream that I am a female named Meredith, in the future. A
friend of mine, a friend much like Alexi in many ways, actually,
convinces me to get the procedure done. What he doesn’t tell me is that
the procedure involves the incursion of machinery into my body and
mind. Shining metal bits, tubes, wires—I am turned into a cyborg. One
of the implants forces me to be in complete servitude to this man who is
my master, a different guy than the one who talked me into it in the first
place… The rest of the dream involves me doing menial and sexual
favors for this guy, with absolutely no control.”
“Sounds like marriage,” Renee said, quietly.
Jason raised his eyebrows. “Interesting,” was all he had to say.
“I’m Orpheus in my dreams,” Alexi said, half muttering. No one
asked, so he didn’t explain.
By now, the lights from the carriage house were completely out of
sight, blocked by the lifeless trees. The Spartan wind had already
numbed all of their faces and chilled their fingers.
Alexi sped up and went to the front of the group, his eyes tearing
slightly from the frigid air. Ken was lost in thought…
In the darkest and quietest of forests, I sit and wait for the fates. But
they never come. I sit and wait for salvation. It too never comes. I stare
up through the canopy of the trees, stare up at the bright stars, untar-
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