Chapter 2

Being around teenagers all the time, he knew that they were well influenced when they were young. He noticed this in them, as young as seven years old. At seven, children start to learn, they already know how to read and write, and soon after would come math, but not only this, at this age they start to understand things around them, even if sometimes in the wrong way. A child can be influenced to be close to another child, most friendships start very early because pre-teens have no concrete beliefs, no formed personality of their own, they have no values to follow, and they just live for others. Winston knew this better than anyone. If he put one child in an environment with another, they would understand each other, and if their friendship were nurtured, the bond would strengthen, strong enough that neither side would want it broken. For the theory to work, the people would need to have a strong bond, but if he couldn't find them, he could then create them. That was the plan, he had to create bonds between the teenagers from an early age, and not let the connection end, when the time was right, he would apply a survival test, proving his theory. It would be a perfect plan if he weren't so cool to the case of being thwarted. Teenagers without any problems would connect quickly, and in development, this would be maintained, but it would be a superficial life, nobody is one hundred percent happy or has a life without conflicts. He needed to create those conflicts too, test friendships, create situations, and see 'bullying', he needed the theory to have real people. This would not work on adults, but it would work on teenagers. He could create conflicts while they were still too young. The plan was taking shape, he was on the right track. The truth was only one, he required them, and he needed to nurture everything until when they were ready, it would take about four years for this, four years of a lot of hard work, but with a high success rate.

That was the base plan, and having the base, the rest he would do something with ease. At that point, he just needed to get down to action. Get the teenagers, and he knew exactly where to do this, and with whom.

The schedule grid hung next to the calendar, which was attached to the wall, spoiling the whole concept of a nice office. He had four calendars and grids, two in his house, on the wall and the desk, and the same in his private room at school. Most of the books he had at home were the result of stealth in his school office; the books there were much better and complete, and he couldn't resist, but he was also cautious when he stole. His living room was a cozy size, the colors were neutral, but nothing that showed sadness or any negative feeling. It was a peaceful space, isolated from the noise, away from the courtyard and the court. Winston never left his desk for an appointment, in fact, he quite liked to sit there, the effort was unnecessary, the appointments were just words, and the most effort he could make was to crouch down to open a drawer full of papers, which he was too lazy to throw away. The garbage was far away, and the cleaning lady every time left the garbage by the door, instead of by the desk. This resulted in multiple failed attempts to make a basket, so he would accumulate everything in the drawer anyway, and if it were something more confidential, he would take it away.

In his spare time from work, still at school, Connel – as he was called locally, or rather Mr. Connel – would gather in the teachers' lounge for coffee. Everyone knew of his appreciation, so there was always sweet coffee ready for him, it was routine, and he deserved it, his work was very well done; parents, teachers, and even teenagers spoke well of him, at least the ones he solved the problem for. He liked kids, but not enough to have one of his own, that was the most uncomfortable part of the whole plan, dealing with teenagers for four years, locked away. He was going to spend a lot of money, but that was no problem, he had a high amount saved up, inherited from his late sister – she had died in a robbery, saving him, while they were shopping in Detroit. Memories he wanted to forget, and sleeping made him remember the exact moment. Not healthy.

The school office smelled of roses, wood, even lavender, anything that was mild. It was random, he was lazy to choose, so the cleaning lady did that, it was interesting that she spent minutes choosing the scent, but didn't spend seconds moving the trash from the door to the desk. She was not old, she was old enough to have a great mind. She was very kind, well treated by everyone, that kind of employee that didn't have to worry about any bad pranks because they never happened, at least not to her.

Like any normal person, Winston had teenagers she liked, teenagers she pretended to like, put up with or did everything she could to get the appointment over with as soon as possible, in case she was one of those annoying people that there is no getting ahead of. Consultations with Jeffrey were one of those that had no breakthrough, he rarely spoke, but still, he was no nuisance. He acted like any antisocial teenager, came in, had class, ate alone, had class again, and left again. Fear of the dark, he didn't even talk about. The first time, his mother had to tell him everything, by the third visit, Jeffrey was a stranger, and not for nothing, the day before he had been found in one of the men's room stalls, shrinking and shaking, someone had turned off the light, and since he already suffered from Nichtophobia, he had a crisis. No one could figure out whether it was a prank or someone's accident, but it had a strong impact. He was one of the youngsters that Winston wanted to test.