The Renfield Syndrome by Clifford Beck - HTML preview

Chapter 40

The last semester of high school had begun, and on Caspian’s schedule was, amongst other things, driver’s ed. Thus far he had been doing well in his classes with one exception. Math seemed to be a language all its own and one that was far beyond his understanding. Scrawled out on a blackboard, it all appeared to just be numbers and letters to him. He wasn’t much for conversation with other students, but leaving class one day, he commented to a fellow student. “Why the fuck do we need to know this shit?”

The student agreed and quickly moved on. Everyone seemed to be more than a bit put off by Caspian’s personality, yet no one approached him for a bit of friendly conversation. Lengthy discourse is rarely needed if one wishes to learn why a person is the way they are, and one may be pleasantly surprised at what they learn. The same can be said for compassion. It only takes a few minutes to make a difference. However, he knew that with graduation on the horizon, he would soon leave mathematics on the way side.

Gym class had also been on his list of strong dislikes as well. What was the point? If he wanted to get in shape, he would do it on his own. But it was a state issue, so he had little choice but to participate. However, as his plan of escape took form, Caspian thought that increasing his strength and muscle mass could be important. At the very least, being in top physical shape would significantly contribute to his nocturnal activities, doling out grotesque punishment for those he saw as deserving as well as some simply for no particular reason. Sometimes he simply needed to feed the monster.