The White Lily Institute for Psychological Research wanted to know if you could create monsters using people with a genetic predisposition to violence but that had never shown violent tendencies. They believed that if you could make monsters out of ordinary people, you could just as easily un-make them, undoing all the psychological damage that you did so they returned to their normal lives. They believed this research would lead to breakthroughs treating repeat violent offenders, psychopaths, gang members that had undergone brainwashing, cult survivors, and more – ultimately allowing these people to lead regular lives.
Their vision was not rewarded. Creating a monster is easy enough, they discovered, but as you can see through the eyes of the escapees, once you break down someone’s conscience it cannot be reformed again.
The short story (told in many bite-sized pieces that come together) that shows the reader how all this came to pass can be found in The Halloween Collection (working title). Each of the themed collections has small shorts told from the perspective of the escapees that unite to form a longer, cohesive story. Present release date is September 1, 2022, on Amazon Kindle.
— J.A. Steckling
