“Legion floats in darkness. Silence.
It has been a long time since he knew such silence. As a child, he was taught to act in union with his two brothers. Their insane father insisted that he had only one child and refused to acknowledge more than one of them at a time. If more than one spoke, or made a fuss, or did anything to draw attention, or to threaten Father’s mad view of reality—one child, one child, ONE CHILD!—the repercussions were swift and painful.
So the three children learned to act in concert. What one learned, the others did. When one was injured—as happened often, given Father’s extreme methods of teaching—the others hurt themselves to match.
They had to match.
They had to act as one.
And eventually, madness being a most contagious disease, the three brothers genuinely believed themselves to be one.”
―
Michaelbrent Collings,
Stranger Sins
