The Boy That Created Monsters excerpt, Darker Than Black, Tales of Horror

The Boy That Created Monsters excerpt

Darker Than Black, Tales of Horror

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The slew of doctors and therapists who saw Theo were shocked and disturbed by his withdrawn persona and the violent nature of his drawings. This caused Theo to be held in the asylum indefinitely. He saw many doctors in his time there because the suicide rate amongst workers at the asylum increased dramatically after Theo’s admission.

This went on for quite some time, until one doctor noticed the correlation between the suicides and Theo. All the suicides had one thing in common: they’d all come into contact with Theo. The doctor that pieced it together noticed that amongst the thousands of sketches that Theo had produced, several were of those doctors, and the manner in which they met their violent, self-induced deaths, were an exact match to those drawings.

 Going against everything he’d been taught, the doctor became convinced that Theo was possessed by demons and that if he wanted to go on living, he’d better befriend the boy, so as not to appear as a threat, like the other doctors apparently had.

So, instead of trying to repress Theo’s artistic abilities, he decided to help him expand them. He started bringing all manner of drawing tools and sketch pads for the boy and brought him snacks and drinks. This did little to help Theo fit in with the rest of the patients, who never received such special treatment, but Theo didn’t care, nor did the doctor. All Theo cared about was drawing monsters and all the doctor cared about was finding a useful way to manipulate the boy’s supernatural gifts. Since this doctor never questioned Theo’s art, his death scene was never drawn. Their friendship flourished.

 Soon, Theo became the most feared patient at the facility. It became painfully obvious that any of the patients who messed with Theo was soon found dead, either by freak accident or suicide. The other doctors and nurses never saw the connection between the doctors and patients deaths, but the patients did, and those that survived his killing spree avoided him at all costs. When he was allowed in the common area, he sat alone, as everyone else stayed far away from him.

Theo’s isolation from the outside world and the asylum inmates continued throughout his teenage years. He was a silent loner, and it was obvious to all the medical professionals at the facility that he couldn’t survive in the real world with his lack of communication skills and morbid attitude toward human life.

Though all the doctors still involved with his case thought the violence Theo portrayed in his drawings would never come to physical fruition, because of his docile personality, they were all in agreement that he would never be able to fit into society. All, that is, except one: his personal doctor friend.

 As Theo’s eighteenth birthday neared, Theo’s doctor friend pressed hard for his release, even against the wishes of the rest of the staff. He finally convinced the board to release Theo into his custody. He was a well-respected doctor and his personal assurance that he would take care of the young man, swayed the final decision in his favor.