Russell's Short Story: Blood Brothers

“Hey, yeah, I remember that now,” admitted Merl. “There’s something seriously wrong with this boy.” “There’s nothing wrong with him other than being a gigantic spaz,” stated Russell as he began to get indignant by the provocations and accusations the other patrons of Man ‘n hiavelli’s were making against his kid brother. “So, why doesn’t everyone just ease up now, the show’s over?” “Hey, what was it like, Phillip?” asked Georgio, “You know, being ill.” “He doesn’t remember,” Russell sternly answered for Phillip. “He was fine, then he just passed out for a while, and when he was found a while later by a dog walker in our local park, he was barely conscious, but okay none-the-less. It was no big deal—a fluke—it could have happened to anyone.
“They control us, they control everything,” Phillip excitedly told his brother as he hoped for even the faintest glimmer of Russell believing him. “I don’t think it is that the people in our world have gotten better or smarter,” Phillip avowed. “I think they, that we, just can’t do things anymore like we used to be able to do before the volunteers arrival, they won’t let us.” They had just begun their journey, but Russell suddenly pulled his transport off to the side of the road as he began dourly looking at his misshapen haircut in the rearview mirror. “You got five minutes to start making sense,” he then asserted to Phillip. “And, you’re paying for my haircut at the automated groomers, too.” “Fine,” Phillip agreed, but then he went right into his explanation. “Look, people were bad before the volunteers, real bad, right? All you have to do is go down to the records archives to see the holograms and the history files to confirm that. To see what happened to society and what is was like before the volunteers.” “I’ve seen some of them, so what?” Russell said dismissing
“It’s not that people can’t do those things, it’s just that people don’t want to do those things any longer. There is no need to act that way anymore. Nobody in our society has had that sort of mindset in over a hundred years, not even you, and that’s why you couldn’t do any of those things. Not because you couldn’t, but subconsciously you knew you really didn’t want to.” “No, you’re wrong,” said Phillip, “I really did want to.” “No, you’re wrong,” countered Russell, “you have no idea just how powerful your subconscious mind can be. How, it can dictate your actions so easily without you ever even knowing it. The volunteers… when they visited us all those years ago, they did something to our subconscious, they improved it, made it stronger, made our minds stronger, and now our conscious is what guides us into doing what’s right, and we’re all better off for it.” “It controls us is what it does,” Phillip said opposing Russell’s logic. “Just shut it, Phillip,” sighed Russell. “You know… if you keep this stuff up they’re going to put you away somewhere. So, if I were you I’d let all of this nonsense you’ve been preaching go before you upset the wrong