Cultist

Chapter 16, Sneaky

(Daniel's POV)

A child's mind is undeveloped, this is why kids are so impressionable. Most kids learn behaviors from the people around them and from what those people tell them to do. As kids, they become a certain way because of how they were taught, this is because they are extremely impressionable. If you want to teach someone a behavior or something you want them to be aware of for the rest of their life it is much easier to do so when they are a kid then when they grow up. Because a child's mind is undeveloped, and you can develop it for them.

I didn't really want to do what I did to Max, but it was either that or kill him and I didn't feel like hiding a body with David so close to me and Gwen here too. Max spent the day smiling and holding onto my arm and telling me how much he loved me and also how much he appreciated David and Gwen. When Max and I first rejoined the group after the 'medication' kicked in, we walked outside of the cabin and David was there to greet us which generated another lie on my behalf.

"Why is Max so happy? Max is never happy." Gwen said, I stammered a bit but I was super good at lying now. Practice makes perfect I guess.

"Well, I noticed Max was troubled a bit and I decided to start some life coaching with him." I explained, and since Max would go with anything I said he smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, me and Daniel talked about a lot of stuff and he made me realize a lot of things. I am going to work on having a more positive outlook on life and it's all thanks to Daniel!" Max explained, David looked very confused and his expression was valid. I knew Max never acted this happy, even though I hadn't know Max for that long. I nudged him slightly and he put his arms out, walking over to David and giving him a big hug. David's face lit up with sheer joy and Max laughed a bit.

"And you too David. Daniel really made me realize how much you do for me and I appreciate it like crazy!" Max smiled, I smiled too, because Max was playing his part and distracting David from reading too much into his personality change. I was greatful the meds still worked, I hadn't used the injections in a while, usually the videotape did just fine but this was an emergency situation.

The day went on as any other day would, just with more laughs and smiles coming from Max than ever before. He was under my control and would continue to be for as long as I wanted so that way he didn't go and tell David what was on my phone. I didn't know how the little asshole hacked into my cult documents but he had, and he wasn't allowed to tell anyone else about their existence. With him under my control, however, I didn't have to worry about it.

David and I spent the day sneaking kisses away from the watchful eyes of the campers and they easily distracted by magazines eyes of Gwen. When the sun began to set and we had finished cleaning up after supper, I walked Max over to his tent before all the other campers. I wanted to make sure he was sound asleep before he could draw more attention to himself from Neil or Nikki.

"Daniel have I ever told you how much I love you and everything you do for me?" Max said to me as I sat him down on his bed.

"Yes Max I know now-"

"Oh wait! I told David I appreciated him before I came to bed right? Oh, I hope he knows I care about him too. He is amazing." Max cut me off, I groaned a bit, this was the one side effect of this stuff I didn't like because it got really annoying really fast, it didn't help however that David was feeding into these false compliments because he thought they were real, so now Max is just going to constantly state to me and David how much he cares for us.

"Yes Max you said it to him a lot today, I'm sure he is well informed." I said, but Max wasn't finished.

"I think I need to say it to Gwen more, I didn't see her a lot today but that's because I didn't talk to her much I guess, she was busy. She's so smart, pretty, nice... Daniel! I need to tell her these things! I need to-" Max almost shouted the words, but I cut him off with a little quieter voice.