Believe it or not | Marvin is diabolical

DISCLAIMER:

The links are to me voice acting the lines for the characters. All I've said in the role of Marvin is how he truly feels, but not my opinion.

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It is 1983,

Los Angeles, California.

Marvin has always been very ambitious, but never very emotional or caring. He does have emotions; they’re just nuanced, not intense. He has always desired popularity—it has been his lifelong dream to be famous among a group of people. It didn’t have to be everyone; it just had to be people who would serve him. So he decided: why not start a cult?

As he stands in his room with his BFF, Colt—literally “cult” without the “u”—he tells him why he does the things he does, the plan he set in motion years ago, and everything that led him here.

Marvin spoke to Colt in an oddly calm, calculated way:

“You see, if I take bad people and add them to our group, that’s a benefit to me. These people often don’t know right from wrong—or they don’t care to understand it. And I don’t care either. I know the difference; I just don’t care. What matters is that they don’t care as well.

That makes them useful.

If I ever need to punish someone, I can easily grab one of these recruits. Over the years I’ve taken in bullies, thieves, even murderers. I do draw the line at abusers and rapists. They bring constant chaos. Murderers can as well, but sometimes a murderer kills once and never again. I’ve seen murderers change. Behavior isn’t a permanent stripe—it’s something you can stop. Abusers and rapists almost never stop. Very rarely do they halt their behavior.

Bullies, on the other hand, often do. People love to say ‘once a bully, always a bully,’ but that’s usually nonsense. Once they’re disciplined and grow out of high school, they mature, get jobs, and live normal lives. I’ve seen that happen plenty of times.

The real issue is chaos. Some people are just too chaotic for me to keep around long-term. They make the group unstable and make me look bad. So I remove them. But murderers? Bullies? Thieves? I keep them.

I also keep their victims.

Now, you’re probably wondering why I choose bad people instead of ‘good people’ who’ve been unfairly rejected by society. The answer is simple: I don’t have your moral framework. I don’t feel sympathy. I don’t care about being virtuous, or saving people, or proving I’m better than anyone else. I don’t want catharsis. I don’t want redemption. I don’t care enough to perform goodness.

I recruit both bullies and victims because they’re easy to control.

The victim is already beaten down. They want someone—anyone—to treat them better than the world has. The bully, meanwhile, is hated. If something terrible happened to them, most people wouldn’t care. Some would even say they deserved it. Knowing this gives me a ripe pool of people I can use.

They’re ostracized. They’re guilty. They’re desperate.

This isn’t about revenge. This isn’t punishment. This is manipulation.

The cult operates like this: I find people who’ve been cast out for their behavior, or people drowning in guilt over the consequences of what they’ve done. I take them in. I reassure them. I tell them they can atone for their sins—by serving me. By giving me money. By doing what I ask.

Sometimes the guilt is so intense that they’ll give me everything.

There was one man—Joshua. In high school, he bullied a boy into suicide. The boy already had clinical depression, though Joshua didn’t know that at the time. It came out later. That’s why people shouldn’t bully—because you never know what someone’s carrying.

Do I feel anything about it? No. Not for Joshua. Not for the victim.

What I do care about is that Joshua gave me his car, his house, and over twenty thousand dollars. Most of his money, really.

He never laid a hand on the boy. It was all words. That detail was useful. I leaned into it. I fed him excuses—not because I believed them, but because they comforted him. He didn’t excuse himself. I did it for him.

I told him it was horrible—but it could’ve been worse. That he didn’t physically attack him. That the boy already had mental health issues. That he tipped him over the edge, but he wasn’t the sole cause.

Were any of those excuses morally valid? I don’t care. Excuses soothe guilt, and guilt makes people obedient.

Joshua isn’t a good person. He’s selfish. And like most people, when faced with unbearable guilt, he chose denial. I helped him get there.

Joshua was an atheist. The boy he bullied was Christian. I knew God would eventually do something—court cases, consequences, suffering. When that happened, I planned to insert myself into the situation and comfort him through it. If God punishes him, I become the relief.

I find it fascinating how easily one can use God’s punishments for personal gain.

The victim’s name was Marcus, I think.

Joshua had also spread rumors about Marcus, photoshopped images, and destroyed reputations. Joshua cheated on his girlfriend. Marcus later got close to her, stealing her away from Joshua to be his girlfriend because Marcus thought his girlfriend deserved better which she did. Joshua retaliated viciously; He admitted most of it to me out of guilt.

I was disgusted—but I hid it. Joshua was my income. Emotions are irrelevant when money is involved.

Joshua is an adult now. This all happened when he was a teenager, and frankly, teenagers are the worst—especially American ones. Reckless. Cruel. Unstable. I’ve wondered if Joshua had some underlying mental illness, but I’ll never know.

Eventually, I convinced him that while what he did was terrible, it could’ve been worse. That was enough. That small comfort bound him closer to me.

Now, Colt, this brings me to why I’m telling you all this.

Joshua brings in a lot of money. He has a good job. He gives me most of his paycheck. But that guilt could push him toward suicide, and I can’t have that.

So I need you to give him a distraction. A woman. Someone who can make him feel forgiven.

Not Judith. She’s mine. Don’t tell him that—but I don’t trust him with her.

Not Diana. Not Patrice. Not Sarah—she’s married.

Lolita will do.

She’s twenty-three. Only a year older than him. They’ll relate. She’s cheerful now. Therapy helped her. She’s grown. Don’t tell her what Joshua did—she doesn’t need to know. She has no right to judge anyway, considering she killed her sister out of jealousy.

Lolita has improved. She brings joy. That’s what I need.

Give Joshua a wife. Arrange the marriage. As long as she keeps him alive, the money keeps coming.

That’s all that matters.”

To Be Continued…