Diary of the Dead

Fluttershy slowly attempted to sit up. Knives of pain stabbed their way through every single move she made. The feeling was so intense that it caused her to instinctively wince every time she blinked. She ground her teeth together, but was determined to make it back to an upright position. Her mind was soothed ever so slightly when Sunset began to help her, but even the company of a great friend couldn’t diminish the horror. Torture Rack herself could not have dreamt up a more painful method of mental destruction. It was a pain that buried itself deep in Fluttershy’s heart and would not let go. Thousands of tiny claws grabbed onto her soul, forcing it into agonizing submission. She didn’t want to relive her life, but she had to. Sunset needed to know, and perhaps talking about it might help.

“So…what do you mean, I don’t know what I’ve asked you?” Sunset queried as she helped Fluttershy sit against the cell’s back wall.

“You just don’t know,” Fluttershy said in a voice barely more audible than a whisper, “you don’t know what life has done to me.”

“Yes, I do,” Sunset said, “I read the diary you left me. I saw the pain you were put through when you lost Tidal Wave…and when I bullied you.”

Fluttershy gingerly reached a hand out and stroked Sunset’s cheek. She noted the tears forming in her friend’s eyes. It broke her heart to see the cumbersome burden Sunset had placed on herself. She looked absolutely devastated, and Fluttershy knew that she had to say three simple words to make it all right. Sunset might have figured this out by now, but hearing it would help her to move away from the dark place she was in. Fluttershy understood Sunset’s own deeply laid hurt, and she managed to pull herself over and grasp her friend in a hug.

“I forgive you,” she said, “I’ve always forgiven you, Sunset.”

Sunset smiled as she returned the hug. “You know, some part of me never gave up on that. Every single smile, moment, and dream that we shared with each other was enough. I guess I forgot that for a minute there. The memories of what I read in the diary were…horrifying.”

“No offense, but you were horrifying,” Fluttershy said, getting some feelings out that had been locked up for too long, “I was so terrified of you.”

“You had every reason to be,” Sunset said sadly, “I was an awful person.”

“But you aren’t that way anymore,” Fluttershy said, managing a smile, “and I’m proud to call you my friend.”

Sunset returned the smile. “Thank you, Fluttershy. That means more than you know. But…was there more? Were there moments you didn’t write about?”

Fluttershy looked at the floor, then back at Sunset. “Every single book in the world has things that are left on the editing room floor. Some stories, characters, and elements just aren’t meant to be written. My book is unique in that it is based solely in everyday life…and the hell that I lived through. It wasn’t what you put me through, Sunset. It was what my family put me through. Day after day passed and I wasn’t sure if I’d make it out alive. I knew that this place was being built, and I also knew its purpose: to house me. Sunset, they hate me. My family wants me dead.”

“So, why haven’t they killed you yet? Why are they keeping you alive? For that matter, why are they behaving so…despicably?”

“Because it’s how they are,” Fluttershy went on, “it’s how my family’s been for generations. See…they’re all born geniuses. For some reason, for centuries now, every single baby born to the Shy clan has been instilled with an IQ of 150 or above.”

“Holy shit!” Sunset remarked, “pardon my French, but that just seems…impossible!”

“It should be,” Fluttershy said, “but it isn’t. All of my cousins, my parents, and even my brother. Every single one of them is a born genius.”

“Wait-wait-wait…Zephyr Breeze is a born genius?” Sunset asked in complete disbelief.

Fluttershy nodded. “Yep. But he’s a brilliant actor. He plays the role of a lackadaisical slacker just to win the support of the people around him. That’s what makes him so brilliant…and such a threat.”

“Are your parents both evil?”

“Yes,” Fluttershy said sadly, “and because of that, I’ve never had a normal life. See, my entire family hates those who aren’t born with brilliance and aptitude. If you have to work for your grades, your job, or your family, you’re considered beneath them…and they want you dead. It’s a tradition that was started by my grandmother, Shutter Shy, although she was long from the first genius in our family.

For 1,000 years, the Shy clan has produced some of the world’s top minds. They were all born this way. Until modern medicine allowed doctors a window into the human body, they assumed it was some kind of deific blessing. My family were revered by all of America’s leaders. From Washington to Lincoln, and Hayes to Taft, my family were consistently consulted. True, the leaders didn’t often go with the suggestions my family gave them, but they still held them in a very high regard. More than that, the Shies always used their abilities to help others.

That is, until Shutter came along. She was a manipulative, dastardly woman, Sunset. She filled the air with her vitriol. I remember listening to her rants when I was small. My parents ate it up. She had taken her place as matriarch of our family, and unlike all who came before her, she was going to try and take over the world. She declared that my father, mother, and brother were fit…but when I was born, she shunned me. Obviously, someone whose heart has never been warm cannot understand the depth of a concept like love. But I always expected it from her. I never received it, not from her, nor anyone else in my wretched clan!”

“But…why?” Sunset asked, horrified that someone would reject a small child in such a manner.

“Because I wasn’t a genius,” Fluttershy confessed, “I broke the line of perfection set by whomever the first one was nearly a millennia before me. Shutter was furious at the development and set about neglecting me. She instructed my parents to do the same. Every single time I came home with a good grade or a new friend, they ignored me. My entire life has been a series of trials, tribulations, and parental malevolence. I was the black sheep of the family…and I was treated as such.”