The War Against Sociopaths

Like the Bon Jovi song says, who is my Superman tonight? Um, that's hard to explain but my Superman is a woman. Let me explain a bit. My name is Stephen LaCroix, and I'm a big and tall young man living in the City of Toronto, Province of Ontario. I was born in the City of Miami, State of Florida, to a Haitian-American father and Puerto Rican mother. I came to Canada to get to know my father's side of the family, while studying Criminology at the University of Toronto. I don't really know much about them and I always wanted to know about the quote unquote "Black" side of my heritage. I've been here for about a year, and since then, my life has changed. You see, I was born different, and I don't mean because of my ethnic origins. I mean DIFFERENT. Capital d and everything, you know?

There are all kinds of people out there in the world, and a sizeable number of them are bad news. Major bad news. Some of them aren't merely bad. They're Agents of Darkness. There is an ancient power that dwells in this world but isn't of this world. It hates mankind, and wishes to see us destroy one another. It is known by many names across a myriad cultures. Its agents are men and women born different from the rest of mankind. People born without conscience. Psychologists call them Sociopaths, the Ice People. What do they want? Oh, purely and simply to destroy you. They're everywhere, man. They can be your father or mother, your brother or sister. Your co-worker, the old lady who lives down the street, the homeless dude on the street corner, or the cop in the cruiser. They can be anyone at all.

The Darkness is out there, immortal and everlasting, and the Sociopaths add fuel to its power with their every misdeed. It's trying to achieve Threshold, which simply means magic number. Once it has reached that magic number, it will be free to do as it wishes, and its goal is to consume mankind. I cannot allow that to happen. That's why I fight the Agents of Darkness. Like I said, they're everywhere, and I'm all alone, man. Being who and what I am doesn't exactly make for a happy existence. Most people living in this world are what I call the Mundanes and what the Sociopaths call The Sheep. What's a Mundane/Sheep? An ordinary person. They're not totally evil or totally good. They're normal. Average everyday Joes and Janes. The world is full of them, and they make all-too-willing pawns and accomplices for the Agents of Darkness. They have no idea what in hell is going on, and frankly, they make me sick sometimes. I know it's not exactly their fault but come on. Stop and look around for a moment once in a while, you know?

Anyhow, ninety percent of the world's population is made up of the Mundane folk, and the other nine percent is made up of the Agents of Darkness, whom psychologists call Sociopaths. Men and women without conscience. They who can do anything at all without feeling the slightest bit of remorse. The Wolves in a Planet of Sheep. The true rulers of the world. I know how they operate, how to fight them and most importantly, I can spot them. You see, my father Franklin LaCroix and my twin sister Hannah are members of the Sociopaths Club. Yeah, it's kind of a family trait. The people in my father's bloodline have certain characteristics. We're tall, good-looking, smart, and completely without remorse. That's who and what we are. My grandfather Boris was like that, according to my grandmother Clara. Ruthlessness runs in my genes. So why do I fight the Sociopaths if I'm one of them?

That's a very good question. I mean, I know how it all sounds. A guy from a long line of bad guys claims to fight the bad guys. It sounds fishy. Why is he doing this? What's in it for him? I'll answer those questions soon enough. I started out just like most of them do. I had dark urges inside which I couldn't control. I did all kinds of bad things when I was younger. I got into a lot of fights, I stole from friends, family and acquaintances. I engaged in illicit sexual activities. I did a lot of bad things. Yeah, I fucked up. The worst of all was when this guy named Roman at school harassed me continually and one day, I fucking lost it. I grabbed him and held him against open flame...thanks to a cigarette lighter belonging to my friend Charleston. I hurt that guy, man. I'm sorry for it now but at the time, all I felt was a profound sense of accomplishment. Yeah, I started being a monster and a menace just like every Sociopath who has ever lived. However, inexplicably, I changed as time went by.

I don't know from whence my transformation came, but as time went by, I changed. I evolved from a fiend into what I am now. A halfway decent man with dark impulses, as opposed to a remorseless fiend with passing moments of fleeting humanity. This happened shortly after I reached adulthood. From then on, I began trying to make up for what I used to do, what I used to be. I wanted to repay society for my sins, even though I had never been accused or convicted of what I did as a Sociopath. I decided to help society's very helpless. I became a volunteer for an agency which helped victims of domestic abuse, especially male victims, the ones you never hear about. I met a lot of good men and women while handing out flyers to raise awareness about this social issue. It taught me a lot about the world, and about myself.

Growing up how I did, I thought the world was filled with darkness and only evil triumphed. Better to be a wolf than a sheep, that's what my father taught me. And he was the exemplar of what a Sociopath can be. Smart, handsome and ruthless. He was a very successful businessman, a womanizer and a pillar of the community. He ran his world and he was good at it. I once wanted to be just like him. To be successful, to have lots of money, power and women. What many men dream of. Well, he got what he had because of unscrupulous practices both in business and in his personal life. He mistreated my mother. When I began to change, my former role model became the living definition of just about everything I no longer wanted to be. I decided to help people. My father and sister laughed at me when I told them about my new path. They never truly considered me a threat to their power, and I knew better than to come after them. I didn't set out wanting to fight the Agents of Darkness. I just wanted to atone for what I'd done.

That's partly why I came to Toronto, Ontario. Growing up in Los Angeles, California, all I heard from my father was lousy things about his side of the family. With the exception of his cheerfully psychopathic dad, my grandfather Boris, of course. My dad moved to the United States from the island of Haiti where he was born. He settled in L.A. but his sister Isabel LaCroix moved to the City of Toronto, Province of Ontario. Isabel met a Jamaican guy named Robert Wellington, got married and had my cousins Trevor and Vanessa. They're both at the University of Toronto with me. I came to meet my aunt in Toronto, and got to know her and her family. I sought the answers for why she walked away from my father and his clan, and she told me why. Simply because they were ruthless, and thoroughly enjoyed destroying other people, and she couldn't abide living in their world. So she ran away. My aunt was a lot like me. She ran from the family, but unlike her, I wanted to make up for the family's predations, not just run from them. When I told her that, she told me I was the bravest of us all. Or the most foolish. Then she hugged me. Maybe I'm brave or maybe I'm foolish. Somewhere between good and evil is where I live. I can detect Sociopaths because I started life as one of them, but I did not remain one of them. What am I? Don't know. For now, I'm here to help.