Bradley Haddrix

## Public Personality

He is an absolute failure, always shaking and anxious to talk to just about anyone even those he considers trustworthy. Bradley is high-strung, and very paranoid of those around him and takes most things as an insult or slight towards him. The surface layer of him is that he can hardly keep himself together and is struggling through every second of his life, nothing ever goes right for him. He’s like a sad wet cat with anxiety. His first impressions are that he can hardly hold a conversation and will run away from any interaction he considers is going poorly (all of them). Though, there is something shady about him that makes him come off as untrustworthy.

## Private Personality

Bradley just wants to find out the truth about the world around him, and something to blame for what has happened to him so he can stop holding the blame for everything upon his shoulders. He is driven by the desire for knowledge and a normal life, and yearns strongly to be close to someone without fear. He wants a mutual trust with another human being and will do anything to get that, even if it means pushing through his terrible anxieties. He still holds an intense paranoia to others, but his anxiety is not as bad as he will sometimes play up to avoid people asking questions. When no one is around he is very quiet and reserved, often reading or doing whatever he can to gather more information on the world around him. Bradley holds an extremely low opinion of himself and holds those around him in a higher standing the less they remind him of himself. There is no confidence that he holds in his abilities, and hates both his personality and appearance. If he thinks too much about himself, he shuts down and loses the motivation to improve his own life situation.

## Backstory

Bradley’s father one day got the brilliant idea of starting a cult, as one of course does. And he manages to construct one successfully, as all budding entrepreneurs plan to do! Joseph Haddrix was always fascinated with cults, seeing how people became so quickly loyal to giving up their money just because they so desperately wanted to believe the words coming out of someone's mouth. Seeing how children were susceptible to deceit and could often bring their parents into the belief, he thought this his best opportunity to approach his ideas. Start them out young, keep them until they are old. He bought a property out in Northern Wisconsin, constructing a summer camp for children that parents worried about behaviorally. Especially suspected criminals, Joseph considered these the easiest to manipulate as they ‘had the least amount of intelligence’.  While Joseph was working on this plan and moving into the area, he found a woman named Lillian Oakridge who was always looking for something new to devote her life towards. It didn’t take long for her to fall head over heels for the man with dreams the size of acres of land and a charming personality only the most successful of types could pull off. The words of the money he was to make with his plan, and letting her in on the scam if she married him, it didn’t take long for the couple to become well known in the town for their closeness. It was even more shocking after they got married after just short of a year, mostly to avoid acknowledging the fact that Lillian was pregnant before marriage from the small town. The construction of the camp continued, as time passed on.

Bradley Haddrix was born with ectrodactyly, only having three fingers on each hand. Joseph, believing this to be some purposeful slight against him from Lillian, became spiteful of her for giving birth to someone less than ‘perfect’. Lillian passed on that blame directly onto Bradley, who had done nothing other than be born. Things were decently peaceful when he was very young, though he was not permitted outside of their house and was educated by his mother. Joseph became more hostile towards both of them as the camp was built, though Lillian saw a way out of this blame being placed upon her. She woke up one day, frantically claiming that she received a vision from the religion that Joseph had started to construct, saying that Bradley was a prophet gifted to them. Her words were utterly convincing, getting both of them to reevaluate what it was that they were writing, starting to believe in their own lies which Lillian helped fuel with her fake visions. Joseph eventually shook off that moment of belief to continue bending it to his will, but he used what Lillian had ‘seen’ to help guide his writings. Bradley went from completely undesirable to a possible tool to keep others in faith.

The year the summer camp started accepting members was when Bradley was 10 years old, now old enough to read and follow the scripts he was often given, and not stand out as much amongst his peers. Though, he was always the youngest in those early years, making it near impossible to make friends. Yet, the conversations he did have educated him about the world outside of his house and the camp, his parents understood how this could interfere with what they had so carefully started to build. Bradley was now dressed separately than the others, in dark black robes and thick gloves. He stood out, but he wasn’t avoided yet. That was until Joseph gave Bradley the role of  the rule keeper, having to read out the punishments to those who broke the rules and being labeled as a snitch. These punishments were harsh, and the rewards for doing things correctly were enticing. It was rare that he had to read this list, but it didn’t take long until he was avoided by the plague for being untrustworthy. His knowledge of the outside world was so limited he often found his imagination running wild, daydreaming about what it could be like out there, perhaps there were giant animals and buildings taller than the sky itself. Though he learned quickly to keep these dreams to himself, any mention of them was meant with a similar strict punishment. The only difference was that he never was rewarded for anything, as he had nothing other than his life for his parents to benefit from.

His peers received him in the future with nothing but hostility, as he struggled to communicate with any of them in a way where there could be a genuine connection. Bradley’s lack of knowledge made him be lied to constantly and his role in the cult made him be bullied severely. Nothing was done against this, as the misleading information he was being given would only make him more loyal to his parents and the plans they had to him to one day help spread the false word. Yet, some of the kids would plant ideas within his mind of the truth of the world out there, and small radios and technological gadgets that were confiscated he had started to steal and tinker with. The radio proved to him that there were things outside of there, filled with beautiful music and people talking without being commanded around. There were crimes, but there was less hostility. He was fascinated, taking any chance he could to sneak to where he was alone and listen to what was going on out there. The day he was found by his father was one of the worst moments of his life, as now it was his turn for the punishment of engaging with the outside world outside of his watchful eyes.

Nails were driven through the centers of his hands, keeping him pinned to the floor of the wooden church they had constructed. The kids whose punishments he had once read off would come in just to taunt him. In the outside world, he knew he would be free. Everything changed as someone escaped successfully, it was possible that he could experience the world all of them had which they begged to return. He kept himself as obedient and quiet as possible, laying low as he started to see which ways he could get out of there without being spotted. Every night Lee prayed to be given some sort of an opportunity to leave, in a way he was given a piece towards that puzzle. Late one night he visited the church,  witnessing the murder of his father within the pews. Bradley stood there, paralyzed in his own fear, and dumbfounded that he felt no urge within him to help. He let the others escape, sneaking back and hiding in his room. Lillian was woken abruptly by one of the more loyal adult members who helped run the place, being led to the scene of the crime. They disposed of him in the woods, unwilling to involve law enforcement at the risk of uncovering the secrets of the cult. Lillian placed the blame heavily on Bradley, treating him as a scapegoat. The need to leave was ever growing as things began to get more harsh under her control.

Another opportunity within the chaos of an incoming storm, he took another gamble at escaping with some of the other kids. He was pushed back at the final moment, the group leaving him behind in fear he would just report them as soon as they were out. Lillian found him nearby the river, letting rage overtake her and shoving him under the water. She took some of the watergrass, wrapping it around his neck in a rapid attempt to end his life. Suffocation or drowning did not matter, she simply wanted him gone. The fact he did not die was only due to another nearby kid who failed to fully escape and interrupted her by throwing a rock. It gave Bradley just enough time to writhe out of her hands and start to run. Unfortunately for him, in the wrong direction. Years passed before he dared try another escape, now 17 and teetering back and forth from full faith in his mothers teachings to an extreme doubt and desire to leave. He was always looking for a way out, and when he found the perfect route, all he had to do was bide his time until it was right.

It took until he was 19 before he could no longer take his situation and killed her, one of those moments where any memory of the event while it happened was completely gone. A black-out, almost. Yet he does remember how fast he ran, his entire outfit stained in blood. He was taken in by a man named Charlie Nazukai who was taking up residence in an abandoned house, the two of them becoming close friends due to the unfavorable situations they were in. When the police came to catch them for trespassing, Bradley panicked and completely threw Charlie under the bus in a failed attempt to save himself. They took him in as well, finding a DNA match for the murder of Lillian Haddrix which had happened a month prior. He was sent into ParaSocial Academy due to the circumstances of his youth and the hope for rehabilitation into society.

## Likes

Sandwiches.

Bright lights.

Stained glass windows.

A comfortable bed.

## Dislikes

Showers, mostly water in general.

Food with the smallest bit of flavor.

High frequency sounds.

Dogs.

Darkness.