Doctor Peterson

I am Doctor Daniel Peterson, a scientist specializing in neurological science, and by the time you find this letter I'll be dead. It is likely you have heard my name in the news recently, and I know you must have a low opinion of me, but please listen to my story and maybe you will gain an understanding of the events that have unfolded.

The imagination of a child has always amazed me. The way children could escape into a world unequaled in wonder and joy often made me feel envious of my dull existence. Why couldn't I have such enjoyment in my life? It just seemed tragic that we lose our ability to create a wonderful sense of euphoria, by simply escaping our own reality’s with age. It was this unending curiosity that compelled me to undertake my research.

I wanted to uncover the secrets of a child’s brain, I wanted to know how they could possibly possess such power within them. I did not make this known to the scientific community, but my goal in this endeavor was to learn how to grant myself this power. I wanted to be able to create my own vivid fantasy’s, it just simply wasn’t fair that I had lost my imagination with age. I knew if I had made my true intentions known, my research would have been impossible. No one would fund my personal desire to experience life as a child. As a result, I masked my research with the intention that I was working towards a more effective treatment for children with schizophrenia.

I know that this was an unethical way for me to proceed, but what else was I to do? The media hailed me as a hero, my name was in all the headlines. I was supposed to help thousands of children with a terrible mental condition. Despite my guilt about my deception, I had to proceed with my plan, I received all the necessary funding for my project, and it was time to begin. It was not difficult to find test subjects, as many parents desperately signed up their children in the hopes that I could cure their disease. Of course, these children were of no value to my research, I needed a child with a healthy mind. Fortunately we did receive several children as control subjects.

These children were of sound mind and body and they would be the subjects I would experiment on. The first few days of research were spent by giving brain scans to all the subjects, of course I had to administer the tests to the subjects with schizophrenia as well in order to continue to hide my true intentions. Initial tests of the control subjects revealed little about how a child’s mind could have such a powerful imagination. I decided to change how I would proceed with these tests. I would ask the control subjects to engage in play with each other, as this behavior would encourage the children to utilize their imagination.

These tests were far more successful, and after several attempts I finally found what I was looking for. I located a series of neurological signals in a child’s brain that allow vivid imagery to be created. After months of tests I isolated these signals and created a chemical serum that would replicate their effects. At this time many people, both in and out of the scientific community began to question my study. It had been months and no progress had been made towards a cure for schizophrenia The grant money was grinded to a halt after an investigation had been conducted in my laboratory.

Those fools would never realize the amazing power of my actual discovery, so I accepted their findings that my research was a complete failure. It goes without saying that I was threatened with many lawsuits by the parents of my research subjects. As you know my name was plastered across the news as a liar and a fraud. MY career was ruined but still, none of these things truly mattered. I had the serum, and I could live my life as I wanted to.

I did not hesitate into injecting the chemicals into my blood stream, excitingly the effects were very nearly immediate, I saw things as I never had before, everything I imagined became vivid. It was clear to me that not only had I gained an increased imagination, I had a much more powerful one than any child. I was overjoyed, and I spent nearly the whole day just sitting there, imagining wondrous and beautiful things. It was when night fell, that the trouble first began.

I had been lying in bed nearly asleep when I heard a loud banging on the window. I immediately jumped out of bed and gazed into the night. I wanted to believe that it had just been the tree branch hitting the window, but how could it have been? No, I was being hunted, stalked, by an unknown assailant. I was filled with a sense of dread and terror that I had never felt before. I began to imagine horrific things. I saw my worst fears projected into reality, and there was no escape. After I cried and wept from the sheer horror, I cradled myself into the corner of the room, and slammed my eyes shut in an effort to block out these horrible visions. It did no good, the horrific imagery continued to fill my conscious mind. I never managed to get any sleep, and I had no awareness of the passage of time as dawn slowly crept over the night. This cycle of terror has continued for three days and I can no longer withstand it. I have made the decision to take myself out, before they can get to me. I have no doubts that this bullet will be far more merciful than any of the torturous deaths they have been planning for me. Attached to this letter is what is left of the serum, please for gods sake destroy it. Don't even open it, just destroy it. I want to do it myself more than anything else in the world, but they won't let me. Goodbye and good luck.