ELORA ACKERMAN is a 19-year-old PATIENT in the PSYCHIATRIC WARD. She has been diagnosed with INTERMITTENT EXPLOSIVE DISORDER, NARCISSISM, and OPPOSITIONAL DEFIANT DISORDER. She looks a lot like Jamie Chung.Â
For years, no one knew what had happened. This was because no one noticed anything was wrong until it was too late. It wasn’t that disappearances were common, they were just coordinated in a way that no one knew how many individuals had disappeared until the number had reached ten. Stollen away to an abandoned town in the middle of no where, over the course of 9 years a group of ten children, ranging from ages four to ten, were convinced that they had survived an apocalypse. It was only them and their leader, Sir, left in the world. These children would be raised as workers for Sir, brainwashed into believing that he was their only hope of survival. They were starved, worked to the point of exhaustion, building underground bunkers and buildings, working early in the morning until late in the evening. Most of them never learned how to read or write, only the older kids had a small grasp on the basics taught in kindergarten. The children did everything Sir said because they were terrified of death. Terrified of being released into the nothingness that had resulted from the apocalypse. Then, one day, one of the children spotted a bright light up in the sky. It was a helicopter. The 10 children, no longer children, had finally been found…but not in the condition anyone had expected. News reports, books, conspiracy theories- all of these things surrounded the children as soon as they returned home. Each individual was overwhelmed after being informed the apocalypse had all been a lie…None of them knew what to believe. They hardly knew or remembered anything about their real lives- let alone their last names or their birthdays. It was decided that they should all be analyzed but a psychiatrist who would determine that none of them were fit to return to society. They reached out to Brielle, seeking their aid, and were thankful when the institute agreed to house the children until they were fit to return home.Â
WE HOPE THEY ARE PLAYING A GAME
One day, when she was ten, Elora opened her eyes and everything was different. She was wearing torn, tattered clothes, covered in soot, laying in the bed of a room she had never seen. Then, a man informed her that she had been in a coma for a year and that she, as well as one other and himself, had been the only ones to survive an apocalypse that had taken over the world. Dazed and confused, everything seemed to be fake. Elora wanted to deny the apocalypse...but she couldn’t remember anything about her life prior. So, she listened to Sir’s story and decided that the best thing for her to do was to ensure she, unlike the rest of the world, survived. In the beginning, it was only her and one other- Ozzy. The two of them together would carry out chores and labors that Sir assigned them...but Elora would always dominate the decisions. She felt it was her right, being as she was smarter, stronger and better-in-general than Ozzy. Whenever Sir would go off to find others who had survived, she and Ozzy would bicker over who got to do what. Elora usually ended up getting what she wanted. As more and more kids started to join them, Elora began grounding herself. She was growing up and growing smarter- easily convincing the others that she was the best and she was the one they should listen to. It got to the point where Elora believed she was destined to be the ruler of the survivors, going as far as to defy Sir right in front of him. This resulted in her getting beaten quite often. Sometimes, she would fight back...but Sir always won. One day, she decided, she’d take over the group.Â
BUT THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING
Now 19, Elora’s desire to be the leader was still thriving. It had taken her 9 years to realize that the only way she’d ever be in charge is if she ruled out Sir as a whole. She wanted to go out and face the destruction of earth without him barking at her in the background. He was old, withering, and had grown more violent and demanding of them- it wouldn’t be hard to eliminate him. Elora had enough motivation. Alas, before she could embark on her quest of leadership, a bright light was spotted in the sky. A parade of men in matching uniforms approached their home and Elora was just as surprise to see them as they were to see her and the others. When they explained why they had come, Elora didn’t believe any of it. She protested their attempts to rescue her, going as far as physically assaulting one of the men in uniform. She was screaming, she didn’t want to be taken away. Elora couldn’t bare submitting to yet another unqualified leader, but her violence resulted in her getting sedated. When she awoke, she was in an office, bound to a chair. It was explained to her that the apocalypse had all been a big lie. Sir had kidnapped her when she was only ten and brainwashed her and the other kids with drugs and manipulation to believe an apocalypse had occurred. She had been diagnosed with a bunch of disorders she had never heard of and was sent into Brielle knowing nothing about the modern world. Thankfully, there was one thing she did know. When the other’s came? She would finally take her place as leader.Â
CONNECTIONS:Â The Apocalypse Kids.Â
Fortunately, Elora is OPEN!