To Start With History

Jean was born of Eurasian descent: a quarter French, a quarter Chinese, and half Vietnamese.

Jean lived his childhood unusually well-behaved. In fact, Jean could be too much of a stickler for the rules.

As the younger brother of a social and academic genius, Jean somehow performed more brilliantly. His aptitude in math was unbelievable, crossing the boundary to comprehending geometry, algebra, trigonometry, statistics and calculus with ease. Jean was a veritable prodigy at the age of 7.

Yet something broke his savant nature before it could fully blossom. This was society. Mainly, how his family changed because of it and how society, in turn, treated them.

Jean's dad worked as a chef who spoke broken English. During the Vietnam War, he served as the only doctor Presidents obsessed over because of his miraculous treatments. He even saved his own mother from a rare heart disease. However, his immigration to the United States found that his credentials were not valid licenses to practice, nor were his practices legitimate enough to use systematically, much to the enjoyment of xenophobic Americans sore about the war. This led him to drinking, rage, and domestic violence, especially since he faced both the discrimination of being an Asian and being from the country the United States lost the unofficial war to, despite hailing from the South, which allied with the Americans. His mother died in a mistaken American bomb raid on an innocent village a few days before the War ended and his father died while in captivity. The news arrived on the week after settling in America, making Jean's father extremely unstable.

Jean's mother was his father's hometown beauty and used as a token of an arranged marriage. She was so unbelievably eye-catching that Jean's father once had to permanently disfigure her face so American soldiers wouldn't kidnap and defile her. At least his fellow Vietnamese would kill her with dignity if they had the chance. Luckily, that was a big if. Despite her hardened nature from being a seamstress during the war and her father abandoning her ailing mother, she struggled with mood swings. One moment she pampered guests like a fairy and the next, she spoke on with obscenities and her fists. Her biggest struggle was her appearance. Ever since she was disfigured during the War, she worried about her public image. America fattened her body, increased her insecurities, and entranced her with brand clothing, makeup, and various products. It didn't help that she sent hundreds of dollars back home, even flying back to Vietnam every few years. She was forced to menial labor, including her previous work as a seamstress.

Jean's older brother was a hardcore nationalist. He was brought into America at the impressionable age of 5 and became indoctrinated with its values instantly. His genius and adaptability helped him pick up English in a matter of weeks, closely attaching himself with whoever he could so he appeared like a native. His closest friend was a half British, half Swedish neighbor who was two years his junior. With his friend who was the son of a cop, he managed to avoid trouble with the law, like with future drinking and drug use or violent attacks or petty larceny. This also proved very useful whenever other neighbors complained about the noise from Jean's home whenever his parents fought or his older brother got into fights.

Jean was born a citizen of the United States, just barely outside of the state line, which complicated his origin and made for messy paperwork neither of his parents understood. With a staunch belief of a self-sustained body and suspicion of poisoning from prejudiced American doctors, Jean's father kept his kids home and away from medicine. Somehow, Jean failed to inherit or be exposed enough for strong immunities to develop and he lacked the supplies for the medical practices his father had in Vietnam. Jean lived sickly but had much demanded from his father, mother, and brother.

Because of a lack of financial control by immigrants incapable of reading Federal jargon, Jean's family survived on donations from the Catholic Church. In spite of being nonreligious, they were ceremoniously given enough to live. Still, an endless anger prevailed in the family because of an unrelenting discrimination from the locals and the combo of an economic and emotional stress on their psyches.

Jean's father always wanted to be a respected doctor again, along with the freedom of being single so he wouldn't fight a crazy woman like his wife. He was cowed under the strict eye of his management, gossip of his hateful coworkers, and controlled by the callous corporate profit margins.

Jean's mother always wanted to go back home to Vietnam, be beautiful again, and have a normal family. Everything in life reminded her of her ugliness and broken family, so she bought secondhand goods from garage sales for a facade of normalcy.

Jean's brother always wanted to fit in. He tried hard to live in America as an American but the racial difference and immigrant status stained his identity. He was stuck compensating for inconsistencies and showing both his loyalty and interest.

Jean? Jean wanted death. He was raised in the tempest of his family's internal struggles and external struggles against each other and society. The first concept of death came with his older brother's hardly veiled threat of murder. Yet, more exposure to society's hypocrisy and taint led Jean wanting death more and more.

Jean endured bullying. Jean bullied using the school rules and his performance. Jean played games with death. Jean watched films with death. Jean heard stories of the death of loved ones. Jean witnessed the death of countless bugs and the slow death of pets. Jean took note of how much he liked death. He noted suicide methods, suicide attempts by students, and even the occasional roadkill. Jean remembered all the suffering of his family and their ties to death.

Jean witnessed baby birds falling out of their nests and breaking open their skulls for flies to fester in hours later. The worms slowly decomposed their small corpses to make them part of nature once more.

Jean loved death. But Jean knew society hated murder. So, Jean kept a smile on his face and lived his life as a facade. In his mind, Jean dreamed of killing while he servilely lived. A dreamland where Jean could murder and be free took form.

Even when beaten until Jean coughed blood... Even when bullied by his peers for his fall to normalcy... Even when told the worthlessness of his life by his parents... Even when strangled by his own jealous brother nearly to his death...

Jean smiled and lived another normal day without exposing his true nature.

That is, until Jean hit his limit.

Then, Jean began his criminal career as a serial killer.