Damn it, it's on the tip of my tongue. It's...Robert. Robert William Davies. Born July 2, 2056 in Peoria. Mom's name was Hilary, Dad's was Joseph. I think. Or was Mom named Joanna and Dad named Harry? Harry...hairy...dogs are hairy so are cats and...
Focus, god damn it! Focus! I've got to finish this.
It all began shortly after I turned twenty. Violent crime had become so commonplace that the police and FBI had given up. Vigilante justice was rampant, and nobody dared venture outside, even in daylight, without being armed to the teeth. Something had to change.
I'm still not sure who it was that discovered it. At first, everyone was skeptical and a bit scared. A pill that would end all violent impulses forever? It sounded like something out of a bad science fiction movie. But the criminals who took it immediately became more complicit. Hell, they became upstanding members of society.
Well, after that, the demand for Lethe(as the papers dubbed it, and wasn't that a cruel irony) skyrocketed. Pharmacies couldn't keep it stocked, and it soon became the hottest drug on the market.
I never had any myself, and that's what's saved me...at least until a month ago. See, they released without testing, and the side effects...I doubt anyone could have predicted what would happen.
People became calm and violent crime-hell, all crime-became nonexistent in less than a year. It was like living in Utopia.
But then things started to change again, and this time in alarming ways. People were starting to dress and act alike, and their way of talking changed. I know this makes no sense, but it's true. No one ever said "I", "me", or "you." It became "We"and "our." Even their voices changed, seeming to echo when they talked. It was pretty damn creepy. And it spread.
Soon after that people stopped naming themselves. See, having a name means you had an identity, that you were Somebody. And the Collective-as They came to call Themselves-didn't like that. Individuality was what had led to wars and violence, they said. The only way to make sure the Bad Times never returned was to become exactly alike. The Collective cracked down on anyone that resisted.
Then Lethe was released into the air, and after that we all are one the Collective is all we all are the Collective.