LOTF: Before and After

Roger Conroy

Rhonda and Gregory Conroy weren't bad parents per se, but after both kids struggled through their elementary years and stopped caring about their education altogether, they began to wonder where they went so wrong. Both parents had siblings who struggled through school and weren't so different from Malcom, but Roger's inability to form human connections and feel emotions on a normal level didn't seem to run in the family at all. He was the first in either of their bloodlines to exhibit behavior that was borderline psychotic. At least, that they knew of. The thing about psychopathy was that it wasn't genetic, but it was possible that one of them carried the genetic variants that made Roger prone to developing psychotic tendencies. Truthfully, if that were really the case, Gregory and Rhonda didn't want to know which one of them it was.

Roger's behavior couldn't be a product of his environment as his parents were rather attentive and supportive prior to his move to Bainbridge. Both Rhonda and Gregory came from overly alright backgrounds, and their parenting style was pretty typical. Their children both struggled in spite of this, not because of it. Malcom was pretty close with their father growing up, and the two spent lots of time playing sports and rough housing in the backyard when Malcolm was young. However, neither parent could connect to Roger very well. In spite of their best efforts, he was resistant. He seemed not to care very much about the state of his relationships with his parents or his brother. Although, Malcom did look out for his little brother for as long as they attended the same school. Roger wasn't warm or empathetic toward him, but he respected his brother for taking care of him, and the two boys had an overly good relationship even after Roger was sent to the academy and Malcom moved to the sketchier side of Brookhaven, Georgia.

The only other person Roger really connected with other than Malcom was Jack. In spite of his emotional detachment from him and everyone else, Roger grew to care for Jack. Not in an emotional way, but in a practical one. He spent most of his time everyday with Jack, and he was willing to stick his neck out to protect Jack if need be. And Jack wasn't as smart as Roger was, and it would usually be up to Roger to get them out of compromising situations. If it wasn't for Roger's ability to get them out of trouble before they got caught, they would've spent a lot more time in Head Officer Bailey's office than they ultimately did.

Roger didn't love Jack in the traditional sense, but he grew to be protective of the blond boy. It was clear to Roger that Jack was good at getting into trouble, but not very good at getting out of it. Roger stuck up for him, took the fall to protect Jack because he knew Jack would suffer harsher consequences than he would. Roger never cared enough to be fazed by whatever punishment Bainbridge Military Academy threw at him. Jack, however, was more vulnerable. Roger quickly learned that Jack was at risk, after seeing the bruising on the boy's body just after returning to the academy for the start of fifth grade. Roger realized that for Jack, his actions would warrant detrimental consequences. It wasn't that Roger got sad or mushy to see Jack hurt, but he still felt the need to protect him when he could. Roger might not have felt human, but he still was, and Jack was important to him whether he felt emotionally connected to the boy or not.

It was in Roger's sixth grade year that Ralph Langley moved in down the hall with little Simon Bennett. Jack was insistent on them going down there to introduce themselves, and Roger knew Jack just wanted to determine whether or not the new kid would be a threat to his pursuit to become colonel. Roger himself wasn't particularly fond of Ralph off the hop. The boy's annoyingly positive attitude got on Roger's nerves. The sound of his voice made Roger's eyes roll back into his head almost automatically. But that very night they first met Ralph, Roger could tell Jack didn't feel the same way. Roger noticed that Jack stared at the brunette boy as he tried to dress himself. Jack was clearly less interested in Simon than he was in Ralph, and that first interaction between the two sent some kind of alert signal to Roger's brain. He didn't know what it was between them, but there was something strange about the way Jack and Ralph interacted with one another. This was apparent to Roger in their first interaction, and every one that followed.