Draft:Deplorable Instinct


Deplorable Instinct
AuthorMatthew Holman
LanguageEnglish
SeriesDeplorable Instinct
GenrePsychological Horror
PublisherCrackedRack
Publication date
January 5, 2024 (2024-01-05)
Publication placeUnited States
Media typeEbook
Pages192 pp

Deplorable Instinct is an extreme horror novel written by Matthew Holman and Eric Mueller. After several delays due to alleged production issues, it was released on April 10th, 2024. The novel concerns a highly disturbed 14-year-old teenager named Ethan Wright, who has a severe psychological breakdown resulting in him committing a brutal massacre at his high school, Oakmont High.

Synopsis

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The year is 2007 and Ethan Wright is a very disturbed child. He can't pay attention in school; he has constant outbursts and tantrums aimed at his teachers and he cannot stop saying inappropriate things out loud. One day, his teachers, Mrs. Fargo and Mr. Fawn become very upset with him for this and start to pick him apart out loud in front of the class. This causes Ethan to get into an altercation with a security guard, leading him to run away from the school grounds. He eventually makes his way to a grocery store, where he starts to shoplift snack items. He hides in a bathroom stall, where a man is defecating the next stall over, and continues to eat his stolen goods. However, it is revealed that a police officer is actively searching for him due to his misbehaviors. He leaves the store and makes his way home, where he is greeted by his very mentally unwell parents, Peter and Nancy Wright. His parents are always upset with him, and boss him around aggressively and abusively nonstop. This causes Ethan to relapse into a state of rage, where he tortures and eventually murders a random crow, making sure to skin its body of feathers (Mistakenly referred to as "Fur" by the protagonist in the novel). He also drops the skinned animals' corpse into a container of salt as to cause it further pain. He starts to dwell on the fact that he really loves power over other people, and that he likes inflicting the suffering that he experiences on a "daily basis". Ethan is in severe trouble at this point with his school, though his parents are too neglectful to notice or care.

He starts to get into more arguments with his parents, before deciding to play Doom on his computer which is said to be his favorite game. It is also revealed that Ethan is a large fan of several controversial rock acts, namely Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson. He is then forced by his father to attend a "dinner-date" with him at Rocky Mountain: Pies and Slices, the fictional pizza restaurant that is brought up several more times in the story. It is revealed during this chapter that Peter Wright is highly sexist and abusive, making sure to abuse the waitress and scold her for small infractions. This behavior disgusts the 14-year-old Ethan and builds on the tension of their fragile relationship. Ethan's mother tells Ethan that she'll be out of town for a few days, before Ethan then steals his father's work hammer and puts it in his backpack, which is filled with mutilated animals. Ethan goes to school the next day with his eyes on a human target, Veronica Max. Veronica Max is a girl that Ethan feels has rejected him and needs to pay for her apparent wrongdoing in Ethan's eyes. Ethan follows her out of the campus after lunch on this day, and eventually bashes her in the head with the hammer in his backpack. He also makes sure to mutilate her body, exploding one of her eyeballs with the hammer. Ethan then hides in a porta potty, where he empties the dead animal carcasses out of his backpack into a mound of human feces. He goes home to an empty house, and decides to steal his mother's Toyota Prius.

After getting in his mom's unattended vehicle and driving down the road, Ethan decides to start intentionally running over stray dogs walking around in the area, as he finds them "annoying". This gets noticed by a disturbed neighbor, and a serious altercation ensues that makes Ethan speed away quickly. When he gets home, he realizes how destroyed the vehicle is and starts taking desperate measures to fix it. Though it's too late, as the damage is already done, and Ethan's parents come home. Luckily for Ethan however, they don't seem to notice right away. Ethan is then given alcohol by his father for the first time, resulting in a scene showcasing Ethan enjoying his first ever intoxicated experience. Ethan goes to school the next morning and is confronted by a fellow classmate named Angel Martinez. Angel is a very strange child who is similar to Ethan, and he asks Ethan if he wants to hang out. This causes them to drive around together for an extended period of time quite dangerously, while listening to "Mayhem, Freezing Moon". Once at Angel's house, it is showcased that Angel has very abusive parents who do not care for him either, and the boys start playing with the power tools strung about the house. They decide to go to a nearby forest and start playing with a Black and Decker portable chainsaw by cutting off random branches. After a while of doing this, Angel reveals to Ethan that he knows what he did to Veronica, and that he wants to basically join him and commit crimes with him. The duo then find a nearby homeless man sleeping on the ground covered in leaves, and use the portable chainsaw to intimidate and torture him, cutting off his fingers and leaving him to die as they escape nearly getting caught. They go back to the campus together, only to see Veronica Max in a wheelchair with stitches across her freshly bald head. Ethan becomes sexually aroused at his actions and their consequences. Veronica Max's boyfriend, Kevin, is seen crying as he tries to make sense of Veronica's new mutilated appearance. There is also a huge assembly going on at his school regarding Veronica, where several FBI agents are present. He then decides to go home, which proves to be a big mistake.

Ethan's parents then start to take serious notice of his behavior, and punish him severely. They not only punish him severely, but even consider the possibility of sending him to military school. However, to Ethan's surprise, he is confronted at his home by a horde of FBI agents and police officers for interrogation. He and his family are interrogated, and Ethan is showcased lying to agents about his involvement in the attempted murder of Veronica Max. After a lengthy interrogation, Ethan is let go by a thread, but has to attend emergency therapy to determine if he is dangerous or not to other people. In the therapy session, the therapist is highly concerned about Ethan's behavior, and gives him a mock diagnosis of Anti-Social-personality-disorder, though notes that he cannot obtain that diagnoses until he is 18 years of age. After the therapy session is over, he goes back home to his parents who are extremely upset with him as well as intoxicated. However, while serving out his punishment given to him by his parents, he sneaks into their room while they are sleeping and pours a bottle of vodka on top of them before lighting them on fire. He watches in arousal and glee as his parents brutally burn to death and beg for his help. After he murders them, he breaks into their gun safe and steals their Glock-17. He runs to the Oakmont High campus, and immediately starts stalking Kevin, Veronica Max's boyfriend. He hides in his gym locker, and once Kevin comes back from class, shoots him in the face in a very realistic and brutal scene. He makes his way to Mr. Fawn's English room, where he shoots Mr. Fawn in the head. He then uses a boxcutter to slice a little girl's tongue off, before smashing her head into her desk several times.

At this point, Ethan is cornered by many police officers and S.W.A.T units. He does not have much fight left in him, but desperately tries to escape and run away from the impending doom following him. He succeeds for a short while, hiding in a bathroom stall as an officer hunts him down. He eventually steals a gun from an officer and fires several rounds into his body killing him instantly. He makes his way into a secluded classroom, as he watches in horror as police officers swarm his area with guns drawn. He decides to take his own life, and after make failed attempts, successfully pulls the trigger with his firearm in his mouth. After a strange dream sequence showcasing the Hungarian suicide song "Gloomy Sunday", Ethan wakes up in an ambulance, unable to speak as his mouth has been entirely disabled. He screams in agony as EMT's continue to restrain him, and he watches in horror as he is wheeled off to the Hospital. It then cuts to a scene showcasing a Denver7 newscaster giving a report on Ethan's crimes. She also happens to have the Oakmont High principal, Principal Cooke there for an interview. She gives a series of insensitive questions, suggesting video games and media influenced Ethan to do what he did. Principal Cooke starts to get very upset with the line of questions being thrown at him, before the novel suddenly ends.

Characters (As of what is currently revealed)

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  • Ethan Wright
  • Angel Martinez
  • Principal Cooke
  • Nancy Wright
  • Peter Wright
  • Veronica Max
  • Dr. Randall

References

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1. Unveiling Deplorable Instinct 2. Deplorable Instinct Fandom 3. Book release page where it remains high ranking 4. Tom Six acknowledgement