Justin Pendleton: The Pre-Richard Years.
In 1989, the Pendleton family moved to the town of Pleasanton from San
Diego. The family consisted of Matthew Pendleton, a journalist and
photographer, his wife Erica, a real insurance agent and their son Justin,
who was at the time five years old. The Pendletons had moved to ensure
that their son would start first grade in the San Benito school systems and
that Erica could retain her time-consuming job with Century 21 Realtors.
Mr. Pendleton was never really happy in Pleasanton, but Erica found the
suburb life much more to her taste than the life in San Diego.
Mr. Pendleton's job kept him away from home for much of the time, and Mrs. Pendleton's job kept her busy in the county. Justin was kept busy with a number of babysitters who were more interested in using the house's phone for their social lives and consuming the inventory of the Pendleton kitchen. It follows that Justin was left alone most of the time, with classical music his mother had heard was good for development and children's fantasy novels that his aunt on his father's side had gotten him into, alongside an amazing quantity of nonfiction books, mostly science. This kept Justin inside a lot, and eventually busy with his schoolwork, which he excelled at. He often asked the teachers for more work, though the material was beneath him. He was skipped through the second grade, and later in the seventh.
When Justin was eleven, in the fourth grade, his mother bought him a computer to keep in his room. He used this to further his research of academics, mainly science, and poetry, but in sixth grade stumbled across a website about BDSM, or bondage, dominance, and sadomasochism. The ideas of power and aggression in the practice, perhaps because he'd never seen real power acted out in his real life, fascinated him. He saw himself as a switch, able to follow orders perfectly if he wanted to but able to control and to dominate. However, he would find out he didn't really have what it took to give those sorts of orders, it was easier to take them.
This interest never consumed the interests in science, poetry, and eventually, the French language. His father, when he was around, taught Justin about French culture, something he had studied extensively and had even gone to France to escape the Vietnam draft. He was proficient enough in the language that they would often go out for French on weekends and hold entire conversations in the language. Mr. Pendleton was around increasingly during his sixth grade year, but then found out that if he didn't move to San Diego again, he would loose his job. He divorced Mrs. Pendleton, and his visits became very rare.
This left Justin with no one to talk to, so he retreated even further into himself, starting to act like what would be considered a "goth". He skipped the seventh grade and proceeded to the eighth, where he was even more alone due to his tendency to wear dark clothing, look down, and read. He started to self-mutilate, leaving rows of perfectly straight razor lines down his forearms, and lines that coated his chest and pelvic bone in straight lines and crosses. To him, the crosses were ironic, because he did not suffer when he made those lines. He made them for release, and enjoyed doing it was well. He was a true masochist and often masturbated along with his cuts, but never enjoying the animalistic pleasure of licking his blood. Both fluids from the process were wiped up neatly.
His interest in science deepened into a fascination with forensic science, criminalistics, and biology. He decided that he wanted to be a post-mortem medical examiner for a crime lab, and began to do all of the research that he could for it. His interests in poetry stayed just a hobby, but branched out into fascinations with philosophy and psychology. His power and pain fascination, alongside the forensic science interest, grew into his fascination with crime, and his plans to commit a 'perfect crime'. He knew from the beginning, though, that he could not do it alone.
Justin continued to excel in school, at the top of his class, despite being two years younger than most of his classmates. He was viewed always as an outcast and made fun of, mostly called "queer" for his long hair and full lips. He suspected that he was in fact bisexual, mildly interested in both genders. Even so, he had relatively little contact with anyone in his school, but when his biology teacher asked him in the eleventh grade to tutor another student for the SAT 2 in biology, he accepted.
Mr. Pendleton's job kept him away from home for much of the time, and Mrs. Pendleton's job kept her busy in the county. Justin was kept busy with a number of babysitters who were more interested in using the house's phone for their social lives and consuming the inventory of the Pendleton kitchen. It follows that Justin was left alone most of the time, with classical music his mother had heard was good for development and children's fantasy novels that his aunt on his father's side had gotten him into, alongside an amazing quantity of nonfiction books, mostly science. This kept Justin inside a lot, and eventually busy with his schoolwork, which he excelled at. He often asked the teachers for more work, though the material was beneath him. He was skipped through the second grade, and later in the seventh.
When Justin was eleven, in the fourth grade, his mother bought him a computer to keep in his room. He used this to further his research of academics, mainly science, and poetry, but in sixth grade stumbled across a website about BDSM, or bondage, dominance, and sadomasochism. The ideas of power and aggression in the practice, perhaps because he'd never seen real power acted out in his real life, fascinated him. He saw himself as a switch, able to follow orders perfectly if he wanted to but able to control and to dominate. However, he would find out he didn't really have what it took to give those sorts of orders, it was easier to take them.
This interest never consumed the interests in science, poetry, and eventually, the French language. His father, when he was around, taught Justin about French culture, something he had studied extensively and had even gone to France to escape the Vietnam draft. He was proficient enough in the language that they would often go out for French on weekends and hold entire conversations in the language. Mr. Pendleton was around increasingly during his sixth grade year, but then found out that if he didn't move to San Diego again, he would loose his job. He divorced Mrs. Pendleton, and his visits became very rare.
This left Justin with no one to talk to, so he retreated even further into himself, starting to act like what would be considered a "goth". He skipped the seventh grade and proceeded to the eighth, where he was even more alone due to his tendency to wear dark clothing, look down, and read. He started to self-mutilate, leaving rows of perfectly straight razor lines down his forearms, and lines that coated his chest and pelvic bone in straight lines and crosses. To him, the crosses were ironic, because he did not suffer when he made those lines. He made them for release, and enjoyed doing it was well. He was a true masochist and often masturbated along with his cuts, but never enjoying the animalistic pleasure of licking his blood. Both fluids from the process were wiped up neatly.
His interest in science deepened into a fascination with forensic science, criminalistics, and biology. He decided that he wanted to be a post-mortem medical examiner for a crime lab, and began to do all of the research that he could for it. His interests in poetry stayed just a hobby, but branched out into fascinations with philosophy and psychology. His power and pain fascination, alongside the forensic science interest, grew into his fascination with crime, and his plans to commit a 'perfect crime'. He knew from the beginning, though, that he could not do it alone.
Justin continued to excel in school, at the top of his class, despite being two years younger than most of his classmates. He was viewed always as an outcast and made fun of, mostly called "queer" for his long hair and full lips. He suspected that he was in fact bisexual, mildly interested in both genders. Even so, he had relatively little contact with anyone in his school, but when his biology teacher asked him in the eleventh grade to tutor another student for the SAT 2 in biology, he accepted.