Null Paradox | The Bully

While the first book and first two music albums focused on the relationship and adventures of Gertrude & Grace, the second book tells the tale of Victoria & Seth and their tumultuous relationship.

It also brings to light more of how The Bully plays into the overall story. He seemingly has a role in everyone’s life–the psychological torturer of Gertrude, a business partner of Seth’s, and a strange relationship with Annabelle.

 

He’s even a personal care advisor and coach for You | The Bully Pulpit.

 

Rather than write about him, here’s a message to you from The Bully in his own words |

 

You’ve undoubtedly read my advice for you about how to regain your way (based on advice I’ve given to Gertrude), overcoming indecision, and being a friend.

Today, my advice to you is the same advice that I’m giving to Victoria & Seth |

While you may feel like you’re on your own and estranged from the people who love you, there’s always a chance that you’ve misunderstood words and actions. This often happens to almost everyone when they fixate on a single thing resulting in two people who talk past each other. From your perspective, you may think that you’re listening and understanding; but to any cognisant outsider, it’s clear that neither person is doing any actual comprehending.

This frustrates me to no end because then I have to spend more of my valuable time trying to convince you and them to take a metaphorical step backward, look around, and try again. With feeling.

 

Gertrude had this problem, and she called me a monster when I pointed out the obvious to her. She was being myopic, but she also didn’t want to hear the truth. While I rarely give compliments, she’s come a long way by stepping away from her comfortable world and being introspective. Hopefully, she survives the learning process.

 

Victoria & Seth are headstrong and highly focused on what they think they see and understand–the definition of fixation.

While Gertrude was and remains a special case for my own reasons, I usually wouldn’t care much about Victoria & Seth. Except for the tiny issue that the actions they’re taking in response to what they believe could have significant ramifications for all of us. Especially me.

 

For example | Seth

Ever since Grace died, Seth has become, to put it delicately, unhinged in his determination to kill the people who he believes caused her death. And now, with Victoria ghosting him, he feels those same people may be responsible for her possible demise. This has led him to look outside our universe to find an answer that allows him to wipe out his perceived enemies once and for all.

I don’t have a philosophical problem with wiping out enemies, provided they’re the right target. 

See where I’m going with this?

 

And another example | Victoria

Victoria thinks she saw something about Seth that was the antithesis to everything she’s known about him. Based on that, and discarding everything she has learned about him, she ghosts him knowing damn well how that would make him feel.

I’m not saying that Seth doesn’t have issues. After all, I have problems with him. But my plan to deal with him is based on facts and consultation with a trusted person: Annabelle.

Why do I trust her? Because we’re friends. At least in this universe.

 

The Bully |  One

Like most Null Paradox characters, I live in the same multiverse.

Physicists describe the multiverse as an object that contains all possible universes. At its core, the Null Paradox multiverse is the same, but how we navigate the infinite permutations of each universe within the multiverse is different.

In Null Paradox, we perceive life as a series of tiny hops from one universe to another stitched together to create the life they experience. This is facilitated by a machine briefly described in the first book (Gertrude & Grace), which plays a more significant role in the upcoming second book (Victoria & Seth).

 

Here’s the tricky part | Zero, One, and Two

The Gertrude, Grace, Victoria, and Seth that you read about are technically the primary ones. I’ve named them Zero to reduce the confusion, as in Victoria Zero. The adjacent universe has a Victoria One. And so on, for all of them.

But the version of me that you read about is actually The Bully One. In other words, The Bully One interacts with Victoria Zero, and The Bully Two interacts with Victoria One.

There’s a disconnect. 

Seth One is aware of Seth Zero and, to some extent, vice versa; he’s ahead of most people in this respect.

While I understand significantly more about the multiverse than just about anyone, I cannot find The Bully Zero. This disconnect is my primary motivation for many of my actions because I suspect my inability to find The Bully Zero and communicate with him has been brought about intentionally.

 

Only a few other people have the same level of awareness of the Null Paradox multiverse as I do. But that’s a story for another time.