David Kestenbaum It would probably be wrong to say that Cody Treybig loved basketball at the beginning. It would definitely be wrong to say he was good at it. He wasn't at all. He was good at World of Warcraft though, the video game.

Cody Treybig Sometimes I still almost cry thinking about the first time I walked into Stormwind, the capital human city. And the music changes. And you see this beautiful, huge castle. And you're walking in, and it's like-- it's just really-- it's amazing.

David Kestenbaum Cody says he wasn't exactly avoiding physical activity. The game was just super fun. He and his friends would all log on, go on adventures together. As someone who used to play a lot of video games, it felt like bad etiquette not to ask who his online character was. Cody told me-- and knowing him a little bit now, this seems entirely appropriate-- he was a paladin, which is a holy knight who can fight. But also, he's nice. He casts healing spells when his co-adventurers get hurt. Cody eventually built them up to level 60, as high as you can go.

Cody Treybig I was just really proud of having [? 6/8 ?] of Lightforge gear, which was nothing. But--

David Kestenbaum All of which is just to say that sports were not Cody's top priority. In gym class when they'd have to run laps, he'd always be at the back. Basketball somehow though, he kind of liked. His dad had played when he was growing up. So early on, in third grade, Cody found himself on this local youth league team.

Cody Treybig I was not very athletic at all. I remember being at basketball games with my friend Daniel. And we'd be talking about World of Warcraft while the game was going on on the bench.

Drew Treybig OK. Well, from Mom's perspective, I thought he was adorable.

David Kestenbaum That's Mom, Drew Treybig. And here's Dad, Jimmy Treybig.

Jimmy Treybig He wasn't real aggressive.

Drew Treybig He's in the middle of the court, watching everybody run back and forth.

Jimmy Treybig And if he got the ball and someone wanted it, he'd just give it to them.

Drew Treybig He would just so sweetly hand it off to another player. I didn't really have a problem with that, to be honest, at that age. He was little. I thought, this is my dear, sweet boy. And he'll get it. He'll get it eventually. But it bothered him, after a while, that the boys were making fun of him.

David Kestenbaum Drew describes herself as a kind of helicopter mom, which seems right. While I was there talking to Cody, she kept momming us. Are you guys hungry? How about a smoothie? I'm going to get one. Drew says the whole family is kind of kooky. Whenever someone was leaving, they'd be sure to say I love you, to the other person. And I don't mean leaving the house, just like leaving the room. Cody's dad, Jimmy, says he had a hard time getting his father to say I love you. So this is their fix. The Treybigs live in Texas in the outskirts of Austin. Jimmy was an early tech entrepreneur. He founded a company that made the computers that ran ATM machines. So they had a nice house on a big piece of land. There were cows around, but no neighbors you could walk to, which Jimmy told me he regretted. As it happened, there was an old basketball court out behind the house. So they decided to get Cody some lessons. Like instead of a piano teacher or something, get him a basketball teacher. His dad found someone through the local youth league, a guy named AJ. Cody is in third grade at the time.

Cody Treybig So I remember the first meeting. He came in the front door. And he was just very friendly, is what I remember feeling at the time, tall, 6 foot 6". And I think I probably asked him, oh my god, can you dunk? And he's like, oh yeah, I can dunk. He said they used to call him "Springs" was his nickname because he dunked a lot.

David Kestenbaum What did you think of the fact that he was black? Was that like a cool thing for you?

Cody Treybig Yeah, I think it was a cool thing for me. I mean, when you're that young, you don't really understand race that much. But you probably-- you look at the NBA, and it's mostly African Americans. So I think it was a cool thing for me.

David Kestenbaum So that first day, AJ walks in. They all hang out by the front door. Cody is shy, but AJ gets right down on his level. The two of them go out to the basketball court, talking the whole way. When they get there, Cody can't really even do a layup. And AJ is like, OK, we can fix this. Let's do some basics. He teaches Cody this drill where you stand just to the side of the basket, try to bank it in off this magic spot. Then you get the rebound, go to the other side, and do it again, back and forth, back and forth.

Cody Treybig And he would put his hand through the hoop and act like a little monster, a dragon or something, squiggle his fingers around like, feed the monster. Feed the monster. [CHUCKLES] So I thought that was pretty fun.

David Kestenbaum AJ works with Cody two days a week, then three days a week. Sometimes other kids come over so they can all train together. And it's great. Mom would bring out snacks for everyone. Or if other kids weren't around, Mom or Dad would get drafted.

Drew Treybig We would stand there and pretend to be a player on the other team so that they could-- or he told us to try to move into them, or try to steal the ball, or you know. So we could kind of be silly doing that too, right?

David Kestenbaum Was that fun?

Drew Treybig Yeah. Yeah. It was really fun-- but not on the hot days. I'd say, AJ, I don't want to do this. It's too hot. [LAUGHS]

David Kestenbaum Word spreads around town about this great basketball trainer. Other parents hire him. But AJ and Cody, they have something kind of special. They just click, and they have this way of being around each other that seems sweet. When AJ was working with Cody, they would trash talk on the court, which I always thought of as involving a lot of swearing. But AJ taught Cody this really hilarious kind of trash talking-- just messing with someone, asking weird, random questions in the middle of the game. Hey, what did you have for breakfast?

Cody Treybig He would act like my mom sometimes. He would talk in my mom's voice and be like, OK, Cody, make the shot. Time to make the shot. Let's go. Let's get in there and try hard. [LAUGHS] And that would obviously crack me up, and it would be hard to focus.

David Kestenbaum Cody played constantly. If the family went on a trip, he would deflate a basketball, stick it in the suitcase, then re-inflate it after they arrived. When you're a kid, you want there to be something that you're special at, or even just a little good at. Because as a kid, you start off being terrible at everything. That is the definition of being a kid. So when you meet someone who helps you get good at something, it can feel amazing. Cody remembers this one afternoon-- maybe fourth grade, on the court out back-- where it all just felt perfect.

Cody Treybig We were just doing jump shots. And I was making like all of them, like never done-- making all of them. And one of my brother's friends had come to hang out with my brother. And he was up at the top watching us. And I noticed that. And I was like-- to me, he was older and cool. And I was making them. And he could see I was making them. And I had just this pride, just like it's something I loved, the shooting. And I was doing good at it. And I just remember feeling like I was, yeah, floating on air. It was really nice.

David Kestenbaum And AJ was there?

Cody Treybig Yeah. He was coaching me. He was rebounding and giving me the passes.

David Kestenbaum The next year, Cody got the MVP award for the school team. In some ways, AJ was like a big kid himself. Drew says he often seemed more comfortable with kids than adults. And as Cody gets older, he and AJ really start to become friends. After his games, Cody would always call AJ to tell him how it went.

Cody Treybig Which kind of drove my parents nuts, actually, because they wanted to talk to me after the game in the car. And I would be talking to AJ on the phone the whole way home, [CHUCKLES] which just shows how close we were.

David Kestenbaum AJ would sometimes pick Cody up from middle school. Cody started to listen to the music AJ listened to. Young MC, "Bust a Move" was a favorite. When Cody went out clothes shopping with his mom, he picked out clothes that looked like things AJ would wear-- simple, solid color T-shirts. Cody fell in love with basketball. And he kind of fell in love with AJ.

Cody Treybig I would hug him and tell him I loved him, yeah. I mean, I would jump up, and he was holding me in the air, or whatever, yeah, and tell him I loved him, yeah. I would get sad when he left. I was shy. But once I got to know people, I got very attached to them.

David Kestenbaum There's something Cody wrote about AJ that sums up how he felt and also weirdly foreshadows what was to come. It's from early on, a school assignment to write about your hero. I had Cody read from it.

Cody Treybig "Some people in fourth grade might have picked their heroes because they're national celebrities. But I picked mine because he has made me a better person."

David Kestenbaum Cody runs through how they met the way a fourth grader would.

Cody Treybig "Ding dong goes our doorbell. [CHUCKLES] He was here. I closed my eyes and hoped. Then the door opened. 'Hey, Cody,' he said with happiness. 'Hi, AJ,' I replied."

David Kestenbaum The essay ends with an interview, Cody asking AJ what seemed like innocuous questions. Where did you grow up? What was your favorite subject in school? And then these two questions.

Cody Treybig What values do you think are important? And he says, "Communication and 'Thy shalt not have any gods before me,' and, 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.'" Did you have a hero in your life? "Yes, Christ."

David Kestenbaum Is it hard to get back in the mind of yourself writing this, when you wrote this?

Cody Treybig It's very hard, because now I know kind of what was going on. And so it's pretty sad, I think.

David Kestenbaum Fast forward to the morning of February 7, 2012. Cody's in ninth grade. He and AJ have been hanging out for six years. Here's Drew, Cody's mom.

Drew Treybig At that point, I was driving Cody to school. And I don't remember why. But I dropped him off. And just as I'm getting ready to leave, my friend whips into the spot next to me. And so I put my window down. She put her window down. And she's sobbing. She's not even the tearing up kind of person. And she handed me-- she said, oh my god, oh my god. You need to see what AJ has done. I found some transcripts with my son. Here they are.

David Kestenbaum They were instant messages between the woman's son, Lucas, and AJ. AJ had been coaching Lucas too. And they'd been typing back and forth over Skype. Lucas's mom had printed them out.

Drew Treybig And I read them. And it was as if my entire body went numb. It's still really hard to talk about. [CRYING]

David Kestenbaum There didn't seem to be anything physical going on. The messages were about religion, but not any religion that Drew was familiar with-- stuff from the Bible, but also things that were definitely not in the Bible. Some of it seemed really out there and scary.

Drew Treybig I knew I had to get home. And she told me-- she said, go home right away. You've got to check Cody's Skype transcripts. And I'm an Apple person. I really don't know anything about the PC, the Skyping, and the keyboard even. I mean, everything seems different. So I say to her, I don't know if I'm going to be able to do it. I couldn't get home fast enough, because I knew in my heart it was going to be terrible. I got home. Nobody was here. And I went to Cody's room, and his Skype log was up. So he must have been on it that morning right before school.

David Kestenbaum She sits there at Cody's desk and starts to read. Cody and AJ had been messaging and Skyping, sometimes late into the night, and clearly trying to hide it from her. The first pages are from some night when she'd been threatening to take his phone away. Cody writes to AJ, "How do I communicate with you without technology"" AJ, "Please turn off everything and remain calm as possible. This is just for tonight." Cody, "Should I give them my phone if they ask for it?" AJ, "Delete everything and give it to them." She keeps reading, and it gets even stranger.

Drew Treybig Rapture, Illuminati, there were references to all these things, biblical or religious, that I was just astounded by.

David Kestenbaum It was like Cody and AJ were living in this other world. And it was vast-- some mix of science fiction and stuff inspired by the Bible, particularly the Book of Revelations. At the time, Drew couldn't piece it all together. But as best as I can tell, this is the basic outline of it. It starts with standard evangelical beliefs about the rapture, the end of days, when a select group of people will suddenly disappear from the Earth to go live with God. And everyone else is going to be left to suffer. Who will be saved, and who will be left behind? Well, the devil is trying to capture as many souls as he can. And here's where the sci-fi stuff comes in. The devil is operating through a powerful and secret society called the Illuminati. The Illuminati have built a self-programming supercomputer somewhere in Belgium called "The Beast." At some point, the Illuminati is going to try to control people by implanting a computer ID chip, an RFID chip, in everyone's hands or foreheads. This chip, it said, is what the Bible has been prophesying, the mark of the beast, a high-tech version of 666. If you get an RFID chip implanted, well, you are definitely not getting saved. In the transcripts, AJ and Cody go back and forth about RFID chips a bunch. At one point, AJ writes, "It's here. This coming up year, it will be mandatory for all armed forces, followed by medical field, then everyone else. What it does to the body is inhuman." Cody, "What do they do to your body?" AJ, "You lose mind control. Why do you think I took time to study the mind with you?" Cody, "How does it do that?" AJ, "Oh, [BLEEP], here we go. Are you sure? You want to know the truth?" Cody, "Yes, I do." Then the Skype log indicates AJ called him to talk.

Drew Treybig You could see how he was manipulating by reading it. "Yes, there's more. But I guess if you're not ready to hear it--" I mean, you could see him, how he would reel a child in.

David Kestenbaum AJ writes, "For now, rest. I have so much more to show you. But you have class tomorrow." In some places, the conversation seems very middle school, except they're texting about the apocalypse. And one of them is 36 years old. Like this time AJ is talking about how he's preparing to assist other followers of the Lord. And Cody compares the whole thing to a movie. Cody, "So it's like you're that guy from The Matrix who rescues Neo and takes him to the refuge underground." AJ, "You must be talking about Morpheus." Cody, "Yes, that guy." AJ, "How do you know I'm not Neo?" Cody, "But Neo never goes and rescues people from the Matrix." AJ, "But he does show them the truth." The most alarming part for Drew reading this is that AJ seems to be trying to slowly separate Cody from his family, to drive a wedge between her and her son. At one point, AJ is telling Cody that his parents are influenced by, quote, "the other side."

Drew Treybig One of the first things I had read that popped up was him telling Cody to call CPS.

David Kestenbaum Child Protective Services?

Drew Treybig Yeah, Child Protective-- and to fake that we were abusing him.

David Kestenbaum Cody had been asking AJ what he should do if his parents tried to make him get an RFID chip implanted. AJ writes, "CPS, one phone call, 911. You can easily claim abuse, which is not a lie because they would be forcing you into hell. Tell CPS nothing about the chip. Stress potential harm to your body and yelling." Drew reads this and worries that Cody is about to run off with AJ.

Drew Treybig You can just see in this sweet, little, innocent Cody saying things like, well, I think I have some money in a savings account. And then, because AJ is telling him we're going-- he and Cody are going to need a lot of money.

David Kestenbaum Drew calls Jimmy, her husband, who rushes home.

Jimmy Treybig I was really afraid. And it was obviously-- it had been going on a very long time.

David Kestenbaum The Skype transcripts only went back a month. But they eventually learned from Cody that he and AJ had been having conversations like this for years-- right there in the house, right under their noses. Drew and Jimmy call the police, but it's unclear if there's anything they can charge AJ with. They decide for sure they need to cut off all contact with AJ, which they worry will upset Cody. They don't know how much of all this religious stuff he really believes. But they know he loves AJ. They need time to figure things out. So they just leave Cody at school for the rest of the day. He's going to classes, doesn't know any of this is happening. They call a friend who's a lawyer, and they make a plan. When the school day is over, Drew will pick up Cody and also his friend Lucas, who had been messaging with AJ. She'll pretend like everything's normal. But she'll take them directly to the lawyer's office, where Jimmy and the other kid's parents will be.

Cody Treybig Last period of the day, last class, I had off period, no class. And I was texting AJ about something I had seen on the internet. And I think he replied. And it was a normal day. And my mom-- my friend Lucas and I were hanging out before my mom came and picked me up. And I think we had a basketball session that day with AJ planned. And my mom said, oh, I'm going to drive both of you guys to our house to play.

Drew Treybig They were so happy that day when they got in the car. And all I'm thinking is, oh my god, it's just in a couple of minutes when I have to turn left. It's all I kept thinking about. It's just going to all come crashing down. And I don't know if I'm strong enough to do this, because I'm still barely keeping it together.

Cody Treybig So that was fine. It was normal. And we were going home. And instead of turning right, we turn left. And Lucas and I were, what's going on? Why are we turning left? And my mom wouldn't answer us. And we could tell something was weird. So immediately, Lucas and I are like, what is going on? My mind immediately turned to, oh my god, maybe my parents are taking me somewhere to implant the RFID chip in me. So I'm starting to think about how are we going to get out of this car.

Drew Treybig The other little boy almost jumped out of the car. And I had to beg him to just please not jump out of the car. They had done nothing wrong. They weren't in trouble. They were going to be OK. But I couldn't tell them. For 20 minutes, that's all I kept saying.

Cody Treybig We were texting AJ like, what's going on? Do you know what's going on? We were kind of frantic. She took us to, I guess, our family lawyer at the time's office and sat us down. And they informed us that they had found Lucas's Skype transcripts with AJ. And that prompted my parents to look at my computer. And they found my Skype transcripts with AJ and that they were going to fire him. I wouldn't be allowed to see him anymore and that he wasn't allowed to talk to us anymore. So I mean it-- my world blew up. My world blew up. It was-- I don't know how else to put it. My world just blew up.

David Kestenbaum Looking at Cody, though, Drew couldn't tell what was going on with him. He didn't cry. He didn't yell. When they got home, she says she tried to talk to him about all this, but he wouldn't talk. They got him a therapist right away. The lawyer told AJ he was fired and to stay away from the Treybigs. The family sent the school a photo of AJ, told them to watch out for him. AJ sent an email to the Treybigs' lawyer, threatening to sue them if they said bad things about him. Cody had been a high honors student. But the next day, he got a 24 on a test. After school, he'd go to his room, stay in there, and go to sleep. In the mornings, his parents would break down. They'd say, please just come home to us today. Don't run away with him. Of course, one of the weird things about this whole situation is that before this, Cody had seemed totally normal around the house, just his regular self. When I first heard this story, I honestly didn't know what to think. It seemed incredible that all this could be going on and that no one would notice. How did this happen? And why did AJ do it? The Treybigs thought he was grooming Cody for years in some evil plan to control him and pull him away from the family. But maybe AJ was just a devoted religious guy with unconventional beliefs. We reached out to AJ, who declined multiple interview requests. Then just before we went to air, he did finally agree to talk. So we have some tape of him, which you'll hear later. He has a different version of most of this. But here is the story from Cody and his family's perspective. Those years where life in the Treybig household felt totally ordinary, here's what Cody says was actually going on. Cody says the first time he and AJ talked about religion was back in the sixth grade. AJ had been coaching him for a few years. And this one day, AJ starts talking about that video game that Cody loved, World of Warcraft.

Cody Treybig We were in my garage. And that's where we had some workout equipment at the time. And he just turned so serious suddenly. He's telling me, Cody, the things in your World of Warcraft game-- these demons, these warlocks--

Cody Treybig --all these things, they're real. And they're all around us all the time. And it's not good that you play that game, because when you play that game, these things, they can come into you. And those things come from hell. It's a spiritual war going on around us all the time. You just can't see it. Only some people can see it. I can see it. I just remember I-- it was truly terrifying.

David Kestenbaum How did he seem?

Cody Treybig He seemed compassionate, like he was looking out for me, telling me this information that I needed to hear. And he's saying, that's why you need to stop playing that game. That's why you need to start reading the Bible. That's why you need to go to church. That's why you need to start praying. That's why you need to start understanding these things, and thinking about these things, and maturing. So to me, it was like he was protecting me from these terrible things.

David Kestenbaum As for how this could all stay secret, this first conversation didn't. When other kids came over to play basketball that day, Cody disappeared into the house. He started to cry. And he told his mom.

Drew Treybig Cody tells me, there's a computer in the sky that's going to kill me. I'm like, what? What are you talking about?

David Kestenbaum Drew says people have asked her now why she didn't fire AJ on that day. She says she tries to be open-minded about religion. People believe all kinds of things. AJ seemed like a good guy. So when Cody tells his mom, we've got to cancel World of Warcraft, she's like, no, we don't.

Drew Treybig Cody's telling me that I never told him that the game was evil. And why was I allowing him to play an evil game? Well, I remember almost laughing about that. I'm like, Cody, you love this game. This is so silly. It's not evil. It's just a game. And I'm going to go talk to AJ because this is ridiculous.

David Kestenbaum Drew says she went out to talk to AJ, who was coaching the other boys. She said, what did you tell Cody? He's really upset.

Drew Treybig Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to upset him. He misunderstood me. I won't ever do it again. I'm so sorry. And I explained to him-- I said, well, we're going to have a problem if you do that again. You're hired to be a basketball coach. So do you think that you can not talk about those things? And he assured me that he could.

David Kestenbaum Pretty much immediately, they did talk about religion again. And this was a moment, if you rewind the tape, when things might have all gone differently. Cody could have believed his mom that all this stuff was ridiculous. But instead, he wondered why his mom didn't want him to learn about this stuff. He adored AJ. And the stuff AJ was saying, if it was true, it seemed really important. Like it's hard to think of anything that could be more urgent. Cody canceled his World of Warcraft account and stopped playing. And he says, after that day, their basketball sessions started changing. AJ told Cody he wasn't really there to teach him basketball. That didn't really matter. He said he was sent there because he, AJ, was one of the chosen. And Cody was special.

Cody Treybig He would either just start and say that God had instructed him that it was time that he shares this new thing with me. Or he would just start the whole thing off by just sighing and going, [SIGHS HEAVILY], they have eyes, but they can't see. They have ears, but they can't hear. You know, if only they knew, if only they knew. And I would be like, what? And he would make it such a challenge for me to get that information out of him. He would be like, you're not ready. You're not ready.

David Kestenbaum It was like a story being revealed in many chapters about this whole world around them that was invisible to most people. If you only knew who I am, AJ would say. AJ said he could see demons gathering around the house. But when he came over, they'd flee because they were afraid of him. AJ said he sometimes saw demons around the basketball court while they were playing.

Cody Treybig And then sometimes he would pause in the middle of the session, just look into the field in the distance, and then smile, and then keep going in the session, and like--

David Kestenbaum As if he'd seen something?

Cody Treybig --as if he'd seen something. He would say like when he was talking to my mom, he could see the devil behind her smiling. And he would tell me this about other clients he had too. This other client, his dad's part of the Illuminati. And the demons are flocked at his house. And when he went there, the demons would scream and run. And they hated it when they went there. And he told me, as soon as that family fired him, he saw the kid that he was working with age 10 years in one day and start getting sick and depressed all the time, because the demons were finally able to flock to that kid and attack him, because he wasn't there to protect him anymore.

David Kestenbaum Cody's dad's office had a particularly bad feel about it, AJ said. There was a statue of a snake in it. He said that was a sign of the Illuminati. As it happened, that's where Cody and I were doing this interview. The snake was there on the table. It's just one of those corporate "we did it" kind of things from the sales team at his dad's company. But in Cody's mind, everything around him started to have a double, deeper meaning to it.

Cody Treybig There's a Bohemian Grove in California where the Illuminati worship a 40-foot statue of an owl. And Cody, why do you think your dad takes two-week trips to California? Where do you think he's going? Do you really think he has business for two weeks there? Who has business for two weeks? That's not normal.

David Kestenbaum Is there really a 40-foot statue of an owl in California?

Cody Treybig [LAUGHS] I don't know. I really-- I don't know.

David Kestenbaum There is a giant owl. Bohemian Grove is this enclave for the rich and powerful. Presidents have been there. But Cody's dad says he's never been. The things AJ said were hard to disprove, especially if you're in sixth grade. AJ said he could see people talking about him when he wasn't there, that he could see people's dreams, sometimes read their thoughts. And those demons around the house, he said, they're spreading. That one was particularly alarming.

David Kestenbaum When you were playing basketball, did you imagine like little demons all around that you couldn't see?

Cody Treybig Yes. It was horrible for me, because by seventh and eighth grade, he started talking to me about the rapture and how the rapture could happen at any second. And to me, in my mind, he said, once you're spiritually sound, once your soul is good, you'll see the things I see. So I was waiting for the day when I could see the demons. And so I would go to the court sometimes and just look and just, why can't I see it? Why can't I see it? Please, God, show me. Am I not doing enough?

David Kestenbaum There was an urgency to the whole thing. AJ said there were signs the rapture might happen during the upcoming Olympics, which meant the Illuminati were going to be trying to implant everyone with RFID chips. There was very little time left.

David Kestenbaum How do you have that going on in your head, and then you get up in the morning, eat breakfast with the family, chat about whatever they're joking about, and then go to school, and--

Cody Treybig Every second was not normal. It was-- I would walk around school. And I would think, all these idiots, they don't see what's really going on. The world's ending so soon. I would spend my off periods walking around the school looking for the Illuminati symbols AJ told me are around St. Stephen's. I would spend my offs researching articles he showed me about how my dad's ham radio is proof that he's part of the Illuminati and that he's listening in on people's conversations using his antennas.

David Kestenbaum Was there any part of you that questioned it, that was like, that doesn't sound like that's possible?

Cody Treybig I think for me, at the time, it was so scary that I wouldn't allow myself to question. I can't explain like how-- the way it was real to me. It was like I'm in this real battle that's happening everywhere. I know something that nobody else knows. I'm special. And God had chosen me. Yeah, it's like you're put in this fantasy world. It's like-- it's hard to explain the way it built you up but simultaneously broke you down. I mean, but it was also this part of you-- it just builds you up, like you are this person. And he did it in such a way-- it just was so real to me.

David Kestenbaum It's funny. I feel like it's at a time where you're forming your worldview as a kid. You know what I mean? And like someone snuck this really messed up version of it into you.

Cody Treybig Yeah.

David Kestenbaum I talked to some other kids who were around at the time. They said AJ talked to them about this stuff too. One of them told me he sees himself as a skeptical person, but he still found himself wondering. Maybe AJ knows something. AJ would call him on his cell phone during school and say something like, are you in a secure location? It was scary, but also kind of exciting, like you were a secret agent. But Cody was the one AJ spent the most time with, and he believed it all. His friends told me they had no idea. In his head, it was like Cody was living inside a movie. And as it turns out, it is an actual movie from 1972 called The Rapture. That's where this whole story about a supercomputer called "The Beast," in Belgium, connected to people being marked with numbers-- that's where it comes from. I wasn't able to get a copy of the film. But we were able to find an LP which has a radio drama version of it in the style of War of the Worlds.

Man 1 The computer will assign each citizen of the world a number for use for all buying and all selling. We're setting it up so that every person will be tattooed with an invisible mark. I've already had my number tattooed on my hand and forehead.

Man 2 That's amazing.

David Kestenbaum I tracked down the screenwriter, a Christian author named Joe Musser. He said some of the promotional material for the movie was in the form of fictional news stories, which some people thought were real. They got passed around in churches and even published in one Christian magazine. He wrote in to say, hey, you messed up. This isn't true. But it was too late. 40-something years later, the idea of a supercomputer in Belgium called "The Beast," it's still around. Cody says he would wake up in the morning and check CNN to see if the rapture had happened, because for sure, it would be on the news. The things AJ said were terrifying, but the only safe place was with AJ. So instead of running away, he'd go back to him.

Cody Treybig My own thoughts weren't safe. I had this tic where I was so afraid that I would say "I hate God" in my head that if I-- I had to talk constantly in my head. I had to say the phrase, I love God so much. God is so amazing. I love him so much. Like I'm-- I love God. I love God. And that would be every waking hour of my day. I would have to say that constantly throughout in my head, or else I was afraid I would let the phrase "I hate God" out. And then I would be-- I would go to hell forever. I wasn't even safe with my own self.

David Kestenbaum Cody hid all this from his parents for three years. And just like in basketball, how you had codes so your teammates knew what play you were running, he and AJ had one too.

Cody Treybig He might say, even in front of my parents or something, hey, I was talking to my friend John the other day. And he told me he had 12 points and 4 rebounds in a game. And I knew that meant go read in the Bible, John, chapter 12, or whatever, verse 4.

David Kestenbaum Cody's mom says she did notice Cody was more interested in religion. He would pester her to let him talk to AJ about religion. She said no. At some point, Cody asked to get baptized. His mom worried that might mean that AJ was still talking to Cody about religion, which he'd promised not to do. But Cody insisted, no, no, this is just something I want to do. So they said OK. Drew says, in retrospect, of course, all this looks very different.

Drew Treybig I feel like, as a mom, how could I not know? This little boy thought he was going to die every day, every minute of every day. I mean, how could I have not known that?

David Kestenbaum I mean, it's like Cody's been living in this world that is not the real world. But you were also living in this world that was not the real world because this was going on, and you didn't know it.

Drew Treybig Right. Right. The specialists and the psychiatrists and all, they'll tell you that you have to forgive yourself. I guess I just don't. I think my focus is just still on Cody.

David Kestenbaum I talked to some experts about cults and brainwashing. And when I told them this story, they reacted the way doctors do when someone comes in with what they think is an unusual set of symptoms but that the doctor's seen a hundred times. There's no official definition of a cult. But they all said, yeah, that sounds like one. Cults often promise the key to understanding the whole world. Followers are pressured to keep everything secret. The whole thing gets built up gradually, so it becomes hard to back out without admitting you were wrong the whole time. At the top of it all is a charismatic leader. I asked if cult leaders knew they were cult leaders. The answer, sometimes. These experts told me perfectly healthy people with no history of mental illness fall into cults. Part of what makes the whole thing work is that the leader introduces something to be afraid of, while also providing the solution to that fear, which creates this really strong bond. That technique, of course, is used in lots of places-- advertising, political campaigns. Here it's just all turned up to 10. Cody's dad told me that this experience helped him understand those stories in the news about parents who wake up one day to discover one of their kids has disappeared and gone off to join ISIS. The one thing the experts told me felt unusual about this case to them is that it seemed to be what they called a one-on-one cult-- one leader, one follower. Those can be particularly hard to undo. In a very real way, it was as if someone had implanted a chip in Cody's brain.