Authors: M.A Casey
“To tell you the truth, I wasn’t sure whether to
believe him or not. I thought he could still be trying to make money out
of our findings, so obviously I didn’t tell him anything. I hardly slept
Friday night going over it in my head and then I remembered a break in we had
when your mother was extremely early into her pregnancy with Hayln. I
came home to find the back door forced open, nothing was taken except for one
sample of our work. I assumed it was Able of course, but I knew that
without the rest of our samples or findings, he wouldn’t be able to achieve
anything on his own. He was a good scientist, but he didn’t have my
knowledge or natural abilities in this field – so I wasn’t worried.”
“But once I had remembered, I knew that this must be
how they found out that we were successful in our work and that Able must be
telling to truth, so I decided I had to go to King’s Valley to see him.”
He paused for a moment, looking almost scared, my
mother held his hand and nodded for him to continue.
“I found him almost beside himself in his apartment,
he was waiting for Spencer to arrive at any moment, and he had no idea what he
was going to do. I confronted him about the break in, but he denied
knowing anything about it and I believed him after seeing his face, though he
did agree that this must be how they knew about our work. It was only a
minute later that Spencer arrived, he was more than happy to see I had found my
there as well. He explained to me what they wanted, from Able and now
me. It was exactly what I'd feared from the beginning. I explained
that what they wanted us to do was more than likely impossible, but he wouldn’t
listen. They started beating us both, taking turns with who they
tortured, trying to find out what they needed. Able was much worse off
than I was and I couldn’t stand it any longer. I told them that Able
didn’t know anymore, that I had all the information from our old lab, and that
only I could achieve what they wanted - if it was possible at all. He
told me that my life was depending on this being the truth. He then gave
his college – the one who dropped me off here, a signal. Then he took out
a gun and killed Able, right in front of me.”
We all gasped out loud. “Able’s dead?” My mother
whispered.
“Yes,” my father responded slowly and then looked at
my mother and continued.
“Evelyn, Spencer told me that he knew all about Hayln
and that they’d been watching all of us for months. He said I had to
return home, get my research and cut all my ties here. They will be back
in 48 hours when I will be taken to their labs to finish their work. He
said I'd be allowed to leave once my work is complete – but after seeing what
they did to Able I doubt it,” he said shaking his head slowly.
“Ethan no,” my mother pleaded. “This can’t
happen.”
“That’s not all Evelyn, I have to bring Hayln too,” he
spoke as if he was truly in pain now.
My pulse was racing to quickly I had no idea what this
meant, and I couldn’t speak, so it was Emin who asked the next question.
“What do they know about Hayln Dad?” Emin said his
voice shaking a little.
“They know what I did years ago,” he said, not
actually answering the question.
“Keep going Ethan, they need to hear the rest,” my
mother urged still holding his hand for support.
He took a deep breath and so did I knowing somehow
this was about to get worse.
“Able and I had created a chemical strain of DNA which
could be attached to ours. Initially we had designed this to strengthen
the immune system, but it exceeded our expectations making it nearly impossible
to get sick. We were thrilled of course, and then we made a colossal
lapse of judgment. We started to trial it on human cell samples, mine and
Able’s. It wasn’t long after we started these trials that we started
discovering some side effects on our original tests. It seemed the
chemical design not only strengthened the immune system but also the natural
abilities of our test subjects.”
“We conducted the first tests on rabbit’s, and we soon
found that they were jumping not hopping, and they could chew through just
about anything. This is when I knew we couldn’t release our findings so I
hid them here, including our own samples. Once Able left the lab, I kept
working here at home, trying to separate the two outcomes without
success. I also discovered something else.”
“I'd been working on our personal samples, and with
some extra efforts, I found that when added to sperm it also took the place of
the oocyte, the female germ cell or egg, and created an embryo,” he whispered
as he spoke now barely getting his words out.
“I was spending all my time in the lab and your mother
was stressed. She had just found out she was pregnant and she needed me
here with her and Emin, but I couldn’t let this go. I was in the lab late
one night when she came down, crying in pain and holding her abdomen, I knew
she was having a miscarriage. She was hysterical so I sedated her in the
hope I could stop it before it was too late, but I couldn’t.”
“I knew this would devastate her, and I knew I was to
blame,” he said. The pain and guilt in his face was sickening. It
was like watching someone being tortured, listening to him relive this part of
his life but he continued.
“If I had just let it go when she asked me – I was the
one who created all the stress, it was my fault, and I had to fix it. So
I implanted the embryo with my DNA into your mother. When she woke up, I
told her that I'd been able to stop the miscarriage with the sedation. She
was so happy she believed me without much convincing and agreed to the bed rest
I had suggested as well. We continued with plenty of rest until the first
ultrasound. I didn’t even know if what I had done had worked, but when I
saw the monitor I knew that it had. The rest of the pregnancy was
perfectly normal including the birth and I never told your mother anything
about what I had done.” He looked at my mother as if he was in agony.
“It was when you were about to go to school Hayln, your
mother took you for your immunizations, and while she was there she asked to do
some extra tests, one of these was a DNA test. Your mother knew straight
away with her training what the results meant and confronted me that night, and
I finally told her the truth. Which is why she left – she had every
reason to, I betrayed her horribly,” he said with his head in his hands and
then he stopped.
No-one spoke for a moment – we were all
speechless. Then my father continued almost eager to finish now.
“I have a plan though, not long after the divorce I
bought a small house in the middle of nowhere, in case a situation like this
ever arose, that is where you three are going to go – immediately.”
“What about you?” My mother asked apprehensively.
“I have to go with them Evelyn, it’s the only chance
you three have of getting out of here,” he said desperately.
My mother was shaking her head as if she didn’t agree,
but she didn’t say anything. I was still frozen in place by what I had
just heard. Emin was pacing around my father, tense and troubled.
“So what are you saying Dad…. that Hayln isn’t my
sister? Emin yelled at him.
“Technically Emin she is your half-sister, I am her
father, but she has no biological mother,” he said slowly.
Both my parents were watching me now trying to gauge
my reaction – I still couldn’t move.
“And what, now you expect the three of us to leave our
lives, run away to the middle of nowhere and leave you here to be killed!” Emin
explained furiously.
“Emin, it is our only chance,” my father said
softly.
But it was my turn now, it had built up inside of me,
and I could no longer control it, my life had just been turned upside down.
“SO I AM AN EXPERIMENT!” I exploded, but I didn’t give
him a chance to explain. “Not only that, I'm the reason this family was
ripped apart.” Tears were starting to build in my eyes now.
“Hayln, you have to understand something, I have had
to live the last seventeen years of my life knowing I betrayed your mother in
the worse possible way,” he said as he reached for my hand, but I didn’t
respond to him. “But not once have I ever regretted my decision, do you
hear me Hayln, not once.”
I started backing away from him, wanting to escape
everything I was hearing. He tried to sit up, but my mother restrained
him.
“Hayln, we have to work out how to get you out of
here, it is not safe.”
That was the last straw, I had to leave to go anywhere
but here, so I headed for the door.
“Hayln, don’t leave,” Emin pleaded but I started
running.
I opened the door and was on the grass before I
noticed his van and Zeke walking towards me.
“Hayln, what’s wrong?” he pleaded.
But I couldn’t stop, I knew Emin would make me come
back inside if I did, so I kept running. I heard Zeke calling out behind
me, but I kept running as fast as I could, trying to erase everything that just
happened.
I must have run at least 20 blocks, because I ended up
in front of the school. It was too early yet for classes to be over, but
I thought it would be a good place to be on my own for a while until Tyler came
out. I sat down on a park bench across the road from the school bus stop
to rest and noticed I was hardly even out of breath.
I tried to go over everything that had happened, to
try to make sense of it - but was that even possible? I had hoped
everything would be all right once Dad got home, but it was worse than
ever. My father had been tortured by people who want to imprison both him
and me, indefinitely. He expects the rest of the family to run and hide
in some remote location without him and leave our lives behind us. And
not to mention that I am some lab project that ripped our family apart.
I thought about the science of what I had just learnt
and couldn’t help but to be amazed and appalled at the same time. What my
father had achieved was unbelievable, yet here I sit, created without a
biological mother. I remembered other things he said this afternoon about
my immune system and natural abilities. Now that I think of it, I
honestly can’t remember ever getting sick, not once, not even a headache.
I remember Emin having the chicken pox, numerous colds and flu’s, vomiting,
even the measles I think but I’ve never had any of them. It really was
astonishing, this discovery could alleviate most minor illnesses, and then what
about major ones like cancer, had they done tests on that too?
I had so many questions, but I centered back to my own
experiences for a moment and thought about my natural abilities.
Obviously my talents for science and math have been enhanced but what
else. I considered that for a moment. I had always thought apart
from my
inherited abilities,
that I was fairly average, but have I ever
genuinely applied myself to anything else? Most of my life has been
following in my father’s footsteps, sport, art, dancing has never interested
me, but what if I made an effort, would I excel in them too? Probably not
I thought, as I would have to have a natural talent first. But then I
remembered running twenty blocks here without breaking a sweat so maybe there was
more I could do.
I was brought back to reality by the sound of the
school bell signaling the end of class. I refocused trying to watch for
Tyler. As I watched everyone coming out I thought of how uncomplicated my
life was a few days ago and now here I am waiting for my best friend who wants
to be my boyfriend, trying to figure out a way to tell him that I am some sort
of genetic mutation.
I see Tyler’s blonde hair bobbing above the other
students so I stand up to get his attention. He picks up the pace once he
sees me and comes across the road trying to read my expression.
“I’ve been thinking about you all day, is your Dad
alright?” he asked concerned.
“Dad’s fine for the moment,” I answered carefully.
“What does that mean, what happened?” He said as we
both sat back down on the park bench.
“Everything,” I said massaging my forehead as if I had
a headache – but of course I never would.
“Start from the beginning Hayln, tell me everything
and then we can work it out together,” he reasoned.
So I told him everything, Dad turning up covered in
blood, his best friend being killed in front of him and of course his
explanation of what happened in the past and what they wanted from him now –
everything except my story.
I was worried about how he would react to what I had
told him, but he was taking everything surprisingly well. It was if
believed everything I had told him without question, which is what I genuinely
needed now. I had truly tested his faith in me, but of course, as always,
he proved without doubt why he is my best friend. Because I knew I could
depend on him, I decided to go ahead and tell him the rest.
“That’s not all of it Tyler, there's more,” I said
cautiously.
“I’m listening,” he replied taking my hand in his and
looking faithfully into my eyes.
“My father was able to create a human embryo with just
a sample of his sperm and a reworked version of the chemical DNA strain.
My mother was pregnant at the time and things got pretty stressful, then she
started to miscarry. Dad sedated her to try and stop it, but he couldn’t,
and without her knowledge he implanted his experimental embryo, and it worked,
I was born nine months later. My mother didn’t find out until I was five,
which is when they got divorced.” I stopped now to read his face, but
again he seemed to be taking this in his stride.