Trial of identity, p.10
Trial of Identity, page 10
“What do you mean?” he asked, chuckling at my outburst.
“You have been unusually calm these days especially, today despite knowing what day it is tomorrow.” I said, not wanting to squeeze his way out of the confrontation.
He stopped laughing immediately and didn’t utter a word. His silence spoke volumes for me to know that my analysis was right.
“What do you fear the most?” he asked out of nowhere.
I plainly stared back at him completely confused by his question. What did that have to do with what I first told him?
“Well?” he pressed further as I stayed silent.
“I don’t know I guess…fire.” I said.
“No, I didn’t ask what frightens you, I asked you about your fear.” He repeated, stressing on the last word.
“What’s the difference?”
“Well, being frightened by something is a thing you can’t stand to be around and are scared of it for a brief amount of it but you can easily overcome it by manipulating your mind to forget it. Meanwhile your fear is something…you wouldn’t want to come true, a scenario that you would dread the most.” said James, eyes gleaming with mingled hues of blue.
A scenario, that I would dread the most? I couldn’t think of anything else other than the time when the doctor correctly predicted how many more days my mother had before she died. I could barely sleep at night scared that I might wake up to her not being there.
“Lose someone who I care about.” I said slowly. Isn’t it easier to ace less number of people to hurt less? I don’t deserve to go through this ever again, do I?
The real reason I kept worrying about James was because I was scared of not seeing him again. And why I felt like my heart was being wrenched out brutally every time I saw him in pain is I cared about him.
“Then you probably understand my fear. I can’t bear to see someone that I care about hurt because of me, intentionally or unintentionally.” said James, the familiar unexplainable heartache booming through my eardrums.
“Can you relax your face? You are making me nervous for no reason.” said Edward, eyeing me weirdly waving his hands to wake me up from my stance.
“I am not going to go to the Carnival. You know that, you just go ahead with Charm.” I said fixing my mind upon a decision.
“What? Why?” Asked Edward.
“I just remembered that I have to complete some work for the Physics by today?” I lied, with a forced smile.
“Yeah, what else is new? If you are going to lie to me then you should have come up with something way better than this. You can’t do anything for him tonight…you don’t even know where he would be right now…Just let it go Kate.” said Edward, figuring out my true intentions of not wanting to go to the carnival. It came as no surprise to me that he would figure it out…he has known me since the time we both were in MENSA.
“No, I have to try. It’s too late to convince myself to ignore all of this. Even if I fail I need to try to show him that all of this is just a coincidence.” I said.
“Show him? Or show yourself? Look I don’t appreciate him being locked up today, either... but at the end I have to see the bigger picture. So, do you... Kate, you are smart but the odds of you being right compared to these genius scholars are slim. This isn’t your test to prove, where you are always right.” said Edward without any trace of his usual smiling eyes.
“Since when did, what the doctors said, you stop from ever trying to help your friend? I am going to find him Edward.” I said adamantly.
“And then do what? Let’s say that you do find him. What then? What if he does the same thing to you, like what he did to his mother the last time there was a lunar eclipse?” asked Edward, sternly.
“I am willing to take my chances, and I can ‘defend’ myself.” I said.
“Are you forgetting that he is a bianthromorph? He is naturally stronger than any anthromorph. When I tell to add little movie magic to your life, I wasn’t referring to this!” said Edward, pinching the bridge of his nose as if he were trying to speak to a demoralised stubborn child, who just wanted to get on his nerves. I felt more frustrated than angry because I couldn’t tell him that I was sure of defending myself not because I overestimated myself but I was a bianthromorph too.
“Why are you being so negative minded? This isn’t like you at all.” I said, eyeing him suspiciously as he avoided my gaze immediately.
“I am not being negative minded, I am respecting his decision. Isn’t that what you value the most? Just think about it, rationally.” said Edward, waving his hands carelessly at the end, as I glared at him immediately. The-sheepish-deer-caught-in-the-headlights-look written all over his face, as he scratched the back of his neck, nervously.
“‘Rationally?’ You almost stopped me going ahead with my decision. These aren’t your words, so tell me whose words are you reciting?” I asked, catching his act.
“What? I am not... not reciting... anything. These are my words. No copyrights.” said Edward, stuttering.
“Edward...”
“Okay fine, it wasn’t me. Geez! Do you actually think I would speak like this? James told me you were adamant about believing that all of this was just a coincidence and you might do something like this... and if you did, I should say something along these weird lines to guilt trap you.” said Edward, rolling his eyes.
“I knew that...this is something he would say the moment you brought up the word ‘respect’. Do you think I am wrong?” I asked.
“Pfft... of course not I don’t believe in any of these heebie jeebies at all.” said Edward, with a grin that indicated he was on board.
“Great.” I exclaimed.
“Wait! Hold on. What do you plan to do even if you do find him? It would be impossible to take him out of whichever room he is locked up in, they will certainly have tightened security around that room.” said Edward. “Moreover, there are high chances that he might be in the main building and we aren’t allowed to enter the main building without permission.”
“Yeah. I have already taken all of that into account and already come up with a plan and when I said ‘find him’ I meant break him out. I already know exactly where he is.” I said.
“You do? How? I didn’t know you had spy skills. Did you get trained in the set of ‘John Thunder’ movie, your dad did two years ago?” asked Edward, his eyes widening like the wider view of a convex mirror.
“No. It is easy to track James’ ‘heat signature’.” I said, showing it to him on my phone.
“It stands out; he has a generally slightly higher body temperature than most anthromorphs...Besides don’t you think I was going to go around looking for him, recklessly without having a plan?” Besides my own heat signature, the only other heat signature matching mine would have to be his.
“No?” said Edward, unsure.
I wouldn’t have known that Edward was acting weird if he hadn’t mentioned anything about ‘respect’ or ‘rationality’. He never uses these words in his general vocabulary.
“You sure this isn’t gonna backfire, right?” asked Edward with a smirk.
“If you don’t stop asking about it, yeah.” I said, raising my left eyebrow and shrugging my shoulders.
Edward’s parents sponsored the University in many fields, which made it easier for him to convince the board to install security guards in front of each building.
“Kate?”
“Dr. Cullins! Congratulations on getting into your dream college.” I said Dr. Cullins was our family doctor, hadn’t it been for him I would have never been able to hide my true identity from the world.
“As a teacher this time around.” he laughed lightly. “Come in” he said, before opening the door of this office.
“No, I came to meet Professor Topaz regarding an assignment. I should get going now. It’s really good to have you here, Doctor I mean Headmaster.” I said
“I am sure I can take a look regarding this assignment of yours and help you with it. Professor Topaz is attending a board meeting now so it would be a waste of time if you go back without getting your job done.” said Dr. Cullins.
I nodded my head after saying a short “Thank you Sir.” As if I hadn’t known any of this all along pretending to bump into him in the first place.
As he closed the door, I quickly looked at my phone to check if I was in the right place. From the radiation of his heat signature, he was right here so he has to be behind either of the two doors situated beside the wall on which the official emblem of the University was hung, on a painting.
“There is nothing else I wanted to discuss with you but not as your headmaster but as your doctor.” said Dr. Cullins. I looked away from the door behind his back and looked at him and nodded along in acknowledgement.
“I know why you are actually here.” said Dr. Cullins with a small smile. I tried to maintain a confused look on my face to not give away that I was panicking suspecting that Dr. Cullins had caught my act.
“You are here to meet Mr. Taylor, aren’t you?” he asked. “James? He is here?” I asked, trying to escape from the trap that I had fallen into.
“Professor Topaz and the headmistress mentioned approving the design of your nano-robotic gamma ray projector, which if I am not wrong, is the group project both you and Mr. Taylor are working on. I am sure you need a certain level of trust to invent them together. You must surely know that he couldn’t work on the project today despite today’s free circumstances for you all.” said Dr. Cullins, with a diplomatic practised pitiful smile.
“He did mention going for his weekly check-up today”. I said, still trying not to give away my motive.
“Kate, I know you are an extremely intelligent student. One of the brightest minds I have ever known. I know that you have figured out he is behind this door.” He said, pointing towards the door towards his left. “Sure, you could have tricked me if I hadn’t known you for all these years.”
“I know that this is necessary for him.” I lied. I was always against the idea of monitoring the bianthromorphs. The ‘check-up’ was just a safe word these humans and anthromorphs used to cover up the torture on bianthromorphs to weaken them in order to keep the complete potential of their powers in check and treating them worse than lab rats. After giving up the attempts to make James spill what kind of checkup he went through, which made him look like a corpse. I spent several hours in the library trying to find my answer, and all of those hours would have gone in vain if I hadn’t found that article by Richard Brown.
14th December, 2098
In the recent joyous occasion marking the celebration of anthromorph and human walking hand in hand.
Another striking controversy has risen about the birth of bianthromorphs. Bianthromorphs are anthromorphs who have genes of two animals in their DNA instead of one. Unfortunately, this special creation and unique recombination comes in the form of a curse as over the period of time the genes of the two animals taking over the human genes resulting in an animal in a human shell, after the bianthromorph lose their sanity, they slowly start a mutation as the time rolls by.
In a recent interview one of the youngest Nobel Laureate winner Charlize Pierrot, the brilliant mind explains why bianthromorphs are a threat to society unlike the anthromorphs. ‘The chance of anthromorphs undergoing mutation is almost slim to one as the human gene is superior compared to the animal gene in an anthromorph’s DNA, but this equation changes in the case of bianthromorphs where superiority changes its course towards majority. The basic difference between the animals and the entire clan of the Homo Sapiens including humans and anthromorphs is that we comprehend the word ‘logic’. We abide by rules and system differentiating what is ‘right and wrong’ and what is ‘development and destruction’. When all of this disappears from a Homo Sapien’s brain, they are no different from a dangerous wild animal. Miss Pierrot also shared a favourable opinion against the two bianthromorphs who were recently taken in for experimentation.‘The slightly violent methods used to keep their strengths and abilities in check is necessary.
This has been done after several tests and reviewing the complete capacity of their strength. This will not help the bianthromorphs but also the entire society who will be protected from them. After all, the advancement in Science is for the stable development of the society.”
“Although you share something common with Mr. Taylor, I am sure you are aware that you have different end results than him.” said Dr.Cullins, “So I am most definitely certain that you don’t think he should go through this, do you?”
“And you do, Sir?” I asked.
“I am not the one in charge, my opinion would barely make a difference.” said Dr. Cullins.
“But you don’t think it’s right, do you?” I asked again. “Science should always benefit the humanity and locking up bianthromorphs not benefiting anyone to be frank.” said Dr. Cullins, with a diplomatic practised pitiful smile
“Dr. Cullins would let me take him away then?” I persuaded, things didn’t go according to my plan but on the bright side they are still favouring me.
“I don’t think that’s the best idea.” said Dr. Cullins
“What? Why? Sir, you did say you shared the same view and you don’t want to stop this? At least for today…I give you my word that I won’t tell anybody about this.” I said, without any second thoughts.
“This isn’t a matter of whether you will go around broad casting about it or not. One of the effective methods to control bianthromorphs is to wake up forcefully, the consequence could be disastrous. He might not recognise you and I can’t put a student in danger knowing the circumstance.”
“But you know I am a bianthromorph. If it’s the authority and the board members you are worried about then. ”
Before I could complete my sentence he stopped me by saying, “Five minutes but not a second longer than that and Mr. Taylor does attack you, then you retreat. Deal?” he asked “He does have a long history of violent reactions when his mind isn’t in control and I have never tried this before or stay back.” said Dr. Cullins pushing me behind his back before I walk towards James who seemed to be in a deep slumber with several wires attached to the sides of his forehead, his wrists and his chest on the chair.
Dr. Cullins cautiously disconnected the wires and detached them from his body except the ones on the wrist. I gave him a questioning look silently asking why he wasn’t detaching the wires connected to his wrists.
“Precautions.” He answered, shortly before trying wake up James. “Mr. Taylor? Mr. Taylor?. ” he kept repeating his name each time a little louder than the pervious. The moment he shook James’ shoulders slightly, James snapped his eyes open and grabbed Dr. Cullins’ neck.
“No... stay back.” said Dr. Cullins, as I tried to help him to break free from James grip when he started to struggle to breathe air. Before I could try to loosen James grip around Dr. Cullins’ neck, James immediately let go of Dr. Cullins’ neck and screamed in pain.
“See…precautions.” said Dr. Cullins stumbling back as he showed the button on his hand, before raising his hands in defence. “It’s not going to work.”
“I think that’s enough.” I said through my gritted teeth as soon as his screams started ringing in my ears.
“No, I have to continue until he is sedated again.” said Dr. Cullins.
“What? NO! That will just worsen everything. He is confused. Please let me try.” I said , trying to make him to switch off the button in his hand. I felt my blood boil every second as his screams continues to vibrate through my eardrums.
“Absolutely not. It’s dangerous... go back to my office, get out of this room now.” said Dr. Cullins
“No!” I blatantly refused.
James stopped screaming as he removed the wires attached to his wrists.
“GET OUT OF HERE, NOW!” said Dr. Cullins turning towards me in a panicking tone before James stood up from his chair and stared blankly.
His eyes.
They shone like an alpha wolf’s eyes, who was being questioned of his territory.
I could barely make out the shape of his irises, as his usual icy blue eyes lacked the blue colour in them. Before either Dr. Cullins or I could react, he got up and pushed Dr. Cullins, who was standing near him, in a blow causing him to hit against the wall, as quick as lighting. I barely saved myself from being hit in the face when James ran and threw a punch at me. I quickly grabbed his fist flinching a bit due to the impact, I didn’t let go of his fist as I held it in a death grip. And the next thing I knew was being choked by his other hand. His eyes soullessly stared at mine, I kept on resisting his fist and I use both my hands to loosen his grip around my neck. I realised that my struggle to make my neck free from his grip made his grip stronger, I used the last bit of my human strength to surprise him by punching him square in the jaw. It wasn’t long before I could lose control of my bianthromorphic side and hurt him unintentionally.
“Dr. Cullins, are you alright?” I asked gasping for air when I noticed Dr. Cullins struggling to get back on his feet.
“Just a mild concussion, I think.” He said slowly, clutching the back of his head in pain. When I tried to walk over to help him I failed to notice that James had gotten back on his feet.
He grabbed me by clutching the back of the collar of my shirt and rammed against the wall, the sudden movement caused my buhel glasses to slip away to the ground.
He released his grip as he blinked rapidly looking at my orange eyes, his eyes stared to look like their usual icy-blue shade as he stumbled back in shock. Not realising that he gained full conscience I punched him in the spot again. But this time with all of my bianthromorphic strength. He lost his balance and fell flat on the floor.
“I am so sorry!” I said immediately noticing his eyes widen in shock and confusion.
“Kate? What’s going on?” he asked, looking around and seeing Dr. Cullins “Dr. Cullins.... lunar eclipse... Wait! Why are you here, Kate? You shouldn’t be here.”
