Author's note: Some of my friends are curious about the other not so successful experiments. Well, this one-shot will hopefully give you an inside view. The experiment in hand was a creature with highly accelerated growth genes and was created, matured, and died on the day that Angel was captured in book 1. Writing this made me appreciate the length of life, and how much we take it for granted. Hope it does you too.

Whiteness. That was all I could see around me. The blurred images and incomprehensible voices overloaded my senses and I tried to shut everything out. No use. I curled back into my cage and rolled myself protectively into a ball as everything became sharper and louder. I could not take it anymore. I let out an anguished cry. The figure next to me, garbed in white, exploded. Or at least, the object attached to his face did.

"Little freak," those sounds were aimed in my direction, but at that point I had no idea what they meant; they were nothing but noise. Nonetheless, I could hear the malice in that one's voice and backed away from the source as far as my cage would allow.

"Aww, she's hungry." That noise was different. I almost wanted to run to it, but I was still afraid. Afraid of everything. Then a little tube was stuck into my cage and I suddenly felt a craving to suck on it, as though my life depended on swallowing whatever had been offered to me. I ran as quickly as my four limbs would allow, taking the tube in both hands and inhaling the contents deeply. I belched in disgust. It was bland. But it settled the strange buzzing sensation in my stomach. I finished it quickly.

A stab of pain in my upper thigh caused a large gurgle to emit from my mouth, tears streaming down my face. I vomited whatever was in my mouth as I felt the sensation for the first time. I could feel the pain spreading outward from that spot, and twisted to see if I could take it away. A hand was moving away from me, and I looked to see a sharp needle being retracted.

"That will teach you to break my glasses, bitch." I began to cry, not sure what had been said, but sure that something was wrong. The pain spreading everywhere was not helping either.

"What's wrong with 192?"

"She's convulsing. I think its mutating again."

"Should we retire it?"

"Na, it'll be dead by tonight."

"Alright, but keep an eye on it."

A flurry of voices cut into my head, but did nothing to relieve the pain. I was sure they were talking about me and wanted to tell them to take away the pain, but I did not know how. The fire in my blood continued to burn.

3 a.m. 3 hours into my life. I was learning. Slides flashed in front of me at ten frames a second. At first I had no clue what this was about, but as the minutes ticked by, I began to grasp everything. Calculus. Literature. Biology. Any other topic that I could learn, I knew.

The clip ended. I looked around my surroundings with new eyes, shocked motionless at just how blind I had been before. The cage around me was the first thing of note. I had always thought that this was my world, my space. It was made of steel. It had been built to keep me in. The white room around me was proof that there was more to this than a cage. Laboratory. Yes, that was what the room was called. I picked out objects, identifying them by name.

I caught a look of a startled figure in the glass opposite my cage. A girl. She was beautiful, was she not? She was in a cage too. I waved to her and she waved back at the same time. I smiled, and she smiled. It was as if she knew what I was going to do and mimicked it. I look away, and out of the corner of my eye I saw her look away too. Then I blew a kiss at her, just like what that girl in the clip had done. She blew me one too. I had made a friend.

I looked down at my hands, wondering. Who was I? A hazy memory, a girl's voice, whispered to me, "192". No, that did not sound right. Didn't I have a name? Everyone in that clip had a name. I decided to name myself after the heroine in the clip. Leah. Yes, that suited me well. My name was Leah.

4.30 a.m. I peeked at the last remaining scientist in the lab. Yes, I had identified everything and everyone in the lab. She was a woman with big glasses, like the one that I had caused to break earlier. I wondered if I should break this one too. No. The pain from then was enough of a deterrent to prevent me from doing anything. Instead, I tried to compare myself to her. I was a girl too, right? I looked at her white coat and then looked down at myself. For the first time, I saw that I was naked. I yearned to have clothes, not a white coat, but ones that the girl had in the movie. Figure-hugging shirts and jeans. Wouldn't they look nice?

I looked in between my legs and found a small mound and used my finger to press into it. What had the couple done? The man had put something inside the girl. I didn't understand how that was possible. It was so tight. But applying pressure on it felt good. I pressed some more and tilted my head back, enjoying my newfound pleasure. A soft sigh escaped my lips.

The woman swiveled to look at me. I suddenly stopped, feeling as though I had done something wrong. My ears suddenly felt like they were burning, and it spread to the rest of my face. I looked down and pretended not to watch as she stood and walked nearer to me. She removed her glasses and peered into my face. I couldn't help but smile when she looked at me like that. She then spoke, but I got the impression that it was not to me.

"Subject 192 is still undergoing self-discovery phase. Has begun to understand concept of right and wrong. Experiment hypothesis: On schedule."

6 a.m. Feeding time again. I waited eagerly for the tube this time. The buzzing in my stomach had intensified to the point of discomfort. This time, however, I had to wait, disgruntled, as the scientists attached a number of sensory tubes and needles to my skin. It hurt, but as long as I managed to get my food, I would be satisfied.

As soon as the tube poked into my cage, I quickly sucked from it the mush which I craved. This time, I noticed that it was actually edible, with a number of varying tastes. I enjoyed it while I could, thankful that life was good.

Just as I was about to finish feeding, the door burst open and four beings came in. They were not human, that much I knew. They had fur all over their body, including their face, and their mouths were elongated in a primal, animalistic way, as though it were designed to cut into raw meat instead of sucking its feed from a tube like me. They scared me.

I continued to watch the four as I backed away from them. Laughing, they hoisted a moving brown bag from behind them and dumped its contents into a cage. My heart stopped when I saw what was inside the cage. It was a girl, no more than six. And she had wings.

Angel was her name. I found that out from her conversation with the two… mistakes over in crate 186. I tried to talk to her for a bit, but she seemed to be preoccupied, listening to something in her head. A couple of times I saw her look at me, only to drop her gaze sadly, as though she was afraid to talk to me because she would lose me soon.

I began to notice minute details about her- possibly the only other sentient, sane creature in this laboratory. The way her hair curled. The number of freckles on her cheek. I never got tired of watching her, almost as though I was developing a maternal instinct for her.

8 a.m. "Are you saying this is subject eleven? This little girl?" The door burst open and four scientists barged in, talking excitedly amongst themselves. I looked at Angel fearfully. I knew what was going on, and was afraid I would lose her, even though I had never even talked to her.

Angel kicked and screamed and bit at the scientists as they took her. From the looks on their faces, I knew exactly what they planned and had no intention of letting it continue.

"No…!" My scream lasted longer than a minute, breaking every glass object in the room, and shattering my cage lock as well. I burst out of the cage and, with the wobbly legs of someone who had never walked in her life, dashed toward the scientists. I was too late. They bailed the moment I started screaming, leaving the door locked behind them. I fell to my knees, legs unable to support my weight any longer. My skin had turned a faint red from exertion and I collapsed to the ground, spent.

A scientist reopened the door and smiled at me, smug. "There we are. Looks like this freak finally found its mutation." I opened my mouth to scream, but nothing came out. The man walked over to me and stabbed a needle into my leg. I waited for the pain to come, but this time, nothing. I tried to take the needle out, but for some reason, my arm would not respond. Panicking, I turned my head to look at the scientist- only it would not turn. Understanding flooded me and I gaped in horror as I comprehended the situation. I opened my mouth to scream again, but my mouth would not open.

12 p.m. It only just hit me. Do I have a mate? I suddenly recalled a scene in the clips I had seen early this morning. Who was my mate? I glanced up. I had never given the boy directly across my cage a second glance, but upon close scrutiny, I decided that he looks kind of nice. I wonder…

2 p.m. Pain. That was all I could feel. I was running in a maze, having to complete it to get my food this time. Every time I made a wrong turn, my bare feet would touch the cool metal and a strange feeling would come over me. It was not extremely painful, but it was extremely unpleasant and altogether unbearable. Every time I stopped to regain my breath, it hit me again, this time from the collar I was wearing. I did not find out until much later that it was an electric shock, and every time I was shocked, my lifespan decreased.

I gasped and ran toward the light at the end of the tunnel, only to realize that it was yet another false trail. I screamed as the electricity surged through my body, and quickly turned around and backtracked to find another trail. This time, I made it. I fell to my knees as I neared the end and, with diminishing strength, crawled the last few feet to reach the finish line. I gobbled down the water which they fed me greedily, choking on it, but enjoying the sweet, precious liquid. Then I heard a dreaded word which made my blood run cold, all hopes of enjoyment completely gone.

"Again."

8 p.m. I am back in my cage. Or rather, a new cage, seeing as the scientists could not quite trust my powers anymore, and had placed me in a specially reinforced cage. The end result of my last test was not pretty. I was placed in the greenhouse to test my regenerative ability. Erasers, as I had learned their name, surrounded me and the moment the first one got within a ten feet range of me, I screamed, causing the entire building to collapse. It was not a sight I would like to remember.

I didn't feel very well anymore. It felt like I spent all my energy today and then I needed to recharge, but I didn't know how. There was a strange, queasy feeling running through my stomach, and I couldn't do anything about it. I tried to ask the scientist about it, but for some reason, I couldn't speak too. My skin had turned a shade of green, and unless I lay down, I would feel terrible. What on earth was happening?

10 p.m. It had returned. That scorching fire in my veins. I had thrown up twice in the past half-hour, and that had not helped. The pain seemed to be steadily intensifying, as though it was waiting for me to pass out. Right now, it was doing its job pretty well. I silently endured the fire as I felt it continue to spread. I was not weak.

I didn't quite know if these were my last minutes. Despite everything, I was fairly satisfied with what I had achieved today. But didn't life go longer than this? I was not sure. Suddenly, I could not recall anything else that had happened that day. All save one. The face of Angel.

Angel. Angel. My mind repeated the name again and again. If these were my last minutes, I wanted to see her again, wanted her to acknowledge that I had existed, not more than five feet from her. She saw me, but never ever talked to me. The pain, both physical and mental, shot up another notch. My eyes bulged and I bit my lip as I tried to stop myself from crying out. Blood seeped out from my lower lip and I fell back onto the cold, hard cage floor, legs no longer able to hold me up.

I readjusted my position to lie on the floor, letting the cool surface try to put out the fire within me. Even that very action had drained me. I was on the verge of panicking. What was I to do? How was I going to end this pain? I squeezed my eyes shut and thought.

Immediately, the pain began to fade. My eyes flew open and it began again. I sat, upright, in sudden realization, struggling hard to recall what I had learned that very morning. What was the name for it? What could I do to stop this? I knew the solution, but I could not quite recall it completely.

Sleep. That was it. I knew what to do. I nearly hit my head against the cage in my rush to imitate that sleeping character, eyes shut, body relaxed. Not easy when fire is consuming you from the inside out. But I did it, and my pain faded. I wondered if I should open it again, but before I could, darkness began to suck me in. Not the kind that I was afraid of; this darkness was welcoming and enticing, and I succumbed. It had not occurred to me that I was missing something, but now that I had found sleep, I craved it.

I wondered groggily if tomorrow would be like today. I had no standard to judge from, but today seemed very fun. I decided to concentrate on resting for a while, and then I might began a new day again. I smiled to myself. Goodnight, Leah. Then I sank deep into slumber, thinking of the things I could do tomorrow.

Tomorrow.

3 a.m, following day. Note placed on Leah's cage:

Subject: 192

Lifespan: 22 hours

Mutations: Vocal chords

Secondary Mutations: Enhanced Growth Gene

Cross-genes: None (human)

Overall analysis: Failure

Well there you have it. Apologies for being a little incoherent, but she was a day old and I was writing from her perspective so… yeah. This was the first time I wrote something like this, so please review!!! If I have enough reviews, I might do another one. :)