"It's almost time!" The scientist found himself yelling with excitement.
"Now if I just..." the scientist continued to mumble to himself various technical thoughts and processes he could try all the while scrambling across the settings of his giant technological machine. His life's work and his biggest, most bold creation yet. A huge metal block with lots of dials, switches, buttons and many more things that we couldn't possibly understand. It seemed as if it was from another era, filling the room with its grey and complicated girth.
A little hatch opened at the side of a giant glass tube attached to the beast of a machine. The hatch revealed a protruding metal tube with a small hole at the end. The hole was only just big enough for the end of a syringe to pass through and the scientist quickly acquired the needed syringe and pushed it in with the upmost of care. A clear liquid was pushed out, the syringe removed and the hatch closed before the scientist leapt towards another monstrous machine with several monitors.
"Yes, yes. It's still responding." he reassured himself as he continued to fiddle with yet more settings. Then suddenly he stood still and walked slowly to a very important part of his machine, trying not to lose control of himself with all his encompassing joy.
"After all these years...This is it..." he stood in silence for a few seconds, in wonder of the spectacle he was about to witness. And then he pulled the final switch.
The large glass tube slowly opened and a small creature lay there. The creature was perhaps a little smaller than a human baby with short light brown fur over most of its body. It had large ears, each more than half the size of its head. It had a tiny black wet nose and hands half formed like paws with retractable claws. It had a short spike-tipped tail and lastly, its body was much like the shape of a human despite all these strange animalistic features.
The scientist waited in silence and anticipation for the defining moment he had been waiting for his whole life. Then the creature twitched. The scientist twitched with it, in surprise and anxiety. The large ears wiggled and its nose sniffed. Then the creatures eyes slowly opened and the creature saw the world for the very first time. The scientist stared attentively and with the greatest awe and concentration. The creature's eyes steadily scanned the room around it, not yet making a sound or expression. For the scientist, just starting to snap out of his awe struck stupor, his face slowly grew into a content and happy smile. But, just as his smile was about to hit its peak, then suddenly the creature's expression changed.
Its face scrunched up, making its once cute and innocent face look much less appealing. The scientists face fell quickly but before he had a chance to even wonder what was wrong, the creature's mouth opened wide and a resounding scream echoed across the enormous science lab. It didn't take long for the scientist to rush as fast as lightning over to the creature, who was still screaming at the top of its little lungs. He picked it up and examined every inch of the creature's body in earnest, throwing the creatures limbs left and right.
"What's wrong with you? Are you hurt? What happened? WHY?!" He yelled in panic and with the greatest urgency.
The creature soon quietened slightly and looked up at the scientist with its large eyes holding salty tears. And just then, the scientist heard a small noise. It sounded like rumbling. He looked down at the creature's newborn pot belly.
"Of COURSE!" He yelled with relief and happiness as it dawned on him.
"How could I have been so stupid? The nutritional syringe wasn't nearly enough. You need further nutrition!"
The creature, startled by the yelling of the foolish man, started to cry loudly once more with tears pouring down its plump cheeks. The scientist speeded over to the kitchen with the baby in toe and placed the baby down on a kitchen desk before hurrying to the fridge to pull out ingredients for a meal. He came back with all kinds of meat, fruit and vegetables creating a mountain of food balanced precariously in his arms. Food carelessly fell onto the floor as he ran and the food rolled off the desk as he planted his stash of goodies to the side of where the creature lay.
"So..." The scientist said while catching his breath.
"You have canine DNA sososo." he continued to mumble to himself as he threw his arms into the pile of food searching.
"You need to eat meat!" He exclaimed while pulling out a packet of precooked chicken breast.
The scientist was about to shove the food into the creatures mouth when he realised he had made yet another mistake. "nononononono." he mumbled pulling away from the crying creature.
"How could I forget?! You need my milk formula!" He yelled and without any hesitation he picked up the creature yet again and rushed to another room where more machinery lived.
With the press of a few buttons the machine produced a capsule of milk and he then poured it into a baby bottle ready to drink. He struggled at first, as the creature resisted this strange thing being shoved into its mouth but then it soon started suckling and everything went quiet. The scientist gave a sigh of relief as he walked away with the baby still suckling. This was the start of a long journey that neither of them could have predicted.
Months pass and the scientist was constantly making notes and observing the creature's actions. He forced puzzles, obstacles and strange situations onto the creature to find more information for his research but the creature wasn't as cooperative as he had hoped. The creature often became stressed and cried. Soon it was refusing to act any other way, every time. The scientist, being the genius he was, knew something was wrong. After a difficult day working on paper work, he found that he had no time for experiments. He also discovered that the creature seemed to behave better after this day off. So he devised a strategy to limit the times of testing to keep the creature stress free.
After more time, he discovered what things triggered certain reactions such as a sudden move or loud noise causing the creature to cry. However, he still found it difficult to understand and cooperate with the creature. That was until, the creature started to walk and interact with objects. The scientist was frustrated because the creature had not started talking perhaps as early as it should have done considering its other signs of development. The creature seemed to give all the signs that it was intelligent enough but it never did talk. However, as the creature's personality and emotions started to become more apparent, the scientist couldn't help but find himself smiling more often as he watched. He started to find spending time with the creature fun and relaxing. But it wasn't until one day when everything started to change.
The scientist had been sending his latest findings to a special science committee ever since the creature was born. However, the committee was getting impatient with him and was eager to get some indication this was real. They had demanded early on that he take the creature to them so they can see it themselves but he had told them it wasn't ready yet, it wasn't developed enough and he needed more time. But this perticuler day was hard on his emotions. He had an argument about it over the phone and he slammed the phone down on the receiver. The creature, now able to walk, stood and stared up at him looking scared. The scientist had had enough and snapped.
"Why! WHY?!" he yelled out loud. The creature started sucking its thumb and continued to stare at him.
The scientist turned around and glared at the creature. "WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?!" He screamed. The creature stood frozen in fear.
"WHY?! WHY CAN'T YOU TALK?! DO YOU JUST NOT FEEL LIKE IT?! ARE YOU DOING THIS ON PURPOSE?!"
The creature started to quiver and tremble in fear but it still couldn't move. "YOU LITTLE BITCH!" The scientist then lifted his hand and was about to smack the creature across the face but then he stopped and his face fell. The creature stood shaking in fear and sobbing its heart out, still too afraid to move.
"oh god..." his heart sank
"no, no, no..." he solemnly looked at the creature still trembling.
"I'm so sorry." he found himself saying as he put his arms around the creature for a hug.
He had never felt so saddened and guilty in all his life. He felt so heartbroken he felt sick and he had never meant his words so strongly as he just did then. Luckily, the creature was OK after some time to calm down but it was this that made him realise just how important this creature was to him and how big a part of his life it had become.
It was then he decided to make a vow. "I will never neglect you again". he said to the creature before tucking it into bed for the night.
Since then the observations and realisations, whether for research or not, became more complex and easier to spot. This little creature has taught him how to love after so many years of being alone. He soon felt like he needed to give it a name. It hadn't occurred to him to call it anything but an experiment number until now. 'Clereen' came to mind. It wasn't a particularly clever name. Heck! It didn't seem to be a name at all but somehow it fit. He also started to call it 'her' instead without even realising it.
He soon realised she had no possessions of her own and this made him sad. He considered buying her something special and later he soon bought Clereen a stuffed toy especially for her. It was a brown puppy with big floppy ears similar to her and she loved it. It was the first thing she could really call her own. Then at that very moment, she said her first words.
"Dwank ou". The scientist was so taken aback by this that he almost collapsed on the spot. Then he smiled the widest smile he had ever smiled and threw his arms around her.
Then without any thought he found himself saying. "I love you." into her ear as he held her tight.
Then the creature continued to say her third word. "pwofesswor!" It said excitedly as if it had wanted to say that for a very long time.
"Good girl." the scientist said as he wiped the tears from his eyes.
Suddenly Clereen looked worried and started whining anxiously. "no, I'm not sad Clereen. I'm happy." Clereen turned her head to the side in the way that indicated she didn't understand.
"I just got something in my eye sweetheart."
"OH!" Clereen said in relief before smiling and running off to play without any indication that she was about to do so. The scientist chuckled under his breath and followed to play with her.
There were many strange things the scientist discovered about Clereen as she got older. She had some very strange habits and abilities that seemed alien compared to most mammals. For example, the scientist quickly discovered that Clereen, even as a baby, ate several times her weight in food. So much so it seemed physically impossible for her to be able to fit it all inside her little body. However, her stomach seemed to expand to fit the food. A very strange nature of course and it confused the scientist to no end. This became even more miraculous when she started eating solids. When the scientist made a special meal with a whole chicken in the middle of the table to share, the scientist was shocked to find Clereen's lips somehow extending. In mere seconds she had swallowed it whole with no trouble at all.
Soon this became a regular routine as she needed more and more food to sustain her. By the age of 10, she would devour an entire tables worth of food in a single meal, even if it was piled like a mountain over the top. She even needed snacks in-between. Since the scientist loved her so much, it was hard to deny her these treats she craved but one day he decided that perhaps he was over feeding her.
He put Clereen on a diet with more vegetables and fruits and reduced the sugary, fattening snacks to almost nothing. However, this was a very sudden and foolish thing to do as Clereen found it very difficult to adjust. Clereen begged for more food or some cake or meat but the scientist denied it, thinking he was doing her some good and she would thank him in the end. However, things didn't turn out quite as he might have expected. He soon found Clereen misbehaving extremely badly, practically becoming wild and acting completely crazy. She would scream and sob and beg at his feet for more food as if she hadn't eaten at all for days. The scientist felt extremely disturbed by this behaviour but hoped that it would pass. Unfortunately it only got worse as time went on.
Suddenly he found Clereen ravaging the fridge at any chance she got. The scientist tried stopping her by punishing her but to no avail. It scared and confused him that Clereen seemed so sorry for what she was doing and yet she did it anyway as if she was desperate. Something was very very wrong. The scientist then decided he had had enough of seeing her suffer and gave her back her old diet. But he wasn't about to give up. He started to do some tests to see what could possibly be causing this strange reaction and soon he discovered something amazing. It seemed Clereen's body chemistry was completely abnormal. It seemed her body needed several times more fats, sugars and iron than a normal mammal her size. Since then, the scientist was careful to give her everything she needed to eat.
But that wasn't the only weird thing he discovered. When Clereen became 10, the scientist started to find weird things happening around her. Clereen might somehow know something without possibly being able to know and objects would sometimes fall off surfaces or break when she was nearby. This could have been considered coincidence until one day where he discovered Clereen slightly levitating above the ground for a few seconds.
He was now pretty sure he wasn't imagining these things and started yet more tests and experiments to see what was going on. Then the scientist made the most brilliant discovery. There seemed to be some sort of malfunction or mutation of the DNA with which she was made, causing her to have surreal powers. After some time training her to control these abilities, she was found to have the power to levitate and to move objects without touching them. However, the psychic abilities she seemed to have were much harder to hone and she still couldn't control them no matter how much she tried. However, it seemed these abilities strengthened when under stress and sometimes premonitions would come to her in her dreams.
More years went by and Clereen found out how to control her powers of force to create a lazer beam that can devastate almost anything. However, after using it she was left completely weak and they soon realised that perhaps this ability should only be used when absolutely necessary.
The scientist realised years ago that he didn't want to give Clereen away to anyone. However, the calls from the science committee kept coming in as they found great interest in his findings although he tried to restrict what he said. He couldn't let them know too much. He couldn't let them take her away.
However, one day he got a very different call from the science committee. A perticuler member to be precise. This member of the committee told the scientist that he had a perticuler interest in this creature and his findings and tried to encourage him to make a deal with him. This other scientist wanted to know more and to partner with him on this project. However, the scientist knew very well that he didn't want this stranger to get involved with his beloved Clereen and so he kindly refused. But the man on the phone had other plans. He wasn't about to take no as an answer. The man then started to make threats, saying he would tell the committee that Clereen's powers were devastating and dangerous. This was bad. If the authorities found out about her potential power they could capture her and even kill her for the safety of the country.
The scientist distraught by this threat didn't know what to do so he quickly hung up the phone. He sat with his hands over his face in despair. Clereen came wandering in with her slight waddling walk as usual and quickly figured out what needed to be done. She then snuggled up to the scientist with her much loved puppy toy in hand.
"Don't cry professor." she said as she tried to snuggle closer.
Despite now being 13, Clereen had never quite grasped how to talk properly and still had a little lisp when she spoke. The scientist smiled with tears in his eyes and threw his arms around her.
"Don't worry Clereen. Everything is going to be fine. I'll protect you" he whispered in her ear.
Months went by without any further calls or threats. The scientist had hoped that perhaps the man on the phone had lost interest in the subject after he didn't cooperate. However, it did worry him a little that there were also no calls from the science committee anymore.
Then one day, out of the blue, there was a knock on the door. This was a surprise as the scientist and Clereen lived in a secluded spot with a thick forest at one side and a steep cliff on the other. The scientist never had any relatives round even at Christmas and they very rarely had visitors for official purposes. However, the scientist had a bad feeling about this. He just knew that something wasn't right.
Then a voice yelled through the door. "Let us in. This is an army official!".
He yelled to Clereen seconds after he heard this. "Clereen! RUN! HIDE!". Clereen started to run and she had just got to a dark corner of the next room when the door slammed open.
A fat man stood dominantly in the door way, blocking the light of the bright sun behind him. The soldiers quickly rushed inside and surrounded the scientist holding an assortment of military guns and weapons in their hands.
"I told you I would find you. You should have taken the offer while you had the chance." the fat man said as he stood in front of the scientist.
"so...where is she?".
The scientist stood frozen and said nothing.
"are you going to cooperate or am I going to have to take action?"
"I'd rather die first." the scientist finally said with confidence. The scientist quickly turned his head towards Clereen and opened his mouth to speak but before a single breath could leave his mouth...
BANG!
The room fell eerily silent for what seemed like hours as the scientist limp body fell to the ground. A small wave of smoke flowed out of the fat man's pistol. Clereen looked through a small gap from the open door of the room she had run into. Her heart froze and it felt like time itself had stopped. Her whole world, destroyed with one gun shot.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Clereen screamed at the top of her lungs as she crumbled to her knees, tears pouring down her face.
But before she could truly grieve, the commander of the soldiers shouted out. "FIND HER!".
Clereen had no time to carry on crying. She had to think fast. That scream meant they knew exactly where she was. She stepped back and slipped into the shadows before the soldiers arrived. The soldiers looked in every corner and drawer but couldn't find her. People often don't look up. Clereen waited levitating in the dark corner of the room's roof. The building wasn't well lit so there were plenty of shadows to hide in. Before long the soldiers had exhausted all the ground level hiding spots and the commander grew impatient. A soldier discovered an open window.
"It escaped! Get back to the city. We'll be ready for it" the commander ordered the soldiers.
The soldiers left as quickly as they came and soon it was so quiet it seemed as though it had never happened. But the evidence was there. Clereen came down from her hiding place and slowly walked towards the body of the only family she had ever known.
"Daddy." Clereen managed to muster before collapsing over his bloody body and sobbing uncontrollably.
Hours passed and then her crying slowed. She felt like she had just awoken from a dream as it suddenly dawned on her the situation she was in.
"Oh no! OH NO!" she fussed to herself.
"what am I going to do?" her stomach growled at her for the usual snack time. This made her think.
"What am I going to eat?!" she exclaimed. These thoughts soon turned into panic.
"There is still food in the fridge. I can manage. I can manage." she whined to herself becoming more and more frantic as she tried to reassure herself.
Without much thought she went to the kitchen and ate everything in the fridge. This helped to calm her down until she remembered there was raw meat in there. In her panic she hadn't realised. Clereen's stomach being strong and good at solving almost any digestion problem immediately reacted. A few painful groans later the raw food came out the way it came and was out of her system before anything serious happened. Everything was fine but this didn't help how sick she felt now. Clereen continued to cry for another 15 minutes or so before her stomach had recovered and wanted more food. This time she was calmer and she searched for any precooked food she could eat. Although the fridge was bigger than most, Clereen ate so much that there was a whole storage room needed to harbour the food she needed for even a single week.
Clereen searched carefully and eventually found enough to satisfy her hunger. However, there wasn't much left as most was raw and needed to be cooked. It looked like so much and yet it was so little. Clereen had never been taught to cook herself. She was helpless on her own. A part of Clereen knew this to be true but she couldn't accept it. So she pretended everything was fine, she went on with her usual fun activities and pretended the scientist she called 'professor' was out shopping or on holiday. This went on for half a week until she was extremely weak with hunger as the food had ran out.
Although it may seem like a short time to you, Clereen's unique body meant that she took more nutrients so her fat soon depleted to almost nothing. She found herself barely able to walk anymore as she lay slumped over the dead and rotting body of the closest thing she had to a father. She had finally stopped pretending and had started to accept the fact that she might die next to him. Just then, a voice called to her.
"Clereen, sweetheart." Clereen looked up from the body and towards the sound. There stood a shape of a man. The shape was faint from her weakness and heavy eyes but she still recognised it.
"Professor?" she said weakly.
"is that you?"
The figure leaned over to her and lay his hand on her back. Although it was faint, she was sure she felt the hand touch her and it made her heart glow with joy.
"I love you professor." she said under her breath as she found herself growing weaker.
But then to her surprise, the figure grabbed her hand and lifted her up. Her legs shaked violently and she soon fell over but the figure lifted her up again and this time she stood just barely.
The figure then leaned over, gently touched her cheeks and said "You must live, Clereen. Don't let it end like this".
"But." Clereen wanted to cry but she had no tears left.
"I-I can't." she whined but the figure just stroked her head and continued.
"Do you think I want to see you die like this?" Clereen looked up at him with surprise.
"I..." Clereen's heart sank. She had been selfish this whole time and never thought of what he wanted. She felt overwhelmed with guilt.
"I'm sorry." she whined faintly before again trying to cry but failing to produce tears.
"Oh, don't be sorry." the figure said suddenly sounding concerned and worried.
"It's not your fault. This isn't your fault." Clereen just stared at him, no longer knowing what to say.
"go Clereen. Go outside."
"but b-but." Clereen whined in confusion and tiredness. The thought scared her. Apart from being in front of the building for a few hours to play and get some fresh air she had never really been outside.
"Don't sleep. Walk outside Clereen. You will be OK. I will protect you."
Clereen remembered those words, the promise he made to her all those years ago, and she finally understood.
"Yes, professor." she said.
"I will try one more time." then she continued to walk outside. The weather was windy and cold and she fell over many times but she kept getting up and walking. A little more, a little more, trudging through the harsh autumn winds and wet rain.
She got to the first tree of the forest that stood not far from the building she used to call home, when her strength faded. With the very last bit of power she had left in her body she smiled. She tried and she knew daddy was waiting for her. She slowly closed her eyes and accepted her fate. At that moment she fell asleep and everything went black. The sounds of the harsh wind and the feeling of the sharp scraping rain drifted away along with her consciousness.