May ran her hand through her hair in frustration and let out desperate, "ARGH!"
She wasn't getting anywhere in her search for her sister. Two years had passed since her mother had died and she was no closer to finding her than she had been when she started.
She'd started with the more obvious routes, but they'd still taken every ounce of her courage. First, she'd called New Species Organization, told them what her mother had said, and asked what she should do. The New Species who'd answered the phone had been friendly enough, but by the end of May's story, she could hear him growling through the phone. Then he had informed her that, while he realized she had nothing to do with her mother's choices, no New Species would want to know about their birth parent, because they had abandoned them to hell, and he'd hung up the phone.
May was shaking by the end of the phone call, the enormity of her mother's choice becoming clear for the first time. While intellectually she'd understood what New Species had gone through at the hands of Mercile, she'd never been faced with the impact of those actions on someone. She'd heard the New Species' pain through the phone and it broke her heart. She wanted to alleviate it, but there was no way to do that.
So she'd struggled with her mother's request, and she didn't make a move for a long time as she considered who would really benefit from it. Her upbringing had never had such strong sway with her before; she was beholden to her mother, she felt honor bound to obey her final request. But her mother was dead, and May wasn't sure that her mother was owed anything, whatever her reasons for working for Mercile had been.
Finally, she wrote a letter. She explained who she was, what her mother had said, and she'd included a hair and cheek cell sample. She told them, they could investigate if they wanted, she'd be happy to answer any questions they had. She told them what her mother had said, how she'd loved her baby and how sorry she was. She wanted to make excuses for her mother's choices, but she didn't. She kept it simple and she'd sent the letter.
And heard nothing.
Two years passed, and she heard nothing. Each week, month, and year that passed had only made May think about her sister more and more. Periodically, a new Mercile facility would be raided or a rogue doctor would be discovered with New Species still in confinement. Worse, were stories about Gift females. No human had ever seen one, but the reports said they were small New Species who had been given to Mercile's donors in gratitude for their huge investments in the company. If May's sister was a Gift female or a typical New Species female, her life had been pain-filled and unhappy.
And what if she was still in captivity?
She started having nightmares about being held down and poked and prodded, her skin on fire and her bones broken. She woke up sweating and crying, gasping for breath. Her first thoughts immediately about her sister; this was just her imagination, what if this was her sister's reality?
She collected information about Mercile. She went back to working in the lab at the hospital, taking a hiatus from medical school when it got in the way of her investigations. May followed newspaper articles about Mercile's shutdown, making note of the names of company officers, technicians, and doctors who'd been arrested. She started using public records to find out the names of their friends and family. She visited facilities; she spent every penny of her paycheck on these trips and any information she could get from acquaintances of the people listed in the stories. She didn't know what she was looking for, reassurance her sister was safe, perhaps, that she wasn't still being tortured by Mercile.
Her last lead had seemed promising. A technician's wife, under house arrest because she had known about Mercile and done nothing, told May that her husband had told her about an Asian looking New Species female. May had doled out her entire paycheck for that information, and that was the extent of it. The woman had claimed her husband had made a list of each New Species he came into contact with. Mercile referred to them by numbers and not names, and had described each New Species. If the New Species had been terminated there was a slash through the number. After giving her the money, the woman claimed she couldn't find the list, May was out of luck. It was a stupid move on May's part. Usually she paid out smaller installments of money, but she was so excited by the woman's claim. She didn't know what she would have done with the information once she'd gotten it, but that it was out there, made May desperate for it.
May shook her head, trying to refocus and push the intrusive thoughts to the back of her mind. She went back to work, running toxicology screenings when she heard her name being called by another person in the lab. She saw her supervisor pointing to her, and a man in a doctor's coat looking over at her before he started toward her.
The man was tall, blonde, and handsome, probably ten years older than May. He was dressed casually under the coat in dark wash jeans and a button down shirt.
"May Nguyen?" the man asked.
May nodded, and she saw his blue eyes scan her body, making her cross her arms over her chest.
"I'm Dr. Robert Walker. I'm a psychologist here in the hospital. I just wanted to thank you for the quick tox screen you had sent up to me today," he smiled at her.
"You're welcome," May said confused. Doctors never came into the lab unless it was to yell at them about how slow they were.
"Your supervisor told me that you have a break due," he said, tilting his head, "Can I take you for coffee?"
Warning bells went off in May's head, but she had been raised to be polite, above all else, and to be respectful of people in authority. He was definitely above her in the food chain, so even though she was wary and uncomfortable, she nodded, "Alright," she answered, "Thank you."
She stood up from her chair and grabbed her purse and phone before standing. Dr. Walker gestured to her to lead the way and he began to walk next to her.
"You've been working in the labs for two years now," Dr. Walker said.
May nodded, surprised that he knew that, "Yes," she answered.
Dr. Walker held the door to the canteen open for May, "But you were a medical student," he stated, "Why did you quit?"
May's stomach clenched for some reason; he knew entirely too much about her, "My mother died," she said, feeling compelled to answer, "I needed to focus on family things."
"Think you'll go back?" he asked, handing her a paper cup and nodding at her to go first in line to fill up the cup with coffee.
May shook her head noncommittally before filling her cup with decaf and lots of cream and sugar. She really hated coffee. May followed him to the register, but when she moved to get her wallet, Dr. Walker held out a hand, "It's on me," he said magnanimously.
May shrugged, "Thank you," she answered and took a sip before grimacing.
She followed the doctor to a table after he paid and continued to take small sips of her coffee, looking around the canteen as she awkwardly searched her mind for a topic of conversation.
"I have to admit, May," the doctor interrupted her thoughts, "I have an ulterior motive inviting you to coffee like this."
May put down her coffee cup and examined his face. He stared at her, and she noticed his blue eyes were much less friendly-looking now.
"Oh," she said, not really surprised.
"Yes," he said, looking down suddenly and taking out his phone, apparently distracted.
May waited for him to speak, but he didn't. He continued to stare at his phone and then turned it around to face her.
The world tilted and shifted until all May could hear was her heart pounding in her ears.
On the screen was a photo of a woman. She was beautiful. She had dark brown hair, long, almost to her waist, and pale skin. She was holding something in her hands, toward the camera.
"May?" a voice pierced through the fog of her brain, "May!"
It was Dr. Walker.
"Zoom in May," he told her, and May used shaking fingers to zoom in on the figure.
It was like looking in a mirror. It could have been a photo of May; it certainly would have fooled anyone who didn't really know her. The woman's face was the same oval shape as May's, except she had more pronounced cheekbones and her nose was a little bit flatter, her nostrils flared somewhat. She was staring at the camera, her teeth bared, and May could see tiny white pointed fangs. Her eyes, though, they were May's eyes, narrow almond shapes and dark. And in her hands was today's newspaper, the headlines that May had seen this morning visible as she zoomed in further.
May looked up at the doctor, shocked and horrified.
"I think you've been looking for her," he said, plucking the phone out of May's hands, his good humor returned. He leaned back in his chair like he hadn't a care in the world.
May tried to speak, "How?..." She cleared her throat and started again, "Where?"
"What, when, why?" he mocked, chuckling.
"You want her May," he said, leaning forward suddenly, a breath away from May's face, "and I've got her. You want her? You want me to let her go? You need to do something for me."
May clasped her hands in her lap, her entire body was shivering in fear, and she felt her teeth start to chatter.
"What do you want?" she whispered.
He shook his head, "Not now," he said, "I can't tell you now. This isn't the right place."
He stood up, pushing his chair back, "Wait!" May called, "No! This is the right place. Tell me what you want. You can have it. I can get money. I'll give you money for her. Whatever you want, just tell me and I'll get it."
"May," Dr. Walker smiled at her, a cold predatory smile, "I'm so glad you're amenable to an arrangement. Don't tell anyone about this conversation. If you do, I'll know, and I promise…" His threat hung in the air, "I won't kill her, but there are many things I will do worse than death. So. I'll be in touch," he started to leave, "Don't follow me," he warned over his shoulder.
May watched him leave. Her hands clenching and unclenching as she struggled not to follow. It was her worst nightmare come true. Her sister, her beautiful New Species sister, was still held in captivity, and she had no idea what to do next.