Author's Note: Hello! I'm so sorry for not updating in so long! Long story short! The week after I posted the last chapter my computer decided that it finally needed a new battery. So I had to send it in for repair lol writing revisions or new chapters on my phone was not cutting it. I had no choice but to wait, but I have my computer now and I'm hoping to write more as well as post more! ^^
Attention: Reminder, this story is rated M, there will be content that mentions mature or graphic topics just like how the game RE8 is for mature audience because of gore and violence. I wasn't sure if I needed a warning or a reminder since I did make it rated M, but just in case.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Resident Evil Franchise! All rights belong to Capcom! Any grammatical errors that you see I apologize and I hope you can forgive me. Happy reading everyone!
When we were just children, stuck inside Mother Miranda's dark laboratory, I had asked Karl once what his first memory was. I was curious what other people would say or if they had similar responses…I even asked our siblings when we were introduced to them what they remembered. Though Donna had replied through Angie, each of them had brought up innocent memories from their childhood that they remembered with a nostalgic smile.
Karl said that he didn't have very fond memories of his childhood, being taken in by Mother Miranda at a young age…he was kept in a cell since his parents died. The constant exposure to the cadou, the incisions made to his skin, but if he were to think carefully he would answer just as the others did.
Karl remembered his mother fondly, what little memory he did retain, and he told me that he inherited her blue-gray eyes. Karl told me that he had missed her apfelstrudel…when I had asked what that was he said it was a warm, sweet, delicious sweet pastry dish. The caretakers would mostly do the cooking, but on special occasions when it meant celebrating something important, his mother would cook the family her famous apfelstrudels. The way he described the Heisenberg matriarch, she was stubborn to the core, never would allow anyone to cook on special occasions…even going so far as to reprimand the caretakers when they so much as even thought about helping.
Then, of course, the predictable response that came after I would ask my question was always to ask me the same thing: what was my first memory.
And I would respond truthfully: I had no memory of my family as he did…the first memory I ever had was waking up on that long table that was caked in dry blood with Mother Miranda's calculating blue eyes staring down at me.
But it was what followed after that I will always hold near and dear to my heart…and it always embarrassed Karl whenever I would retell the story.
Below the village, there was an underground tunnel that stretched on toward the ceremony site, down below there was a makeshift lab that Mother Miranda had used for decades to conduct further research upon the Megamycete.
Today, on the same wooden medical table that the woman had conducted countless research upon lay a child whose golden, platinum blonde hair fanned around the child's head like a halo, standing out amongst the darkness. The eyes under the child's lids were restless, fingers twitching, and face scrunching up in discomfort as the little girl began to regain consciousness.
When the child finally opened her eyes, bright red orbs began to feverishly search the darkened room through half-lidded eyes. The girl blinked, and for a second the child thought that she hadn't initially opened her eyes due to how dark the room truly was. The child's head was foggy, she couldn't put her thoughts together, and couldn't register what was going on or why her body ached.
As the girl's eyes adjusted to the darkened room she noticed that there was a bunch of paper hanging from the ceiling as well as pasted onto the brick wall, however, she wasn't sure what was written on the paper. When she tried to look at the whole expanse of the room in pure curiosity she realized that when she tried to sit up an intense fire would flare up in certain areas whenever her body moved.
'Where am I…' The child thought in a panic, deciding to slowly move her joints as she tried to urge her body to move on command. The joints in her body weren't responding and the more the child began to move the more sluggish she became. The most the little girl could do was move her fingers and toes…at least she wasn't completely immobilized, but then she had a sudden thought. '…who am I?'
"I see that you are finally awake, little one." A woman's voice, cold and regal, pierced through the darkness, and when the girl tried to turn her head in the direction the voice had come from she locked eyes with piercing blue eyes staring back at her. The woman smiled down at the girl, and the little girl couldn't help but flinch. There was a longing feeling in the center of the girl's chest as well as a shadowed memory…of a woman smiling happily back at her. Recalling such a vague memory caused a pang in the girl's chest at not being able to remember the details of the woman's face. All the little girl knew now was that there was something wrong with the woman who greeted her. The child couldn't remember seeing someone smile but the emotions never reach their eyes. "Do you know where you are?"
The little girl shook her head slowly in response while she watched the woman, or attempted to, move out of her line of sight before the older woman came back with a lit lamp. The woman cloaked in black placed the lamp beside the girl's head and stared back into wide red eyes.
"Your eyes, they've changed color." The woman observed, leaning closer to the girl's face as the woman reached out to turn the little girl's face to the side. "How fascinating." The woman and the girl continued to stare at each other unblinking. "Not a hint of fear, you are a very interesting subject, Sinclair."
"Sinclair…" The girl winced, her voice was hoarse, coming out airy and dry as her attempt to speak caused her some discomfort. The girl started to lightly cough, but only when she was able to calm down from her fit was she able to ask the first thing that came to her mind. "is that my name?"
"You don't remember your name?" The woman asked, causing the little girl to weakly shake her head from side to side. "Do you remember anything at all?" And again, the little girl shook her head as the woman let out a hum in thought, mumbling to herself words that were incoherent to the little girl. After a few seconds, the woman turned back to the girl with the same dead-eyed smile combination. "Selena Sinclair. That is your name my child…and you may address me as Mother Miranda."
'Mother…Miranda…' Selena thought before the woman held out her hand to the little girl.
"Can you move?" Mother Miranda asked. Selena shook her head which caused Mother Miranda to sigh as she reached out to take the girl's hand and pulled, gently tugging Selena into a sitting position. Mother Miranda then wound her arms around the girl's middle section to easily lift Selena off the table that she was laying upon before placing Selena carefully on the ground. Mother Miranda's hands lingered around Selena, making sure that Selena was able to balance on both of her legs without wobbling, and when Selena found her footing only then did Mother Miranda return to her full height. "From now on Sinclair, this is where you will be staying until you are adjusted and prepared. When the time comes, should you survive, I shall introduce you to the others."
'Others?' Selena thought as Mother Miranda led the girl to one of the unoccupied cells in the laboratory. The cell door swung open as Mother Miranda gestured for the little girl to enter which Selena obediently obliged. Selena didn't have any memory of anything before she woke up in this room, but the little girl felt that because Mother Miranda was her Mother…Selena felt compelled to listen to her orders. It was as if the title of 'Mother' meant that she should listen to whatever the adult woman had to say or ask her to do, right?
When Selena was completely inside the cell Mother Miranda had shut the door closed, fiddling with something on the other side before she turned her back on the little girl in the cell.
"It would seem the side effects of the cadou, once implanted and allowed to fester and grow, resulted in the female subject experiencing memory loss." Mother Miranda observed, speaking to herself as she left out of what seemed to be the only door leading in and out of this specific laboratory. Mother Miranda made sure to close the door shut, locking it behind her, and finally leaving Selena alone in the dark once more.
Selena, as she stood at a loss at what to do in the cell, was finally able to look at the place she was in. All her senses were working overtime as she was hit with an onslaught of unpleasant things. It was dark, she couldn't see very well what else was in this room, and the only light source was coming from the lamp that was sitting on the table Selena was previously laying on.
Selena knelt to the ground, attempting to feel her way across the ground in hopes to find something that could warm her body up, but as her fingers flared out her fingertips were met with some sort of slime that caused Selena to instinctively recoil back in disgust. She lifted her fingers close to her face in hopes to see what she had touched, but the smell had reached her nose before she could even get a glimpse of what she touched. The smell…she didn't know what it was or how to describe it, but it reeked. She wanted to vomit. Her nose wrinkled and as a reaction, she immediately clamped both her hands over her nose in an attempt to keep the bad smell away.
Sadly, Selena then remembered what her fingers previously touched which caused her to instantly gag and pull her hands away from her face. Selena took the sleeve of her tattered dress and furiously wiped away at her nose before shuffling away from where she assumed the slime was. Selena made herself as small as possible as she curled into a ball and thought back on all that just happened.
When Selena had woken up, she felt nothing but pain. Staring up at a woman who claimed to be her mother…she felt empty. But now, being alone, Selena felt afraid. Not enough to panic, since she didn't quite grasp the current situation she was in, but enough to trigger her to cry as droplets of water fell from her eyes. Selena didn't even realize at first that she was crying until it started to get worse as more salty water began to fall.
With the thought in mind that Selena was alone she didn't hold back or attempt to stifle the hiccups and little sharp intakes of air that developed into loud, painful wails. The pain her body was experiencing and the emptiness in her heart…the feeling that something had forcefully been taken from her, and she didn't even know what was missing! That plagued her thoughts and threatened to swallow her whole.
Until, something broke through her clouded her mind, an impatient and irritable noise that groaned in frustration.
"Hey! Do you mind?" A voice! Selena heard a voice! Was there someone else here? "The old hag's gone, and I'm not feeling too good after today's tests. I want to take this opportunity to try and get some shut-eye."
Selena turned to where she thought she heard the new voice, and though it was hard to see, Selena could vaguely see a shadowed lump huddled in the other cell beside her, a cell she thought was initially unoccupied. Selena let out one last sniffle, wiping her face once more before averting her eyes downward. "…I'm sorry…"
After a few more minutes of Selena attempting to muffle her tears, the shadow in the other cell let out an exasperated sigh as it began to move, catching Selena's attention. The shadow crept close to where Selena was huddled before stopping just at the barred wall that separated the two. Upon closer inspection, Selena noticed that the shadow was another child…and through Selena's cloudy memory one thought popped up clear as day: he was a boy.
He was dressed in an oversized raggedy shirt that hung over his lanky shoulders and ripped pants that ended at his knees, he was malnourished, and there were a lot of bandages going up and down his arms. Wide red eyes stared back at gray-blue orbs, there were heavy bags under the boy's eyes from countless restless nights as his lips were pulled down in a scowl. A clear sign of irritation as the boy stared back at Selena.
"I know you're scared, but this is your life now. Get used to it." The boy huffed as he stared blankly at Selena, who had thankfully stopped crying, and taken to simply staring at the boy with wide curious eyes and tear-stained cheeks. "Name's Heisenberg. Karl Heisenberg."
"Selena Sinclair…I think." Selena mumbled through her introduction as Karl let out a scoff under his breath.
"Yeah, I heard from Mother Miranda that you don't remember anything." Karl pointed out. "Suppose it's for the best, you won't miss what you can't remember."
"How long will we be staying here?" Selena asked as Karl simply shrugged his shoulders, or attempted to with how sore his own body was.
"For the rest of our lives? Mother Miranda took me in when my parents went missing, suppose the same goes for you. We're both in the same boat." Karl pointed out before he tilted his head just a bit to the side. "I've never seen hair quite like yours before, it's strange…and your eyes are freakishly red."
At that, Selena couldn't help but close her eyes and turn her head away from Karl, placing her hands over her head in a feeble attempt to hide the color of her hair causing Karl to let out a laugh, though strained from the pain, at her silly antics.
"Strange, but I like it." Karl cheekily smiled, quite possibly for the first time in a long while, as he leaned against the bars that separated them, looking and waiting for Selena to look back at him. "It reminds me of buttercups."
That was what I'd consider my first cherished memory, Karl had said that my hair and eyes were weird, but at the same time, it had reminded him of this flower he liked when he was a child. We were both odd, awkward kids with nothing in common. Nothing to talk about and at the beginning, we mostly stayed in our own corners of our own little cell.
Every day, Mother Miranda would come in and administer our 'treatments', and it was never at the same time. If Mother Miranda was treating Karl, I'd turn my back away and place my hands over my ears to keep the noises out. To avoid the sound of flesh being cut open, the smell of iron permeating the air, and to block out the agonizing screams that Karl would let out whenever the treatments became too much to handle. When that happened I remember that tears would fall from my eyes as I pressed my hands harder against my ears in hopes to block out the screams, and when the noises ceased I knew that Karl had either passed out or the 'treatments' had concluded. All that could be heard when I pulled my hands away was the labored, exhausted, breathing coming from the table.
And on my day, when it was my turn, my body would unintentionally shake. Compared to the little girl who first woke up in that room, the little girl now was more aware and conscious. What Mother did…I never understood how she could do this to us. I tried my best to never hope for time to pass quickly because when I did then time would stretch on for eternity. My pain would be never-ending if I kept asking myself 'how much longer'.
As a child, I would always be haunted by the sounds…the smells. The pain I experienced caused by Mother Miranda's experiments would never go away.
And I think it was through the painful experience that Karl and myself shared that we began to open up toward each other. After all, no one knew our pain and what we were going through better than each other.
"Does it get any easier?" Little Selena asked, drawing invisible lines on the sticky floor that she sat upon.
"Does what get any easier?" Karl asked, his back against the bars, touching Selena's lightly whenever the little girl would lean completely back.
"Going to sleep and waking back up." Selena shyly asked. "When Mother Miranda runs her tests…I'm afraid I'll never wake up or that I'll become one of those…monsters."
"The failures." Karl corrected as Selena looked back at the boy over her shoulders with wide red eyes.
"Has it gotten…any easier?" Selena asked once more. "Do you stop being afraid?"
Karl took a second, his hand stilling in whatever he was doing before his voice came out barely above a whisper. "…yeah."
"Are you lying to me?" Selena pointedly asked before the young boy let out a dramatic sigh.
"Would I lie to you, buttercup?" Karl asked, taking to calling Selena a pet name he designated for her, and when Selena had asked why, Karl had said he liked buttercup better. That's not to say he would never call her Selena, he did whatever he wanted Selena learned in the times they interacted.
"I don't know you enough to know that you wouldn't lie to me." Selena innocently stated causing Karl to groan.
"You learn to get used to it…" Karl mumbled. "once you do, it gets easier to accept that this is our life."
"So, it doesn't get easier." Selena pulled her knees closer to her body. "Then you lied."
Karl heard the sadness in Selena's voice, the waver as he heard her breathing begin to pick up, the beginning signs of a panic attack or that she was about to cry.
"Fine, I lied. If it makes you feel better I won't lie to you. I pinky promise. Just…don't cry anymore." Through one of the spaces between the cell bars Karl reached through and held out his pinky to Selena, and when she didn't reciprocate the gesture he poked her. "Hey, it doesn't count unless you pinky promise."
"What…" Selena turned around to face Karl, staring down at his bandaged hand with childish curiosity. "what's a pinky promise?"
"Right, no memory." Karl sighed as he took his other hand and reached through the bars to grab Selena's hand. He folded all her fingers down except for her pinky, which he immediately locked with his own. "This is a pinky promise, buttercup."
"What is the purpose of this?" Selena asked as she stared at their interlocking pinkies.
"It means that I will be a man of my word, if I said I wouldn't lie to you then I will never lie to you. If we break said promise it means that the person can break the finger of the person who broke it." Karl stared blankly at Selena.
"But…I don't want to break your finger." Selena argued as she was about to pull her hand away only for Karl to firmly hold her in place, being stronger than her even if they were just children.
"Then don't break the promise." Karl huffed. "I promise I won't lie to you. I will tell you the truth no matter what. And now? You make a promise."
"What do I say?" Selena asked before Karl sighed.
"I don't know, anything? The same thing? Common Selena, I'm only doing this to make you feel better." Karl turned his head away in embarrassment as he waited for Selena to say something, anything!
Selena lowered her eyes back to their joined pinkies before nodding her head. "And I promise…to always be Karl's friend so he doesn't have to be alone anymore."
"What?" Karl swiftly looked back to Selena for answers. "I'm fine being alone!"
"Some days, in the middle of the night when you think I'm asleep, I hear you muffling your cries." Selena blatantly spoke as she tilted her head to the side. "Did I say it wrong? Should I say…I promise to always make sure Karl never has a reason to cry?"
Karl, in the darkness, turned red at such an honest response from the girl that he forcefully pulled his hand back. He turned his back to the girl as he folded his arms over themselves, pouting and glaring at nothing but darkness. "…pinky promise…"
"Pinky promise."
We were children, innocent children, Karl had been there longer than I had…while I had no inkling of what I was going to be exposed to. And through our pain, of two lonely children who were deprived of a normal childhood, an unlikely friendship developed in the cells of our new home.
Karl taught me a lot of things through the bars of our cell, mostly to toughen up and to stop crying like a baby. My memories never returned, but the memories I did create in our dark little rooms were something I cherished the most.
I never knew who I was before being experimented on, but in this cell, I grew into the shoes of this 'Selena Sinclair'. I began to develop my own personality, I was completely different when it was just Karl and myself. We helped each other, saved each other, and dare I say that through the dark situation we became the closest of friends.
I also found that I was extremely mischievous during my childhood. Karl assured me that that was how all children acted. I've even seen Karl act that way, but I mean…we were alone the majority of the time and we needed to pass the time somehow.
And it was during our time of mischief and fun did Karl and myself find out what we were capable of…what Mother Miranda's countless treatments had done to us.
"Are you okay Karl?" Selena asked as she worriedly fussed over Karl after the boy had collapsed against the bars that divided them.
Today was the worse Selena could ever remember, the worse reaction toward the 'treatments'. Mother Miranda seemed to have tried to test his body's affinity toward what she called the CADOU by upping the dosage…or at least that's what Selena had heard Mother Miranda call it. She also heard the woman mutter about something called the Megamycete, but Selena never bothered to listen, having taken to holding her hands to her ears in hopes to drown out the noises.
When Karl's 'treatment' was finished, he was escorted by Mother Miranda back into the adjoining cell before leaving them alone for the day. But compared to the past experiences, Karl's condition seemed to worsen as the minutes ticked by, and Selena could feel it when her hand came into contact with Karl's.
"Your body's burning up…" Selena whispered, her voice quivering, as Karl let out a staggered breath.
"It's worse today, but nothing I can't handle." Karl said, being too stubborn to admit that he was actually in a lot of pain, but Selena knew her friend enough to know what he was truly feeling without him physically saying it.
"You're not fine Karl!" Selena was just as stubborn as the boy and got to her feet, having grown just a few more inches in the time when she first woke up in this room. Her legs were a bit wobbly and unstable at first due to the lasting effects of her last 'treatments', but Selena was able to make her way to her cell door.
Selena couldn't figure out how to get herself out, all she knew was that she needed to be close to Karl to help him work through his pain. Selena didn't want Karl to become one of those monsters that she had seen in the past.
The first time Selena had seen it, it was just a week after she had woken up. Mother Miranda had brought a man down into the laboratory and the two children watched as Mother Miranda administered the same treatment that she had given to the two children in the past. But this time, instead of retaining their humanity, Selena had seen for the first time what a true monster is. To Karl it wasn't anything new, he had seen a lot of people come and go, some having died the moment they laid down on the table to those who turned into mindless failures…but to Selena, it was an image she would never forget no matter how much she wished she could. The man had transformed into the most grotesque creature she had ever seen, the inhuman roar hurt her ears and when it stopped wriggling on the table it had jumped off and tried to reach for Selena through the bars of her cell.
With the image of the man turning into a monster, the fear she felt of almost being attacked by one, she never wanted to lose Karl to something like that as well. He was the only friend she had, and the only person who would comfort her in his own way when she truly needed it.
With enough force, and thankfully the space between the bars was big enough, Selena was able to squeeze her way through. Selena had hurt her shoulders and her waist, having almost gotten stuck a couple of times, but when she was finally free she had rushed over to where she knew Mother Miranda kept the keys to both their cells.
As quick as her weary legs could carry her, Selena ran over and jumped up to grab the keys that were on the large hook that hung on the wall before rushing back to Karl's cell.
"Go back to your cell, Selena." Karl's exhausted voice panicked when he heard the jingling of the keys clacking together as she tried to insert one into the keyhole. "If Mother Miranda catches you-"
"We both know that Mother Miranda is finished for the day." Selena argued, her eyes brightening when the key finally turned and the door opened with a creak. "She has no reason to come back until tomorrow."
The two kids were able to figure out a certain pattern to when Mother Miranda would use the laboratory. They couldn't really figure out the exact time, but they knew that when the flame in the lamp went out it was time to rest…and when they woke up they knew Mother Miranda would be arriving soon to light the lamp back up, and the flame in the lamp had yet to extinguish.
Little Selena immediately rushed into Karl's cell, crumbling down beside the boy, and noticed that his condition had gotten worse.
"Karl…" Selena began to panic as she reached out to hold both of his hands in hers. "is…what can I do to help you?"
"Don't be so overdramatic." Karl mumbled, feebly attempting to pull his hands out of Selena's grasp. "Put the keys back and go back to your cell. I'll be fine."
"…you promised you wouldn't lie to me." Selena pouted as she kept a firm hold on Karl's hands, shaking her head stubbornly side to side. "And I promised I wouldn't leave you alone."
"You're so annoying." Karl grumbled as he allowed Selena to do what she wanted, having no strength to fight off both his growing aches and the little girl.
Selena stayed by Karl's side, riding through the waves of pain as they came, and at one point Karl's lanky body had begun to convulse. He had stopped breathing for just a second which caused Selena to go into hysterics once more, tears welling up in the corner of her eyes as she begged for Karl to come back. It was only after he finally let out a shuttered breath did Selena finally attempt to calm her breathing.
Compared to seeing Mother's treatments toward her patients, Selena realized what she feared the most in her dark world. Not the monsters, not the treatments…it was being alone in the dark without Karl at her side with his snarky comments. Selena didn't want to be alone, she wanted to help her friend through his pain, and she wished with all her might for a miracle.
In that moment of silent prayer to whoever would listen, Selena's body had instantly lit up, her temperature rising as she stared in amazement down at her hands as a bright light peaked out from the space between Selena and Karl's hands. The space between grew increasingly hot by the second that Selena had wanted to instantly let go, but when she saw that what she was doing was helping her friend her grip on Karl tightened.
The flush on his face lessened, his brows unfurrowed, and his breathing began to even out to a point where it now looked as if Karl was peacefully sleeping.
"…Karl?" Selena whispered as she leaned closer to the boy, testing to see if he was still alive, only for a hand to be placed in the center of her face and gently shoving her backward.
"You don't have to be so close to my face…" Karl, through his exhaustion, grumbled as one of his eyes cracked open to look at the worried girl who began to cry once more. "Why are you such a cry baby?"
"I am not a cry baby!" Selena whined as her hands gripped Karl's tighter, trembling as she attempted to hide her sniffling. "Fine, I am…but can you blame me!" Selena growled as she glared at Karl, still with tears in her eyes. "You almost died! I thought…I thought you were going to turn into one of those…those things."
"As if." Karl scoffed as exhaustion washed over him as he looked at Selena. "What was that, Selena?" Karl hoarsely asked, using her real name instead of her pet name he had given her. "I remember feeling a warm, comforting embrace overwhelming my body. It was as if whatever that feeling was…it was telling me that I was going to be okay. And then-"
Before Karl and Selena could talk any more about what had just happened, they had heard the distinct sound of a door slamming shut.
"Is that…Mother Miranda?" Selena looked to Karl with worry. "I need to return the key!"
"There won't be any time." Karl argued as he jolted forward, grabbing Selena's shoulder and urging the little girl to look him right in his eyes. "Listen to me, don't panic. Quickly go back and unlock your cell and leave the keys in the lock, once inside act as if nothing has happened." "But Mother Miranda will know-" "Trust me, Selena."
Selena didn't say anything, the intensity in Karl's eyes told her to just nod and do as he says. The little girl immediately got to her feet and raced out of Karl's cell. With the keys firmly gripped in her hands she unlocked her door, leaving the keys just as Karl instructed, and sat in her usual spot on the ground. Selena placed her full trust in Karl, and what happened next caused the little girl's mouth to drop in amazement.
Both cell doors, without any force, slammed shut. The key that was stuck in the keyhole of Selena's cell turned before floating over to Karl's to do the same. The key locked the cell doors shut before it flung itself back to where it was previously hanging.
It came as a shock to Selena, the sudden display of power that Karl had just exhibited. She knew that Karl could manipulate metal, she's seen him do it on smaller objects when Mother Miranda had requested a demonstration, but to see it done to this extent? Just as the two of them were growing, it would seem the parasite inside them was growing as well…but such a display of power never frightened Selena. If anything, Selena wanted to see more of what Karl was capable of doing without Mother Miranda around to see it.
The door to the laboratory suddenly slammed open and in walked Mother Miranda, so lost in her musing…unaware and oblivious to what had just happened. The woman had turned to the two children, her eyes narrowing before going over toward the cell bars.
"It would seem…" The two children tensed, sitting back to back as Selena took to burying her head in her arms that were resting on her knees while Karl kept his eyes on Mother Miranda in the dim-lit room. "that the subject had succumbed to the parasite. The cadou sucked the life out of its host, and without a living organism…it simply wilted and died within the cold deceased body. The amount I had administered to the children had killed its host instantaneously. Another failure that must be noted and corrected, I must reduce the amount else I will run out of subjects to test upon."
The children had completely forgotten that aside from the two of them, Mother Miranda had also brought in another person from the village to experiment on an hour ago. After Mother Miranda had left for the day the subject that was left in its cell on the opposite side of the room began to convulse and transform, but Selena paid the failure no mind because her attention had been on Karl.
Mother Miranda lingered beside the dead body, studying the after-effects of the cadou before turning to where Karl's cell was located. She looked to have given the boy a nod of approval before turning to leave, the black fabric of her dress flitting across the damp floor in waves as she retraced her steps back the way she came. Mother Miranda left without a word to either child, not even bothering to clean up the decaying carcass in the cage.
When the two children were finally, and completely, alone Karl was the first to break the silence. Pointing out the obvious that both children knew to be true, or at least had an inkling of the truth when concerning the body of the villager.
"Selena, we've been here for god knows how long. Each person has a different reaction to the parasite, but you and I both know that Mother's stupid parasite doesn't do that to a body. At least not in a blink of an eye." Karl whispered. "Was that the cadou's doing? The one in your body?"
"…I don't know." Selena answered Karl truthfully. "All I know is that… at that moment…I wanted to help you."
The two children remained quiet, Selena attempted to wrap her brain around what was presented to her. Did she cause the body in the isolated cell to decay so fast and not the villager's parasite? If so, how did she do it?
"Selena." Karl's voice as well as his hand had reached through the bar to grab for her own snapped her out of her thoughts, bringing her back to their current predicament. She turned her head to look at Karl over her shoulders and saw that Karl remained with his back toward her. Karl's hand gave hers a tight squeeze as he continued to talk knowing that Selena, no matter what she was doing, would listen. "Mother Miranda knows about my 'gift' so it's too late for me, but she must never learn of your ability. Even if it's just a speculation…you must never tell her what we think happened here today."
"…why?" Selena's wispy voice asked. "Mother Miranda is doing all this to us for a reason right? Isn't…isn't this what she's been looking for? For my gift to surface?"
"We don't know for sure if that's what she wants or even if that was your doing." Karl scoffed. "Just let her assume you're one of the lucky ones. If you really must know that you caused that, we'll experiment together…away from Mother Miranda's calculating eyes."
Though in appearance Karl may still be a child, he was smart for his age. Karl knew that if that was indeed Selena's special gift as Mother Miranda called it, it was indeed quite powerful. He wasn't sure what exactly it was, but he was already beginning to make some theories as to what Selena could do…what she can accomplish if it grows and develops with practice. He also knew that Mother Miranda would take great interest in Selena. And if Mother Miranda took great interest in a special subject? Well, Karl could only shudder at the thought, he had seen it a few times, experienced it himself on many occasions because Mother Miranda had considered his gift and his case extremely special.
His reward for being Mother's special child? If his high fever, being close to death, and the intense pain in his stomach he previously experienced wasn't enough of an answer then all one would have to do was look at him.
The many scars that littered his body, some were calculated incisions while others were just a test, most done while he was still conscious to experience. He felt his body being cut apart and reattached that it was enough for him to wish that his body would simply reject the 'treatments' and allow him to turn into one of Mother Miranda's many failures. At least the failures didn't have to experience the stretched-out pain and torture, their end was an instant relief.
Selena didn't know the real reason behind Karl's request, it wasn't just because he thought it was a fluke. Karl would never admit it, not right then at least, but he didn't want Selena who's been his light through all this to experience going under Mother's knife as he had. He didn't want Selena to be exposed to additional treatment on top of the ones they periodically received.
"Alright, I won't tell her." Selena took his explanation as that. She would listen to Karl, he knew best considering he's been here longer than she has. "I promise."
To this day, I kept my promise. Mother Miranda remained none the wiser and simply assumed that I was one of the lucky ones…hearing her mention that I was just like her other children. Incredibly special.
Whenever Mother Miranda would leave us for the day, until Karl could at least control his gift, I would squeeze my body through the bars to get the keys to our cell. I would unlock our doors and together, we would sit side by side and talk about whatever interests we as kids had, and when it was time to return to our cell Karl took that time to practice with moving the keys. The majority of the time it was Karl who would tell me about his childhood and as he spoke it felt as if I had experienced such a childhood as well. It made me also yearn for my memories to return. I longed for them, and later as I grew older I would attempt to find what I was missing, but as a child, I was satisfied just listening to Karl's stories whether they were true or not.
During our time in the laboratory, I was able to watch as Karl continued to practice, with me as well as with Mother Miranda. He was able to show Mother his progress as well as being able to flawlessly return the key that I kept on stealing back to the hook. What happened that day was pushed to the back of our minds, nothing eventful had happened after that day, my gift never showed itself again in our time in the laboratory so we brushed it off as a fluke. Maybe the cadou does work that way and we didn't know about it.
Till the day our 'freedom' finally came, the moment we were finally introduced to our siblings as Mother Miranda had introduced them, was when we could get our first taste of fresh air and new people. But with that freedom came a price, and that price? To continue expanding on the years of work Mother Miranda had dedicated her life to. Putting women, children, men, and the elderly through the process that we were subjected to.
There will be a few chapters (I don't have a definitive number) where we will be going back and forth between past and present, as well getting Selena's POV after each flashback (with good reason of course, and for storytelling). I hope that you can kind of see the vision I have and it doesn't get too confusing.
If you are enjoying my story and looking forward to more chapters then leave a nice little review, favorite, and follow to let me know! It's not mandatory though, but it's greatly appreciated. Thank you everyone for reading! Lots of love and big hugs!
-SO