Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 5

with Lukas and Dr. Mercier, whom I had grown fond of and now trusted as much as Lukas did. Moments like that filled me with happiness I had never known, but also resentment when I compared it to my life before.
    Between the moments of mundane the truth still remained. I wasn't really human. I wasn't really free. The days I spent outside the facility and its ivory walls where far and few. Every day I had a schedule. Wake up. Breakfast. Two hours of studying. Two hours of training. Lunch. Another hour of studying, wrapped up with an hour of medical. Which was just a pretense really, for them to make me achieve what I was created to do.
    Created for something I couldn't do.
    After years of silent observation it didn't take me much to realize that I had a purpose. Yet no one seemed inclined to tell me what it was. Or why I wasn't allowed to know it.
    The man and woman that composed the medical staff rarely talked to me. They smiled, they were polite. But they came in with their pads and medicines and followed a routine I was bored of. "Did you feel anything?" they would ask after injecting me with something. I never felt anything.
    A month after I turned fifteen I finally got some answers. Dr. Mercier stopped the medical staff after they left my room. It was far enough that they didn't expect to be overheard, but I could hear everything they said.
    "Any improvement?" Dr. Mercier started the conversation.
    The man glanced at his digital pad. "Every test we do has the same result. His biology is identical to NB1's, but he's not reacting to the doses. If the problem is not physical then it must psychological or environmental."
    "No surprise there with the way that child was living. No wonder this project was full of failures. Raising children on fear and isolation then getting rid of them when the costs were too high?" Dr. Mercier rubbed the bridge of her nose with her fingers.
    The man brought forward another slide on his pad. "At this rate we are not sure if we can make the deadline."
    "Just keep working. I'll worry about the deadline."
    "With all due respect," the woman looked at Dr. Mercier. "Psychological problems can take years to resolve if at all. I have observed his progress at your request, given him time to adapt and improve, but I see little change from one year ago. Whatever psychological damage was done, it is likely permanent."
    "Speak clearly, Dr. Zeyas." Dr. Mercier demanded, her tone harsher.
    Dr. Zeyas didn't even bat an eye. "It would be my official recommendation to terminate G-27 and concentrate on new G.A.B's now that we know the perfect genetic formula and environmental conditions necessary."
    I hid behind the wall of my room. The fear I hadn't felt in almost a year reignited like a wildfire. I was really still nothing but a thing in their eyes. Something made for a purpose. A failure. I wondered if this is what happened to Twenty-Six and Twenty-Eight. Had they been deemed useless and thus terminated? Twenty-Eight, who dared to smile and wave at me again even after we had been warned not to. How that night I was woken by a scream, and he was gone the next morning. Twenty-Six, who fought them until they killed him. How was I going to go?
    Dr. Mercier didn't react to Dr. Zeyas' words. Instead, she wordlessly reached for Dr. Zeyas' digital pad and took it from her hands. "I appreciate your input Dr. Zeyas," she said calmly. "When you clock out today please return your security clearance to the guards. You are dismissed."
    Dr. Zeyas seemed calm, but I could tell from her body language that she was angry. I thought for sure she was going to add a comment to her dismissal, but she just nodded at Dr. Mercier and walked away.
    I sat crouched behind the wall, pulled my legs to my chest and held tight. I don't know how long I was there ignoring my studies, but soon I felt a familiar presence in my room. "I knew you were getting stronger," Dr. Mercier said. She stroked the top of my head with affection, just like I saw her do to Lukas on occasion. It was comforting. "Don't be afraid about what she said. You are not going anywhere."
    "What about the deadline?" I asked, keeping my head hidden in my arms. She stalled. I tried not to pale. Dr. Mercier may be the boss of my surroundings, but I wasn't naive enough to believe she didn't have people to answer to. People that now I knew for sure wanted me to achieve something. My life had a deadline.
    "Just tell me what I am supposed to be doing." My voice sounded