Extraordinary Mistakes

8. An urban myth

June 2028

Ánh Nguyễn spends most of her time in the room that she made her own. The basement was a mess when she first arrived. She saw the potential to turn it into what it is today: an operations office. In there, she installed several computers and a squared table for them to meet. Considering it too dark, she asked Megan to paint something to put there and installed brighter lights. For Ánh, it was her whole world there.

She spends her days modifying her computer and searching through the endless databases. No matter how many times she improves the machine, it can never run anything faster than her. And she keeps racing against it. On her desks, everything is in its place, not even a single mug that needs cleaning, no papers on top of it. Diego gave her action figures from her favorite superheroes saga to keep her company whenever he wasn't around. 

The entire group is there today. Megan and Rachel work on the next speech. Diego and Alex take turns posting and commenting on the deviants' forum.

"Weird." Ánh types faster.

On one sweep, she gets up and walks back and forth, while alternating between Vietnamese and English.

"Diego, please, fetch me the conspiracy theories from last year?" She stops and at once returns to pacing around the room.

"Can you be a bit more specific? It would be too many."

With her eyes closed, she goes through in her head all the theories that she read until then. She filters it to the ones from the earlier year.

"January."

Diego checks on one of the computers.

"What are we looking for?" Alex reads it through as fast as he can.

"On the next school year, the Institute will start a new level of education. 105 children from abroad will join. Some as young as five. 105." Ánh's breath grows shorter and faster. 

Megan gets up, sits Ánh, and tries to guide her through a breathing technique.

"During June... June... now... On the first, 20 would arrive. But they only registered 10."

"Perhaps they will register it later," Rachel says.

"The Institute receives more international children than that every year. They could register 20!" Diego looks at Rachel, asking her to stop. "Ánh, are you okay?"

"The flight logs are clear..." Ánh coughs and tries to breath deeper like Megan is instructing, "the registries from the international institutes..." Ánh is too tired to continue.

"They arrived here, but never made it to the Institute," Diego looks at the screen.

"Look..." she points to the screen, "look where they are from... look to the others."

The correlation that Ánh meant was crystal clear. The registered children were from wealthy countries, unlike the others.

"Ánh, I'm going to shut your brain a bit, ok?" Rachel puts her in a sleep-like state. She holds her and settles her comfortably in her chair.

"Guys, come here. I think this is the one that she wants," Diego says, "last year, a user said that when the Great War ended, the government department changed."

"Yeah, everyone knows that it's the Institute now," Alex says.

"A part yes. But another turned into something nebuloso. Uh, disturbing. An organization that hides in the shadows. The user explained that deviants who're outcasts are taken and used as cobayas... tested. I think that what Ánh is trying to say is..." Diego doesn't have the stomach to finish the sentence.

"The children that were supposed to go to the Institute are going there." Rachel holds Ánh's wrist, counting her heart beats.

"Ok, so we trust unverified opinions online now? Come on, this is an urban myth!" 

Alex is too afraid of it being true, wondering if after Matthew and Amanda's death, he could've been taken and tested. The idea sends shivers down his spine, imagining how many times he walked the street by himself, without any care. Could he have been snatched in the middle of the day? Could someone have entered their house and taken him? Made him disappear like these children.

"Users shared that family members and friends disappear." Diego shows him the posts about it.

"They never acknowledged the testing they did during the war. Is it such a leap to believe that fifteen years later, nothing changed?" Rachel looks up to meet Megan's eyes.

"If it's real, how do we find it? There's no mention anywhere of a location," Diego says.

"It will be wherever she is," Megan says in a thick Scottish accent.

"Who?" Alex looks around, unsure if he's the only one kept in the dark.

"My mum."

You never told me anything about your mother, Megan. You never told me she is connected to what was done to you. Rachel sees everyone's reactions and hopes this won't be an issue of mistrust on the group. Megan will say what she wants when the times comes. They can't pressure her.

Megan's childhood is a complete blank. She can try to remember it, but she knows deep down that her deluded heart will gloss it over and show her a different story than the one that her mind is protecting her from.

There is no point to remember the past, better to leave it buried. As she's done, ever since that day.