Under the Moonshine

Three | Experiment

"Wait," she frowned. "You knew my father?"

Taren nodded his head. "He invented me."

Emily blinked, trapped whether to laugh or what. Yet deeper inside her, she knew it was possible. She knew her dad was an inventor, but inventing people didn't sit well with her at the moment.

"Okay, wait again," she composed herself and looked around her room. "We're in the lab... Then now we're here. How?"

Taren looked at her puzzled face, a curve tugging his lips. "You fainted. And I brought us here."

"How did you know where I live? Besides, you don't have a pass code to open the front door. Did you break in or something? Because if you did, the alarms would ring."

Taren cocked his head to the left, gazing at her. "You're beautiful."

Okay, she wasn't expecting to hear that.

"Answer me," she said instead.

"The window was open," he pointed at it.

"And you get in through that?"

Taren just nodded, like the good boy he was.

Emily laughed and stared at him like he was a complete psycho. Her bedroom's on the second floor, for crying out loud. "How did you climb that window?"

"I jump in."

"You? Jump?" she echoed.

Again, he nodded.

"What exactly are you?"

"An experiment."

Okay. The conversation was going nowhere. "Are you in drugs or something? I'm gonna call the police now if you don't give me a straight answer," she responded with authority.

RING!

Both of them almost jumped off their seat at the loud ringing of the telephone. Emily snatched it immediately.

"Emily?"

"Yes, Pete," she answered.

There was a brief pause. "We have a problem."

Her heart did a double jump upon hearing that. "What?"

"The company's planning to sue your dad," Pete said from the other line. "They found some papers referring to one of his experiments. A human experiment. They didn't like it. Saying it would make the company look bad."

Emily instantly turned her attention at Taren, who, at the moment, seemed examining the telescope with amusement in his eyes.

"That's absurd! You can't file a suit against a dead man! I don't get it, Pete," she blinked, a frown on her forehead. "And what kind of human experiment?"

She heard him took a deep breath. "Look, you might not understand this, but your dad's doing some human experiments aside from running the corporation. He likes to continue his research. Based on the data sheet they have found, it looks, I don't know, surreal? One thing is for sure, the board wanted to find his experiment to use it against him. That way, they could get the ownership without dealing with you."

She couldn't wrap her mind around it. Just to be effing honest. "They want to find his experiment? Is it... missing?" Is it Taren?

She shot a look toward Taren and watched him sniffed the telescope. There was confusion in his eyes as he circled around the foreign thing.

"Yes, he's missing." Then his voice drop lower. "Emily, I know little of his experiment. But we can't let them find him first."

"Why? What do you mean?" she asked.

Taren turned at Max and let out a low growl, claiming territory. The dog bowed down to him, frightened.

"Because I know that his experiment might have little knowledge about what happened to your dad."

Dizziness was palpable in her dark brown eyes. She needed time to take it all to be able to understand everything.

"I know it's a lot to take in," Pete stated. "Gotta go, someone's here."

The line went dead, leaving Emily as confused as ever. She reached for her chest and patted it, once again calming its wild heartbeat.

- - - - -

Taren scratched his bedhead hair as he let out a sigh. He looked damn bored, eyes never leaving the swaying curtains whenever the wind hit it.

When Emily emerged from the bathroom, Taren composed himself, watching her. He trailed behind her as she made her way downstairs and headed to the kitchen.

As the smell of pancakes reached his nose, excitement rolled into him like waves.

"Why are you following me?" she asked, creating distance.

He sniffed, his eyes darting towards the pancakes she was preparing. "I'm starving," he replied, patiently waiting for the food.

Emily tried to just ignore him.

The thought of him as his father's experiment made her stomach ache but she couldn't understand why her gut keeps telling her it was okay to trust him. He seemed not a threat, she thought to herself.

"Your name's Taren, right?"

He nodded with much enthusiasm.

"I'm Emily," she said.

"I know."

That got her attention. "How did you know?"

"Sebastian told me," he answered. "You have a picture in his lab."

Emily stared at him. Hearing him talked about her father stirred up her insides. Peter might be right, she thought to herself. That Taren-guy must have known something about what really happened.

"I'm starving," he repeated.

"Fine," she muttered. "But first, put on some clothes. You're not dressed properly."

Taren looked down on himself. His flat tummy, a faint abs on it, and his pelvis were exposed for the world to see. "What's wrong with me?"

Double meaning. "I wish I knew, buddy," Emily whispered to herself. "I don't even know what's happening."