Mindtease

Chapter 37

After what seemed forever, Kirk saw Josh look up at him, and give a knowing smile.

"Somehow, I knew you'd come Kirk," Josh said in a monotone, "I left you a message...but knew you'd follow." Josh shook his head and glanced out the crack in the upper door.

"Josh...what are you doing?" Kirk asked, moving closer.

A tear ran from Josh's piercing blue eyes and slowly slid down his cheek.

"Correcting a mistake." Josh said flatly, staring at the floor.

"Josh, I don't know what you mean...did that double-crossing freak Zed tell you something?"

Josh looked at Kirk, and stared at him, thoughtful.

"Pretty much everything he told us Kirk," Josh said. "But..."

"But what?"

Another tear dripped from Josh's other eye...

"You know..."

"What?" Kirk asked moving closer, and then squatted on his haunches, imitating Josh's posture. Kirk stared at the gun and then looked at Josh.

"Like I could hurt you Kirk," Josh said with a faint smile. "My best friend...my only friend in this world."

"Why do you want to hurt yourself Joshy?"

Josh started to cry, but caught himself.

"Josh...you left me."

"I know, I'm sorry Kirk. But, somehow I knew you'd find me."

"And your clothes," Kirk said, his voice one of mirth.

Josh shook his head, and shifted his weight on his legs.

"I don't need to wear clothes, humans do that...not animals."

"Josh, you're not an animal."

"I am! I am!" Josh shouted, gesturing with his hands, waving the gun.

"No you're absolutely fucking not," Kirk replied.

"I'm a freak, a monster...I'm not even human! And you ask me why Kirk? I'm a...thing, with alien genes...and I'm not even born. I'm some Jew out of a concentration camp, or the scientist...I'm a created thing, grown like bacteria in a lab...a copy of a human but not human. I'm a genuine fake...a knock off..."

"That's utter bullshit Joshy!"

"I have enough genes to be a buffalo, or gypsy moth Kirk," Josh said. "And so I more animal than human."

"Bullshit Joshy," Kirk said. "You believe that bastard...Zed?"

"It is a fact," Josh said with a stone cold tone.

"Josh...you were born. A woman, your mom, gave birth to you. The fact the egg had someone else's genes makes no difference."

"I don't have forty-six chromosomes Kirk," Josh said, "fifty-nine like a bison or gypsy moth...at the most basic level I'm more an animal that is like a human than a human being. I don't even have a soul."

"Why Josh?"

"I'm alien and animal, a clone of human but everything else is inhuman...animals don't have souls."

"Josh..."

"I thought being a product of rape, my mom being raped by her brother...and then marrying my fucking so-called father was bad enough. But it was a lie. A fucking lie! I'm just a mistake, not even an accident."

"You were born Josh, you had a mother..."

"She wasn't even my biological mother. The one person besides you that loved me...and she wasn't my mom."