Soulless: The Immortal Gene

CHAPTER THREE:

Lisa arrived at the hospital a few hours after Annie's session ended. I remained by Annie's bedside with an unbearable weight inside of me. A small part of me felt disconnected. Annie wasn't like me. It was selfish, I know, but I had seriously wished she wasn't like the others and that I didn't have to lose her too. She hadn't woken yet, but even as she slept, I could see my little sister disappearing beneath the madness. They put her into a deep sleep for the night, giving the brain a chance to reconnect the dots and put everything back into order. Roman briefly explained to Lisa about what we found out during the session.

"So, do they know who she is yet?" Lisa asked as she reached for the charts at the end of Annie's bed.

Roman nodded as he took his seat again. "Yes, her previous name was Maria Christine Schmitt. According to their records, she was born in 3132 somewhere in Paris. She and her son were murdered by her estranged husband after what appeared to be a disagreement over shared real estate. Aside from that, there's not much else interesting to tell. Thanks to the violent death, Annie will have to have regular visits to the therapist which will cost us more money."

"Great! That's exactly what we needed, a ticking time bomb of a traumatised house wife." Lisa rolled her eyes. "She's definitely not blacklisted, right?"

Roman shook his head. "There's six more lives linking to her imprint, but Maria appeared to be her latest one."

"Well, if it stops her from going all pyscho on us then I guess she can have counselling." Lisa growled as she put the chart down. "I'm sure there's a grant the Government will give us to help pay-"

"Is that all you care about?" I pushed off the bed and walked over. "This is Annie we're talking about. Your first question shouldn't be if she's blacklisted; it should be if she's okay! Don't you care about her at all?"

"Do you not understand what blacklisted means?"

"Of course I do. I'm not an idiot."

"Then you understand why I wouldn't want one in my house. Now, if only they could be that successful with you." She reshuffled her backpack onto her shoulder before casting a long, hard look at me. "We still have no idea who you really are."

"You've raised me from birth. You know who I am."

"You may have my DNA but you are not mine." She turned to face the hallway. "I'll head out and try and get some money that is owed to us. Now that Annie is linked, we can cash our parental cheques."

"But aren't we entitled to two maturities now? Annie is at the age of classification and Nadia is an adult," Roman disputed as he stood.

"No, Annie only counts as one. Nadia still doesn't have a match, as far as they are concerned she's either an infant or doesn't exist!" She rolled her eyes. "I don't see why that's our fault she was born mutated!"

Unable to stand listening to them, I snatched my jacket from the bed and stormed past. Lisa glanced at me indifferently. "Wait, where the hell are you going?"

I didn't bother to answer her. She only asked out of liability reasons. My actual wellbeing was as important to her as a neighbour's sick pet. I had grown accustomed to their alienated attitude toward me, and how they saw me not their child but a stranger living in their off spring's body. But as I walked away, my body trembled. I had to stop letting my emotions jump the moment I felt disposable.

To ease my frustration, I walked the three-block distance across town toward the only bar I knew would be open. At this time of day, there was only one type of person who would be at a bar, and that was a deeply troubled person. I let myself into the dimly lit room, walking head on into a strong waft of smoke and beer before making my way straight up to the counter.