She's gone.
My niece, my little Susie; the beloved only child of my sister - dead and gone. And it's all my fault, or so it appears to be.
I clutch the tear stained letter in my hand, my eyes scanning over the blotted ink repeatedly. What were my last words to her, my own flesh and blood? It seems so long ago I can barely remember, but still it sits menacingly in my memories, taunting me. Susie - Susanne, I must respect her wishes - refused to talk to me for months after our last conversation. The ultimate look of betrayal in her eyes whenever she saw me broke my heart, shattered it into a million tiny pieces.
It was all for the best.
What have I become? I'm a monster. None of this is for the best, none of this. I've killed my last living relative; I've killed my own niece, who looked so much like Rhiannon. What sort of person would do that? I did, I did it. For fifteen years I have been protected by my status in the hospital, and in return for what? The lives of innocent children, being tested on because they were born immune. Eleven of these years have been spent trying to convince Susanne and myself that everything I've been doing is right, that's it's 'all for the best'.
It's not going to end. It'll never end. I'll be tormenting myself until my dying day, and even then I will be remembered as a heartless murderer. Perhaps it's time to follow Lela and Adrian's lead and escape from this place. I'll change my name, run away to a place where nobody recognises my face.
And so I run away into the night, money in my pocket and memories I'd like to forget. I'm not immune to the disease, but I find that I don't care. For a decade and a half the hospital has protected me; it's my time to face the real world and survive on my own. There's a train station near by, I'll take one as soon as possible.
It's cowardly, but I just need to get out of here as soon as I can.
YOU ARE READING
The Lost Ones
Science FictionThe year is 2098. Fourteen-year-old Lela and Adrian have escaped from the facility where they were trapped for ten years. They have no idea where they will go. The Earth has been ravaged by war and disease. They cannot tell if they will survive. Whe...
