Wrong dose

Chapter 7 (Skylar)

Unknown POV

Finally they were back. It had taken money, lying, stealing, bribing, fake ID's, and so much more, but they had finally returned. Thirteen years later they were finally back to where everything had started.

The woman was gazing at the lab, awed. After over a decade of abandon everything was still the same. All the machines were still shiny, the beakers still intact. All the computers were still plugged in, as if with one touch, they would turn back on. Besides the thin layer of dust that coated everything, the space looked like it had been in use yesterday. The woman delicately traced a bony finger over the walls, leaving a clean streak across the surface.

"Look, look," she whispered feverishly to her husband, "Everything is like before. Nothing changed. We can go on from where we stopped." To the woman's disappointment, the man didn't even look at her, he simply nodded distractedly before continuing his examination of a small object in his hand, a tiny vial.

"This isn't the brand we used." Muttered the man. Upon the woman's closer inspection, she realized he was right. They only brought supplies from one brand, an illegal one at that. It was the only company who overlooked background checks, as long as they got their money. But this little vial looked nothing like their usual beakers and test tubes. How had it gotten inside?

"Take this to the microscope." Ordered the man. "Check for anything--fingerprints, traces of any materials--and inform me if you find anything." The woman nodded and hurried to the microscope.

A few minutes later she conveyed her results to her husband. "There are no fingerprints visible so either there were none or they have faded away with time," began the woman. Her husband's lineaments tightened with displeasure at that, so she hurriedly went on, "However, I did find a trace of liquid. I have tried finding a match in our search engines but I can't find any."

The man frowned and began pacing around the space, an irritating habit of his. "If no fingerprints are visible this must mean that the vial was put here before we...Left," he muttered. He paced some more. "And this strange liquid...," he mused, "It couldn't be a coincidence that this vial appeared around the time we conducted our experiment..." The woman was still as she observed her husband pace nervously. She knew never to interrupt him during moments like these--they usually resulted in the man making a discovery or finding significant information.

Suddenly he grasped the woman's shoulders. "This must be what disrupted our experiment," he said forcefully. "The reason the experiment failed was because of this chemical. And now that we have it in our hands..." The woman saw where this was going. Her heart beat madly as she finished the sentence. "...We can fix this. We can fix the mistake we made so many years ago!" She exclaimed. "We can find a cure and start all over. And all our visions will come true," she breathed. But her husband had already turned away from her, he had already began rummaging through the equipment and extensive stores of chemicals.

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Skylar's POV

"So...Why did you write those fake notes?" Repeated Skylar, slightly fed up with this woman who called herself Clarice. Her name wasn't important, Skylar wanted to know the reason behind the fake notes, the planned appointment.

"And how on earth did you know where our lockers were? Or our handwriting?" Challenged Skylar.

"And how did you know our schedules?" Piped in Jake suspiciously. Skylar's hand had unintentionally tensed on the back of Jake's chair. She couldn't help feeling a sense of a protectiveness toward Jake. He almost felt like a brother to her.

"Ah, that is just a matter of talking to the right people and acting the right way," vaguely replied Clarice with a tight smile.

This ambiguous reply did not satisfy Skylar in the least. Clarice's unwillingness to give them answers was just making her more suspicious in her eyes. If this Clarice did anything dangerous or even just remotely suspicious, she promised herself to get her and Jake out of the little cafe as fast as she could.

"That's not a good answer." Deadpanned Jake. Skylar nodded in agreement. Her eyes met Clarice's and their gazes locked. In that look, Skylar tried to convey all her determination. She wanted real answers. She wanted to know everything.

Finally, Clarice dropped her gaze. "I had better sit down," she sighed, "This will take a while." She lowered herself into the empty chair at the table. A corner of her lips lifted as she saw Skylar's attentive gazes. "I'm warning you, what I'm about to tell you is going to seem crazy to you...You probably won't even believe me, but that's understandable. Still--"

"Just get on with it already," interrupted Skylar, eager to hear what she had to say. Clarice nodded, her eyes twinkling in amusement. "So similar to..." Clarice trailed off with nostalgia in her voice, but Skylar had heard.

"Similar to who?" She asked sharply, her curiousity piqued.

Clarice shook her head. "That will be for another time." She answered firmly.

"Please just explain why you wrote those notes," interrupted Jake impatiently.

Clarice nodded resolutely.

"I am sure you will understand when I say that I cannot tell you everything. There are some facts that will have to wait to be revealed." She began. "But for now I will tell you this. Several years ago, two scientists went...Astray. They stopped using their resources for good, left their research group and all but disappeared from the face of the earth. They began creating experiments of their own, dangerous ones. Most definitely illegal. And for a while they were mildly successful. Their inventions sold at very high prices, and the money made was used to create more experiments, and so on. But one day they went too far. They decided to try to create the impossible: perfection. They wanted to...Enhance humans. They wanted to make people, but stronger and smarter. I don't know how they could possibly ignore all the consequences that would come with creating something like this, but eventually they managed to create a substance that once injected into one's bloodstream would increase their strength and their intelligence. You might be wondering why this affects you. I didn't know this until very recently, but these scientists...They experimented their substance on you two."

For several moments Jake and Skylar stared at Clarice, dumbfounded.

"So you're saying that these two mad scientists used Jake and I as their lab rats." Recapped Skylar.

"Well that little experiment clearly went wrong." Said Jake bitterly. "I mean, look at me. I'm a cripple! I'm--I--my legs don't work!" He practically spat.

"Yeah," snapped Skylar, "Us? Enhanced? You've got to be kidding me! I can barely solve two plus two!" She scoffed with contempt.

"Seriously, how is this possible?" Exclaimed Jake, "Sure, I get the best grades in my year, but I wear leg braces! And, Skyar, you're freaking unbelievable in P.E., I mean, I didn't even know you could do that many push-ups in one minute, but besides P.E., I think your highest grade has been a C ...Oh." Jake looked at Clarice, understanding dawning on his feature. "Oh..." He repeated.

"What? What is it?" Asked Skylar, extremely confused. Clarice softly smiled at her.

"Think about it. One of you has exceptional brains, but barely any strength. The other has exceptional strength, but in terms of brains...well...you know what I mean."

Skylar's eyes widened as she understood as well. So that was why she was so strong, and Jake was so smart. The explanation was so far-fetched and unrealistic, but it made sense, it filled in all of the missing puzzle pieces.

"So...Somehow I got half of the--powers, let's call them powers--and Jake got the other half. I got the strength, and he got the brains...And also what power I'm missing, Jake has, and vice versa for Jake..." Skylar trailed off. "You have no idea how unbelievable that sounds," she told Clarice.

Clarice nodded and stood up. "Now I have to go. I can't be seen around." She glanced around nervously and hurried out the door.

Which left Skylar and Jake to stare dumbly at the door Clarice had just exited from.

"Wow," they said at the same time, and grinned at each other.

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Heyyyy hope you enjoyed this chapter...Personally I don't really like how I ended it but I couldn't find anything else :/

On a happier note ITS ALMOST CHRISTMAS WOO!!!