Prometheus

The truth hurts

It was late and I was sat on the poach with Hunter. He was sipping a cold beer that he had managed to buy. While we talked Idly.
"What do you know about the disease?" I asked suddenly. I could see him visibly tense at the question. I knew this was a sensitive subject but I needed to know. How could my little sister kill 10 adults just by screaming and how come I survived? Even after all this time I hadn't come any closer to answers. I had theories but I needed solid answers. I had brought this up a few times but he always avoided the topic and for a while I had given up. But I had decided not to take no for an answer this time. I needed the truth.
Initially he just repeated what Lucy had told me. About how it was designed as fail safe in the event of world war three.
"Cut the bullshit." I stared. "Tell me the truth. You owe me this much. I can't keep living in the dark. I'm going to go crazy."
He paused before taking a deep breath.
"The horsemen are right. Your parents did hide the disease and the cure. But it's not a what they should be looking for. It's a who. The project was known as Pandora's box." He looked at me to gage my reaction. My heart began to beat faster in my chest. It can't be true?
"Continue" I said with a shaky voice .
Hunter exhaled loudly. "Your parents aren't biologically related to either of you. They created you through invitro fertilisation. That's why you look so different. They hid the cure first wanting to make sure that this would work. They were worried that the disease may leak out some how, I'm not sure exactly. But they didn't want the disease to exist outside a lab until the cure was established and found to be secure." He glanced at me before continuing. "You weren't the first child they created. There was a boy before you but the cure was to deeply imbedded within his DNA and it killed him." He turned to face me taking my hand in his. "You survived though." He seemed happy. How was this a good thing? My whole existence was a lie! "They cared for you and raised you like you were their own. They loved you. But their main function was to monitor you, make sure there was no side effects. They didn't want to release the disease if it was possibly harmful. After a few years they began trying to make Dora. It was a lot harder to get the balance right. And many of the earlier test subjects didn't make it." He said shaking his head. "But Dora did. It took years for them to perfect it. Hence the age difference."
He looked at me expecting me to crack but I need more information before I could let the floodgates to my emotions open.
"In the park did Dora leak?"
"Yes." He stated grimly  "it seemed the stress of nearly losing you forced forward the disease and killed everyone within a 20m radius."
"How does it kill? I mean it was so fast and it's not like she touched them."
"It's an airborne disease, we know that and my superiors think that the adrenalin she released when you nearly died caused the disease to be triggered and to come out through her pores. The disease kills by turning your blood to acid. It corrodes you from the inside out."
I took a deep breath. My hands were shaking. I had my suspicions but I never wanted them to be true. And I never thought it would be anywhere near as bad as this.
"How come I didn't die?"
"Your the cure. You can neutralise it. It's within your very DNA although we have no idea how a bad if you maybe able to project it like Dora."
He paused and we sat in silence for a moment. "I had heard about you from my parents. But I never imagined you would be anything like this. Your an amazing accomplishment  for the modern era" he said.  "Your truely are the most remarkable women I have ever met." He smiled at me.

My mind was whirling suddenly my whole life clicked into place. I was called Hope because I am the cure and Dora was called Pandora because you should never release what is inside.
Suddenly anger filled me. Our whole lives we have been nothing but a science experiment.
"WHAT THE FUCK!?!?" I spat "I guess this is a massive honour to you? Being able to protect the human race? Have you ever thought for just a moment that I was a human? That I had hopes and dreams? Just like you? Just like every other person on this fucking planet? Dora is just a CHILD you can't expect her to be able to cope with this? I tell you something your a piece of work. Your whole organisation is bullshit. I don't want to spend the rest of my life hiding. I want to live. I want to love someone that doesn't look at me like I'm the best paper mache volcano they have ever seen at a science fair. To think that I let you touch me?" My anger began to fade. My voice nearly a whisper, "I trusted you but you couldn't give less of a shit." I said defeated. Before turning on my heals and running upstairs. He didn't try to stop me and I think that made it hurt that much more.
Dora stood at the top of the stairs and I scooped to her into my arms. It was only when I reached her room that I noticed she way crying. She heard everything. "Am I monster?" She whispered
"No,no honey you are anything but A monster you are the kindest human to have ever of graced this earth. There is nothing wrong with you." I said stroking her hair and wiping away her tears as they trickled down her face.
"I'm a disease." She stated calmly.
There was no room for argument in her voice.
"It's ok, we are going to figure this out." The defeat sounded in my voice already though. I carried her to her bed and lay down next to her. Neither of us really slept we just lay there side by side wondering what to do now.