PANDORA - Book 1 (NWC's 2nd place winner)

CHAPTER FOUR

 

CHAPTER FOUR

“My name is Hope Rivera,” I begin. Rohan sits across me, intently listening. Judging by his expression, he won’t be interrupting me until I finish my story. There’s no backing out now. If I want to be of good use to this world, I have to learn how to trust him. So I will.

“I was born here in the Philippines. I had a blood condition when I was a kid and frequently got transfusions because of it. My mom was a hematologist. My father, I never met him before last year. I’m not even sure if it’s him. I was sixteen when my mom told me that my father wanted to see me. It was a shocker because I believed him to be dead.

“It was the last week June when these men came to our house. My mom let them in and said I have to receive a blood transfusion again. I said no; I’m not sick anymore, but she said she know better because she’s my doctor. Turns out to be, they are filling my blood with an immunization serum against a newly-discovered virus. It was a long process that’s why they began it on my childhood.

“I demand for explanation so my mom had to tell me the truth. She said my father was a part of a government conspiracy called Project Pandora. He was one of their top scientists and they are developing what we all know today as hemophagia. Knowing how risky his job was, he hid his wife and child here in the Philippines. For sixteen years, I became the petri dish for the immunization formula.”

My hands are becoming sweaty. As much as possible, I refrain myself from doing a backstory even in my mind. It’s plain torture, remembering the last normal day of my life. The last day I saw my mother.

“That same day, a car full of armed men busted into the house and killed everyone, including my mom. This one man, he shoved me inside the cabinet under the sink. The last thing he said, ‘Run away when it’s over. I’m sorry, child.’ I think he was my father. After the men with guns left, I found him dead with the others. I didn’t know what else to do so I followed what he said. I ran away. Several days after that, hemophagia broke out.”

I end my account and Rohan’s grim expression doesn’t change. Nobody speaks for a while. We just sit and take in the damp smell of this old teahouse we are sitting in. It’s still morning but we have to stop because it’s raining. I haven’t seen the rain for a long time. Back when I was a kid, I used to play under the rain and my mom wouldn’t even scold me. I’ve always like the smell of it as it hits the warm earth. It smells familiar. Smells like home.

My mom. I can still picture her in my mind. She was very charming. She had an air of sensibility and spirit I never had. I’ve always admired her grace and her ability to convince people. I haven’t given much thought about her before because I don’t want to remember the pain of her passing. She didn’t deserve to die. But injustice is already laid upon her and the only thing I can do to make it up for her is to offer my blood to make up for it.

“So, it’s true,” he says and I snap back to the present. Rohan stands up and walks toward the railing on the balcony. “That hemophagia is the new 9/11. They let it loose in their own cities and allied countries and blamed it to the enemies.” 

I nod even though he’s not looking at my way. “They killed my parents because those people know we got the serum. And they’ll kill me, too if they realize I’m alive.”

“Right. You’re the glaring evidence,” he adds. I nod again.

I am the evidence. With the right people, I can provide the information that will change the course of this war. Once it’s proved that it’s the government who killed their own subjects, those who are left will rebel against them. The new world order they want will happen but without them in the picture. My existence will tip the scale. My head feels heavy with overwhelming fear and anticipation.