Scientific Crescendo - Book 2: The Genetics Project 🪼✔

14 - Out of Nowhere

I pulled up to Tayla's house and didn't see her car in the driveway, so that meant that her dad wasn't home. I went around the back to where her window was and lifted it up but stopped before I got inside. Tayla turned to me and waved a little.
"Good, you're here."
"Wh- wha..."
"Yeah it just started happening and so now I'm uh... stuck."
"I can see that." I said softly, struggling to get in the window.
When I finally got in, I got to get a good look at her. Tayla was stuck in the corner of her room but was also scrunched up between the floor and the ceiling, one foot placed on the opposite wall. She was at least fifteen, maybe twenty feet tall and was trying to keep her modesty as well as she could, the tatters of cloth on the floor indicating that she was not intentionally naked. Intentional or not, I was thoroughly aroused by the predicament and I tried to keep myself in control.
"Uh... um..."
"What the hell is going on, Sim? One minute I'm doing my thing and the next I feel like my body is rebelling against itself and stuff is growing all out of proportion before it got back again when the rest of it grew and now I'm like this... I feel like Alice stuck in the Rabbit's house. Can you explain this to me please?"
"Um... yes... well... you see... When my nanobots got knocked over, I think they got inside of us -all of us- and they defaulted to the original program they had before."
"And that was?"
"Amplifying or downplaying abnormal genes in people... I guess the only abnormal gene you had was your tallness and it acted on that."
"Well whatever it is, is not pleasant. You are lucky that I'm not on my period or something nasty like that. Can you imagine?" she said with a morbid humor that combined her fear and her awkwardness all in one.
"I'd rather not... There is no way you can get out, can you?"
"Not without taking off the roof and walking out like that."
"Oh..."
"Well if it got abnormal genes and it got on all of us, did it do anything to you?"
"Let's not discuss that for now. More importantly, we need to get you back down to size. I think that I might be able to control them from my laptop but it's back at my dad's lab."
"Oh for heaven's sake..." she growled. "You do not know how bad I have to pee right now."
Actually, I did because the baby was pushing on my bladder but I wasn't going to say that.
"You just sit tight and let me go back to the lab. I will work with it and call you to ask if you have gone back to normal."
"My fingers are too big to hit the buttons on the phone and it's a touch screen."
"Where is it?"
"On the floor over there. I got to dial your number before my fingers got too big to get the right numbers..."
"Alright."
I took out my cell and called her number, answering and putting it on speaker phones.
"Where's your charger?"
"On the wall."
I hooked it up.
"We'll keep the connection open and I will talk with you when I get back to lab."
"Okay... but can you hurry up?"
I nodded and got out of the house.

I practically tripped into the labs and a man caught me before I fell.
"Whoa, watch it son. Don't want you to bust your face on the floor."
"Thanks... Hey, you're Jai's teacher."
"Yes, I'm Mr. Ridder. What brings you here?"
"Uh... my dad works here and my uncle. You?"
"I come here sometimes to see if there are any experiments I can do in class on a smaller scale. The kids just love doing projects; especially Jai."
"Yeah, he's a smarty... Well, nice seeing you."
"You as well, Sim."
I watched as Mr. Ridder left and I frowned, getting that weird feeling again. I then remembered where I was supposed to go and ran to the labs.
I ran straight to the computer and began to work on the cluster of nanobots that were in Tayla.
"You there, Alice?"
"I can't exactly move, White Rabbit."
I smiled. "I'm going to try and get them to pull back on the abnormality and get you back to normal. I don't know how long it will take for that to happen or if it will even stay that way but all we can do is try, huh?"
"I guess..." she said and I could tell she was not very pleased.
"Sim, what happened?" Dad asked.
"Well-"
"His nanobots made me grow like fifty feet and I feel like I'm going to destroy the house." Tayla yelled in the phone.
Dad made a face at the phone.
"What?" he asked, looking at me.
"The nanobots grabbed hold of her tall gene and took it out of proportion so she's literally stuck in her room. I think I can reverse the nanobots to bring her back I don't think it will work with me and Bay..."
Dad nodded and left me to do my work.
I worked for hours before I finally got anything and I finally sighed.
"Tayla, this should work. Say something if you shrink back."
I hit ENTER and waited.
"Oh my god! Thank you! I have got to pee so bad!" she yelled and I heard her phone click off.
I sighed and then yawned, tired and feeling like I was being whacked by tennis rackets back and forth.
"You okay, Sim?" Uncle Tarot said with a smile.
"I'm tired."
"Yeah, you're going to be like that for a while. Go take a nap on the couch in the lounge and get your strength back. Is there anything you want?"
"A milkshake..." I said, standing and yawning at the same time.
"I'll tell your dad and he'll get you one on the way home."
I nodded and went to take a nap on the couch.

"Whoa, watch it son. Don't want you to bust your face on the floor."
I flinched awake and shook my head, wondering why that sentence made me feel weird. It was an innocent sentence... Something was not right about that guy that my subconscious was picking up on that I wasn't or something. I shook my head again and stood up, massaging the lower part of my back and walking back toward the labs.
"Sim, there you are!" Dad said, grabbing me up in a hug all of a sudden and I hugged him back in confusion.
"Uh, Dad? What's wrong?"
"Some bad news just came in and I need you to sit down for me."
"O-okay... Is everything alright?"
"No... Sim, your mother died earlier today."
I blanched at him in shock and confusion. How could she died like that? She was doing so much better with the never medicine that was being given to her... I didn't like her or really love her but I felt tears running down my face at her loss.
"But... she was doing so well..."
"I know but Dr. Peters called me and said that she had some sort of very harsh nervous breakdown and when she did, she had a heart attack and died."
"How? How could this have happened? Did they say what happened?"
"From what I hear, someone came in to visit her and when they went in she began to scream bloody murder and then died of the shock. Dr. Peters was nearby at the time and ran in to find that she was already dead and whomever it was that went in was gone. The registry didn't have a real name on there. There was a letter addressed to me and Dr. Peters brought it to me about an hour ago. I thought it would be best if we opened it together to see what she could have said."
I nodded and we sat back on the couch. Dad took the letter and opened it, willing to read it first or out loud when all the color drained from his face like it had been flushed down a high presser toilet. I watched him and he began to shake horribly.
"Dad? What is it? Dad?"
He looked up with horror in his gray eyes and turned the paper to me. My heart fell to my feet.

Julie's fragile heart couldn't take my visit. It's a damned shame... But fear not, I'm coming for you and all your little children. I do miss your family, Dexter.

Love,
Gerald