Scientific Crescendo - Book 2: The Genetics Project 🪼✔

19 - The What Ifs

I can't sleep very well because everything is getting confusing and complicated. There is so much going around and so many things that have been revealed that my mind just won't stop. I sigh again and get up, going to the bathroom, and then heading to the kitchen for a midnight snack. There is only a couple more days left and I will have to go back to the university... How will I hide my baby? Is there a way to do it without drawing too much suspicion? Maybe it would be best if I got the doctor to write me a note to excuse me from class for a little bit until the baby is born or something... I sigh and just continue to eat my ice cream with a heavy heart.
That's when I remember the note that was on my bed and I go and grab it so I can read it in the light better. I open it up and gulp.

Hello, Sim. I haven't seen you in such a long time. You are looking very well for what I have done to you. That daddy of yours did a marvelous job keeping your feeble little mind from falling into despair, unlike your mother. She was so very weak and cracked so easily but you... you, my little ragdoll, have grown so strong in your emotions. You've overcome the nightmares and memories so fluidly.
I vowed while I was in prison that I would come and find you and your father and my little experiments. They have turned out so well, despite the slight accelerated growth that I had for them when your father was carrying them. No deformities or anything. And what a horrid thing for him to do! Separate them like that and not tell them anything... Oh well, at least I was still able to keep an eye on all of them because they belonged to that Indian sibling of that lovely woman your father married and that starfish guy who ratted me out. It was ingenious really...

But dear Sim, I write this letter to you not to be formal but to let you know that I am coming for you. I am coming for you, your father, my experiments, that starfish man... I will take all of you and learn your secrets. If I have to dissect every single one of you to find out how you all work, I will not hesitate to do it. I have people in higher places who want my research and I mean to give it to them. You are pregnant, I know, and I am so happy for you, because now I get to use your body as the subject of my project. I'm so excited to get to see you again face to face. It will be just like old times.

We will meet again. Very soon.

Gerald

I didn't realize I was shaking until I stopped reading the letter. I could just hear his voice in my head as I read the letter; that sneering, semi-sweet voice that made me shiver. He knew where we lived... He had come into my bedroom and placed the letter on my bed... I knew I should have taken it to Dad but I didn't want him to have to deal with it right now. He had a lot of things on his mind and Gerald didn't need to be added to the equation more than he already was. I could handle this for now.
So the facts were this: Gerald knew where we lived, he knows where Jai and Bay live; he knows about my pregnancy; he knows that Tarot was the one who ratted him out (he had remained anonymous if I remember correctly). The question was simple: How did he know everything if he was in jail all this time? I groaned and rubbed my face with his hands. Where was he spying from? Who was he using?
"Sim?"
I turned as Kalij walked in, rubbing his eyes.
"Why are you up?" I asked.
"I went to pee and I saw the light on. Why are you up? What's that note?"
"Nothing..."
"You look like you might have seen a ghost." He said with a worried look.
"I'm fine, really."
"Sim, I'm not as innocent as everyone thinks I am. There is something really bad going on, isn't there? Something about the past?"
I sighed but nodded. "Yeah... All Hell is going to break loose and I can't figure out how the Devil is doing it. You know what happened to me then? Why I get a little... weird?"
"Some guy used to beat you and messed with your brain and stuff or something like that."
"Yeah... well, he's come back. He's not out for revenge though, he's out to continue his work. He wasn't done with me and Dad. He wants to use us again and now... now he wants the triplets. They were made by him, you know, and now he wants to use them as well in his sick projects. The problem is is that he's been in jail these past years so how is he able to know about us? How is he able to see things?"
"Maybe he's some kind of shapeshifter." He said dramatically.
I snickered. "I doubt that."
"No, no think about it for a moment. What if he is able to make himself look like anyone, kind of like the liquid Terminator? It's totally plausible."
"Really?" I said with a lift of my eyebrow.
"Of course. Dad can get pregnant and Uncle Tarot can regenerate himself and shapeshifting is too out of the park?" he says with a look.
"I guess you have a point..."
"Anyhow, this guy is a scientist, right? Well, he seems like some really crazy ass guy and I wouldn't put it past him to do something to himself as long as it will help him get to you and Dad. You said he was a biologist or something, right?"
"Yeah."
"Well, he could have made something that makes him able to change his body or some sort of nonsense and stuff."
"I think you need to get back to bed and stop smoking that hidden weed."
"I'm not! Seriously, Sim..."
"I think he just has an outside source for him and somehow they granted his humongously summed bail or something. I'm about to bed so head back."
Kalij sighed. "No one ever takes my stuff into consideration."
"I believe it could be done, Kal, just not in this lifetime. Hence why the liquid Terminator was created in the future."
We both went to bed and I tucked the note under my pillow.

***********************

The week finally ended and it was time for me to go back to the university. Even though it was such a short time, I had already grown a little in the stomach area and my pants were cutting into my stomach. It was firm with child and I found myself touching it often, just rubbing the smooth, taut skin. Tayla had left without me, taking her car back this time and I sighed, knowing that things would never be the same with her anymore.
I hugged Dad before I left, Jibbles throwing his head in between us to jump up on me. He had been in the backyard to keep from getting into everyone's business with my visit and was feeling lonely. I pet the German Shepherd on the head as he panted in my face.
"Down, Jibs..." Dad said, pushing the obnoxious thing out of the way. "Should have let him in a little..."
"Yeah..."
"Will you be alright up there at the university? I mean, Tayla isn't talking to you anymore and Sansr has moved on. You'll be alone."
"I think that's a good thing though. I mean, I'd rather be alone in this than everyone prodding around in my business."
"I guess that's true... And watch out up there for Gerald. If that note was any indication, he's lurking about."
I finally gave Dad the note the other day for him to read and he warned me to be extra cautious about everything. I assured him I would. He looked at my stomach and smiled a little.
"Take care of your baby. Don't forget that if it gets too much for you, you can always come back here."
"Definitely. I think that when I start showing way too much I'll come back here."
"Well, you're already showing now. Think of good excuses."
I laughed. "Yeah... See ya."
"Goodbye, Sim."
Jibbles barked at me loudly and I pet him again before I left for the campus. It was a lonely drive up there and I dreaded the coming days of the company of me, myself, and I.