BRIGHT

Chapter 31- Peyton POV- Family is Not Always Forever

I laid in the bed, my arms now free of the restraints. I had not said a word since I found out those people I had been living with were not my parents. Who really were my parents? Would my life be normal if I had lived with my parents? The doctors assured me they would find my parents as quickly as they could. But they probably did not want me anymore. And Meredith. Was she even my sister? 

It had been assumed these people had acquired me as a baby when I was in the hospital. Truthfully, it made me feel less bad about telling Greyson everything. But, I was angry with him. I had trusted him with a life-threatening secret and he had told. I had put so much trust into Greyson, but he broke that. I knew I was moving too fast with him, but he just swept me off my feet. I heard a slight knock at the door and then the door opening. It was the doctor, his name was Dr. Jansen.

"Hi, Peyton, how are you doing?" he asked me. I did not say a word. "Listen, I understand it must be mind-boggling to realize the people you have been living with your whole life are not actually your parents," Dr. Jansen consoled. I glared at him.

"No shit," I replied, not realizing the word I had used until after it came off of my tongue. 

"Just listen, Peyton, we have a request. We want you to interview your parents over everything that has happened. We think your questions will be answered more thoroughly than any detective's. And, we thought you may want to for your own curiosity," the doctor offered. How could I face them? But I knew I would regret it in the future if I did not do it.

"I will speak with them," I said in a monotone voice.

"Good, thank you, Peyton," Dr. Jansen expressed. I nodded and rolled back up in a ball on the bed.

"Listen, Peyton, I have a few other things to talk to you about. First, Andrew Damon from the FBI granted you permission to write letters to people, explaining what is going on. We need to proofread them first though. I thought you would be happy about that," Dr. Jansen explained. I nodded. 

"What else?" I asked.

"Secondly, there is a surgery that needs to be done on you. It basically takes your genes and undoes the edit that has been applied to them. It would make you have normal genes and you would lose your superior intelligence," Dr. Jansen said. What? I did not know how I felt about what he had just said to me. 

"Suppose I do not want to lose my intelligence," I offered. What if without it I was dumb? What if I was unable to do anything?

"It isn't a choice Peyton. The gene edit was done to you as a child was illegal. So, since there is a way of correcting it, it must be implied," Dr. Jansen explained.

"No, I can't. I do not know life without it," I pleaded.

"I'm sorry Peyton, but the government has made up their mind," Dr. Jansen said, handing me a pencil and paper. "For your letters." I nodded. He got up and left the room, locking the door behind him. My parents wait not parents, the people I had been living with, had always told me they would use me as some sort of soldier for the government. But they were wrong, they just wanted to make me normal. But I feared the normality. I grabbed the pencil and began to write.