I Was Once Human

Chapter II - A Present Past, Part I

Jesse still couldn't believe what he'd done, he's lost for words and didn't know what to do, Don gave him his clothes back and lead him out of the facility, Don said something to him before he steps outside, but his vision was distorted, his hearing is impaired, and all that he could remember was him sitting in the steps just outside the facility, he sat there through the quiet night with his blank mind and a deep, immovable feeling of regret.

The last thing he could remember was Edmond's last words, it kept repeating over and over again in his head, "Stop!" he shouted to himself, it only grew louder and louder, it almost drove him insane

but lucky for him, someone came and called out his name "Jesse? Jesse!"

He looked up whilst breathing heavily to see who it was that snapped him back to reality, and to his surprise, it was the figure with the black robe from his dream. Jesse started to panic, he couldn't do anything anymore at this rate

He asked to the figure "Who are you? How did you know me?"

The figure takes off his hood, revealing an old white-haired man. He smirked, and said "I am not surprised you don't know who I am, but perhaps a little trip will make you remember... come with me, I'll take you to a place that'll make you realize who I am"

Jesse agreed, there is nothing else he could lose, he went to the car and sat in the front passenger seat.

The rocking of the car that traverses through the broken roads that lead to and out of the facility was enough to soothe Jesse to sleep, he could only dream of the good times he's had with Edmond, he is drowned in sadness and regret, meanwhile the mysterious figure looked over to Jesse to check on him, he saw Jesse trembling and even shed a tear, he shook Jesse to wake him up "Hey, wake up! You're shaking... are you alright? Jesse!?" he didn't wake up, the figure gave up, and focused back on the road, Jesse was traumatized ever since he killed Edmond, he didn't know what came over him, and the knowledge that he could've been saved only made his regret even worse, he cried throughout his dream, until he woke up on a bed in a familiar place, he looked around to see where he is, he was in Edmond's house, he walked downstairs to see the mysterious figure laying asleep on the couch in front of the television, he kept walking to Edmond's lab, he saw a stack of books and also a familiar one, the "Catalogus Variorum ac Bestias Geneticae Menda" sits atop all of them, he took one quick look through the pages to see that the page of Edmond's article is empty, he looked through the entire book, but to no avail, he couldn't find Edmond's page, he closed the book and moved it to the side, to inadvertently reveal Edmond's diary under it, he inspected the book, and opened it, he was relieved it was not written in some ancient language

A certain entry intrigued him, it says "I've come up with a plan to perfect humanity, there will be no mistake this time, and I hope it works, I'll have to make sure only people I could trust is in on this, I wouldn't want anyone making a profit out of this project, it is STRICTLY for the good of humanity."

He read the next entry, it says "The samples escaped! Who in the world would open all the containers and turn on the vents in special storage? I could only hope it fails to mutate, if anyone starts acting or looks weird, then I'll be called in to be questioned, and if I don't talk myself out of it, then I'll be dead for sure! Alcides has been looking at me weird as of late, I think he may have figured out what I'm doing, if I fail, then Don and Riley will have to continue my project."

"Wait... what? Alcides knew this? Shouldn't they be working on a cure already?" Jesse couldn't quite understand the situation, this contradicts everything he's been told, but he kept reading on to the next entry "Luckily Alcides couldn't convince them I was working on that project, although I'm starting to concern about Riley, she doesn't look as well as I've known, I should probably work on a cure, just in case."