Oblivion

T W E N T Y - O N E

Tuesday, 12 November, 2019

Zyre

Even though it was mid-fall, it was a beautiful, sunny day, not a cloud in the sky, though, still a bit chilly.

I was just sitting back against Nyco's chest, holding one of his hands that was resting over my stomach as the other ran through my hair.

"It's a lovely day, yet, here you are taking a nap," Nyco said, a hint of a smile in his voice.

I opened my eyes to look at the boy, "I'm just tired, I didn't sleep well last night."

He rose an eyebrow at me, "Oh yeah? Why's that?"

I rolled my eyes at him, "You know why, you were the one who was keeping me awake."

"I guess, but you're still wasting the day by sleeping, you woke up an hour ago," he pointed out, playing with the hem of my sweater.

"And? I just said I didn't sleep well last night."

"It's still a nice day, you can always sleep later," he told me, pecking me on the cheek.

I pouted, letting my head fall back a bit more, "What if I want to sleep now?"

"I won't let you."

I let out a sigh before sitting up on my own and turning around so I was facing Nyco, "If you insist."

The boy smiled at that, leaning forward to peck me on the lips, "Now that you're up, maybe we can talk."

I rose an eyebrow at him, "About what?"

"Maybe before this whole mess happened, before the Hollow," he told me with a shrug, "I figured it might be better if we knew more about each other, but only the things you want to share, you know?"

I pursed my lips, letting out a small hum before saying, "I mean, my family life was shit, but I guess I never would've met you if it weren't for my dad."

Nyco stared blankly at me for a while before his expression darkened, "Zyre . . . Reed. Like the doctor responsible for creating the failed immortality drug?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat, realising I had definitely made a mistake.

You see, this is why I didn't talk about my dad. That relationship was far from being healthy, it was more of a 'try to make your kids guinea pigs for your revolutionary drug' kind of a thing.

"Yeah . . . that's my so-called father," I added quickly with a small, sheepish smile, "If you say anything bad about him, I'll agree with you, he's an awful person."

Nyco sprung up to his feet from his seat on the bench, "There's something I need to go see to . . . immediately. If you'll excuse me."

Great, another person that didn't like me because of my father's mistakes.

I guess I could always pack up and leave if things got too much worse . . .

***

"Are you two fighting again?" Melo asked as she saw Nyco walk out the doors to the garden just moments after I had come into the room, "What happened this time? Did Nyco make another inappropriate comment?"

I shook my head, staring at the garden doors for another moment before I turned to look at the pink-haired girl, "No, no . . . nothing he did. I just accidentally told him who my dad was."

"Yeah, you've mentioned him a few times, from what I've heard, he's kind of a bitch. But why would Nyco care about who your father was?"

"My father is a bit famous for the whole 'Hollow Disease' thing, he was the head researcher of the project, you might've heard of doctor Reed before," I explained quickly, "That's mostly the reason I never really talk about him."

"Makes sense, how many Zyre Reeds are there in England whose fathers are doctors and medical researchers?" she asked with a roll of her eyes, "It was simple to piece together once you get enough details . . . but one question, is your dad still out there somewhere?"

"Nope," I replied almost instantly, "My dad also tested the experimental drug on himself once or twice, so, he was one of the first to get infected, my whole family ended up with it, except me."

"How's that?" Melo asked curiously, "I mean, I'm not trying to pry or anything."

I smiled a bit at her, taking a deep breath before I started my story, "Well . . . whilst the rest of my family's progression through the disease was, well, quick, it took much longer for my father and in his spare time, he spent it trying to create a cure. He was able to do so, but it only stopped the Hollow from progressing past the first two side effects and if it was already the memory loss stage, then it wouldn't help you.

"Luckily for me, the disease wasn't progressing any faster than it was for my father, in fact, it was slower . . . a lot slower. I was barely getting to the stage of appetite loss when he completed the 'antidote' and he had just started the memory loss stage just after it was finished, besides, there was only one dose and he already decided beforehand that if he was able to create an antidote in time, he'd give it to me.

"After he had given me the 'cure', he went a bit crazy, burnt all the research he had done for the cure, then locked himself in our basement, that was the very last time I saw him," I finished, watching the girl closely.

"Holy shit, that's insane," Melo said in amazement, "And you have no idea--"

"How to make the antidote -- no," I answered, cutting the girl off, "Even though my father worked to save me in the end, he didn't care what happened to everyone else as long as I was saved . . . he never let me help with the cure because he didn't want to get distracted, then he destroyed it all once he knew I'd be safe."

"Damn."

"He basically screwed humanity over, saving one person over everyone else," I murmured, "He had the choice to help save others, yet, he chose not to."

Melo let out a small gasp, her eyes going wide, "But that means--"

"I can't die."

"Shit."

Later that night, when I was heading to bed, I stopped in front of the door to Nyco's room, pushing down on the handle . . .

. . . and it was locked.