Her Gift

Luke Lachlan.

Dad had made an appointment for me and Hayden to meet with Mr Lachlan a few days later after school, I was immensely grateful we only had a few weeks left of the year before the summer holidays commenced.

The building looked less daunting than the first time I'd seen it 8 years ago; maybe it was because I knew what was inside. Maybe it was because I was older.

We followed the directions from the receptionist in the main entrance, up into the elevator and I tried to recall if this was the same level we visited last time but my memory hadn't stored it.

When the lift doors opened, Mr Lachlan was already waiting outside them with a friendly smile that I did remember. I also recalled him grabbing me and pretended to hurt me to see what reaction Hayden would have. Not very ethical.

"Hello again," he greets shaking both mine and Hayden's hands and gesturing for us to follow him. "I was most excited to hear from your father, and have pulled every file I ever collected on Hayden's case."

He shows us into his office and I quickly look around; the desk where Hayden had pushed Lachlan against, is still in the same place and I smile at the memory of his quick 'arrest' - He always did know how to protect me.

"Mr Lachlan -"

"Please call me Luke." He interrupts.

"Alright, Luke. The reason for Hayden and I's visit is to find out as much as we can about his unique creation. Hayden seems to becoming more distressed with each emotion he outwardly shows and feels. I was hoping you would have some answers to ease his worries." My voice sounds desperate even to my own ears, and both Luke and Hayden can see how much I want to help him.

"I'll do my best."

Luke walks closer to Hayden and as if he knows exactly what he's about to do, Hayden turns around and start to unbutton his shirt, taking it off completely leaving him bare, and me gawking. I very rarely saw Hayden without clothes on; Why was he so buff? I let me eyes take in his tight chest, strong shoulders, perfectly placed abs and the indented V that trailed off into his pants.

Focusing back on the task, I watch closely as Luke picks up an instrument that resembles a screw driver but with a tiny sharp tip and pushes the end into the middle of Hayden neck, I stand instantly and rush to his back, just in time to see Luke remove the pin like driver and for a small square piece of Hayden's neck to open up like a door.

I watch in amazement at the wires lit up and surrounding what looked like a computer chip.

Luke retracts the chip from inside Hayden and I gasp in horror as his eyes close and he falls forward before freezing in a slightly bent over position.

"Hayden." I shout, going back around to face him. But he's not responding.

"It's alright Rae, he's just shut down for the time being while I take a closer look at his cpu chip. As soon as I insert it again he'll come back on."

"You could have warmed me" I hiss, still effected by the sudden and scary event.

"I apologise," he says distractedly while he links the chip onto his own computer and starts typing and clicking away.

"What are you looking for?" I ask intrigued, walking over and standing behind his chair to look at what he's doing. It all looks like something out of the matrix to me and I wonder how on Earth he could read and understand what was on the screen.

"I'm looking for differences between the chip I created and this modified one. Really what I should be looking for is the similarities because there's more differences that anything. He... or she, basically used the original as a starting block. They've added so much but ... I still can't see how it's effected Hayden the way it has, theres definitely programs here to explain how he can show emotions, but how he feels them... it's not been programmed into him using this chip." He types further and continues to read the jibberish on the computer screen.

"Did you ever find any information on who the creator was? No clues?" I ask, glancing up from the screen when I feel my eyes start to sting and water.

"I had a few leads of potential designers that left shortly after Hayden was dispatched. Most turned up as dead ends. There was one." He stops reading and shuffles through the paper work on his desk, grabbing a manila folder and handing it to me.

I open the file and first take in the tiny polaroid picture of the employee. I squint to try to get a better look of him but the pictures not very good. Surprising given the reputation of this company, you'd think they'd be able to take a decent photo.

"Yeah, I know what you're thinking. You can check all the other employee files - none of them are as pixelated as that I can assure you. that's what intrigued me the most. It seems he was hiding his identity. The information written down is all correct though, but I tried looking this guy up on the internet. You're not going to find a picture of him I can guarantee... and the address he wrote down, when I visited I was told he'd skipped town and hadn't left a forwarding address. Like I said. It turned out to be a dead end." I read and then re read all the information in the file before closing it.

I keep the file close to my chest and ask if we can wake Hayden up.

When Hayden stands I watch his eyes slowly blink and take everything in before focusing on me, he smiles brightly at me and I breath a sigh of relief that he's alright.

"Find anything?" He asks.

"Not in your chip I'm afraid. It's definitely high tech and beyond what I was able to create at the time but it doesn't explain how you truly feel the emotions you emit." Luke starts to explain and I see Hayden's face drop in disappointment.

"But we have a file here on a potential guy who could have been your creator." I say quickly not wanting him to think all was lost. Luke looks at me confused that I'd bring this guy up after he told me that he'd found nothing.

"It might not lead to anything." I say pointedly "but it's something we could try. Maybe he came back to his old house now it's been 8 years. We won't know unless we try."

"Well, that's good enough for me." Hayden says brightly and I wonder if I shouldn't have gotten his hopes up about something that was no doubt going to lead to nothing.