Leticia (38 page)

“Are you trying to tell me the scientists are behind this?”

“I remember the last time I spoke to you. I told you we were close... I was going to call you later that evening and ask if you would let me take you for a meal... I was about to leave the lab
.
I remember walking down the hallway towards the exit... then I knew nothing until I woke up strapped to that bed... the difference
then
was that I had silver chains wrapped around me to
o
. Charles and Roger were
standing
next to me
;
they had hooked me up to all sorts of machines, there were wires and pressure pads all over me
. Charles had a needle in his hand, he injected me with what I later found out was your blood. Only
a
little bit, they didn’t have much of it left. Within a few minutes everywhere the silver touch
ed
me... started to... sting, burn, I felt like I’d had acid
spilled
on me... but I felt strong, everything changed. I could hear people talking in the
streets;
I could smell every chemical in
the
lab... all my senses were heightened Leticia...”

“Now you know how I feel every day.”

“Nobody should feel like that, it’s not right, it’s not...”

“Normal? Human? God you’re so predictable, you’re so closed minded; tunnel visioned, who are you to say what is right? You’re not God. God created everything on this
earth
and
that
includes me... so there
’
s jack shit wrong with me.”

“Do these people know what you are?” he asked, examining my face.

“Yeah they do.”

“
And
they’re not scared of you?”
His eyes went wide.

“No they’re not
.
Now
can we get back to what happened?”

“
Fine
.
I fought like mad, trying to get free, but I was locked down too tight and the silver was hurting so badly... in the end I gave up, they were talking amongst themselves, taking notes of my temperature
, and other readings from the machines. I think it all lasted about twenty minutes at most, but God, it felt like hours. When the effects were wearing off, that’s when
everything went from bad to
worse;
I honest
ly
thought I was dying. My skin felt like it
was
on fire, my head was banging and sick... I’ve never felt so sick in my life. I had so much going on at the same time, stomach ache, muscle cramps, dry mouth... I thought “
this is it, I’m going to die”
.
I remember begging them for water but neither of them listened to me.
Then I passed out... When I woke up again the chains had been removed, the machines were gone, but I was still
fastened to the bed by the restraints.

“It was almost
dark;
there were no lights on in the room. I shouted and shouted for someone... anyone..
.
but nobody came. I needed food and water
.
I was so hungry and dehydrated.”

“Did anyone come?”

“
Not
until the next morning. Charles set up a drip to keep me hydrated and he did allow me to have some water and bread. Other than
that
, I didn’t get anything...”

“Have you been there ever since?”

“Pretty much, they would occasionally lock me in one of larger storage rooms so I could, as
they
put it
,
“
get some exercise”
. I say occasionally, but I think it
was
on
c
e a week or something like that. To be honest I lost track of time.”

“Why did they keep you like that?”

“They kept injecting me; they’d done something to your blood, I don’t know what, maybe they watered it down. They were saying they wanted to increase the potency gradually and monitor its effects. Then one night I could hear them shouting and
fighting
. They had
no blood
left. But then later on that night they were restocked. I thought maybe they’d asked you for another vial.”

“I was attacked, rather brutally; I was knocked unconscious.
Maybe
that’s when they took my blood...” I explained
.
“I was covered in cuts and bruises, so I can’t say I noticed any needle marks, I wasn’t looking for them either
;
but it took longer than usual for me to heal.
So it would make sense, extreme
blood loss takes longer to recover from, even for me.”

“I can’t believe they attacked you
,
” he growled, standing. “I swear to
G
od I didn't know about it.”

“I believe you.”

He went quiet for a moment, trying to calm himself. I looked in the direction of the house. Jackson stood by his car looking over at us.

“
Can
we go back to the house?” I asked Luke. “It looks like it’s going to rain. We can sit in one of the rooms on our own and talk
.
”

I
n honesty, I just wanted to be close to Jackson again so he didn't start thinking things were going on with us.
He nodded and walked with me. Once Jackson saw us coming over he went inside.
We
sat in the smaller living room;
at first he tried to sit next to me, but I think he saw how uncomfortable I was and quickly moved.

“Can you carry on?” I asked
.

“
OK
...
Erm, there isn’t that much to tell now really. They increased the level of blood they gave me and monitored all the results. In the end, I got used to the feelings I experienced when the effects were wearing off. That carried on for months. Eventually they
realize
d that when they hadn’t tampered with your blood, they only had to inject an extremely small amount for things inside me to change...”

“Well wouldn’t that have made sense anyway?”

“I guess, but that’s what they did anyway. After a while, I couldn’t tell you exactly how long
;
they seemed to get excited. They spent less and less time at the lab and left me alone for days at a time. Sometimes they would sedate me, so god knows how long I was out of it. I was so weak,
it didn't matter what I did
I couldn’t get free. I thought I was going to die in there... I probably would have if you and Jackson hadn’t got
ten
me out
.
Anyway
... a few weeks
ago things changed dramatically.
Roger seemed panic stricken, and Charles, he just disappeared. I’ve not seen or heard
of
him for a long time. Maybe he went back to his family and Roger was pissed off about it...”

The door opened and Jackson walked in
.
“Charles is dead
,
” he told Luke
.
“We found his body half decomposed in one of the storage rooms
.
”

“Have you been listening in?” I asked
.

“I heard the last part of your conversation, nothing more.”

“Charles is dead
?
” Luke repeated
.
“
H
ow? What... what happened to him?”

“He appears to have been shot, his body was stuffed into a locker
,
” Jackson told him rather bluntly.

“Jesus, no wonder Roger was in such a state.”

“When was the last time you saw Roger?”

“I’m not sure, it was a while ago. Other men have been coming in. Not
scientists
more like homeless people.
They came in the room I was in a few times but none of them would help me
, they just laughed at me and walked out,” He told us. “
How did you know I was there by the way
?
How long have you been looking for me?”

Jackson looked at me for a moment, a sympathetic look spread across his face
and he decided to leave us alone again.

“Luke,
there are things
you don’t know... a lot of things... I don’t know if you’ll want to hear them right now...”

“Just tell me, I
need
to know, I need to try and understand everything.”

I took a deep breath. “
OK
, well, I noticed before you said we hadn’t seen each other for about a year
.
”

“Yes
.
”

“Luke, sweet...
it’s
been...
nine
years
.
”

“What? Leticia that’s not funny
.
”

“
We
last saw each other in 2001
.
It’s
now 2010. Nine years.”

“
B
ut... how... oh my god. I feel sick.” He walked over to the
window breathing heavily.

“What else don’t I know?”

“We weren’t looking for you, in fact... we thought it was you doing all this to us...”

“
What
!
Doing
all what?”

“Sit down a
nd I’ll start at the beginning.” I waited for a few minutes, just to give him time to calm down. “
I waited for you
to
contact me about the cure, I know we kept in touch, but then you stopped calling. I went to the lab and Charles told me that basically you wanted nothing to do with me and that I should leave you alone
. I tried calling you, texting you, emailing... everything, and you never replied. I thought
you’d
turned against me.
Then I was attacked... and the guys said
you
had sent them...”

He didn't speak, but then he didn’t have to
;
his eyes welled up with tears and he tried his hardest to fight them back. I told him everything. From the being followed to
the
attempted
indecent
assault, watching his reactions carefully. He looked shocked, disgusted
and heartbroken
.
I explained everything in detail, about living in isolation, moving here and meeting my new friends
.
The
only thing I didn’t tell
him
was that I was now in a relationship with Jackson. I didn’t want to hurt him even more at the moment.

W
e were talking for hours. Nancy had poppe
d
her head around the door and shortly after brought us drinks and some snacks. Jackson ha
d
checked in on us, just to make sure we were both
OK
.
I ended up in tears myself at some points, which of course made
him
fifty times worse.
But he wanted to know.

“So, after the incident with Tristan
you came to the lab looking for answers, instead you found me
,
” he sighed.

“I’m glad we found you, please don’t think any different.
Besides, I know more now than I did before, you’ve helped a lot and I appreciate it more than you could possibl
y
imagine. I know it mustn’t have been easy talking about all that
.”

“
No
it wasn’t but...
it wasn’t easy for you either. I think the hardest thing... what I’m having difficulty getting my head around, is the fact
it’s
been nine years...
nine years
Leticia
. Nearly a decade of my life...
just gone. How am I supposed to deal with that, how do I accept it?”

“I don’t know. I think you need to let everything calm down first, get your health back and then take each day as it comes. That’s what
I
did
.
I spen
t
eight years alone, isolated...”

“You’re immortal Leticia, I’m not,” He shot. “Jesus, how long did I spend sedated? I swear it felt
like a year, maybe just over
.
I’ve lost out on so much time
.
”

“
I might be immortal, but that’s still a long time Luke, and think of it this way. I was awake the
who
le
eight years
, every single day. It almost drove me insane. So don’t for one minute think I don’t know how it feels.”