@AnnaJ718
I look into the child's eyes and see nothing but fear. He's shaking, pleading us to let him go. Eyes pouring with tears and he pull against his restraints. I look over at my partner and she looks completely unbothered. How did we get this far?
"Is it ready?" she asks.
I nod, making my way towards the kid. "Please, don't do this to me. Please, I'm scared." My heart aches in pain and I can't even look him in the eye. His has to be only six or seven years old. His dark messy hair resembling that of my own son, so innocent. I grip the syringe in my hand, holding the boy's arm. "I can't," I say, dropping the syringe. "This isn't right."
My partner sighs, getting up from her desk. "Are you serious? Years of research and you're stumped by a child. Men are so soft these days, give it to me."
"This has nothing to do with being soft, this is about having a heart beating in your chest."
She chuckles, crossing her arms and glaring at me with her cold brown eyes. "Really, because you had no problem doing this last time."
"Last time we tested it on an animal, this is a human being. This is someone's kid, his parents are probably worried sick."
"Good thing I got him from an orphanage then."
I stare at her in utter disbelief. Was this really the woman I've known for ten years. The woman that promised to better humanity and revolutionize medicine. No, this is a monster. A cold-hearted monster. She pulled her long brown hair in a bun, picking the syringe off the ground. "Don't look at me like that, I didn't kill his parents."
I snatched the needle of out her hand. "Stop this, you've gone too far. This isn't worth it anymore, Rachel. At this point, we would've killed more animals than we've saved. Your medicine doesn't work, and I think it's time to accept that."
Her shoulders drop and she hangs her head low. "Maybe you're right, it's just I know it can work. If I had more time and better supplies."
She leans on the railing, covering her face. I walk over, giving her a hug and rubbing her back. "It's okay, it was a great attempt. Let's let this kid go and we can go brainstorm new ideas."
I let her go and I see a smirk flash across her face. Rachel pulls out a pair of handcuff, cuffing me to the railing. "Rachel, what are you doing?"
She laughs, "You are so gullible. I-I-I didn't mean to go this far. I'll stop now, please. I've come too far to stop now. In order to make changes, sacrifice is necessary." She turns her attention to the boy strapped down on the table. "You should be happy, you're contributing to the greatest experiment in our time. Your name will go down in history, are you ready?"
The boy screams and shouts, trying to break free. Rachel holds him down, prepping the needle. I fight against my own restraint, trying to pull my wrist out of the handcuff. "For the love of God, Rachel. Stop it, leave him alone. He's not going to make it."
"I know, he's not supposed to," she smiles. "I'm seeing just how long it takes for him to die. I realized a while ago my discovery wouldn't work as a cure, but a poison. Apparently, there's no poison like mine which makes it incredibly difficult to treat with a higher chance of death. Some guy paid a lot of money for me to mass produce this stuff and now he wants the exact time where it kicks in."
Chills run down my spine and only one question leaves my mouth. "How long?"
"Let's see, around 5 or 6 years now."
My heart drops to my stomach. No. No. No. No, this can't be. 5 years ago, that's when we started the animal testing. I always thought about the greater good. So, when Rachel suggested testing on animals I went along with it. After all, they were just animals right. It wasn't like we were harming them on purpose and if it worked it would save millions of lives. All those animals were poisoned, I gave those animals poison. My hands shake as I remember tens of hundreds of animals we tested on. Even people, patients sometimes came offering themselves in the name of contributing to science. Each patient died not long after, and so we moved to animals. "Why? Why would you do this?"
"Money, obviously," she shrugs. "Oh come on, don't act innocent. You knew what you were getting into."
"No, I didn't! I didn't know about this, and honestly I don't know you anymore."
Rachels gets down next to me, staring me dead in the eye. "Oh Stewart, you never truly knew me. Do you have any idea how much these people pay for this stuff. Think about your family, you'd never have to worry about cash ever again."
I scoff, "Are you trying to bribe me? You have a kid wrapped up to a table who you want kill for a couple of bucks. Yeah, I have a family and that is exactly why I am telling you to stop. You really think any amount of money can justify what you're doing? Are you really that heartless? Use it on me, okay. Let the kid go, and I will sit there and I will take the poison."
"Nope," she says, booping my nose. Rachel jabs the needle, jabbing into the boys arm tuning out his screams and cries. She takes out her phone and sets the timer. I yank my arm in attempt to set myself free, but it isn't working. By the the thirty second mark the boys body starts jerking. His face twisting in pain, eyes starting to roll back into his head. I pull harder seeing his body shake violently, and something snaps in my shoulder. Pain shoots through my whole body but I refuse to stop. When I look up the boy isn't moving. His body is limp and his eyes are shut. His chest isn't moving and Rachel switches off the timer at 40 seconds.
"The boy," I say. "I didn't even know his name. He died with no one by his side, all alone."
She walks over to him, checking his pulse and nodding with satisfaction. The world around me seems to be moving in slow motion. I just witnessed the murder of a child, no. I took part in the murder of a child. My heartbeat is thundering in my ears and my breaths are quick and short. I felt something sharp pierce my neck, something like a needle. Before I can even look to see Rachel whispers in my ear. "Don't worry, I'll make sure to bring your family over so you won't be all alone."
Those are the last words I hear before I draw my last breath.
(Sorry for the lengthy post, I really got invested in this.)