The Potion: A genetic engineering thriller!

Chapter 9

James laid sprawled out on his living room sofa, flipping through the channels as if it were his day job.

He was ashamed to admit it, but he had sort of become reliant on his new companions, and without them, he had forgotten what to do with his time. It was the weekend, which meant he didn’t have work to fill the void, and Ronald hadn’t reached out to him in days. It wasn’t unlike him to go radio silent for so long, but usually they would at least text a couple of times throughout the week to make arrangements for their next appointment, but this week it had been nothing but silence. Although Ronald was a very private person, James went as far as to reach out to him at work, and the receptionist said that Dr. Clark had been working from home the past few days, but that she’d pass along his message to him when he returned.

That’s what he found odd. He loved his job, his team, and was dedicated to his company. Why was he now, all of a sudden, working from home? The last he’d heard, his group was working on some sort of medicine that was supposed to help chemo patients with their treatments. He wasn’t exactly sure what it did per se, but he knew it must be important if it was assigned to them. Perhaps that was what was keeping him so busy. Or maybe, like James, he had begun to feel the overwhelming guilt of knowing the serum could save hundreds of thousands of sick people across the planet.

But it wasn’t just Ronald that had gone missing for the past few days.

Ever since that night at the restaurant, it was like Melanie had dropped off from the face of the earth. He’d texted her several times since then, left her a voicemail or two, even called her at her work to no avail, she had yet to get back to him. Her assistant Sofia said she had an extremely busy schedule over the next few weeks, as they were getting into the peak season of real estate, but he didn’t buy that for a second. She was purposely avoiding him, and he knew why. She seemed upset when he told her that the serum was meant to be a secret. That was the only logical reason as to why she would shut him out.

Deep down, he understood where she was coming from. He had certain reservations as well in the beginning, especially with everything that happened with Amelia. But as much as it pained him to admit it, it couldn’t change the past. Not only had Ronald not perfected the serum until after she had passed away, even then, they would’ve never known about it. The only reason they knew it was a success now was because James had accepted the possibility that he was knocking on death’s door. By some miracle, he lived through it, but not only that, he was thriving now. If only he could get her to see that, maybe she’d come back to him.

Hearing a huge truck door slam shut, James nearly jumped to the front window to see who it was. His shoulders slumped when he realized it was just the new neighbors finally moving in. He had no idea what had taken them so long since Melanie had sold the place weeks ago, but he was excited to hear some human life existing beyond his walls. Perhaps he might even get to know them.

Changing out of his pajamas, James casually stepped out onto his front porch with his cup of coffee and sat on the porch swing. He knew he probably seemed a bit nosy, but at this rate, 71 he didn’t care. He wanted to talk to someone that wasn’t Brad or Kevin.

“Hi, there!” he called out. The young woman carrying a box labeled kitchen stopped short, looking all around until she spotted him next door. Her face lit up, and she tucked the box underneath her arm and gave a wave.

“Hello!” she said happily. “You must be our new neighbor. I’m Jenn, it’s a pleasure to meet you. This here is my husband, Frank,” she pointed to the muscular man carrying in the couch with another guy that resembled him; chances were, it was his brother. “My two kids are running around here somewhere, they’re Liam and Lydia.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m James. You’ve picked a great neighborhood to move to, it’s wonderful.” “That’s what our real estate agent said!” Jenn beamed. “Is it just you?”

“Uh, yeah,” James stuttered. “My wife Amelia passed late last year, and we didn’t have any kids, so it’s just me.”

Jenn placed a hand over her heart and frowned. “Oh, I’m so sorry about your loss. You’re always welcome over here if you need any company, isn’t that right Frank?”

“Absolutely,” he huffed. She handed him the kitchen box and he took it gratefully, as it was a break from lugging in heavy furniture. “We’re friendly folks.”

“Thank you, I appreciate it. I’ll let you get back to it, I was just getting ready to step out myself, off to see a friend.”

“Have a wonderful day,” Jenn said before disappearing back into the moving truck to grab something else.

James slipped inside and poured the remainder of his cup of coffee down the sink. Although Ronald’s paranoia was likely just rubbing off on him, it didn’t hurt to go to his place and check in on him. Maybe he was so deep into his research he hadn’t even realized what day it was. Besides, it was a beautiful day, and maybe they could take his car out again for a nice drive in the afternoon sun.

Just as he closed his front door again, someone pulled into his driveway. He recognized the vehicle instantly. Melanie’s familiar blonde hair popped into view first, and she froze when she saw him standing there.

“Hi,” she said awkwardly, holding her purse to her chest. “I’m sorry for coming by unannounced, I just was driving and sort of ended up here.”

“That’s alright,” James replied. He hesitated momentarily, deciding what to do. He wanted to go check in with Ronald to make sure he was alright, but he also wanted to repair any tension between him and Melanie. “Do you want to come in?”

“Sure, that’d be great.”

Together, they went inside and settled themselves in his dining room. He quickly brewed them a pot of tea and set it down in front of her so she could serve herself.

“Sofia tells me you’ve been swamped with work,” James started. Steam floated from his untouched teacup, and he stared at the brown liquid before mustering up the courage to hold her gaze. “That’s a good thing, I hope.”

“Yeah, it’s been hectic. I was away for a personal event, too. I just got back into town a few days ago.”

James felt utterly disgusted with himself that he’d been hounding her all this time when she was dealing with a private matter. He wasn’t sure whether or not it was appropriate to ask what it was, so he just left it at that. If she wanted him to know, she would’ve told him.

“Oh, I hope it was a good trip,” he settled on.

“It was my dad’s birthday,” she fired back. There was something about the tone of her voice that made him unsettled. As if she were looking for a fight.

“How old did he turn?”

“He would’ve been 75 this year.”

There was that word—would’ve. Past tense. He placed both hands flat on the table and glanced in her direction. Tears were forming in her eyes, and she made no attempt to conceal them. “You mean he’s...”

“Dead, yes. Since I was in college. We celebrate every year, though, it’s a bit of a family tradition.”

“I’m so sorry, Melanie, I didn’t know.”

“It’s not something I like to talk about. He was my rock, my whole world, and I wasn’t even there when he passed away. It hurts, even to this day just thinking about it.”

“How did it happen?”

“Cancer,” she frowned. “None of us knew. I don’t even know if he knew.”

“That’s awful,” James sighed. “I guess you do know what it feels like to lose someone you love to something like that.” His mind wandered momentarily to Amelia. How even up to her last day, she still managed to smile.

“I hope now you can understand why I reacted the way I did when I found out about your little experiment.”

So, that’s what all of this was about. I knew it.

“I know it might seem like we’re withholding valuable information from the world—”

“That’s exactly what you’re doing,” Melanie barked. She slammed her teacup down on the table so hard it shook the utensils on the plate. “Think about sitting beside your wife while she was on your deathbed. Watching her slip through your fingers, unable to do a single thing about it. About how you have to face every day without her. Now think about the serum that runs through your veins, and how millions of people around the world don’t have to watch the people they love die.”

“It’s not that simple, Melanie. I wish it was, I really do, but this is much more complicated than just you and I. You have to separate your personal feelings and beliefs from it and see it from a different perspective. These things take time. Ronald will make this public, I know he will, it just won’t be today.”

“Every day that passes, more people die when they don’t have to. It’s selfish.”

She stood abruptly and moved toward the door, but James was faster. Blocking her way, he held his hands up, pleading that she would just wait to hear him out.

“Listen, even if we were to share this with the world, he only has enough formula for a few more doses. This research has taken him years to perfect, and it would take time to manufacture enough doses to distribute globally.”

“So why bother waiting!” she cried.

“I get it, your dad died from cancer, it’s heartbreaking to know there’s something out there that could’ve saved him. But you have to know, Ronald only created this within the last few months. Your father died years ago; it wouldn’t have been able to save him. It was too late.”

I know that,” she hissed, furiously wiping the tears from her cheeks before holding her face in her hands for a few minutes. “I’m not thinking about my life. I’m picturing all the little girls out there who have to go without their dads. I just don’t know how you do it. I don’t know how you can live each day knowing that there’s so much more you could be doing with your life, but you’re not.”

With those final words twisting a knife into his heart, she shoved him out of the way and bolted out the front door. A part of him wanted to follow her and beg for her forgiveness, but the other half knew she needed time. Sadly, that was time away from him, but in the end, he’d make her see the reasons why they’re doing it this way. He had to, otherwise, he might lose her forever. Why did that prospect bother him? He barely knew her.