Chapter 3: Behind the Curtain
1069 Words
Dr. Anna’s POV
I entered the counsellor room assigned to me today and quickly sat down my things, pulling out my notes. As I sipped on the heavenly coffee they were serving in the front, I wished it could give me special powers to deal with the upsets I had on my schedule today.
I could hear Dr. Woods over the Speaker. She was addressing the TEO’s here for the reveal.
I tried to put my frustration at the back of my mind as I tried to focus on my next TEO who would be walking in shortly. This appointment had trouble written all over it. He had missed his appointment with me yesterday. Usually, rescheduled and missed appointment weren’t a big deal but this one had to be a very carefully curated appointment.
Dr. Woods had specifically requested me to administer this appointment. I was like the messenger of death. The worst news was always channeled through me.
I closed my eyes and counted slowly till ten. Trying to calm myself.
Oh, Dr. Woods. Why me?
If it weren’t for her, I would have quit this job of constantly being the bearer of bad news. Would have opted for something simpler. Maybe just settle for a research position at the lab. I envied the people who stayed busy in their offices and labs all day instead of handling face to face appointments. Specially at times like this. There was no doubt that I was better at this than my colleagues, that also meant I got the worst appointments.
In the beginning I was good at handling it without feeling too much, but after so many years of watching these children grow in front of our eyes, the attachment has grown too. We love them all. It’s hard to see them as nothing but counseling appointments.
Our lives have pretty much revolved around keeping them alive.
Keeping them safe.
Keeping their origins, a secret.
“Aarman Elatewoods” I sighed, as I looked at his file in front of me. You are here for much more than just the reveal my child.
We found out about the mix up six years ago. Due to an administrative error Aarman’s mate, Laila ended up being surrogated much later than planned. Aarman turned 26 a few weeks ago while Laila was just awaiting her 18th birthday.
Every time we encountered a serious issue in the Island it was put through the Committee. The Committee was the invisible body that made all the decisions on the Island.
Only the very senior and loyal were part of the committee.
And if the matter was about a TEO, then the committee would be involved in all aspects.
The Committee’s senior members were the panel of scientists and doctors who were involved in editing the TEOs. Middle tier members were the senior counselors, including myself and a few others. Followed by the support members who were added later. These were the families that stayed on the island to raise the TEOs. A select few had earned Dr. Woods trust and she decided to bring them on board. They knew about the TEOs and had taken oath to guard this secret with their lives... or shall I say with their wrists.
Yes wrists.
All the TEOs and people who knew about them had to be monitored 24/7.
We all had a procedure done to embed this special device in our wrist. Only the scientists were fully aware of the capabilities on this device. And the procedure was not optional. If you were in on the secret, you had to let them embed you otherwise the committee would get you thrown off to the island penitentiary.
Cleary, everyone had to say yes to the wrist device.
We all had.
Six years ago, the committee met up to vote on how to handle Aarman and Laila’s unintended age gap. They decided to monitor the situation but kept the findings sealed. It was too premature to do anything about anyways. Besides, many felt the age gap wouldn’t mater too much after Laila turned 25, or even earlier.
If that were the only problem this meeting would be a breeze and I would have been focusing more on the acceptance issues that arise with age gaps.
Unfortunately, we were dealing with something more serious.
It was less a news and more a mission at this point.
We had lost Laila.
Her wrist device had stopped pinging a month ago. Dr. Woods immediately sent in her team to find her, but things have just been going south in her case since then.
I had come prepared for the worst.
These TEOs were our children but nothing was normal here. They were both strong and fragile. Their heart rate could shoot up to levels which could kill them. And if their judgement got the better of them, one of us could end up injured.
We were dealing with modified humans.
There was nothing out of the book about handling them. Forget out of the book - we had no books on handling situations like this. First of it’s kind obviously. Everyday was a new entry. A new learning curve.
In the beginning it was somewhat exciting. Gave me the feeling as if I were part of a science fiction movie. However, all that wears off quickly. The last thing I want is to lose one of them because we didn't handle the situation correctly.
I kept telling myself to have fate in Aarmi.
Our strong and sweet Aarmi.
He is 26 now, with years of training under his belt. He will handle this better than others. He knew how to constantly keep himself detached. I'd call that a skill among skills specially if you had to live the life of a TEO.
He will handle it.
I tried to calm myself.
I came in with a ready to administer dose of emergency tranquilizer! Just in case.
Hoping I don’t need it.
Suddenly the desk phone buzzes. I was expecting it to - I quickly press green.
“Dr. Anna, your first appointment is here. He will be coming in shortly. His brother and sister are here but it seems like he doesn’t know that he is attending his appointment with them.”
Great! Those two probably haven’t said anything to him. We had asked them to hold the information and tag along with him. I’m over thinking this.
“That’s alright. Send them in please,” I mumbled “please also send in a few bottles of water.”
This is it. I slowly count to ten again.
Dear God, help me.
I sent a silent prayer.
Waiting for my door to light green.
- Writer
