The Morrow's Yesterday

Year 1998 “Have you heard about Tithonus?” a guy with a lab coat asked while flipping the pages of his newly bought book― it was the reprinted copy of ‘Tithonus’ by Lord Alfred Tennyson. “The god of immortality, eh?” his subordinate asked in answer, confusion in his voice. He sipped on his cup of coffee and followed him by his eyes. “Yeah, the lover of Eos,” the guy with a lab coat answered his friend. He sat on the chair and crossed his legs while still sticking his gaze on the book. “What’s up with that random question?” his subordinate asked while having a clueless face. His eyes widened when he finally realized the point of his scientist friend’s out-of-the-blue question. “Samson, Zeus made Tithonus immortal, do you think we can do it too?” the guy with a lab coat asked again, thrill and excitement in his voice. He can feel the blood leaping inside him while thinking about his next experiment that involves the god of immortality― Tithonus. “You really came up with crazy ideas!” Samson nervously chuckled making his friend raise his eyebrows. “What? It’s possible, right? If we can successfully accomplish this experiment, we can make tons of money!” the guy with a lab coat exclaimed. Samson fixed his glasses using his middle finger causing his friend to sneer. Samson chuckled from his reaction. He gulped the little coffee left in his cup and made an ‘ahh’ sound after he drank it as if he was in a Coca-Cola commercial. Any minutes passed when Samson approached his colleague and burped loudly in front of him. The guy with the lab coat averted his gaze from his friend while having a disgusted expression on his face. “You’re gross,” he mumbled. “Oh, come on, Adri! Zeus is a god, okay? A god!” Samson hissed while emphasizing the last word. Adrian closed the book he’s been reading and looked at his friend while having a boring look. “We are the god of science,” he effortlessly said. Samson facepalmed because of disbelief. They’re not done yet with their last experiment but here’s their headmaster― reading a book he got from an auction and thinking about the next experiment they would do. “You’re in my team, right?” Adrian asked Samson, not giving him any look. “Yeah,” his subordinate answered, against his will. “That’s settled then,” the head scientist smirked and closed his book. He looked at Samson intently, his subordinate raised his two hands as a sign of defeat while frowning. “Gather the team right now. I will discuss what we need to do.” Year 2003 The whole team was gathered in the laboratory. This is the day that they will test the dr*g they’ve made in these past few years as if they devoted half of their life to it. They were all passionate about successfully accomplishing this experiment. Adrian Anderson― the head scientist of Team Beyond Human, is now ready to inject the aureolin fluid into their first test subject. All the scientists inside the four corners of this room are cold sweaty and there’s something fluttery in their stomachs. They were anxious about the result of their experiment. “This is exhilarating,” Adrian said as he injected the syringe into the mouse that’s been lying unconscious on their laboratory table. The room was filled with silence. They are all looking intently at the mouse, whose body is not moving an inch. After a minute, they didn’t receive any reaction from the said mouse. Disappointment and helplessness are painted on their faces thinking that they failed on this experiment, except for one person― their headmaster. “Why are your faces look like that?” Adrian asked, raising the tone of his voice as he eyed every scientist in this room. They all averted their gaze from him, making Adrian sarcastically laugh, and placed both hands on his waist. “Are you not confident in your own work? You don’t trust yourselves, do you?” Adrian asked, having pride in his tone. He only received silence as a response from his colleagues making him sigh. All the attention went to the mouse when they noticed that it started moving. People in the room looked at each other, joy on their faces knowing that there’s no negative reaction happened due to the dr*g that’s been injected into the mouse. Adrian moved closer to their test subject to see what was going on. He gasped and his eyes widened when he saw the pupil of the mouse slowly change its color from black to red. “What’s going on?” Samson asked worriedly but Adrian didn’t look at him. He just closed his eyes and bit his lower lip to prevent a smile before saying the words that his subordinates want to hear, “We did it!” Year 2004 “Are you crazy or what?!” Samson thundered after he knew that Adrian wants his own daughter to be their first human tester. He clenched his fist and suddenly grabbed the collar of his friend that still has a calm reaction. “Adrian, don’t be silly! Don’t make my godchild a guinea pig,” he said as his voice intensified. Adrian sighed and removed Samson’s hands from his collar. He fixed his lab coat and threw dagger looks to his friend that until now is in rage. “It’s none of your business,” he coldly said making Samson burst in anger. “You bastard!” Samson fumed and rushed towards Adrian. He rapidly punched him, for him to slam on the bunch of boxes at the corner of the room. Adrian slowly stood up while staggering and put his hand on the wall for support. He glared at Samson while wiping the blood from his lips. “It hurts,” he said in a monotone like a robot. Samson laughed sarcastically as they exchanged dagger looks. “I swear, Adrian. If something happened to Chrysanthemum because of that freaking experiment of yours, you’ll pay big time,” he threatened. He was still glaring at his colleague when he left and slammed the door loudly causing Adrian to flinch. The headmaster sighed and stood up straight, he put his hands in his pocket and a small smile was carved on his face. “My daughter is lucky to have you as her second father,” he mumbled and chuckled, referring to his friend― Samson Parkville. His expression suddenly changed as he thought of the decision he made. He still has doubts, of course. But given the successful testing, they’ve made in the year 2003, it somehow eased his uneasiness about it. He’s still hoping that Chrysan’s body― her daughter, will accept the d**g to make her immortal. *** “Are you ready, Dr. Anderson?” Adrian’s colleague asked as he was getting ready to inject the Tithonosious d**g into Chrysan’s little body. She was only 6 months old, yet she needs to go through this kind of experiment. Adrian only nodded as a response. He looked away as soon as he heard the crying voice of his little princess. Accidentally, he and Samson’s eyes met and they exchanged dagger looks for the nth time. The headmaster looked in front when her daughter stopped crying. He slowly walked towards her, not making any noise and there he saw the smiling face of his daughter. He lent his index finger to her and she immediately grabbed it making him hold back tears. “She’s safe,” he mumbled, relief in his voice. Year 2006 “Remove the Tithonosious dr*g, now!” Adrian furiously said while pointing at his daughter― bathed in her own sweat while heavily panting. The head scientist is now on the urge of crying seeing his daughter’s situation. At the age of one, Chrysan already experienced unexpected seizures and high fevers. “But, Dr. ―” Adrian interrupted his colleague from speaking. He clenched his jaw while his lips are trembling as he looks in the direction of his poor daughter. “No buts! I know I’m an asshole for putting my daughter in that kind of danger not knowing about the risks!” he fumed and tightly clenched his fist causing his nails to sink into his palm. His co-scientists felt sorry for their headmaster and his daughter. As much as they wanted to help him, they can’t do anything. It’s been six months since they injected the dr*g into her and it was already absorbed by her body. They all looked at the door when they heard it was slammed open. Revealing Samson― whose eyes were fuming red and his clenched jaw and fist. He goes directly to Adrian, not giving any gaze at his co-scientist who’s tensed at the moment. As soon as Samson was in front of their head scientist, he threw a punch on its face, causing the other scientists to stand up and restrain the fight. The team was divided into two groups: Samson’s, and Adrian’s. “You, jerk! I warned you!” Samson shouted out of anger while their colleagues are restraining them. “Yeah, I’m a jerk! Got a problem with that?” Adrian responded, full of pride. “You son of―” Samson spontaneously stopped when they heard Chrysan’s weep. Adrian loosened from his subordinates and walked slowly towards his little princess. He gently lifted his one-year-old daughter and wiped the cold sweat from her forehead. Adrian can’t help but sob. He hugged her and took a deep breath. In just a flash, he ran towards the opened door, causing his subordinates to panic and rushed after them. Unexpectedly, when Samson was about to follow them, he accidentally hit a small cabinet and something fell. He stooped down to see what it is. He carefully picked up the vial, his forehead creased when he saw it’s empty. As he turns the vial towards him to see what kind of d**g it is, he felt electricity flowing in his veins― he’s nervous. His eyes widened when he saw what kind of d**g the vial contains as he read the label. He gasped when all the scenarios, six months ago are playing in his mind. “We didn’t inject the Tithonosious Dr*g into Chrysan,” he spoke to himself. He looked at the empty vial on his trembling hands. “But rather, we mistook this dr*g to be the Tithonosious.” “The Chronosious Dr*g. The d**g that enables you to travel through time.”