Awake at a Different time

So there was a lie?

Chapter five

“I remember these things were all happening before you had the accident, I’m sure you remember all the ruckus that was caused then when the world found out our country was creating a nuclear weapon” Mum says while giving me an expectant look. What the hell was she talking about?

“Wait these all happened before the accident? Why can’t I remember them then?”

“Well you have always had your head up in the clouds, but after your dad died, you just became aloof and unbothered about everything else. These entire drama started two months after your Dad died and a month before your accident. Those were your dark days honey”

“Mmhmm” I reply slightly lost in thought.

Well that made sense. I had no idea how much I had cut myself off back then until now. To the best of my knowledge it was a time of mourning for me and I was doing just that, but apparently I took it to an entirely different level

“Protests broke out across the nation, but as it turned out, no result came from it. Rumor had it that the project was affiliated with another in a foreign country. With the rights and benefits that came with an international backing they were pretty confident and in turn, cocky with the whole outcome of the project. But of course we know now after it all went down that the rumor were not only true, but only half of the

entire story. And the whole truth was this: it was a plan for every continent to have an official state of the art biotech facility linked to its sister facilities in a different continent. All facilities were supposed to share data and information for the good of the world and collective advancement of every nation. No one was to be left behind, their motto was something along those lines and they meant every word of it”.

“So Africa got their own biotech facilities, and guess where it’s mother facilities was going to be?”

At this point I roll my eyes because I know all too well where this was going, but I don’t interrupt. I know better than to interrupt the flow of a story

“ So we were chosen to have the Mother facility. That was where the cockiness sparked of from. All the while the facilities functioned together creating cutting edge technologies and Medical advancement, everything was moving according to plan and could almost be described as perfect if only it wasn’t such “top secret”.

“So back to us trying to have our own nuclear bomb even after every one else thought against it, we went ahead with our plans. We probably would have succeeded, if something didn’t go terribly wrong. No one knows what it was til date that caused the first explosion in our facility, but it was deduced that the first explosion triggered the second, and subsequently the rest in every single continent.

We were so close to wiping out civilization as we knew it just because we were feeling mighty entitled to greatness.”

oh at this point I just had to ask the question that had been troubling me

“How do you know so much about this anyway ?”

This is a valid question, I mean if you think about it, this was a top secret government operation that ran across the world. It was high class “top secret” according to Mum, yet she knew a lot about it. I’m honestly curious. Partly because this story is an intriguing one and mostly because she mentioned earlier that the world has lost every form power. Now if it wasn’t the news or internet that gave her the information, Where did she get it?

It wasn’t like people sit around the fire to share heartfelt stories these days. Or probably, just maybe there still was one or more places that still had electricity, maybe I can get her to move us there. It was a long shot but I’m willing to try it.

“I know these details because your dad and I used to work at the facility” Mum says staring very hard at the pile of boxes. She was trying to avoid eye contact.

oh hell no, they didn’t.

“I thought you were a doctor” I say in almost a shout, trying to convince her as much as myself that she was in-fact saying crap. Instead I am flooded by a weird thought and sensation. I feel used and disappointed , and it actually made sense that I feel that way since I have never visited mom’s hospital before. Not before she was transferred to the one downtown, and not after than. She always claimed there was nothing to see there. Even after I showing keen interest in her field , she had insisted that her hospital wasn’t the right place to explore on the days I asked and begged her to take me along to work.

All I knew was my mum was a certified doctor with a PhD from a foreign university. They was nothing suspicious at all about it except that She never talked about work, with the excuse that she liked to keep work related discussions at work. Oh how could I have been so naive.

My dad on the other hand, we weren’t exactly buddies or anything, yet I still can’t believe he could pull off working for a top secret organization., but now when I really think about it, if I were the one recruiting for a secret job, he would be the perfect candidate. He was rather a weird kind, the kind that spent most of his teenage life cooped up in a library to the extent he lost all forms of conversational ability he could use with any other human being, yet I still loved him nontheless. It made no sense to me how Mum loved him to pieces, and how he loved her too, but it made sense to them, and that was all that mattered. I always thought Mum was way above his league but Mum thought he was perfect and sure enough they had the most interesting relationship. You could almost see one sparkle when the other was in close proximity and it was always amazing to watch.

I always tried to justify my unconditional love for Dad with the mere fact that he was my father, and that I was naturally wired to love him to pieces, but deep down I knew he was an amazing guy, who tried his best to be a good father and an even better husband to the woman he loved.

He was a professor in biochemistry, which now that I think about it, it would make sense if he really worked at the so called facility. He always spent Long hours at his home office and even longer hours in his work office that he barely had time for his family or rather it was just me he didn’t have more time for.

I never held it against him that he spent so much time working, I always assumed that he was trying his best to give us our best lives. That and the huge fact that he was overly passionate about what he did and that was good enough for me, but now I am seriously thinking I should have held it against him.

I know I do not know much about this whole facility business, but just the tiny details I have heard so far aren’t doing them any favors. They probably had good intentions, but look where those good intentions got us: I live on a tree now. I am yet to hear how we got this far, but I’m not looking forward to hearing it for any reason. That doesn’t mean I won’t listen though, I’m still hurt that I didn’t know a very crucial information about my best friend/Mum, I’m assuming she had her reasons but I can’t help feeling a bit left out, questioning my entire life. How could it have been so empty, it all seems like all I cared about were good grades and nothing else but it sure didn’t feel that way before the accident. This whole waking up after a year business is really messing with me, and now I have information overload to add to my list of problems, and add that to the little detail of having been lied to for the better part of my life. I think I’m going to pass out now.

“I’m sorry hun, I didn’t like lying to you, and I know for a fact that your dad didn’t like it too, that was why he was always trying to avoid one on one conversation with you” Mum said with a fond smile lingering at the corners of her lips, and within a split second, I found myself smiling back.

Stupid face. This wasn’t what you were supposed to be going for? The look I asked for more along the lines of hurt and uninterested, not this pathetic smile you are offering.

“They made us all sign a non disclosure agreement” Mum continued like that would make me feel better

“ they even made us take an oath of secrecy. You have no idea how confidential we had to keep our life. Do you know how many times I wanted to share my work with you or even ask for your opinion on something?”

“ well Mum, I wouldn’t know these things because apparently I know nothing about anything, this isn’t a time for you to guilt me into thinking it’s ok that you lied to me. How long has it been since you guys started working for there anyways?”

“I started when you were 13 I think” mum says lost in thought, “ but I think your dad has been working there since before you were born. It wasn’t exactly at this one facility that he has been working though, but something very similar. He was transferred to this last facility about Ten years ago according to what he told me”

Oh this is just great, we have a number to work with now.