Flashback
2490 Words
BRITTANY
Two days ago, my heart wrenched as I yelled “Stop! The drug isn’t safe.” , pushing the large doors open, my heart racing as I made my way through the seated crowd. My voice tore through the room, loud and hastily.
All eyes turned towards me as I tried to stop the man I was in love with from stealing my work, launching a wrong drug and stealing my life.
Suddenly whispers filled the room and it didn’t seem to favor me. It felt like deja vu, my life looking like it was about to come to a halt once again, as it did three years ago, the case that made me change my name and my life.
THIRTY MINUTES EARLIER
I closed the last tab on my computer, already in swift motion to shutting down for the day, preparing to go home.
I slid the last file into my drawer and reached for my bag when laughter from my colleagues broke behind me.
“Turn it up, it’s starting.” One of my colleagues giggled excitedly.
“Wait, wait…don’t skip, he’s about to present…” Another added.
I shook my head at them, as I returned my focus back to what I was doing. Carefully sorting the files I needed to take home with me.
But then, I heard something shocking, from whatever it was my colleagues were watching.
“…a breakthrough in late-stage cancer treatment…”
The words drifted across the lab, pulled from a phone screen I hadn’t looked at yet but I paused. I recognized the voice very well. It was Adrian, my superior at work and to top it up, my boyfriend.
My fingers stilled over the files I was sorting out.
Slowly, I turned.
A phone was propped between two monitors, the livestream shaky and slightly blurred. But I didn’t care, my mind was on what was being said.
I stepped closer just to confirm.
“…after months of refinement, our team has achieved sustained stabilization,”
I saw him speaking but everything else he was saying wasn’t registering in my head. Cold realization settled in my chest, that was my result, my data, my work, word for word. He didn’t just steal my data, he stole my work, and it seemed like he took everything.
My mind started racing. How much had he taken? How much had he left out?
“…we are proud to announce…”
“No.” I shook my head in panic and rushed back to my table.
My colleagues looked at me as I searched frantically, praying in my heart whilst ignoring the murmurs of my colleagues. My system flickered awake the second I hit the keyboard, my fingers moving automatically, pulling up my project directory.
My work had been taken and erased, it was empty, I didn’t even notice that when I closed my tabs for the day.
For a second, I just stared. My hard work gone, just like that, I froze at the empty word document. A cold weight settled in my stomach.
No, that wasn’t possible. I checked again, but still nothing.
My breathing slowed.
I grabbed my bag so quickly, unaware that it caught on the edge of the table, nearly pulling everything down with it. I yanked it free and walked towards my colleagues.
“When did this live streaming start?” I asked them
“Why should I tell you?” One of them chuckled and then hissed casually.
I turned his seat to face me, a scowl on my face, I wasn’t kidding “It’s more important that you tell me if you actually want to keep your job Norman” I said, he shivered a little
“Twenty min..minutes ago.” One of them stuttered, clearly frightened.
“Where is this?” I demanded, already moving.
“The usual place where the company hosts activities. Why…” Another of my colleagues responded, trying to step up.
But I was gone before they finished. I needed to stop him, to stop the drugs from being released.
“Don’t do this,” I muttered under my breath as I ran as fast as I could.
The moment I arrived at the drug release event, I could hear it.
“…please welcome our volunteer,”
My chest tightened. They’d gone that far?
I pushed through the security, forcing away the hands trying to stop me.
“Excuse me…” a security personnel put himself in front of me, I manouvered my way out of his blockade.
“Hey, you can’t…”
I didn’t stop. I finally reached the stage.
“Stop! The drug isn’t safe.” I exclaimed.
My voice tore through the room, loud and hastily.
All eyes turned towards me.
My boyfriend, Adrian, alongside another researcher, Vera, who I thought and considered a close friend from the onset, stood together on stage with my draft, a crafty smile on her lips.
I froze at the spot but this was no time for pauses, I needed to speak. Clenching my fists, I matched forward, avoiding the stares.
He looked at me, perfect as always but today it seemed weird, out of place or maybe it was just a figment of my imagination.
His suit sat sharply against his frame, not a crease out of place, his posture straight and composed. Plastered on his face was that same calm expression, the one that used to steady me when I doubted my work.
Now it felt… distant. Cold.
Like I had never known him at all.
“I can’t let you release this,” I said, forcing my voice steady. “The data is incomplete.” I said haughtily as my heart still raced from the running.
A murmur rippled through the audience.
Late nights flashed through my mind, just the two of us in the lab. “You think too much,” he had told me once, leaning over my desk. “That’s why your work is better.” He would smile, letting his finger tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. I believed him.
God, I believed him and that was where I went wrong.
I moved closer, ignoring the eyes, the whispers, the sudden weight of attention pressing down on me.
“There are delayed effects,” I continued. “Severe ones. It doesn’t show in early results, but if you extend the timeline..”
“That’s enough.” Adrian’s voice cut cleanly through mine, his eyes holding some sort of resentment. A sly smirk formed on Vera’s lips, I could tell that it was a smile of mockery
“Adrian please” I begged, still believing that he’d listen “Don’t do this”.
“As part of today’s presentation,” Adrian said smoothly to the audience, completely ignoring me, “We have someone who has already experienced the effects of the drug.” He smiled, Vera standing closely to him.
My stomach dropped.
I looked at the woman standing at the corner of the stage. She stepped closer, her body looked fragile and a bit pale, the crinkles in her eyes and frail white strands of hair evident of her illness and age.
The room shifted instantly. Attention pulled away from me, drawn to her.
“Take your time,” Adrian told her gently.
The woman nodded, her voice weak but clear through the microphone.
“I… I didn’t think I had much time left,” she said, a faint smile touching her lips. “But after taking the treatment… I could breathe again. I could sleep. For the first time in months, I felt… normal.” She started.
A wave of emotion swept through the room. Soft gasps and sympathetic murmurs. Someone started clapping, then more joined in, putting their hands together. I stood there, frozen.
“You see?” Adrian said quietly, turning back toward me. “Real results.”
The audience was no longer looking at me with curiosity. Now, it was doubt.
I shook my head, stepping forward again.
“It’s temporary,” I said, my voice sharper. “I created that model,” I shot back. “You’re not seeing what happens after. You removed the instability markers.”
A soft, almost regretful sigh came out of Adrian’s lips. He nodded and then, the screen behind him flickered.
My breath hitched in my throat as I read the name on the screen. My name filled the display, but not the one I used here, the name I had let people bury three years ago. Nicole White.
A low wave of whispers spread through the room. My eyes widened with shock. He knew, this was all an elaborate plan.
“…that Nicole White?” A woman retorted
“No way, wasn’t she banned…” another joined in
“The clinical trial scandal…”
“Isn’t she the lady who made a mistake about a research causing multiple casualties?” Someone yelled in the crowd, I turned to look at them, there was an uproar, the room suddenly felt hot and I felt cornered. My hands went cold.
Adrian didn’t look at the screen, he looked me directly in the eye.
“As some of you may recall,” he said smoothly, “Miss Hart was previously involved in a high-profile case of academic misconduct.” He stated, his voice clear and steady.
“Adrian…stop it.” I forced the words out, tears trickling down my cheeks as I held my pain, holding on to the last thread of control I had. “That has nothing to do with this.” I stepped back a bit, it was happening all over again:
Adrian paused his speech but, I noticed his eyes flicker, a show of remorse maybe.
“She was part of a failed oncology trial,” Vera chipped in, her tone almost thoughtful. “She falsified results, faked the drug approval for her personal benefit and allowed it to be given to innocent people which caused them pain and many casualties in hospitals” the room went almost silent, they wanted to listen to her speak, I didn’t expect any better but still.
“That’s what you’re doing right now!” I retorted back, not letting them see me break. “Nicole white didn’t do as much wrong as you think but you’re doing way worse than what you accuse her of!” I yelled out.
“That’s very different. We weren’t the ones hiding information from their colleagues or using humans as personal lab rats.” Vera countered back.
“I didn’t…” I tried defending myself but I got cut off by the crowd.
“You are a murderer,” someone in the audience whispered. The words hit harder than any yell.
My vision blurred but I refused to shed tears, I held them in while wiping off the tear with the back of my palm “That’s not…” I started, but my voice didn’t sound like mine anymore.
“We took a risk bringing her into this institute,” Adrian muttered, staring at me with disdain, his eyes staring down at me with spite like I was some sort of failed experiment “despite concerns about data integrity, and that was our biggest mistake.”
How could you do this to me Adrian? What did I ever do wrong?
The murmurs grew louder. I stepped backwards even more, my heart raced and suddenly the airy room felt hot and my legs went numb.
“They’re lying,” I tried to scream, but it came out thin and strained. “Check the full dataset, he’s presenting an incomplete version…” I looked around, the crowd in disarray, angry and spiteful towards me
“Dr. Hart.” Another voice echoed from behind this time, it was my Manager.
I turned, letting out a sigh of relief, she would understand, she always did. Vivian stepped forward, her gaze steady, almost sympathetic.
“Vivian..please stop th…”
“Your behavior over the past few weeks has been… concerning,” she sighed, not letting me finish my sentence, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, I thought she was here to vindicate me “You repeatedly withheld key data from the team.”
“I was fixing it,” I snapped. “There are flaws in the drug, if you run it past…”
“We did.”
The interruption came softly. I turned again and felt something inside me drop.
Mia, my assistant, stood a few steps away. Her head was lowered with her hands clasped. She avoided my eyes, her legs quivered.
“…she refused to share complete findings,” Mia said quietly. “She s..said the project shouldn’t move forward unless she approved it.” She stuttered.
Each word landed precisely, like something rehearsed from all their mouths
I stared at her. A tear finally fell off my eyes. “You of all people know that’s not what I said, you know that’s not true” My resolve almost broken
She didn’t look up. “She’s been under a lot of pressure,” Mia continued. “Sometimes she… overreacts.” She added
The crowd had already decided. I could feel it, I felt my head spin, the voices from all around me, screaming and yelling my name angrily with accusations flying left and right.
“You’re making a mistake,” I whispered, my voice drowned in their anger, but now I wasn’t sure who I was saying it to.
No one was listening, it wasn’t like they did the first time but I couldn’t hear my voice anymore.
“This is exactly what we were worried about,” Adrian's voice cut across the crowd. “She’s been unstable for weeks,” he added.
For a second, I searched his face. For hesitation, for doubt. For anything that looked like the man I thought I loved.
There was nothing.
“You disgust me Adrian. You deserve to rot in hell.” I forced the word out of my mouth, pretending to be strong despite the fact that my heart was shredding into pieces.
“Security.” Vivian called out.
Footsteps moved toward me. I didn’t resist when they took my arm because at that moment I finally understood.
This was a setup.
As they pulled me back, my gaze lifted one last time.
Adrian was still watching me.
I understood that everything had already been decided long before I walked into the room and I had just played my part.
But there in the corner of my eye was a man rooted in his seat, his gaze not leaving the stage, he didn’t speak and he felt more sophisticated than the rest, and then he turned to look at me, his light grey eyes holding my gaze and for a split second I could see him mouthing something I couldn’t quite place.
‘I’ll come to get you’
- Writer
