Luckily for me, I wasn't dead, so I eventually got out of hell 10 days later

Wait! didn't you say hell week? A week last 7 days you know? Is what a smartass would say

But yeah, I was 10 days in that cell. The worst part with a fever and throwing up lasted  around 6 or 7 days, and the last 3 were used as a check up. They wanted to see if my had mood improved or if they might have to lock me up a little more

It was standard procedure since some people actually took those pills because they were really depressed and their family forced them to quit it. The thing is, they were actually the minority

Since it was sold on the street, most were simply junkies and used them for the kick they got if they took 3 or 5. Well, some of those that took them for the kick actually had pretty sh-tty lives and went to the drugs to get away, so they did get really depressed when the effects were over even if they took it for the kick

Anyways, the point is that most were in a really dangerous state of mind when it was over, so they would keep you in the "safe room" for a couple of extra days to check on you, and would advise the family to leave the patient there for a while until a local psychologist gave the ok. If the family refused to stay, they would advise to keep the patient under family observation and have a professional look after them

We decided to leave the place since the "ok" from a psychologist implied telling him everything that happened at the facility, which was a big no-no. We said goodbye to the place staff and left without regret. I was kind of tired of being locked up in a place again

Uncle Muscle even took us for some ice cream on the way back home, and we loved it of course. If was 10 times better than the crap they gave us at the institute when they felt "generous", and since I never spent point in an actually good ice cream, or even went to an ice cream store before(only supermarket ice cream) it was the best ice cream I ever had

And it was a really good ice cream store!

I didn't cry, in case you are wondering. It's not like I never had a delicious thing before! But I was really glad we went there, and I could see Mei cheerful face while eating it, so I wasn't the only one enjoying it

Did it make my week in hell worth it? Probably not, but it was a great price, and it is not like I did it because I would get the ice cream at the end. It was more like a bonus for a job well done

After we finished, we went back home, and both me and Mei relaxed on the sofa while uncle Muscle sat in an armchair

The moment I saw his face, I knew some more bad news were coming at any moment

"Well, there is something important we have to talk about. It is about the medicine they gave you at the facility"(Uncle Muscle)

"What about it?"(Me)

"Well, it is toxic to your bodies"(Uncle Muscle)

Me and Mei went pale when we heard that. As far as we knew it, it was a medicine we had to take because reasons, we never thought it would be actually harmful to our bodies

"How toxic?"(Me)

"If you stop taking them now, I doubt you will live past 50 years. As for Mei, she may reach 60 or 70 if she is lucky but she would lose her mind around her 50's"(Uncle Muscle)

Yeah, not a long life. In this day and age, the average is around 80-90 years old if you don't take into consideration accident or fatal illnesses like cancer. Basically, if I didn't die in an accident, I would still only live until 50 at most, and Mei wouldn't be much better

"and if we keep taking them?"(Me)

"According to some of the data you gave me, If we change the method they were using, while still keeping the effectiveness of the medicine, both of you would live until 40 instead of 50, but would keep your special abilities until your 30, probably"(Uncle Muscle)

"Wait, better method!? If there was a better method, why didn't they use it before"(Me)

"Well, it is a daily intramuscular injection instead of the pills. I am not sure why they didn't use it that way, but if I have to take a guess, it was probably because there were too many kids and because they were too young. It would be a nightmare to schedule daily injections for so many kids, especially when they were so young, making it both dangerous and difficult. There is also the possibility that injecting the drug when you were too young would be more damaging to the body. They may have planned to do it when the kids were older, you girls just didn't reach that far"(Uncle Muscle)

Still, it makes you wonder what would have happened if they had done it from the start. My life expectancy may have reached 60 or 70 if they did a better job at it

"And if we don't take them, we lose our abilities?"(Me)

"Not instantly, but as you grow older, your abilities will only weaken with time instead of getting stronger, until you will barely know they were even there. Sadly, they modified your body and your body already have the toxins in them, mutating it with irreparable damage. There is nothing that can be done about it"(Uncle Muscle)

Like I said before, in a way older chapter, my options were to either keep taking the toxins, and live a short life, or stop taking the toxin and live a little longer. It wasn't an easy desition to make

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Well, if we searched hard enough and paid a power with the right ability, we may find a way to cure the toxins in our body and "fix" the modifications they did, but it would be hard, expensive, improbable and we would still lose all our abilities

"I choose to keep taking them"(Me)

It didn't take me long to decide

Right now, I have a lot of reasons why I think I made the right decision then, like living up to 50 is already pretty hard without superpowers in today's world, with crazy people doing stupid stuff all the time without regards for normal civilians. Plus there are a lot of people that don't even reach 30 because of sickness, accidents, or even suicide

But my reason at the time was quite simple. I didn't want to be normal

Yeah, I would die young, and yeah, it would suck. but considering I was almost 9, and my memories start practically at 4, 30 years from then would be like 6 times my entire lifetime( 30/(9-4)). For a little kid, that is a lot of time

But like I said, being special, even if it was for a shorter time than most, was way better than being a normal person for a longer time. Besides, the difference between losing all and keeping all was minimal in comparison to what I got in return. If sacrificing 10 years of my life was all I had to pay, it was worth it

It is not like I had a death wish, but I also didn't want to live a normal life. Besides, a lot of people don't know when they will die, at least I know my expiration date

"And you Mei?"(Uncle Muscle)

"It is expensive, isn't it?"(Mei) Said while looking at the floor

"It is not like I can't pay it. I have enough money"(Uncle Muscle)

"But I don't want to be in your debt!!! You already did enough for me, I can't keep taking advantage of your generosity"(Mei) Said with some tears in her eyes

At the time, I was surprised at her sudden outburst, but if you think carefully, it made sense. Mei was sold to the Tong to pay her uncle's debt, so she was reluctant to owe money to other people. Call it a trauma

I didn't care as much since not only did I relied on Uncle Muscle a lot, I intended to work for it like before, I just never managed to tell Mei about working for Uncle Muscle with everything that happened

"Calm down Mei, I told you that I used to do errands for Uncle Muscle, and it was one of the conditions for him to look after me. I am sure that he will cover the expenses if you do it too. Besides, you are technically a powered now, so you can get a good amount of money if you pick the right jobs, you don't have to worry about owing money to anyone if you do it right"(Me) Tried to calm her down

When Mei heard my argument, Mei looked directly at my eyes, and I could see a mix of worry, fear, and a little hope all together

"Really?"(Mei)

"Really. Right uncle Muscle?"(Me)

"Uh? Oh, yeah, sure. I can always use some extra hands. But if you want to go back to your house with your family, I can always take you there"(Uncle Muscle) Offered her a way out

Mei didn't answer instantly, instead, she kept looking at the floor with tears in her eyes while thinking about something. Both me and Uncle Muscle just silently waited for her to come to a decision instead of forcing her to choose fast. We weren't in a hurry and it was an important decision, so it was better to give her time to make the right choice

It took her a couple of minutes, but she did make up her mind in the end

"I will work for you, but can you do something about my family?"(Mei)

"Something like what?"(Uncle Muscle)

"See how they are doing, and maybe find a job for my uncle over here?"(Mei)

"Sure, it shouldn't be too hard"(Uncle Muscle) Nodded and smiled at Mei to reassure her

"Thanks"(Mei) Said while doing a small bow while sitting

It was my first time seeing Mei so serious, but I could see that she really cared about her family. She did talk about them from time to time, especially about her brother, but I could tell she was doing all this because she was worried she might be a burden to her family if she didn't find a way to pay for the drugs

"Now, Sara. There is something else we need to talk about. It's about Cat"(Uncle Muscle)

The moment Cat, I started to panic

"Is she ok!? Did something happened to her!?"(Me) Said a little worried

Uncle Muscle never told me about her since we escaped from the facility, so I didn't know how she was doing, but considering her line of work, it wouldn't be strange if something bad happened to her

"She is fine. The thing is, she wants to take you to her city for your own safety, and I also think it's for the best"(Uncle Muscle)

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Note: Thanks Neiden for both the usual shameful grammar correction, plus a math one. The math one is probably my most shameful mistake so far :(