Anne Rickman sat cross-legged on the couch, glued to the TV. Only moments before, she got a phone call from her elderly mother's care home telling her to turn on the news. Apparently, something huge had happened, and the tech on the other end wouldn't disclose her details.
"Just turn on the news, Anne. It's important to your mother." Then the tech hung up. It was odd for her mother to call her out of the blue, especially now that she was almost 94. Sighing, she turned on the TV and switched it to the news. A man with perfect blonde hair and pearly white teeth sat behind a desk, his face flushed with excitement and his tie crooked.
"Once again, we have received word that Dr. Prince, an up-and-coming geneticist from New England, has discovered a way to make humankind live forever. He says that his new serum, LyfeX, can make you practically immortal! That's right, folks! The cure for aging has been found! This new 'miracle drug' can stop the aging process. Let's go to Dr. Prince now for a demonstration." Anne rolled her eyes. Indeed, this was a joke, but there the news anchor was, with a story that dwarfed any other Anne had witnessed in her lifetime.
So there she sat, mesmerized as the screen switched to show a middle-aged man wearing a very expensive-looking Armani suit. He tapped on the microphone, testing to ensure it was on, and then flashed a gleaming smile at his audience. Anne thought the smile was a bit cheesy, but she sat on the couch, enraptured by the topic.
"Hello, my name is Doctor Kirby Prince, and for the last sixteen years, I have been working on, to say it bluntly, a death cure. And today, I am proud to announce that my team and I have found just that!" As he spoke the last words, a curtain fell behind the doctor, revealing a large laboratory. Several people in white coats and masks worked diligently in the background. Anne thought the staged lab was also a bit cheesy - the length TV producers would go through to pander to their audience - but in the prop laboratory was an older woman sitting on a small stool. Anne gasped. It was her mother! Anne sat there, dumbfounded, as the man began to speak again.
"I would like to show you how it works. If you follow me to our lovely guinea pig, Mrs. Mindel, we can begin the process." The camera panned over to her mother's face; she looked every bit her 94 years. The wrinkles were deep, and her light skin was almost translucent under the laboratory lights. Anne could see fear and confusion in her mother's expression, but that wasn't abnormal.
Anne's mother, Charmaine Mindel, was diagnosed with dementia over ten years ago, and in the past two years, it had progressed to a point where she and her brother Robert had needed to put her in a care home for her safety. The disease had eaten away at her brain, slowly eroding her mother's personality until nothing but a confused and scared woman remained in the husk she used to call mother.
The doctor made his way over to a table beside the stool. The needle's size was intimidating. It glinted menacingly in the harsh light. Anne watched with a mixture of anxiety and disbelief. What is she thinking, going on national TV promoting a miracle drug? Anne's thoughts were racing. Before she could think another thought, the doctor began talking again.
"Now, if you will turn your attention to the syringe in my hand. This is the LyfeX Serum. With one dose, you turn back the clock one year. With the amount in this syringe, Mrs. Mindel here will reverse ten years of aging in just a few days.
"The way it works is simple; it works with the cells in your body, giving them a patented, secret formula to reverse cell decay! What's the secret? I'll never tell!" He winked at the camera as the other scientist laughed and rolled their eyes. "This potent formula also stimulates regrowth of the myelin sheath surrounding the neurons in the brain, reversing damage and promoting brain health. No more worries about Dementia and other brain diseases! With this all-in-one miracle serum, you can be young again or stay young virtually forever!"
"Yeah, right. Mom, what have you gotten yourself into?" Anne sighed, rolling her eyes. She was sure this must be a scam her stupid brother had fallen for; he had always been a hopeful fool. A flash of anger that her brother hadn't contacted her before deciding to put her mom through this charade.
Sure, she wasn't in charge of their mother's care; that was reserved for her brother because Anne couldn't be bothered. But despite herself, she couldn't look away. Something about the promise of eternal youth kept her eyes trained on the screen. Dr. Prince prepared the syringe, flicking it twice to get the air out of the comically large hypodermic needle. Her mother looked forward, her eyes clouded due to her failing mind. Two seconds later, Dr. Prince put his free hand on her shoulder.
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"Alright, Mrs. Mindel, are you ready?" Her mother nodded in response, too nervous to speak. Dr. Prince expertly administered the shot into her mother's arm, into the atrophied muscle. Anne leaned in closer; was it her imagination that the skin around the injection site seemed firmer? No, it couldn't be. This had to be a joke. But watching her mother as her eyes cleared, an understanding dawned on Anne; maybe this wasn't a joke.
A sudden wave of jealousy overtook Anne. Her mother had just received something life-changing, and no one even thought to tell Anne it was happening; it was almost too much. Her mother had spent the last of her lucid years taking everything she could from Anne. Her mother's divorce from her father left the woman with little income, and begged for Anne to help support her finantially even though her brother Robert was more stable on that front. She had manipulated Anne by telling her she was too embarrassed to ask her son because he held her in such high regard and she didnt want to dissapoint him.
Not long after, Anne found out that Charmaine had begun to purchase items off of the internet and the Home Shopping Network. As she began to slip into her illness she would buy unnecessary things and put it on Anne's credit card. Her house had been filled with useless crap, piling up in large piles around her home. Anne hadnt caught it right away, which lead to thousands of dollars being lost. It took her four whole months to return the items she could and there were still a multitude of items that needed to be dealt with. Remembering the mess her mother made with her finances, resentment began to bubble up and threatened to boil over, but the front door opened just then.
It was Anne's husband, Frank, coming home from the store. He held in his hands some plastic bags filled with groceries. Knocking Anne out of her head, she looked up and smiled.
"Oh, honey. Mom's on TV getting some brand new anti-aging thing. Did you get any info about this?" The man threw his keys into the bowl by the door and shut the door, carrying the groceries into their small, well-organized kitchen.
"Your mother? No, no one said anything about getting anti-aging anything. Is it real?" Anne shook her head.
"I don't know. I think it's just a bunch of nonsense. But... She does look a bit brighter, doesn't she?" The cameraman did a close-up of her mother; she looked more alert, and her eyes seemed to have more life than Anne had seen in them in years. But that could be special effects. Anne sighed, resentment rising again in her chest. "I can't believe she wouldn't tell me that she was doing some experimental treatment for aging! She could have shared this news."
Her husband just sighed. "You know how her mind is; she probably forgot. Please don't be too hard on her. Plus, if this does work, maybe her mind will return to her."
"Oh sure, that's exactly what mom needs. To be around even longer so she can nag me forever." Anne sighed, her eyes still on the screen. "And what about Robert?! He had to have agreed to this! He can't even call me to consult? They probably took the most pitiful-looking woman from the nursing home. That doctor is taking advantage of my mother! I should call Robert and give him a piece of my mind." Anne reached for her phone and began dialing the number, but something caught her attention again.
"Why not try a little something for me? Before this injection, we gave Mrs. Mindel a test to determine her mental capabilities. She tested to be in the late stages of dementia, not remembering anything about her life. Now I have a few questions, Mrs. Mindel. What is your son's name?" Surprise came over her mother's face, but she thought for a moment. The audience was quiet, hanging on the edge of their seats, waiting for Charmaine's answer. In a shaky but confident voice, Anne's mother answered the question.
"I named him Robert after his late father. He has been caring for me for the past few years, but the memories of that time are… fuzzy. I feel like I just woke up from a long dream."
"As you can see, the serum works very fast. She will continue to improve for the next few days; her muscles will revert to a more youthful condition, and she look a decade younger." One last shot of Anne's mother appeared before switching back to the news anchor, her face looking more youthful and full by the second. "Mrs. Mindel will be given LyfeX each week for the next six weeks, essentially reverting her body and mind to that of a woman in her thirties! We will update you on her progress if Mrs. Mindel agrees." The doctor looked at Charlamaine with a knowing smile on his face.
"Yes! Yes, I want that very much!" Her mother almost yelled at the doctor in her excitement. She got up without assistance, something she hadn't been about to do for four years, and hugged the doctor exuberantly. "Thank you, Doctor!"
"Well, that is it, folks! We will check in with Mrs. Mindel in a few days to see her progress. I certainly am excited to see what a few days can do! That's all the time we have today, tune in ne-" Anne shut off the TV and dialed her mother's phone number. It was time for some answers.