Location: Hospital Room
Time: 11:30 AM, February 17th 2108
Thanks to the emergency treatment Elodie had given me, there wasn’t a need for me to even go to the hospital, let alone spend the night in one.
I was perfectly healthy, but I was forced to spend the next few days in a private hospital room. I’m sure my hospital stay was being engineered to support whatever narrative Elodie had in mind.
I’m the one who did something stupid by getting involved, so I had no right to complain about that though. I’d obediently stay in my hospital room until it was time for me to go home. Simple as that. I didn’t want to be a main character anymore.
No longer was I the kind of crazy person who would charge into a burning building or launch herself off of an exploding stage. In all honesty, I can’t believe all of the ridiculous things I’ve done and said. I fail to understand almost every decision I’ve made over the past decade.
I suppose that should be expected. I’m not the same person I was then. I know people talk about how being an augmented messes with your head, and well, it definitely does. I feel like I’m the most believable source on that.
“Olivia.”
I had a moment of panic as someone called out my name. Before yesterday, the idea of someone sneaking up on me was absolutely impossible. I was glad to be rid of it, but I still hadn’t gotten used to the fact that I couldn’t hear everything. Even though I had it for years, the ability to hear everything still feels foreign to me. On the other hand though, instinctively, I still feel like something is missing.
“Sorry, did I startle you? It seemed like you were thinking about something, and I wasn’t sure how to get your attention.”
Oliver was standing beside my bed. He had a cloth bandage over one of his eyes. He’d probably gotten treatment at the same hospital.
“I see you didn’t waste any time getting it back in.”
Oliver reached up and gently touched the bandage over his eye.
“I didn’t have much choice. The princess’s treatment completely restored you. You know what happens when Henry gets something chopped off? That happened to my eye, well, I guess I should call it your eye. While I was leaving it just dissolved, so yeah, I didn’t waste any time getting my original one put back in. The information broker doesn’t seem to mind, but it would practically be a crime for me to cover my face like she does. The doctor said I can take the bandage off tomorrow, and I don’t plan on having to use it again.”
In the past, I might have joined in with his nonsensical remark. However, the current me just felt annoyed with the fact that he seemed most concerned about such superficial things.
“Besides, you should be thankful. Now that it’s back in my head you don’t have to worry about anyone trying to force it back to you.”
“I appreciate the thought, but that’s hardly convincing. It started out in your head after all, there’s nothing stopping it being removed again.” I was enjoying my newfound sense of self, but I knew there was no guarantee it would last forever.
“No, it won’t happen again. I was a kid back then. I’m sure you don’t want to hear this, but I didn’t have a choice. And at this point, I don’t plan on volunteering for anything like that again.”
Oliver seemed confident, but I didn’t put much stock in his words. I wanted more reassurance. Even if it was unlikely, I wouldn’t be able to rest easily until I knew there was no chance.
“Should that be something to worry about? I’m under the impression that I’d been treated as a failed experiment for years.”
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
Over the ten years that I had Oliver’s eye I didn’t receive much attention. I was treated like another unwanted child of a dead man. The theory behind the experiment proved successful. An ordinary child like me developed an augmentation identical to that of Oliver, but that was it. Perhaps due to the unnatural nature of the whole thing, I was terrible at controlling it. In that regard, I was a failure. I would never be useful to them.
“You were, but recent events might change things. Over the past few days you managed to overpower Kathrin Kaldsen twice. The situations were unique, but I’m sure you caught the Prime Minister’s attention.”
“That is unfortunate.”
I didn’t fully believe him, but he had a point. Over the past few days I may have undone years of uselessness.
“Still, I doubt it will be a problem. Now that he’s working with the princess, he’ll have more access to quality augmenteds. It wouldn’t be worth the cost to try and make an artificial one again. And even if he did, I doubt he’d use you. You were only selected in the first place because you were a perfect match for me, and considering that I don’t plan on trading eyes again, you’d just be a hassle. It would be easier to find someone that matched a more compliant augmented.”
“So then I’ll just go back to my old life?”
I could hardly remember what it was like before I became Olivia Oldridge, but I’d gladly go back to it.
“Something like that will never happen. Not a chance. They’d kill you first. I can tell your personality has changed, or maybe I should say it’s gone back to normal, but either way, everyone recognizes you as Olivia Oldridge. Letting your leave would mean explaining away all of the fake records that identify you as my sister.”
I was expecting as much. It was easy to turn a poor little girl that hardly anyone would recognize into Olivia Oldridge, but turning me back would be impossible. I’d be stuck with this identity for the rest of my life.
“Can I at least meet with my family?”
I hadn’t seen any of them since the Oldridge family first took me in. After I became an augmented I was absolutely certain that Oliver was the only person that mattered. That’s probably an understatement. I was absolutely obsessed with him, and perhaps out of pity, he humored me.
“That’s not possible either. Anyone you might have recognized as family is already dead.”
“When did it happen?”
I didn’t bother asking why. I could predict that answer to that easily enough. What other reason could there be for my entire family being dead? It was a targeted killing. The Prime Minister wouldn’t allow loose ends like them to live. The fewer people who knew about my background, the better.
“On the day that you were picked up. By the time the two of us were put under for the surgery they were already dead.”
Hearing that, I wasn’t as upset as I thought I’d be. There was a part of me that was blaming myself for what happened, but seeing as I could hardly remember anyone besides my mother, the grief didn’t feel like my own.
“How did it happen? Did they suffer?”
“No. I killed them all instantly. They wouldn’t have even realized it was happening.”
“You’re the one who did it?”
Oliver was still casually leaning up against the wall. He didn’t seem to find anything wrong with what he was saying to me. Let alone the fact that it was my family, the very idea that a child barely over ten was already being used as a killer was reprehensible.
“Of course. I knew they were going to be killed either way, so I did them a favor and did it myself. I’m sure my method caused them a lot less grief than the alternative. I’m pretty good at giving normal humans an instant death.”
He had a smug look on his face, as if he just said something praiseworthy.
“You know, I really do hate you.”
“I figured you would, yeah.”
I knew my hatred toward Oliver was completely irrational. The fact that someone like him could understand my feelings was proof of how unreasonable they were. Looking at things fairly, he was just as much of a victim as I was. The science project to turn me into a miniature version of him wasn’t his idea. He had just as much of a choice in the whole thing as I did.
And while I spent ten years living as someone I wasn’t, he spent ten years obsessing over a stranger pretending to be his little sister. I’m sure he still doesn’t realize it, but his attachment to me was just as unnatural as my attachment to him. I have no idea how it works, but it was almost certainly a result of his augmentation trying to draw us back together.
But even still, I would hate him. I doubt I’d ever stop hating him. Oliver Oldridge is a representation of the ridiculous ten years I spent as his obsessed sister.
I’m sure he felt the same way about me, even if he didn’t realize it himself. His tone was casual, but the look in his eye as he focused on me was cold enough that most people would assume we’d been enemies for life. From his perspective, I replaced the sister he’s loved for the past decade. I’m an imposter who killed the only person he’s ever loved. As an augmented, he was completely incapable of interacting with a normal person like me. He was probably trying to figure out why I’d rather live as a normal human. Why this boring girl replaced his only source of happiness.
For the first time in a long time, I wasn’t interested in playing a part in the slightest. But ironically enough, in the minds of all the lunatics around me, that would probably make me stand out more than ever before. Unsurprisingly, even at the end, this was still an epilogue on character.