I was walking down the corridor of the hospital listening to my own loud footsteps and the wheelchair I pushed in front of me. The white halls were reminiscent of those in my school's corridors, the same dullness radiated from them and the students who walked down them didn't look any happier than the patients here. But at least the students had hope, hope about their future and knew who they wanted to be, which was something the patients at the ICU didn't have. Many didn't even know if they would make it to tomorrow.

Until yesterday, there was no hope for these people. But now, science had yet again proved to be the greatest accomplishment of the human race. The first step was curing disease, but who knows what would follow - could we stop ageing? increase our intelligence? There were so many possibilities only waiting to be explored. I remember seeing the news program yesterday evening with my mother like we always did - it was the only thing we ever did together - but there was only one thing that had caught my attention.

"...Tomorrow, the first testing on humans will begin. By genetically modifying the genes of the test subjects, scientists hope to cure chronic illnesses such as Alzheimer's, type 2 diabetes and heart disease.", the newsreader said with the mask of proffesionalism on her face and without any hint of excitement.

"Anyone with a chronic illness can choose to participate in the experiment but are required to pay 20 000$, as only one dose of the serum has been created as of yet and the costs of the experiment have been higher than expected.", she continued.

After my mother heard this she shouted out with glee, so loud that I jumped up from the couch, and after only a few seconds she was already on the phone with one of the doctors signing my brother up for the experiment. And here we are.

I steered the wheelchair into the waiting room where four other people sat. One woman in her thirties was flipping through a magazine but frantically glancing at the clock every 5 seconds. One man, with greyed hair and a wrinkled face, was talking on the phone with a smile.

"Yes, I am going to sign up for it now. And afterwards, I'll be able to visit you. Hopefully, the shops won't have closed before I'm out of here, and then I can buy some of that candy you liked, okay?", the old man said and I couldn't help but notice that the smile didn't quite reach his eyes and that tears were glistening in his eyes. There was a tug at my heart in my chest.

He was here for the same reason as us. As all of the people here were.

And lastly, I spotted my mother, with her carrot-coloured hair, her typical black French beret and too much red lipstick. When she spotted me, she immediately started fussing about the state of my windswept hair, my over-worn jeans and my baggy t-shirt. I couldn't help but cringe at the sight of her. She always berated me for my appearance, saying that it was an insult to her. But I couldn't care less. What she didn't understand was - I wasn't doing it to be the "rebellious teen" - I just didn't want to be noticed, because it wouldn't serve any point. No one truly cared about each other in our superficial society and there was no point in pretending that we did.

On the other hand, my brother Jamie was always praised and rewarded by my mother. She would give him a new gaming computer, just for cleaning his room once in a while, when I had to slave away every single day - making dinner, helping him with his homework and cleaning my room until it's completely spotless. But I had come to accept my situation a long time ago.

Jamie had been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes after he was born. When he was born, it was like I had suddenly become invisible to her. It didn't matter how rude he sometimes was to her - shouting and screaming because she interrupted his game. She didn't seem to notice and treated him like he was an angel sent from above. I sometimes catch myself wishing Jamie was never born, but I remind myself that it's not his fault that he was raised to be such a brat. And I wonder how much really would've been different if he wasn't born, would my mother and I be closer or would she have found something else besides me to care about - maybe a dog? In that case, I think I prefer Jamie over a dog.

But now, at this moment, that dog doesn't sound too bad after all. At least a dog wouldn't be screaming like Jamie was screaming right now. I almost thought that my eardrums would explode but luckily my mother handed him her phone for him to play on, just to shut him up.

Soon, a doctor called our names and led us into a room with white bland walls and a hospital bed. I think his name was Dr Fleming. He and my mother start talking about the procedure, but I zoned out from their conversation, looking at the white walls and wondering when it's finally over.

"I need to discuss some details with the other doctors before we begin...", the doctor said glancing at his watch.

"But in the meantime, you can wait in the waiting room or here.", he said and walked out the door with a clipboard in his hands.

Of course, Jamie immediately started jumping up and down as soon as he was gone.

"Can I get snacks while we wait? Please mom, please!", he asked excitedly and looked at her with pleading eyes. But he probably knew that she would do anything he asked.

"Okay. We'll go get some.", mother said with a sigh and a tired smile on her lips. Her face suddenly looked older, despite the makeup. Not that I'd say anything about it to her. I wouldn't want to be on her bad side today.

Then she turned to me and her face immediately hardened, her eyes turning ice-cold.

"Now, you stay here and don't cause any trouble.", she said, raising her voice slightly. Like I ever would, I thought.

But she'll always see me as a child, even though I'm 6 years older than Jamie.

Soon, I was left alone in the room and I couldn't help but look around. It's not like snooping around is a crime.

On the white bench, there were multiple syringes, a container of plastic gloves and small bottles with see-through liquids inside them. I wonder where they keep this serum.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Suddenly, I spotted a small bottle on the bench with a syringe beside it. The name on the label rang a bell in my mind but it was hard to remember where I saw it.

Then, I remember where it was from. It was on the news yesterday.

"The Gene Modification Nano-Robots Serum or G.M.N.S for short was developed this year by world-renowned doctor George Miller..."

There on that tiny bottle, four bold letters in black screamed at me. My feet carried me across the room and an urge made me grab the serum. The liquid inside had a faint blue colour, and it was almost glowing. I could imagine the tiny little robots swimming around in it. I took up the strange-looking syringe that lay beside it.

It was unlike any syringe I had ever seen, metallic, and it had buttons and a small display. No, this was not an ordinary syringe. The syringe had a small plastic ball on top of the needle - probably for safety.

I hadn't even realized how much time had passed before I heard footsteps echoing in the corridor. My heart was beating wildly in my chest and I frantically looked around the room. On impulse, I shoved the syringe and the small bottle in my back pocket and rushed across the room to the small chair I had put my jacket on.

I had just sat down, as the doctor opened the door. My eyes were wide and the only thing I could hear was the sound of my beating heart and the clock on the wall ticking slowly. I tried to calm my breathing and focus on appearing as little flustered as possible when I met his eyes.

He raised one eyebrow and looked around the room until he narrowed his eyes on me.

I could feel the syringe and small bottle in my back pocket. I gulped. It was over, he was going to notice it was missing soon, and then I'm screwed.

He turned and walked towards the small bench looked at the spot where the syringe and bottle were before.

I dug my fingernails into my palms. Please, please don't notice it's gone!

"I could have sworn I put it here...", he said, his voice laced with confusion.

Then he turned towards me once again. This was it!

"I guess I must have put it somewhere else...", he said, and I had to stop myself from sighing with relief.

Then, we were interrupted by my mother and Jamie who came through the door in a hurry. My mother's face was red as a tomato and Jamie was holding a bag of chips in his hand and eating from it with greasy fingers.

"I'm so sorry, Dr Fleming.", she said, a little out of breath. "Jamie here wanted to get some snacks before we begin. I hope we aren't too late."

"No, it's alright, Mrs Winters. I completely understand. No harm done.", he said with a softer voice, but I could hear the annoyance in it.

My mother's eye twitched when she heard herself being referred to as "Mrs Winters", but luckily, she decided not to say anything.

"So. The procedure will begin at 3 pm today, so unless you want to wait here, you can go home and return later. ", the doctor said, but I could barely hear him because of how loud my heart was beating.

* * *

As soon as we were out of the building, I could finally breathe out. I hadn't been caught.

We walked towards the car and Jamie had somehow convinced mom that he should sit in the front seat.

I sighed and climbed in the backseat.

On the way home, I thought about what had happened, and I discovered that I could barely believe it myself. What I had done, was so unlike me. I had never stolen anything, and I never planned to do it.

But now I had, and there was no turning back now. This serum was the key to curing disease in the world and I had it.

I felt the pit in my stomach and my quickly beating heart. I had no clue what to do and that was something I had never experienced before.

My mother sang along to the radio and Jamie ate his snacks in the backseat.

I processed the doctor's words in my brain, trying to figure out a plan. However, the thoughts were swirling around my brain like a storm.

I didn't even notice that the car had stopped until Jamie jumped out of the car and ran to the door, waiting for mom to unlock it.

When I got into the house, I went upstairs to my room. The small space was neat and tidy compared to Jamie's, but I didn't have as many things to organize.

I shut the door behind me and went to the bed, curling up on it and tried to calm my raging thoughts.

I'm going to be arrested for this. Soon they will have figured out that it was me who took it, and then they'll come for me.

Why did I even take it?

I realized the answer as soon as I had asked.

A picture of Jamie, taunting me and laughing at me when I was slapped by Mom for disobeying the rules came up in my mind. I could still feel the sting on my cheek and hear him laughing at me in my mind.

Then I thought of that old man sitting in the waiting room, who couldn't even visit his grandchildren because of his illness. Didn't he deserve it more?

But that wasn't all of it. No, there was something else. Something that I couldn't put into words without feeling a wave of guilt. I had this childish notion that I could be the one to discover the secrets of this serum. They were planning on using it for curing diseases, but who knew what else it could be used for?

A part of me, albeit small, wanted to find out what exactly it could be used for.

I knew it was childish and stupid to think that I, a mere high school student, could do it. But in that second at the hospital, the desire to learn more about it was stronger than any feeling of obligation to rules that I had.

I had made a decision - one I couldn't get out of - and now I had to follow through with it.

The syringe was heavy in my back pocket and I was glad it hadn't gone through my jeans - that would have looked even weirder than having a syringe-shaped bulge in my pocket.

Once we got home, I ran up to my bedroom and closed the door behind me. I breathed out in relief and sat myself on the floor.

Slowly, I took the syringe out of my pocket and studied it once more. Experimentally, I tried pushing a small button on the syringe that looked the most similar to an on-and-off button. The display became brighter and 4 familiar letters came up;

G.M.N.S.

Then, new words popped up on it:

input (genetic code/codes):

So you input the genetic code and the nano-robots target the particular gene or genes for the disease. Clever!

There was also a button it saying; PREVIOUS INPUT, which I pressed with only slight hesitation. The genetic code came up on the screen as usual but I knew that even though I got an A in biology - this was a bit too far out of my reach.

I started my stone-age old laptop and typed the letters and numbers of the genetic code in the search bar and waited for the search result to appear on the screen.

Then, the door to my room opened and Jamie came in. I shut the lid of my laptop lid so quick that I thought the screen had shattered. I turned around trying to find the syringe. I suddenly felt a sharp sting on my finger as I threw the syringe in my drawer. There was a drop of blood on it and I automatically put the finger in my mouth.

"What are you doing?", said the childish voice of Jamie from the door.

He had scrunched up his nose and was looking wide-eyed at me. I almost laughed out loud at his confused-looking face, but luckily, I managed to restrain myself.

"Nothing", I said quickly and plastered on a smile, removing the finger from my mouth.

"Mom says it's lunch, and if you don't come, we'll eat without you and you won't get any ice cream.", he said and his expression turned smug instead.

I sighed and walked out of the room after him.

Then I realized something, and I stopped walking. I had pricked my finger with the needle. The needle of a syringe containing nano-bots that were programmed to modify genes.

And I didn't even know which illness they were programmed to cure.

I swallowed loudly and kept on walking.

I hope it isn't dangerous to be injected by nano-bots when you don't have an illness.