The Unthinkable

Day 211 of year 4020

Lilie’s POV

I sit in the small common room they placed us all in, waiting for a guard to call me to the lab. Everyone had been called but me and it’s starting to annoy me. I haven’t even got to see Charly yet since he’s still in the lab, so my only comfort seems to be talking with Maddyson and Ryo. Since Josh is always with Bess, Anna’s always with Xander and the rest of the kids are who knows where I end up sitting with Ryo and Maddyson. We talk about our family’s and our past experiences. It’s comforting and the bright smiles seem to cover up the tragedy of it all.

Maddyson was an only child. With long brown hair that sits straight on her back. She loves cooking, drawing and sewing because every time she talks about it her hazel eyes widen with brightness. I can tell why Josh likes her, they are so similar. She, however, loves to wear dresses. Since we got here she has taken her time to pick out fabrics and remake her own dresses in her spare time. All the scientists love to deliver fabrics for her and to be honest, she can’t be hated by anyone. The dress she’s wearing at the moment is a mix of pastel mint, baby blue and white. The three colours make a short pleated dress that floats around her legs. It really suits her tanned skin and dark hair making her look absolutely stunning.

I also learnt more about Ryo and Tanya from his descriptions. She was a good older sister at first until their parents became stricter. Their father apparently wanted to become a floater to protect them all and to have an easier life; their mother thought differently. She and Tanya were on the same page. They both wanted to stay on dry land so they did. Ryo left with his father to become a floater. However, his father was killed and he was taken by a huge pack of dry landers to be sold to the sky landers. When he saw Tanya again she wouldn’t talk to him anymore.

‘Why won’t she talk to you? You are siblings’ Maddyson asks quietly to Ryo. His hands are resting on his knees as his head hangs low to the floor in shame.

‘I told her about dad. She blames me. Says that if I had agreed to stay, dad would have stayed too.’

I shake my head to him and place a hand on his shoulder. His glassy eyes look up to me, his lip quivering. The 14-year-old had almost lost it.

‘It wasn’t your fault. Nobody knew those attacks were going to happen.’

He looks down again. I knew that the only way to win him over was to tell them.

‘I know that because the same thing happened to me.’

He turns back to me, Maddyson gets up to sit on my lap and I smile sadly at her. As I stroke the dark curls on her head and start braiding them I tell my story.

’I was raised for most of my life by a woman my father hired to keep me safe. She was my Nana. My mother died from the infection and my father was stuck to work for the sky landers so I would be safe. My Nana taught me everything. How to nurse, draw, cook, throw junking hooks, sewing but what I most enjoyed was her stories. She would talk of the ocean creatures and land animals before our time; drawing them as she went I would learn their names and characters.

‘When we were attacked I grabbed her journal, her pencil jar and a pencil then ran. I sailed away watching the dry landers burn my Nana and home to ashes. That night I wrote a letter in the journal and threw it out to sea inside the pencil jar. My Nana belongs to the sea, I think. Only because of her favourite animal was the king of the ocean.’

I finished the small braid crown around Maddyson’s head and she slowly turns her head to me.

‘What was the animal?’

I smile down at her. ‘The Whale’

It was an hour or so after that I was finally taken to the lab. Maddyson had told be her’s along with Ryo and they made perfect sense. Maddyson was a Cat. Curious, calm, clever, playful and independent. Ryo was a Lynx. Skilful, clever, bouncy, fast and friendly.

I asked them what they thought my animal would be but they insisted on not saying. Maybe they had no idea. I certainly had no idea. It can’t be that bad...right?

The labs weren’t as different than before, which didn’t help to calm my nerves. The only difference that I could seem to pick out was the smaller group of scientists. The scientist’s who were here kept their distance from me like Mildred had and I didn’t question it. I just walked with four guards surrounding me as we headed through the pale white corridors. I held a strong face, fiddling with my fingers as I try and control the bubbling nerves in my stomach.

We reach the door. It opens automatically and there sitting at the oak table is Mildred. She dressed in casual jeans and a dusty pink T-shirt. Her grey locks were flowing down her back and she wore a tight smile on her glowing face.

‘Lilie, lovely to see you’

It’s weird for people to call me by my name again. No more Subject 12. In fact, it’s so foreign that I didn’t move from the doorway to start with and ended up being pushed inside. I shuffled over to the desk.

‘Please do sit’

I take a seat. Playing with my fingers underneath the desk whilst she shuffles with papers.

‘You are 16 right? A born floater?’

I nod and take a risky lookup. She’s fiddling with her pen.

‘Okay... let’s get started. I’m going to just ask before we really get into it, are you okay with needles’

I nod again. It’s silent as she prepares the needle and finds a vein in my arm. For some weird reason, I speak up.

‘Where’s Charly?’

She stares at me for a bit then breaks into a huge grin.

‘I can tell you care for him a lot.’ She pushes the needle into my flesh. ‘He’s had a hard life.’

She pulls it back out and I notice her features fall.

‘Did you know him well, Charly?’

She nods, pouring the deep red liquid into a small beaker.

‘I was his teacher and nurse. He has always been such a curious and kind boy. So innocent and smart. He always had a brave voice and motive for good.’

She pauses to place the needle back down.

‘In fact, he was most curious about you.’

I hesitate a bit in pure shock.

‘W-what?’

She nods laughing slightly, her deep brown eyes sparkling with pride.

‘He was always curious about the people who lived on the sea. Always wanted to meet them and see what it was like down there.’

Wow. Who would have known? The thought of that makes my mood shift and my chest untightens. I loosen up as the knotted rope in my back falls. I smile subtly, blushing.

‘Are you ready to find out?’

I take a deep breath. Here goes nothing.

‘Yes’

Mildred grins dropping the pill in the beaker and stirring it around. I lean forward in my chair tying my fingers together and biting down hard on my bottom lip. Why was I last? What is so special about my blood?

The deep red grows brighter into a pale salmon pink but it doesn’t settle. It just grows lighter and lighter till it’s the colour of milk. It settles there. At a quick glance, it looks white but if you look closer its more of a silver.

‘What does it mean?’ I launch the question at her with a new sense of excitement.

She chuckles handing me the sheet and my eyes roam it desperately. I’ve been waiting for this all day and I just can’t wait any longer.

There it is, I think? Right at the bottom in the corner. A white box with a sparkle of silver, and labeled underneath ′et extincti ignotum'.

There was even a translation underneath mine and I had to sit there for a second to let it sink in.

extinct and unknown

'S-so...you don't know...anything...like, at all' I stutter out.

Mildred shakes her head but looks more excited than disappointed.

'You blood Lilie...it's...unlike everyone elses. The gene is so strong that you are almost under half-human. The creature, we predict, was from thousands of years back and was weirdly just like humans. If it wasn't you would probably look much less...well human'

Silence. My mouth is glued open. My body stiff and rigid.

'I know its a lot to take in. I knew before you came in here you would struggle with the news. So, I thought a visit from a friend would help'

She takes my hand, squeezing it reassuringly, and helps me up. My brain is stuck replaying that same set of words. extinct and unknown

We walk into another room where a figure lies on a hospital bed. It all fuzzy. All I hear is a voice, so familiar. All I feel is a new hand, cold at the touch. All I see is the comforting brown orbs, filled with concern.

'It's okay Lils, I'm here'

I fall onto his chest and sob, my emotions running out of control.