Played For A Fool

Lunar

A half an hour passed and Cinder was still waiting for the signs of her death to occur. The room was silent except for the doctor's murmurs and Cinder's whispered cussing. The doctor had told her that she should not go to a hospital until she manifested signs of the disease, but she had yet to find a single blue rash on her skin.

Suddenly, the doctor's murmuring stopped and he looked at Cinder as though he had forgotten that she was there. His puzzlement made Cinder wonder if he had gone slightly mad but then feel horribly guilty. She had been mourning her own pitiful death without thinking about how she had doomed the doctor. He would catch the disease just as surely as she would and it would be her fault. He even had a daughter and possibly more family who would be without him because of her own stupid clumsiness.

Cinder silently wished that she had just gone to school today like a normal person. Why had she been so worried about Kai? He could take care of himself just fine and he had that harsh man with him. Kai didn't need her. They weren't even friends.

No, Cinder was friends with Kai whether she liked it or not. She cared about him, that's why she had to see him. She had to know that she had done everything in her power to make him okay again, just like he had done for her. That's what friends did.

The thought of the night in the bakery with Kai comforting her made her feel an unexpected pang of longing for him. She felt lonely without him there and wanted to feel his arms around her again, comforting her through her death.

Cinder felt selfish for thinking that. She did not want him here. Kai couldn't die. Cinder couldn't stand the thought of him dying alone in that hospital bed just like Peony. She could imagine him with blue rashes and lifeless eyes as the med personelles carried him away and Cinder cried her tearless sobs. This time she would have cried alone though.

"I think that the disease should have shown itself by now." Cinder flinched, breaking out of her heartbreaking reverie and coming back to reality. "It's been over an hour since the disease was introduced to your system and it normally takes only 15-30 minutes for the symptoms to display themselves in a person."

Cinder stared at him. What was that supposed to mean? Could her immune system be fighting back, or was she unaffected by the disease? "Cinder," Dr. Darnel smiled darkly,  "you are a lunar."

Cinder heard the words but they didn't make sense. Lunar, someone who was immune to letumosis. They weren't common and scientists couldn't find them unless they were exposed to the disease. How could she be a lunar? "I'm not a lunar."

"Cinder, you are a lunar." Dr. Darnel repeated with a finality that made Cinder wonder if she actually could be. "You would have shown signs ages ago, and yet you don't have so much as a headache from what I can tell." The doctor beamed and Cinder knew he was telling the truth. It was almost as if she had a little lie detector in her brain, or more of a truth teller in this case that assured her that he wasn't lying.

A shiver of doubt spread through Cinder. What if he was mistaken? "How do you know that I'm a lunar?" Cinder asked, her voice trembling.

The doctor grimaced, but began to explain, "On the day that Dr. Levana Blackburn of Luna Inc. decided to mess with certain pathogens, trying to find a cure to who knows what," Dr. Darnel huffed, his old face wrinkling even more with anger and hatred at the mention of Dr. Blackburn. "She accidentally created the disease letumosis. As you know, some are immune to the disease and called lunars. You are a lunar. I am a lunar. I was exposed to the disease the day in the lab when it was created. Myself, Dr. Blackburn, and her personal assistant were the only ones to survive."

"I had no clue how it happened. We all went home that night and only three of us came back the next day. They all died, along with their families and Levana was thrown into Prison along with her assistant. I almost was too, but they decided that I didn't have anything to do with it. I was working on a different project than Levana."