Stand Together

The Last Shred of Humanity

Jerome's POV

I reopened my eyes to greet a woman staring sadly at me from across the room, tears obvious in her eyes. Once she noticed that I was awake she came over and gently hugged me, sobbing into my shoulder.

"You know that I don't want to do this, right sweetheart?" She said after lifting her head from where it rested. I nodded, not knowing what else to do. She gave me that sad smile again and took me by my hand, which was furless. So this must be the human story.

A quick flash of light later the mother of my human side and I went into a realitively small building, well on the outside at least. Once we entered there was a massive staircase heading downwards which lead to an enormous laboratory. White was everywhere, from the steps I stood on to the high ceilings to the labcoats of the scientists bustling around. One of the scientists approached us and greeted us with a solemn smile.

"Hello. My name is Lyra, and I am going to be in charge of your son's 'treatment'. Now refresh my memory. How old is he?" I stiffened at the scientists name. There was no way...why was she here? I only saw here not too long ago, and she looked exactly the same as she does here...what's going on? "Ok, so he's five. Name?" Five...Lyra did say that it took eight years in the LSCC, but that it only started working when I was seven, which made me too old to look like a Bacca. "Jerome. Thank you for your cooperation, we will pay you for you donation to scientific research, Miss. I understand that you are going through some finantial issues as of late?"

"Yes. I have a large family and not enough money to feed us all, so that's why I brought two of my children for experimentation." Wait...two? I have a sibling that went through the same process as I did?

"We will ensure that you and the remainder of your family will live more comfortably in exchange for your two children. Thank you. Now if you will excuse me, I need to take Jerome to his new living quarters. Once again, thank you. Have a nice day." With that she grabbed my arm and towed me deeper into the laboratory. I looked over my shoulder briefly to see how my mother was dealing with the loss of one of her children only to see her walking back up the stairs, shuffling through a large pouch of what I can only imagine to be diamonds and gold. That was one cold woman.

After another quick flash of light, I found myself in a container next to another one, the other holding my Bacca side, who looked downright defeated. Our eyes met, and I solemnly nodded to him. After a few seconds he nodded back. I sadly smiled and closed my eyes as I felt a prick on my temple, plunging me into the burning white that I was getting all too comfortable with. However, this time there were grayer areas that were swirling around in the whiteness of it, melting together into a solid light gray.

I opened my eyes again, only to be bombarded by a blinding light, although this time it was yellow, the lights of the laboratory. About a minute later my eyes adjusted to see the faces of the scientists examining me as I was suspended in yet another LSCC. I blinked rapidly, trying to make sense of how I got from two diffferent containers to only one when a voice interupted my thoughts.

Hello Jerome. My name's Jarre. I'm familiar with that voice, it's my Bacca side that speaks to me every now and then. Something didn't go right in the experiment, that's what they're saying to each other behind the glass. They fed us information through our brains and so that's why I can speak your language, in case you were wondering. And yeah, I'm your Bacca side if that's what you want to call it. I don't think that we're supposed to be talking to each other like this, our consciences were supposed to just melt into one.