The Cursed Experiment

If Only Time Can Be Reversed...

"Are you okay mister?" Lucas asked, forcing the scientist to snap out of his random trance. "Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry about that kid." The man gave him a smile. The stories that lingered in this building give him the chills, even more so now that he was on the same floor the supposed stories gave place. He wondered in his subconscious if they were actually just tales to scare the workers into staying in the facility and prevent them from quitting their jobs. So far, as long as he worked here, none of the stories he was told has proven to be true at all. In fact, despite his fears, he recalled being in places where stories have formed, but either nothing had happened or there was no proof of any kind to back it up. So why was he scared? If all the tales have shown him that it was all just a bunch of lies, exaggeration and imagination, what did he have to fear? That was it. He doesn't know what to fear, except for the experiment he was about to face with the kid in a couple of minutes, or even hours if he really wanted to delay the inevitable. "Hey, we're alone down here, and there's no security cameras. Why don't we hang out a little? Just so I can get to know you a little bit. Does that sound fun to you?" Scientist 317 gave a bright smile as he got the boy dressed nicely to keep him from getting cold. "That sounds like a lot of fun! And then I get to see my new friend?" The kid clapped his hands excitedly at the thought. The man just nodded silently, his smile slowly fading despite his fight to keep it up.

Scientist 317 gathered some blankets, pillows, and pulled out some food he had in his lunch bag. It wasn't enough for the two of them, so he gave his lunch to Lucas since he believes kids should eat first and adults last. Then they spent 4 hours talking, playing games, telling kid friendly stories and just having a blast in general. The scientist hasn't had this much fun in what felt like forever, and as for the child, this playtime reminded him of when he would mess around with both his parents. But this relaxation and positive energy soon came to an end as he realized his task must be completed. Glancing over to the child, Scientist 317 held out his hand for the kid to take and said, "The time is now to come meet your new friend Lucas. Are you ready?" Lucas quickly shook his head with glee and brightened up more, he couldn't wait to meet the supposed friend the man and his boss kept referring to so many times. With excitement, Lucas took the man's hand and together they walked over the large door that contained the experiment. Using his keycard, he put it against the scanner in order to open it, but the scanner rejected his card. The man was confused and thought he was given no access, which made him ecstatic considering he wouldn't have to kill an innocent soul, that happens to be a child. He looked at his keycard again just to make sure, and soon enough, his relief and happiness was quickly crushed when he realized the reason it didn't work was because his finger was covering some of the barcode. Anger seeping in, he gave a sigh and used his keycard correctly this time to open the door after the scanner accepted it.

Silence fell upon them for a while as they both looked at each other. This is it, this is the last time he'd ever see the kid again. So he gave the child a big hug as a goodbye. "Once you enter, I cannot go with you, for this would be our separation. Whatever you do, promise me you won't ever lose that precious smile of yours, as it brings joy to so many faces." The man had to fight his tears once more as he held the child in his arms. "Okay! I promise! I hope I can see you soon, mister!" Lucas exclaimed, believing that he would truly see the scientist again. Scientist 317 had to force himself to let the child go to allow him to walk inside, where the silence was broken by an annoyed and angry growl. Lucas heard the growl and wondered if his friend was an animal. He loved animals, so he was even more excited to see what creature his companion would be. After the signal from the scientist, the child walked in the dark room, trying to see where the animal was while also questioning why the poor creature was left alone in the dark. The scientist sighed and closed the door, walking away from the room so he wouldn't have to hear any of the carnage that was bound to happen. He walked back to the place where he spent time with the kid and sat on the blanket they left there earlier. From there, he reminisced about all the fun they had together, as if they were father and son. A son that he never had that he wishes he could have.

All sound was no longer heard as the man let out all the tears, anger, sorrow, and guilt about this situation. A child, an innocent, young child was practically given a death sentence all because of one measly failed mission to which was out of his control, yet he got punished for it. A nine-year-old who got ripped away from his mother, got punished for it. "Fuck this place... Fuck the workers... Fuck this job... And especially, fuck you!!" He cursed everyone, but he cursed his assistant boss the most. She wasn't even the one who assigned him the task of finding the book with the cure and yet she forced him to kill a child they took from his own mother. They showed no mercy to even a kid, however unfortunately, he wouldn't put it past them to actually give any shits about children. After all, the women farmers can just create more children, that's if they hadn't been killed off because of their natural instinct to protect their kids from being abducted so they can join the work field of being an experimentalist to prevent the security guards from doing their jobs. All of this suffering to not only him but to Lucas as well, was because of one failed mission. Leaving his thoughts, the man looked around the now childless room, filling his ears with the sound of laughter and distracting himself with the fun they had. He kept swearing that if he could change time, he certainly would just so the kid could be back home with his mother. His mother, the child kept using past tense when referring to her and never spoke of his father. He wondered if his facility had killed both parents just so the kid could be defenseless. Again and again, he wished to change back time for the sake of the kid, but to also discover what's really going on with this place.