Problems of an Invisible Girl

Chapter 30

Once they arrived at the apartment, Caroline turned visible and Serena just stared at the woman who was supposed to be her mother, disturbed by how similar they looked.
It would be obvious even to someone who didn't know anything about them that they were related.
Serena didn't know how to feel about that.
Was it a good thing or not?
Soon enough she snapped out of her revery because they didn't have the time to reminiscent about the past, Rina was in danger and it was probably their parents' fault.

"So... How have you been?" Caroline asked Serena trying to connect in some way to her daughter.
It had been such a long time since she had the luxury to do so.
Serena started laughing bitterly.

"I am just peachy. My sister, who I didn't know I had until recently, had been kidnapped and I have no idea how to get her back. I was invisible for a year and barely managed to turn visible again. Oh, and let's not forget the parents who left me when I was just a baby and who might have been part of some secret thing or another. Did I forget anything?" She said sarcastically.

Even though she could see the pain in Caroline's eyes, she didn't regret what she said.
Those people were not her parents. They were just people whom she just met, they didn't deserve any type of consideration from her.
Rina was there for her when she needed her and when she thought she might go insane from the loneliness. Even before they knew they were biological sisters, Serena felt like Rina was her sister. It was different for them. They found each other and supported each other and their parents just failed them one more time.

"Alright Sarcastic Queen, tone it down a bit. You are angry at your parents, I get it but this is not about that. We need to stay clear-headed if we want to help Rina. Do we all agree that is a priority?" Nat said.
"Agreed." Serena and Caroline said at the same time.
"Who do you think you are? Who put you, a little boy in charge?" Jack said.
His whole face was red in anger and there was a murderous look in his eyes.

"I am the only person who is not controlled by his emotions. All of you are way too emotional to think clearly, so I am here to help you out. If you want me to leave, I'll leave but my clear head might help us find your daughter faster. Don't you want that?" Nat asked.

"Yes," Jack answered through clenched teeth.
It was obvious he didn't like the idea of Nat being in charge but even he could see that what Nat said was true.
He couldn't think clearly.
His anger towards himself, towards the people who took his little girl, was too strong to go past it and think rationally.

"Okay, so since we are all on the same page now, can you guys tell us what happened that made you leave not one but two of your children?" Nat asked.
Getting straight to the point was the most efficient way Nat knew, but he could see that his words hurt both of them more than he anticipated. Still, they were determined to do what had to be done to get Rina back.

"I guess I should start since basically most of the things that have happened so far are my fault," Caroline said.
"I was part of a team of scientists and engineers who were tasked to do various kinds of research to investigate the possibility of finding ways to create real optical invisibility for objects," Caroline said.
"Could you say that in plain English, please?" Nat asked.

"We were trying to find a way to make something similar to an invisibility cloak to use for military purposes. If an enemy attacked, the military would have an advantage in defending our country.
At least that was what they told us. It turned out that it wasn't completely true but I'll get to that later.

Anyway, it was a new approach to the possibility of making the objects invisible. Since you don't want the technical details of it, I guess this type of invisibility can be compared with a stone in the river, the water passes around the stone but slightly down-stream doesn't leave a trace of the said stone.
So the light should pass around the object without leaving any trace behind, even a shadow.
That was our theoretical approach and the research was going really well for some time, but soon enough we started noticing something strange.

Someone started secretly accessing our research. At first, we thought it was just a glitch in the system but soon enough we learned that our research was used as a foundation for different, top-secret research that wasn't as straightforward as the task we were given.
As far as I understand, their research was in the field of genetic engineering.
I won't bother you with the technical details, even I don't know them so well since it is not my field, but they came up with a way to replicate our research on a genetic level.

At the time, I naively believed that they were just doing some innocent research in the hopes of improving science, but I was wrong.
You see, knowing that we were after all working for a government and all governments wanted to have some advantage, I assumed there might have been some tests done on pigeons or some animals that could be used as reconnaissance.
Truth never even occurred to me." Caroline said as her voice started breaking for the first time since she started talking.

Moments later she could feel her husband's invisible hand gently squeezing her own giving her support and comfort.
"What I wouldn't do to once more see his reassuring eyes and that amazing smile of his." Caroline thought as she squeezed back acknowledging the support.

"One day I came across some documents that I shouldn't have seen.
I was just in the right place at the wrong time.
It was only then that I learned that they were using homeless people as guinea pigs.
Disgusted as I was, I remembered to try to get proof against them by copying the documents. It was clear from the documents that many 'subjects' as they called them died during the procedure and I wanted them to pay for the blatant disregard for human life.

Unfortunately, I was caught before I had the chance to leave with the incriminating evidence.
Before I realized what was happening, I was strapped to a table and an injection was given to me.
Having seen all those files moments before, I knew what it meant.
I knew that my chances of survival were very low and all I could do was pray that my body could survive the treatment.

There was this strange sensation spreading through my whole body as if all my cells were rearranging themselves, very painfully if I might add.
After the excruciating pain finally stopped, I was surprised to see that I was still alive.
Having registered that fact, I was even more determined to run away and make them pay for what they were doing.
At the time I had no idea how I would do it, just that I had to.

I wiggled my hands carefully and to my surprise, my hands slipped from the restraints.
The restraints were loose since they probably thought I was unconscious or dead like most of the others.
Whatever the case might be, I was out of that bed after a few moments, the time it took me, to release the rest of the restraints.
Dazed as I was from the pain, I tripped while trying to sneak out, knocking over some syringes and scalpels in the process.

As you might imagine, that made a very loud noise.
Suffice it to say that they were alerted about my escape much sooner than expected.
Many people tried to grab me, but I managed to use the few moments of advantage I had to run through the doors before they had the chance to get me.
Running down the hallway, I almost ran into Jack who seemed to be in the same predicament as me.

The moment they grabbed me, they grabbed him as well, knowing that he was my husband and suspecting that I might have had the chance to inform him about the illegal experiments I came across.
We started running through the familiar building, but soon enough we heard pursuit both in front of us and behind us.
Not knowing what to do, we hid in a small janitor's closet nearby.

I remember wishing that I was invisible and before I knew it, I could feel Jack staring at me in wonder as I was slowly turning invisible.
Shocked as we both were, we stayed perfectly still and soon enough I was completely invisible and I whispered to Jack how I thought I did it.
He focused on following my example and once we were both invisible we managed to evade our captors. What I didn't know at the time, and we found out later, was that I was pregnant with you. Serena.
What happened, later on, made us believe that the best thing for you would be for us to let you go. But we'll have to explain that part later on." Caroline said.

"That doesn't explain a lot of things. There are many holes in your story and filling in some of those might be crucial in finding Rina." Nat said.

"That's where my story comes in. My part of the story fills in some blanks." Jack said and started telling them what exactly happened to him.