Burning Ashes

Arc 1: Chapter 4

"Doing that just now wouldn't work out very well for either you or your father."

My body suddenly felt a breeze of cold air and I realized I was being stripped on the table. The nurse had removed my pants and was now slowly cutting up my shirt with a pair of scissors, my scarf lying discarded on the floor. Now I didn't worry too much about my modesty but this was farther than even I would go. I blushed enough to turn my face into a beetroot.

"Is this really necessary?"

The nurse gave me a look and draped me with a white cloth. "We need your skin exposed."

"I'm still not familiar with why you need my skin to be exposed."

"You talk too much, don't you? You've got a sharp tongue."

"It's possible that I may have some wit."

The nurse gave me a look that said 'I"m not bothering to answer anything else you say' so I turned my attention to the man in scrubs.

 "Are you an evil scientist?" It might have been a little sadistic that I was looking at him with a mixture of awe and wonder, but people tend to forget I was just a child then.

He gave me a look. "Maybe."

"I thought mad scientists only existed in American TV shows."

"Well then, it's a good thing Pakistan is a country that doesn't give enough of a shit about science to bother stopping me."

"You're wrong. The bad guy always loses. Haven't you watched all the sci-fi movies?"

"This isn't a movie, kid."

"It seems like it."

"It's called 'genetic editing.' A simple enough concept."

"You're going to alter my genes?"

"Yes."

"Isn't that like playing God?"

"No."

"Yes, it is. Genetic technology means that you're being inconsiderate of God's creations."

"What are you, a scholar? Shut up and lie down."

I huffed and lay my head back down on the table, the rest of my body already strapped in place.

"Am I going to be like Jessica Jones?"

"Jessica what-now?"

"Never mind."

The man looked like he had probably been one of the best doctors to ever exist and he seemed to know what he was doing, except the steely glint in his eyes scared the crap out of me. I tried to persuade myself that whatever was happening was happening for the better. That's what father always told me when I thought something bad was happening: "great crisis produce great men and great deeds of courage." Therefore, I had tried to be brave as the doctor approached me with a needle big enough to cure a horse and stuck it into my arm. A regular shot. I thought. He's just vaccinating me. Or something.

Once all the liquid had been injected into my body he removed the needle and covered the hole with a cotton swab. It stung a bit, so I suspected it was alcohol, but other than that, it had been completely painless. I was proud with myself. Not even a peep out of me. I wondered if he would give me a Jolly Rancher's, but was disappointed to see him pulling something else out from the drawers on the other side of the room. I faintly heard him tell the nurse to monitor my vital signs, then blatantly leave the room.

"I need to go pee."

"There's a bedpan underneath you."

"What about food?"