Siana

It turned out I could remember almost everything word for word. So the next thing they did was to teach me to read and which, I should note, they did in the weirdest way possible: they started reading the dictionary with a 2-year-old child."

She stopped and chuckled at the memory. The next moment her expression unexpectedly saddened, yet, taking another sip from her wine gla.s.s she continued,

"So yeah, long story short, the pattern repeated and I memorised and learned all the words in a few months" time. Well, being the firstborn and being a bit of an unusual kid, my parents had no idea how to raise me. They knew what I could do was out of ordinary so they decided to hire a professional in gifted kids" education and, gradually, they completely trusted the decisions about my education to outsiders.

So the cycle continued and my new teacher appointed more new teachers to me who tested my abilities in different disciplines and, on their turn, appointed other teachers to me. With the various professionals teaching different subjects to me, by the age of five, it was pretty clear that I excelled in maths- and science-related subjects. All my teachers were overexcited to experiment with my capabilities a bit further, as they claimed that even among geniuses I had skills that were higher than the average.

They started to take me to different cla.s.ses and then lectures and so on. So, while my peers were playing with dolls and toys, I was being taught further maths by university professors. I soon started getting interested in human related sciences, so got degrees in biological and biomedical sciences and then got a PhD in Neuroscience when I was still 13.

I started actively contributing to the development of the field and, despite my age, was allowed to partic.i.p.ate in labs and even have my own lab for research purposes."

She stopped for a moment as if recalling the events, and then continued in a desolate tone;

"I was made to believe that being smarter than others was a responsibility. There were many expectations of me, so I believed that meeting those expectations was why I was born in the first place.

Therefore, I continued obediently doing what I was told until I partic.i.p.ated in the development of a drug that reached clinical trials. Our group soon started visiting hospitals and interacting with patients. For the first time in my life, I made a decision of my own: I decided to become a doctor, as I preferred interacting with patients more than working in a lab. But, all the people working with me were disappointed in me and they convinced my parents that what I wanted was wrong and was but a waste of talent.

So, once again, my parents trusted the outsiders" judgment over my so called "childish whims" and tried to force me to continue being a scientist.

Well, turned out I could also be a headstrong kid back then, so I threw continuous tantrums and we finally came to an agreement that I would go to medical university but I would also continue working in the labs.

Because of our agreement, I started working in this lab introduced to me by my very first teacher, the one who claimed to be the best at teaching gifted kids. The project was about enhancing memory retention. We were exploring the memory pathways and trying to mimic the memory strengthening processes by surgeries or by drugs.

After two years, we could eventually evoke enhanced learning capabilities in mice and rats, so one could say that it was kind of a success. However, even though the drugs were successful at enhancing learning and memory, they messed up with other parts of the brain, in most cases leading to either premature death of the animals or severe mental issues.

The sponsors learned about these issues and retracted the funds and thus the lab was closed."

She shifted in Cain"s embrace and after finding a safer position she went on;

"This was when I had just turned 16. Two months later, I was with my parents when my same teacher called. He connected me to the lab supervisor who told me that they developed new strategies and revived the experiments on primates, namely macaques. He a.s.sured us, that the experiments were approved by the scientific community.

For the second time, I went against the elder"s wishes by disagreeing to partic.i.p.ate in the project. My reason was that I didn"t find what they were doing ethically acceptable. This didn"t sit well with my teacher, who once again convinced my parents that I was but a minor who was going through p.u.b.erty and was just being wilful.

Consequently, despite my protests, my parents willingly handed me to those people. They were told that the experiments were groundbreaking and needed to be kept secret which was why I wouldn"t contact them. Well, they did not lie on this one, the experiments were truly secret..."

Her voice started to break in the end. Suddenly she couldn"t control the shudder that started to take over her body.

Noticing the changes in her, Cain hugged her tighter and whispered to her in a voice that only she could hear,

"You don"t have to recall these events. You don"t have any responsibility to explain your story or our story to anyone. Siana..."

"No, Cain. I want to do this. I have been keeping this for way too long. Alex is my cousin and with our growing relationship, he will know about this sooner or later. And Will... even though we aren"t close, he is still Alex"s best friend and I don"t want their relationship to get strained because of me," she whispered back to him.

Giving him a slight smile, Sia turned back to the other men, took a deep breath and continued,

"It was no simple primates they were experimenting on, but ..." her voice completely broke at this point. Her hands, that were safely held by Cain"s big ones, curled into tight fists. Gathering all her courage and relying on the protection exuded by him, she finally confessed;

"It wasn"t any primates but rather ... it was humans... What"s worse is that the results on people were even worse than in animals. It was like, the side effects of the drugs multiplied several folds in humans. Despite enhanced learning capabilities, everyone would die in a matter of weeks after the drug administration... They ..." she took another deep breath and with much difficulty continued in a quivering voice,

"They locked me in as well. My supervisor was going crazy. He himself turned hysterical... He wanted to know how I could naturally remember everything so well without any side effects while his experimental subjects couldn"t. So to find out, he... he started experimenting on me as well... and the experiments... they were... they were simply inhumane..."

At this point she completely broke down. Her body trembled non-stop. With the memories flooding in she couldn"t help but recall the feelings and the pain she had experienced too.

Cain turned her so that her face was now leaning on his chest. He wrapped his arms around her protectively and started kissing her head softly. He continuously rubbed her back with his hands, as if reminding her that he was there for her.

However, even with all of his support, her sobbing didn"t stop, filling the room with heart-wrenching noises that made one feel like crying as well.

"That"s enough... Sia, please stop.. I am so sorry we made you recall all of this... Please... please just stop," came Alex"s pleading in a trembling voice of his own.