Noah Langford - February 2121
I have never liked surprises.
They waste time. People dress them up as excitement, but more often than not they're just information deliberately withheld. I'd rather someone simply tell me what they're thinking instead of leading me through riddles.
So as Dr. Edmund and Dr. Thomas guide Finn and me across the courtyard towards the main building, and down the narrow concrete staircase leading to the makeshift holding cells beneath it, my curiosity steadily replaces my irritation.
Neither of them has said a word about why we're here.
"What are we doing down here?" I ask, my footsteps echoing against the stone walls.
Edmund glances over his shoulder, a knowing smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
"You'll see."
Of course.
I look back at Finn, hoping he'll offer something, but he only raises his shoulders in an equally confused shrug.
The heavy metal door creaks open before I step inside... and stop.
Just outside one of the reinforced cells sits Katie.
She has a blanket folded beneath her and a worn paperback resting in her hands. Her lips move quietly as she reads each sentence aloud, occasionally stumbling over a word before correcting it.
She's changed.
The stutter that once fractured nearly every sentence has softened considerably. It's still there, but it no longer controls her. I find myself smiling before I even realise it.
But then my attention shifts beyond her and my smile disappears.
Bennet sits inside the cell.
Not hitting thing, or screaming, or clawing at the walls. He's simply sitting on the floor opposite Katie, listening.
Actually listening.
For as long as I've known him, the counterfeit destroyed almost everything that made him who he was. Every instinct became aggression. Every face became a threat. We couldn't even enter his room without enough sedatives to keep him unconscious. There was never recognition in his eyes. Only fear... rage... confusion.
Now...
His gaze follows the words on Katie's page before lifting towards us as we enter.
Focused.
Aware.
Present.
"Welcome back... Noah and Finn," Katie says brightly, carefully placing the book beside her.
Finn steps forward first and offers her a hand. "How are you doing, Katie?" She accepts it and stands, dusting off the knees of her trousers.
"A lot better... than before."
"I can see that."
While they continue talking, I move toward Bennet's cell. Slowly with no sudden movements. I crouch until we're almost eye level, resting one arm across my knee.
For several long seconds neither of us speaks. His eyes search my face not aimlessly but with a purpose. As though he's trying to remember where he knows me from.
Then, quietly...
"Is... time... more tests?" His words are slow and uneven. Broken in exactly the same way Katie's speech was when I first met her.
"No, Bennet," Edmund answers gently from behind me. "This is Noah. He's here to help you."
Bennet looks back at me. He gives the smallest nod.
Interesting.
He understands introductions. His memory retrieval appears significantly improved.
"Do you remember who you are?" I ask.
Another nod.
"Do you know what happened to you?"
Again, a nod.
Hope begins to bloom somewhere deep inside my chest, though I refuse to let it distract me.
"Can you tell me why you're here?"
This time he hesitates. I can almost see the effort behind his eyes as he pieces fragmented thoughts together.
"Lost..."
He swallows.
"Woods..."
Another pause.
"Hurt... people..."
His voice trails away and his head lowers before his shoulders begin to tremble. Guilt. He's remembering.
Katie quietly kneels beside me.
"It's okay, Bennet," she says softly. "It's not your... fault."
"Took... Lunex..." He squeezes his eyes shut. "...bad."
My pulse quickens.
"You believe you took a Lunex vial?"
He nods.
I slowly turn and glance back at Edmund and Thomas. Neither of them expected that answer. Neither did I.
I return my attention to Bennet.
"I'm afraid it was not Lunex you took."
He looks up at me, confusion replacing shame.
"I believe someone tricked you."
His brow furrows.
"You were given a counterfeit."
The words hang heavily in the silence. His breathing becomes shallow and his eyes move from me to the others waiting, searching, looking for someone to contradict me. Someone to tell him I'm wrong, but nobody does.
His shoulders sink.
"...alone..." His voice barely carries across the room. "...want... alone."
Katie gives me a small look before smiling gently at him.
"Okay," she whispers. "We'll leave you... alone for now."
She quietly gathers her book before leading us into the adjoining room where she's been staying.
Thomas closes the door behind us.
The click of the lock feels strangely loud.
"As you can see," Thomas says, folding his arms, "he still has a long recovery ahead of him. But since administering the revised serum, Bennet has regained recognition, basic reasoning, and, most importantly, he hasn't shown a single violent episode."
I barely hear the rest. My mind is already racing and I begin pacing across the room.
They did it. Against every probability... They actually did it.
Part of me wishes I'd been here. Wishes I'd stood beside them through every failed formula, every late night, every breakthrough. I'd be lying if I said that thought didn't sting.
But the disappointment lasts only a heartbeat. Because there's only one person occupying my mind now.
Kai.
Every report I've read.
Every behavioural improvement.
Every cognitive assessment.
Every symptom Bennet no longer displays.
They all point toward the same conclusion.
If this serum can restore someone whose mind was almost completely consumed by the counterfeit... Then maybe, just maybe...It can bring my brother back to himself fully.
"Do you think it'll work for Kai?" Finn asks, voicing the question none of us has dared ask aloud until now.
Thomas exchanges a glance with Edmund.
"We've spent weeks refining the formulation while you were away," Edmund says. "Based on everything we've observed..." He pauses, choosing his words carefully. "...we believe it will."
Hope is a dangerous thing, especially for scientists. It encourages assumptions before evidence.
Still... For the first time in longer than I can remember... I allow myself to believe.
"But," Thomas continues, "before we administer it, I want you to review every stage of the formulation. Every trial. Every result."
I stop pacing.
Finally.
Something I can control.
"Take me to the laboratory," I say. "I'll begin reviewing the data immediately."
But as I head for the door a hand catches my forearm and I stop.
Finn meets my eyes. "Tomorrow."
I frown.
He gives me the kind of look only someone who's known me for years can.
"It's late," he says. "You haven't even eaten dinner."
Only then do I notice the dull ache in my stomach. I'd forgotten, again.
"but..." I say but Finn's grip tightens slightly before letting go.
"The data will still be there in the morning."
He's right. I hate that he's right.
Rushing into the laboratory tonight won't change what's already been discovered. If there's even the smallest flaw in the formulation, exhaustion will only make me miss it.
I let out a slow breath and nod.
"Fine."
Edmund smiles, clearly relieved.
"We'll begin first thing tomorrow."
As everyone starts filing out of the room, I glance back toward the cell door leading to Bennet.
Before our holiday, I would've said what happened to him was irreversible.Now... I'm no longer certain what impossible means.
If this serum truly restores what the counterfeit stole, then tomorrow might not just change Bennet's future.
It might save my brother's.
For the first time in months, hope feels less like wishful thinking and more like a hypothesis waiting to be proven.