Freak of Nature - By Julia Crane Page 0,34
be proud of. He wanted to go to football games, not science fairs. One day, he just walked out on me and my mom and never came back. I guess I thought if I could be the son he wanted, he would return.”
“Did he come back?”
“Nope.”
Kaitlyn didn’t know what to say. Finally, she said, “I don’t think he left because you weren’t athletic enough. That doesn’t seem to make sense.”
“You’re right, but I was a kid, I didn’t know that at the time. I guess, in a way, I’m glad. Glad he left, glad he didn’t come back. It was good for me to get out of my comfort zone. I started running and lifting weights. I joined a couple of clubs in school and learned to be more social. By the time I made it to college, I wasn’t such an awkward disaster.”
“I don’t remember what I was like when I was younger.”
Lucas entwined his fingers with hers. “I’m sure you were amazing.”
“Quess found a Facebook page that had images of me on it. She said I needed help in the style department. That my clothing was lame, but that doesn’t tell much about my personality does it?”
Lucas squeezed her hand. “I think what’s important is who you are now. You have a second chance at life. I know it’s easy for me to say since I’m not in your shoes, but Kate I’d hate for you to be miserable for the rest of your existence.”
Kaitlyn didn’t even think about the consequences of her next question; she didn’t consider how awkward it would be for him to answer. “Why did they have to take my memories?”
Lucas stiffened, his face stricken. It was a minute before he gathered his thoughts and was able to answer. “We thought it would be easier for you to adjust to your new life if you couldn’t recall your old one.”
“I don’t even know if I have any family.”
“If you knew you had family, would you want to see them?”
Kaitlyn thought it over for a few moments and shook her head. “No. I know that life is over. They think I’m dead. I also understand the reason for the secrecy. I guess I just wish I could remember it.”
“I’m sorry, Kate.” Lucas tugged her into a bear hug, speaking against her hair. “We were working blind. We had no idea what we were doing. You’re the first of your kind.”
Kaitlyn pulled away and met his gaze. “Maybe you’ll do better with the next project.”
She caught a flicker of something in his eyes. The facial program scanned images, looking for its equivalent. The answer promptly blinked on her internal screen: Regret, or maybe sadness.
“It would help our next project if we told Harrington and Adams that you still have emotions. That way, we’ll know it isn’t necessary to erase them for the next…person.”
Kaitlyn turned away. “I don’t want that. At least, not right now. Don’t tell. Please.”
“Your secret is safe with me.”
The wind blew. Lucas shivered, and Kaitlyn wondered what that felt like. She sat with her back to him, gazing out over the darkening yard. The fence was visible in the distance—the fence that penned her in.
“Lucas, when will I be leaving?” she asked quietly.
“The day after tomorrow you’ll meet with the committee. Then they’ll negotiate. I’m not sure how long that will take. Could be days, weeks or even months.”
“Is there any way out of this?”
“As you know, there are always alternate scenarios. But Harrington is dead-set on releasing you to the government. I can’t think of a single reason that would convince him otherwise. Believe me, it’s been keeping me up at night trying to come up with something Harrington would go for.”
“I could run away.”
Lucas turned to face her. “Yes, you could run away, but then what? You would be on your own. What if something happened with your programming? Like the way you shut down the other day. It would be impossible for you to hide in society. The upgrades have helped, but you’d still have trouble blending in for a long period of time with the general populace. Not to mention you have GPS installed. They’ll find you.”
As much as she hated to admit it, she knew he was right. Perhaps the new life wouldn’t be bad. Maybe she would come to enjoy her new existence the way she had the compound. It would certainly be easier to accept the changes if Lucas was there with her.
“Could you come with