Gen One- Chapter One

A few weeks after I recovered from my illness, I was standing on my jungle gym looking out. I loved being on the jungle gym for the same reason I loved climbing the trees. It gave me a new perspective of my world. Being in the same place all the time did grow a bit boring. It was amazing how something could change if I just moved up a bit higher. I was having so much fun that I ignored the fact that I was growing somewhat hot. Spring was just about over, and the warmer heat of summer was coming in. I never really liked summer. The strong sun always did the most damage to my skin. During summer was when I had to stay inside much more than I wanted to.

The jungle gym had a roof that kept me out of the direct light, which was why I could get away with being outside for so long. However, I really did get lost in my playing. I didn't even notice that Eden had showed up.

     "Ethereal! Come down here! I have something important that we need to do!"

It was him calling me that made me realize he was there. I was thoroughly confused at his presence. He must have had something important that he needed me for. That day of the week was a day he wasn't scheduled to visit. Given how the other scientists didn't like him staying longer than he was supposed to on the days he normally came, him coming by on an off day was truly peculiar. I hurriedly slid down the pole before rushing over to him. Usually he greeted with me a smile and hug, but in that instance Eden put his hand on my shoulder and quickly led me inside.

     "What do you need me for?" I asked him as he practically pulled me over to the corner where the table was.

Eden ignored me. He took out a syringe from his pocket and placed it on the table. I stared at it as he went about glancing out the windows and going upstairs to see if anyone was around. I had no idea why he did that as he knew I was always alone. However, I did hear him fiddling with something when he was upstairs. It almost sounded as if he had gotten into the wall. He must have been doing something else. Eden was by my side before too long though. He placed both his hands on my shoulders this time and looked me right in the eye.

     "Do you trust me?" he asked suddenly.

     "What are you going to do to me?" I couldn't help but to ask back.

I eyed the syringe again. It was full with a clear liquid that I recognized. It was the same stuff that Mr. Blue always used to sedate me. It scared me. Eden scared me too. He was so fidgety and nervous. Something big was going on, but as usual I had no idea what it could be.

     "I'm trying to help you. I really am," he implored, "Listen, things have been set into motion that I can no longer stop. You either trust me so we can keep being together, or I have to leave now and never come back. The choice is yours."

I stared into his green eyes. My heart was beginning to race. His words helped me to gather an idea of what Eden was probably attempting to do, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to be a part of it. The unknown terrified me. What terrified me more though was knowing if I went against Eden in that moment that I definitely wouldn't see him again. If I had to live with just Mr. Blue and Ms. Yellow for company, then I wouldn't be able to live in this place anymore. I would turn into a nut job.

     "I'll trust you." I told him quietly.

He gave me a smile and large hug before motioning me over to lie on my bed.

     "I know you know what this stuff is. I figure you're pretty resistant to it at this point, which is why this dosage is slightly stronger than normal. Don't worry about that though. It shouldn't have any negative side-effects on you. Just try to let it do its job. Get a good rest, and I'll take care of everything else." Eden reassured as he injected the sedative into my arm.

     "What if what you're doing goes wrong?" I asked quietly.

Eden had been right. The dosage was much stronger than what I was used to. Even having it in my blood for mere seconds was causing me to doze off. Eden brushed my hair out of my eyes.

     "Don't worry. I mean it. I'm not doing this on my own. I've got plenty of help." he said.

I wanted to know more, but it was obvious I wouldn't be getting any answers. Eden didn't want to tell me specifics, and I realized he was on a time limit. I did what he said and stopped worrying. The familiar feeling of my conscious being stolen reared up powerfully. I gave in to that power and felt myself relax. I hoped I had made the right decision as Eden lifted me into his arms right before I was swept away entirely.

I didn't know what to expect when I opened my eyes again. The truth of what had been going on, and the truth I had been suspicious of, was confirmed to me when the sedation wore off an undetermined amount of time later. It felt as if I had been sleeping for days. My body was certainly sore enough. My mind was seeing things perfectly clear though. I was not in my room anymore. Eden had taken me away into the outside world. I wondered if something had happened to my eyes for I wasn't used to not being surrounding by the glaring brightness that was the white of my world. All the brown and tones of gray made me feel as if I had gone blind.

My heart began racing when I saw Eden sitting at the table reading. For a moment, I hadn't realized it was Eden. All I had ever seen him in was his lab coat. I guess now he was wearing normal clothing- and normal clothing that was his color. I wasn't sure if I liked the change or not. He was absorbed by his book and hadn't noticed that I had woken up.

Trying not to feel overwhelmed by what was ahead of me, I silently slipped out of the clumpy old bed I had been sleeping in. The bad mattress had to have been the reason for my soreness. Despite feeling unsteady on my feet, I walked over to the window. Some weird paper things were covering it. I began to move them aside so I could see if I was really in the world I never wanted to be a part of.

     "Ethereal!"

Eden's shout made me jump. He rushed over to pull me away from the window. I had to sit where he had been sitting instead.

     "Sorry for being loud. I didn't hear you get up. I understand that you want to look outside, but we have to remain completely hidden right now. There shouldn't be anyone around, but we can't risk anything. Neither of us can be seen. There might have been...a small issue in how things went down."

     "You said you had help." I reminded him with a frown.

     "I did have help. I do have help. They're sorting everything out right now. We just have to wait a bit longer. We have to do that, and we have to..."

Eden trailed off. He then brought over a tray from the counter to place it before me. In the tray was some gauze, disinfectant, and a syringe of stuff that I had no idea what it was this time around. Eden placed his fingers lightly on top of the syringe. I was glanced at with hesitation and nervousness, which wasn't encouraging. I had already been given a powerful sedative. Now I had no clue what that stuff would do to me. However, Eden was struggling to ask my permission, and I began to feel as if taking that shot was another thing in which I had no choice in the matter. Reluctantly, I stuck my arm out. Without saying a word, Eden disinfected a bit of my shoulder before placing that weird stuff inside me. He wrapped my shoulder with the gauze. I expected I would feel something right away, but I only felt normal. Eden put the tray back on the counter.

He hesitated once more before he found his voice.

     "How are you feeling? I realize you probably have a thousand questions, but you've been out for a while. It'll probably be better to wait before we discuss-"

     "I'm fine!" I said stubbornly, "How I feel now is much better than how I usually feel when Mr. Blue does whatever he does to me. I want to know what's going on!"

Eden smiled after a moment.

     "I guess you are used to being sedated. Alright. I have been waiting to tell you this stuff forever. This moment is as good as any other to put it all out in the open."

He sat down across from me. I wasn't sure what to expect. Everything was already so different. Eden was so different. Just the aura he gave off seemed foreign. He started the whole thing off not giving me any answers, but by asking me a question instead.

     "What is your condition called?"

     "Albinism.

I was really confused as to why he asked that. I knew Eden knew all about why I was the way I was.

     "Tell me about it."

     "Why? I thought you-"

     "I know the workings behind why you have no color, but I want to know what you know. We've never talked about this before, and I have no clue what Eminence or Swirl told you."

     "Swirl and Emi-what?"

     "Oh. Right. They're the people you know as Mr. Blue and Ms. Yellow. Those aren't their real names. Mr. Blue's real name is Aero Eminence and Ms. Yellow's real name is Buttercup Swirl."

     "How come I called them by something different?"

     "It was to help keep you from forming a connection with them. That's what we'll talk about in a second though. Go on and tell me what you know about albinism."

     "It's a congenital disorder-"

     "And what's that?"

I pouted. Did he really want me to go that far into detail?

     "It means that the disorder has existed since birth or even since before birth."

     "Good. Continue."

     "Albinism results because of the absence or defect of tyrosinase. It is involved in the production of melanin, which refers to a wide range of natural pigments. Because of the absence or defect, the pigments that would give the organism color aren't there. This obviously gives the organism what appears to be a white coloring," I said motioning to myself, "Although the white is more a lack of color rather than a separate color itself. It's like how the dark is the absence of light. Evidence of this is shown by the fact that albinism comes from the recessive genes of the parents. Both the father and the mother must carry the trait for the disorder in order for it to result. It's clear I have the trait because I am an albino, but that doesn't mean I will have albino children because the father would also have to have the trait as well. Even if we both did have it, the possibility of any child being white like me would be next to nothing."

     "Very, very good. Now, what kind of problems can people with albinism have?"

     "Mostly problems concerning the skin and eyes. The lack of pigment lets more ultraviolet radiation penetrate the skin- meaning the skin burns easily and is more susceptible to cancer. The lack of pigmentation makes the eyes sensitive as well, but it can also lead to various sight problems as pigment plays a decent part in their development."

     "Excellent. It seems your condition is the one thing you were educated well on."

     "But what does all of that have to do with me not making connections or whatever?" I continued to pout.

     "We're getting there. Were you ever told how albino people were treated in the outside world?"

     "Yeah. I was told being pure white made me special and lucky. I assume that's what everyone else thinks?"

     "That's sort of an understatement. People with albinism are pretty much treated as if they're something higher than a normal human. They can be the most despicable people in the world, but everyone will flock to them anyway like moths to a light. Almost always the schools go easy on them. They're hired without questions. They have others throwing themselves at their feet trying to be in a romantic relationship with them. Most end up ridiculously rich simply for inheriting a disorder that took away the color they were supposed to have."

     "So why was I being hid away if people would have liked me so much?"

     "Now that's the curiosity, right? You see, it's pretty much every parent's dream to have a pure white child. About a century ago, an infant boy with albinism was put up for adoption. There were far too many people willing to pay millions of dollars for the chance to adopt him. Seriously, it's crazy how far people will go."

Eden paused. He got a strange look on his face and then laughed.

     "Which is why what we're doing would be considered absolute insanity by anyone else's standards."

That made me confused again. I wanted to ask what Eden meant, but he continued on before I got the chance to even open my mouth.

     "Unfortunately," he said, now wearing a serious and slightly sad expression, "The obsession and dedication of people wanting a pure white child is where this whole mess starts. Eminence, Swirl, and, until this morning, I work for...well, we'll keep calling it 'The Company', okay? The Company got it into their heads about fifteen years back that there was a lot of profit to be made from the obsession and dedication. They are involved in many practices, but genetics is a specialty of theirs. Over the first five years, they studied and worked diligently until they were able to manipulate the albinism disorder so that it would be guaranteed that the child would be born with it."

     "Is that what happened to me?" I couldn't help but to ask.

Eden paused, sighing.

     "Yes. You and, once again unfortunately, quite a few others. Genetic manipulation the way the company was doing it is considered highly unethical. It goes so strongly against nature that most people would have rioted if they had simply offered services to bring out the disorder for children of willing and applicable parents. So...the children had to be created through more secretive means. The Company sent out a request for sperm and egg donations. The used the guise of the materials being samples for which they could practice scanning for genetic defects. What they were really doing was looking for donations which had the recessive trait."

     "So, my parents-"

     "I'm getting there." Eden interrupted, looking even sadder, "The sperm and egg samples having the traits were put together so that the egg would be fertilized and start to grow. The eggs were then placed into volunteer surrogate mothers working for The Company. A red and gray woman carried you. I do not know her name, and I've never seen her around anywhere before."

     "My real parents have no idea I exist then." I stated, my heart beginning to ache.

     "They don't have the slightest clue. It is a shame for I know they would love you dearly, but who your parents are is actually rather interesting. Most of the other zygotes were created by using samples from two random people who had never met. The samples used to create you came from a married couple who both decided to donate, and both of their samples obviously had the trait. You're the only legitimate child born out of all the others."

It was silent between the two of us for a second. Eden was giving me time to take it all in. A lot of what I was learning bothered me greatly, but it was that I should have had loving parents but didn't that hurt me the most. I had never known that parents were a thing for the longest time. The truth about how people were born had only been explained to me about a year ago. Since then, the curiosity of seeing the two people who had made me was perhaps the lone desire that ever had me entertaining the idea of leaving my room. I had held onto a slight hope that I could meet my parents someday. Now I was getting the feeling I never would.

     "Are there a bunch of other children being kept in rooms like the one I was in then?" I asked quietly.

Eden shook his head.

     "No. All the rest of them were given to adoptive parents when they were infants or toddlers. Of course, the parents paid massive sums and the adoption processes were done illegally through the black market. You're the only one The Company kept."

     "Why?"

     "Because you were healthy. Many of those other children had issues related to their albinism. However, it was all the genetic tampering that created the more serious health problems. Some of the children were blind, some were mentally disabled, and some were incredibly sickly. Only about half lucked out with having more minor complications."

     "That's terrible!"

     "It is. That's why you've heard me call Eminence and Swirl things like 'unethical' and 'cruel'. They, like the rest of the others working for The Company, are more than willing to allow those children to be born suffering so they can turn a profit."

     "So they've been doing that all this time?"

     "No. Thankfully, after their initial store of donations ran out they never tried to acquire more. Unfortunately, that's because they came up with a new plan. The one that has you at the center."

That sent my heart racing even faster. I sat frozen as I let Eden continue.

      "The Company was so thrilled when you were born. That you don't even have to wear glasses is a miracle. They decided to go the patient route and use you instead of making more children with medical problems. There were others willing to fork over the money to adopt them, but The Company knew they could get more money from more people if they offered healthy children. And you could give them healthy children."

     "I can?"

     "You would've when you got older. Because you were born strong, the likelihood that you would produce strong children was, well is, pretty high. You already being an albino would significantly reduce the amount of genetic tampering they would have had to do as well. The Company was going to wait until you were sixteen before they started fertilizing you with modified sperm that would have done the rest to guarantee that you would give birth to albino children- as they would have had you carry multiples for every pregnancy. Essentially, they would have used you to pop out baby after baby that they could then sell."

     "What?!"

     "And it gets better," Ede said dryly, "Since it takes so long for a child to be born and the fertilization wouldn't have been successful every time, they were going to keep a few of your female children to use for the same end. This is why I said they were going to take the patient route. They were going to have to wait a while before they could start getting their money, but after a generation or so they would have all the bodies they would have needed to be well on their way to creating their albino baby-making empire."

My mouth dropped open. I began to shake. I had considered various ideas over the years as to why I was so important, but I could have never anticipated something like that. The worst of all the feelings that entered my chest was the one of betrayal. I guess I had been naive to think being told I was special and them providing so much for me meant that everything that was done was for my benefit. But it wasn't. I really was nothing more than a body to them. In my small world, finding out what I had just been told obliterated nearly everything.

     "What about the part about them not wanting me to connect with Ms. Yellow or Swirl or Eminence or whoever they are?" I managed to whisper, bringing it all back to my original question.

     "The reason you were kept so isolated was because they didn't want you to make an emotional connection with anyone. They were preparing you for the future. The Company knew if you learned how to care about people then it would've created a great mental burden on you when your children would have been forced away from you. By keeping you emotionally distant from the beginning, you wouldn't have cared. You would have been numb and almost mindless; the perfect puppet for them to control. Obviously, I managed to ruin all of that."

Eden was able to give me an encouraging smile.

I, on the other hand, wasn't able to move. I wanted to ask about what was going to happen to the two of us now or where we were going to go, but I couldn't even do that. Eden stared at me for a moment before coming over to give me another hug. It helped somewhat.

     "I know it's a lot. I will say this again though- don't worry. I've done my part by getting you out of that horrid place. My friends are going to take care of the rest. With some luck, The Company will be exposed soon and we can get them out of our lives."

I nodded.

     "Are you hungry?"

I nodded again, but mostly I said yes because I didn't want to worry Eden.

     "Alright. Well, since our coming here was a bit unplanned all we have is microwave meals. They're good enough for the moment, I suppose. I'll get them ready. You relax a little or take a look at the place," Eden said before pausing, "Not that there's much to look at."

Eden was right about that. I didn't even have to move from my seat to see pretty much all there was to see. Everything was close together in that tiny room. There was a smaller room in the corner, but that had to be the bathroom. I stood up anyway to poke around. Moving about helped to distract me and make me feel not quite so stunned. What quickly caught my attention was the rug between Eden's side of the bed and the bathroom door. I looked down at it in wonder.

     "Eden?"

     "Hmm?"

     "What is this?"

He looked over his shoulder to see what I was talking about. I couldn't see his face, but from the tone of his words I could tell he was frowning.

     "That's a rug, Ethereal."

     "Nooo, I know that! I mean what color is this?"

     "Color? That...."

His sentence trailed off. Again, even though I couldn't see his expression, I could just tell that it had fallen. It was a look I was familiar with. Eden often wore it when he had tried to explain in the past what simple things everyone else knew were but were things that I didn't know. I understood he felt sorry for me many times.

     "It's purple." he finally answered.

     "Purple." I repeated.

     "You've really never see anything purple before?"

     "Nuh-uh."

     "I see."

And that was the end of that conversation.

It was several minutes later when Eden announced that dinner was ready. I had no idea it was already so late, but that sedative had been powerful stuff. My appetite did perk up when I caught a whiff of whatever those "microwave meals" were. However, looking at them had the opposite effect. Somehow, the food looked almost fake. Eden placed my tray in front of me, and he began eating from his own. I poked the "meat" with my fork before daring to place a bit of it in my mouth. It was vile! The only reason I didn't spit it back up was because the shock of how absolutely disgusting it was had caused me to accidentally swallow it. I gagged and hurriedly pushed the tray away.

     "That bad, huh?" Eden asked sympathetically.

     "It's horrid!"

     "I guess you were fed rather well until this point. In fact, I don't think you've had a single processed thing in your whole life. All the ingredients were organic, and everything was made from scratch. Going from that kind of diet to this cra...junk can't be pleasant." he said with a small chuckle.

     "Is there really nothing else to eat?"

     "Trust me. I hate this stuff too, but it is all we have. I won't force you to eat now, but we're going to be here for at least a few days. You'll have to force some of it down at some point."

I frowned and glared at my "food." I really didn't want to eat it, but what else could I do? Eden finished way before I did. I managed to get half of everything down before I had no choice but to give up before I threw up.

After that, I grew unexpectedly tried very quickly. Eden marked it as a consequence of the stronger dose of the sedative. I wondered if it was more because of the other stuff he had injected into me. I found myself unable to ask about it again. Instead, I went along with Eden's suggestion of him reading me a book before I went to sleep. Eden had told me of books before, but I had never seen one until that moment where I had woken up here watching him read one. Whatever was written on the pages were just squiggles to me, but the pictures in the book were pretty though. It helped that Eden was a good storyteller. However, I ended up sneaking more glances at him than actually paying attention to what he was telling me. I was still trying to get used to the new him before me. I liked the new Eden.

I was half-asleep for a while. I was still scared of what would happen in the days to come, and Eden puttering about wasn't helpful considering there's never been anyone around me making noise when I've gone to sleep before. Eventually, he grew tired himself and quietly slipped into bed. He was the one who fell asleep quickly. Having him close to me and seeing his relaxed face reassured me that the days to come would be fine as long as I had Eden with me. He had always been watching out for me and protecting me. I knew we would be fine. It wasn't a few minutes later when I finally drifted off myself.