Gen One- Chapter Two

I slept awfully. The mattress felt like bricks compared to my nice bed back in my room. Eden somehow had no problem with it, but I was constantly tossing and turning. It didn't help that after several hours I began to feel like how I felt after one of my meetings with Mr. Blue...Eminence...whatever. I didn't feel sick, but I felt wrong. I figured the injection Eden had given me was beginning to do whatever it was going to do. It was around early morning when I did begin to feel actually sick. Though I hoped the nausea would pass, it suddenly gave my whole body a shock. I didn't even have time to get out on my side of the bed and run around to the bathroom. I had to hurriedly crawl over Eden in order to make it to the toilet before I lost the little that was in my stomach. Naturally, my actions woke Eden up with a jolt. He came over to rub my back and keep my hair out of my face as I struggled for a whole half hour over that gross toilet.

When the nausea subsided, I didn't have the strength to stand or walk. Eden gently picked me up to sit me on the bed.

     "Guess you're not feeling so great, huh?"

He was trying to be amusing by being sarcastic, but I was hardly in the mood for his teasing. I might have sent a rather nasty glare his way.

     "Okay, okay," Eden conceded, "Do you feel any better now that your stomach is done throwing its fit?"

     "A little. I feel really weak, and I don't want to move. At all." I mumbled.

     "Well, here. I'll help you to lie down, and then I'll get you some water. We don't want you to get dehydrated."

Eden assisted me in slowly laying back down. The way he fluffed the pillows and propped me against them made the bed feel not quite so lumpy. The water did wonders as well. Most of the icky feeling in my stomach went away, and I didn't fell as woozy as I had before.

     "Looks like that microwave dinner really didn't well with you." Eden said after several minutes.

I didn't say anything. I knew he was trying to stop me from worrying by making it seem as if that nasty stuff was the reason for my being sick. However, he wasn't blinding me from the real reason. I napped for maybe an hour or so before the uncomfortableness of the bed woke me up again. It was hard to tell how much time was passing considering Eden kept me away from the windows. The only way I knew how to tell time was by using the sun. Even if I had been able to read a clock, there wasn't one in the building. Eden was sitting on the couch reading another book when I decided to get up.

     "How are you doing now?" he asked.

     "Much better. I don't feel sick at all anymore."

     "Good. Very good."

I wandered over to the box thing in the corner.

     "That's a television." Eden explained before I could ask what it was.

     "Television?"

    "There are these devices called cameras. They can record the sights and sounds of the things going on around them. A lot of people like to dress up and basically put on plays for the cameras. What's captured can be broadcasted on television for people to watch. It's a very popular entertainment activity. Here," he said as he motioned for me to sit down before he placed a rectangular thing in my hand, "This television is old, but it at least has a remote and a pretty good broadcast quality. That thing is the remote by the way. It lets you control what the television does. Click the red button on the top left. It'll turn on."

I did what Eden said. I nearly jumped when the television sprang to life. I wasn't even sure what I was watching, but I knew I liked it. Eden showed me which buttons to press to scroll through the different channels. He told me to pick whatever I liked because he was going to keep reading. I went past a few channels before I stopped on one that entranced me immediately. There were so many people. There so many colors. I had felt blind when I had first seen the dingy place we were in. Now I was beginning to see that I had actually been blind for a long time. I didn't even know the world could look like that! However, Eden momentarily ruined my excitement when he looked up and made a noise of disgust.

     "You told me to pick what I like. Don't complain about my choice now." I reprimanded him.

     "I know, but did you really have to pick this show?"

     "What's wrong with it?" I asked defensively.

     "It's made for three-year-olds. It's about as dumb as anything can be."

I quickly turned my head away from him. I was really insulted, but mostly I wanted to hide the fact that I suddenly felt like crying.

     "Eth- I didn't mean it like that. The show is fine. It really is. Don't pay attention to me. I get really snooty sometimes. I'm super smart and all that, you know?" Eden joked sarcastically to diffuse the tension.

     "No you're not." I mumbled.

     "Oh, but I am!" Eden said with pretend haughtiness, "I graduated from high school at 16. Graduated from university at 18."

     "And that is something impressive?" I rolled my eyes.

     "It actually is. Unfortunately, I then got pulled into a job where I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into." he finished in a downcast tone.

And that was when I knew he wasn't joking with me.

I forgave Eden for his comment and went back to watching my show. It might have been for three-year-olds, but I was enjoying it like crazy. Eden truly didn't have any interest in it though. He kept his eyes firmly on his book the whole time. I had no clue how he managed to keep his concentration when I was breaking into laughter every few minutes. Eventually, the particular program I was watching finished. What came on afterwards did make me feel stupid for watching it. I began to sympathize with Eden then. What seemed like the logical thing to do was change the channel, but I had no idea what was waiting for me.

I pressed the button. There on the screen was a man and a woman. Both naked. Both doing an activity Ms. Yellow had described to me once.

     "Uhh..." I said, not really sure about the whole thing.

Eden glanced up from his book. I think it took a second for him to notice exactly what I had stumbled upon, but when he realized what he was looking at he dove for the remote and hurriedly turned the television off.

     "Shit!" he let one of his bad words escape, "They told me the guy who used to own this place was weird, but a...twenty-four hour adult channel?"

     "Is that a bad thing?" I asked.

     "Some would question his priorities. I say I do now. It doesn't really matter though. He moved away years ago. My friends bought this place just in case we ever needed a hideout, but no one has used it before. They just come to keep it clean. Otherwise, everything has been left the same."

     "I see."

Silence.

     "...You...Do you need me to explain that to you?"

     "No. I know what they were doing."

     "Okay then."

I could sense that he was relieved.

Even stuck in that small house with nothing to do, I still managed to accidentally cause another little event. Eden had suggested after the mishap with the television that he read me another story. So we did that. I then took a small nap as I was beginning to feel weird again. Eden and I ate breakfast when I woke up, or I at least downed as much of the microwave meal as I could. Eden finished way before me again, and he said he was going to take a bath. It was about ten minutes or so late when I stood up and realized I really needed to use the bathroom. I wasn't really thinking when I walked in to use the toilet, but I also wasn't really expecting Eden to freak out to the extent that he did. His reaction was a lot like his reaction when I changed the channel. He stared at me for a second before what was happening sunk in.

     "Ethereal! What are you doing?!" he questioned furiously.

     "I have to use the bathroom." I answered simply.

     "I asked you if you had to go before I came in here!"

     "I didn't have to go then."

     "Well, you're going to have to wait! Get out!"

     "But I really have to go!"

     "Too bad!"

     "Why can't I just go to the bathroom? I don't care that you're in here. You told me you were the one who potty-trained me. I remember you even used to bathe me. We took baths together."

     "You were three, four at the oldest! I was wearing swimming trunks! It's completely different!"

He sunk lower in the tub looking really angry.

     "Come on, Eden. It's not that big of a-"

     "GET OUT, Ethereal!"

     "Fine! I'll just go outside."

     "What?! You can't go or go outside!"

     "I have to go!"

Eden clearly wasn't getting my desperation.

     "God da-! Alright! Give me two seconds to get out!"

He ushered me out with a motion of his hand. I closed the door behind me as I left. It really was seconds later when Eden stepped out with a towel wrapped firmly around him. I was allowed to do what I had to do. As soon as I was out, Eden went right back in to continue his bath. He didn't come out until almost an hour later. I watched television in the meantime.

Neither of us mentioned the incident when Eden did get out. He went back to his book. I went back to my show. It was a while later when he got up to do what cleaning he could. I guess I wasn't the only one who was beginning to get really bored. We eventually started chatting and moved away the whole thing. The talking helped to pass the time, but the day dragged on and on. Eden even had to start on a whole new book. It was around dinnertime when I went over to him. I couldn't take it anymore.

     "I really don't feel good." I said quietly.

Eden pressed the back of his hand against my forehead and a few fingers under my chin.

     "Yeah, looks like you've got a bit of a fever now."

     "Do we have any medicine?"

     "We don't," Eden revealed sympathetically, "I don't think medicine would really help with this anyway."

     "Eden, what is that stuff doing to me?"

     "It's not going to hurt you. I promise. It might make you feel unpleasant for a bit, but once it fully settles we can be out of this place and move on with our lives. Kay?"

     "But how much longer is it going to take?" I whined.

     "Hopefully not too much longer."

I moaned a bit- not liking both how I was feeling and how Eden wouldn't give me direct answers. I didn't have the energy to prod anything out of him though. I instead interrupted his reading by snuggling myself up against his chest. He thankfully just laughed at me and pulled me up so I could properly rest against him before he went back to his reading. I laid there trying to fall asleep. When I couldn't do that, I silently thought about how strange my "fever" was. Whenever I've gotten fevers before, my head felt hot while the rest of me felt cold. Now, however, all of me felt hot. My skin was tingling.

I didn't like it.

There was nothing to be done though. Even if Eden had thought it would do any good, there really was no medicine he could give me. The best we could do was have me suck on the ice cubes that we could make in the freezer and dip the one cloth we had in cold water so I could press it against my skin. Eden was in charge of making sure I was always supplied with the ice cubes and water. I took up an almost permanent position on the couch. It wasn't any more comfortable than the bed, but I could watch television from there. I watched everything, except that channel obviously. Eden said he was normally against parking it on the couch and watching television for hours on end, but he figured I was actually learning a lot about the world I would soon be entering for the first time by doing so. I felt like I was learning a lot too. Well, up until when the "fever" grew so bad that my head felt fuzzy all the time. I still watched the shows because they were a distraction. However, I stopped paying attention. The heat grew more intense. The tingling became uncomfortable. Eden gave up trying to convince me to eat seeing as I threw up everything.

It was on our third evening in the house when the "fever" grew unbearable. I had been laying on the bed not doing anything because that was all I could manage. Eden was taking another bath. It wasn't long after he went in when the discomfort turned into real pain. My body felt so hot it seemed like I would explode. Even the touch of the sheets and my dress hurt like pins slowly digging into my skin. I curled up and didn't move. Moving made it all worse. I tried to call for Eden, but my voice couldn't make any noise. I was stuck there like that on my own. There had been one blessed moment where I realized the pain was making me pass out. As it was, that same pain shook me right back to consciousness. The fifteen minutes when Eden was taking his bath dragged on for eternity.

     "Ethereal?" he called in concern when he did get out. He rushed right over to me.

     "It really hurts." I was able to croak out.

     "I bet. You're absolutely burning up." he said as he touched my forehead again.

     "You promised it wouldn't hurt."

I wanted to cry.

     "It won't hurt you...permanently. To be honest, I've never personally seen this stuff be used before. I wasn't aware of how badly it might affect you when it began to activate. This is it activating though. Once you pull through this, it'll all be over."

     "I can't handle this."

     "I know. I was rather worried, and so I thought of something in case the injection prove troublesome." Eden reassured me.

He rushed over to his bag on the corner. I didn't have the strength to open my eyes. There were the sounds of his rustling around before he reappeared by me a minute or so later. I cracked my eyes open then. He had another syringe of sedative.

     "I can't give you too much. That will make you really sick. I'll give you just enough to help you slip under. Then you'll fall asleep and sail easily through the worst of this. When you wake up, we'll be free to leave."

I couldn't nod. I couldn't say anything further. Eden went ahead and gave me that tiny shot. My body, so ready to not hurt anymore, eagerly latched onto it. The sedative worked in seconds just like it had before. I was practically half-unconscious when Eden tucked me under the covers. I was even so out of it that the touch of them bothered me no longer. I exhaled heavily. Eden soon wiped the sweat of my face with a blessedly freezing cold cloth. That was the last thing I remember from that evening for I was swept away seconds later.

My mind was so muddled when I woke up the next morning. I could tell that I had slept through the whole night because I could hear the birds chirping away like they had been the two previous mornings. There was a tree near the window or something. Though I preferred not to have my head stuffed with what felt like thick wool, I was willing to take that over the pain. And Eden had been right. The pain was all gone. I was a bit sweaty from how hot I had been, but the heat was also gone. I kept my eyes closed for a while though as I was exhausted despite having slept so long. I think I would have fallen back asleep if my body hadn't been aching because of that stupid lumpy mattress.

My eyes were so heavy I could barely open them. The way I moved made it feel as if someone else was controlling my body. I sat still for a few seconds trying to get my head to cooperate better. It was really annoying when I was able to open my eyes a bit because I kept seeing flashes of green. I brushed at my skin to make it go away. It didn't. I figured I was more out of than I thought.

Though I was worried I would fall over, I forced myself to stand. That got my blood rushing a bit, so I mostly broke out of my daze. Instead of making the green go away, I only saw more. That was when I realized there wasn't something green on me. I was green! What?! I brushed at my arms again thinking Eden had put something on me as some sort of mean joke, but I was only brushing my skin. My hair fell in front of my eyes. It was green too! The panic was rising rapidly.

     "EDEN!"

Having been sitting on the couch reading again, Eden jumped up to glance over at me. I scrambled into his arms seconds later- almost making him fall over.

     "How do you always manage to wake up without me noticing?"

     "I'm GREEN!"

     "Yes. Yes you are."

     "This is what that stuff was going to do to me?!"

     "Yeah. In order to-"

     "Why didn't you just tell me?!"

I punched his back with my fist as hard as I could.

     "Ow! Hey, come on. Listen, I was afraid you might freak out. A panicked heart rate and stressed mind leading up to the injection activating could have brought on serious consequences- possibly even fatal ones."

     "I wouldn't have freaked out!"

     "I would rather have you angry at me than to have taken the risk."

I hit Eden's back again just to let out my frustration, but I held him even tighter afterwards. I had already been nervous enough about having to face the outside world. Now there was this to deal with!

Eden held me until I calmed down. I was still really angry, but I was willing to listen to what he could tell me.

     "I don't want to be green. How come you changed me?" I asked.

     "There would have been no way to hide you in the normal world with you having remained white. Everyone would have swarmed around you, and The Company would have been on us within days because of all that attention. I would have had to keep you hidden in places like this to have stopped that from happening. How would that have been any better from what your life had been like before?"

     "I suppose that makes sense." I reluctantly agreed, "How on earth did you manage to change my coloring though?"

     "That stuff I used was something I swiped from The Company," Eden began explaining with a wily grin, "Remember, I mentioned before about how they're interested in a variety of things. This means their genetic work went way beyond simply figuring out how to make albino children. They engineered the stuff I gave you. Why they made it, I have no idea. However, they've really been working hard to perfect it. I heard that before it could only change the color of the skin. Now it obviously affects the eyes and the hair as well. That it can change your hair is what amazes me the most."

     "That's great, but am I always going to be green now?" I asked impatiently.

     "No. The color will fade away after about six months if another injection is not taken around that time. I'm hoping by then my friends will have gathered enough evidence to expose The Company, but if they don't you'll have to remain this way. However, don't worry. Any subsequent injections won't be anything like what you've just experienced. You might feel slightly warmer for a few hours, but that should be all."

     "Great," I said with hesitancy, "Is there a reason why you picked green though?"

     "It wasn't really a choice..." Eden spoke so quietly that it made me suspicious again, but he distracted me by revealing something else, "Green just works the best because now we'll be able to disguise you as my little sister."

     "Little sister?"

     "Yup. If I'm to look after you, the others around us need to think we're related by blood. They would get some wrong ideas if they otherwise found out that a completely random man and young girl were living together with no parents or relatives for the girl being in sight."

     "I don't understand what you mean. What 'wrong ideas' would they get?"

     "That is something I would rather not explain." Eden said with a nervous chuckle.

     "Okay. Still, why my brother? Wouldn't it be better if you were my dad?"

     "It wouldn't be surprising to anyone in this day and age if I had had you at eighteen, but having you at eighteen with me never being married would definitely give the others around us an incorrect assumption about my moral character."

     "I still don't get what you mean."

     "Can this be something you just trust me on?"

     "I guess." I shrugged.

     "Thank you very much, dear sister," Eden teased, "Now, I did go ahead and make some more of those microwave meals you love so much. Eat some if you feel up to it. However, we'll be out of here soon and can get something proper then if you'd rather wait."

     "I'd rather wait."

     "Alright. Try to entertain yourself for a bit longer. I have to make a phone call."

Eden pulled out a rectangular thing from his pocket. I knew what he was holding was the thing he had told me about once. It was a cell phone. I pretended not to be listening to hide my curiosity.

     "Hey, U," Eden said when the other person picked up.

I thought "Hey you" was a rather odd way for Eden to address a person.

     "Yeah, it worked fine," he responded when the other person answered, "I'll just wait for your word, and we'll be ready to move out."

Eden glanced at me then as the other person spoke for a long time. I didn't try to hide that I was listening then. I figure that was what made Eden decided to continue the conversation only after locking himself in the bathroom. I tried to eavesdrop, but I couldn't catch a thing.

I attempted to watch more television, but I wasn't interested in anything. My fear had grown too great. I had known for the past several days that I would be entering the outside world soon, but now the moment was actually here. I had seen a decent amount of what it looked like thanks to the television shows, but I knew everything would be incredibly different when I experienced it for myself. I was scared if I would fit in. I knew so little. It would be very easy for me to say something wrong and accidentally reveal everything. Then The Company could find Eden and I at any time. I knew what I would be in for when they found me, but I was even more afraid what they might do to Eden.

I was so unsure about everything that I felt as if my world was still spinning.

Eden didn't help either when he came out of the bathroom and instantly got another syringe of sedative ready.

     "You're not putting me under again!"

     "I don't like doing it. I hate doing it," Eden said he kept preparing the needle anyway, "I will keep doing it though if I have to. Trust me, the less you know about what's going on the better. I can't help you anymore if you know too much. You'll be stuck in the web like I am, and you can never get out again. It's not someplace you want to be."

I sighed. I wanted more answers than he had given me, but when he talked like that how could I press him? I had no option but to continue following him with blind faith. Not that I didn't stop complaining about having to be sedated again. I gave Eden an earful until the injection made me sleepy. He just listened without saying anything. While the sedative started to get its grasp on me, Eden went about gathering up our few things. He then gathered the almost unconscious me up. I tried to stay awake so I could at least see what was outside the house, but in the ten steps it took Eden to reach the door I was already gone.