CHAPTER 4> IT STARTS

“These things are growing rapidly” Roran said, examining the baby. Ever since Roran laid eyes on it yesterday, he’d been upset. Because now I wasn’t just a research partner. I was also a guinea pig. Well, the baby was more like it. I only helped. The baby would look up at me and smile, it was hard to call it a creature. I kept smiling back often, temporarily forgetting what it really was. Some time later, I even started cooing and playing with it. The innocence, the smile, the naïve cries were all too cute! It reminded me of my kindergarten class. Speaking of class, “Hey Roran, mr. Shikhar called and confirmed my position. Both in college and this research.” He just nodded. “Come on Roran” I said, “Why are you still upset? What’s done is done. Just accept it and be happy that you, I mean, we have more samples to work with.” He just shrugged it off. He gave me some files, both physical and digital, regarding the research. It was huge data. I started scanning through it, trying to understand it. But it wasn’t just a day’s work.

We decided to call it day. I went home with the baby. It was my twinticle, so it was attracted to me. When I wasn’t in sight, it cried and cried continuously. Sweet and irritating at the same time. Huh. Roran didn’t even come out to wish me goodbye. I felt like he was still hiding something from me. Well, I was a part of this research now, nothing could be hidden for long. It was such a weary day, I slept instantly on the sofa, only to wake up in a few minutes to hear the baby crying. It was growing fast, but it was still a baby. I bought some baby food and fed it to her. I liked the pace at which this was happening, the ‘creature’ becoming ‘it’ becoming the ‘baby’ becoming ‘her’ now.

Looking at the baby was like taking a ride in the past, like looking into your own eyes. Even though I was exhausted, there was something I’d been meaning to do since the morning. I had some baby photos of myself. I bought them out from the dusty attic and placed it beside the peacefully sleeping baby. The resemblance was obviously high, but it still gave me goosebumps. The exact same eyes, the hair, the little finger statures. Except for one thing. From what my parent’s used to tell me, I was a still sleeper. I didn’t move much while asleep. Sometimes it even scared them! But this baby, well she twisted and turned every five seconds. After a while, it started getting annoying. But it didn’t matter much because soon, I fell asleep. 

I was so excited for the big day that I didn’t even wait for the alarm. Two minutes remained for the alarm to go off and I didn’t mind waking up, which was very very unusual for me. At least today I wouldn’t be late! The first thing I did was check the baby. But where was she? She wasn’t in her bed. So much for not being late. Panic surged right through. What was I going to do now? I rushed through the house shouting “baby, where are you?” I wasn’t sure what to call her, so I went with ‘baby’. As I went in my bedroom, I found it messy. My rooms were never messy. The thought haunted me, did someone search my room looking for the baby? What if that someone kidnapped her?

A few moments later, I heard a gibberish baby talk, followed by a sweet little laugh. I turned around to see my twinticle happily pulling out clothes from the small drawer at the bottom. A wave of relief and a smile spread over my face. “There you are!” I went straight to her and hugged her. “You really like to make a mess don’t you?” I was just relieved no one broke into the house to kidnap her. 

She was a toddler already, crawling and everything. I got ready early and one hour before college time, I reached at Roran’s. “She’s growing up so fast!” Ah! Always wanted to say that. I sounded so much like my mother, I missed her so much. Roran didn’t even smile at my remark. He was expressionless. “Roran…” I started to say when my alarm in my phone rang. College time. Today was my first lecture. “No college for you today” Roran said, “put the alarm off and stay.” This was the first time Roran had spoken. “Why?” I asked, confused. “Shikhar gave you two days off. This twinticle is in its toddler days, it will be very attracted to you.” I hated the way he said ‘it’. “Roran, ‘she’, not ‘it’” I corrected. It was like I was talking to a wall. He continued in the same dead voice, “You cannot teach a class with this thing around. Everything is taken care of. It will stabilize itself in around two days, after which it can stay away from you for some time. Then you can start your college.” That was a bummer.

It was useless talking to Roran, I wasn’t even sure he had ears anymore. He didn’t respond, he didn’t react. All he did was breathe and walk. The bell rang and mr. Shikhar came inside, with a few more people. I assumed this was their research team. “I’ve been meaning to meet you Koyna, and also Koyna 2”, mr. Shikhar said with a warm smile. Two things I immediately registered. Firstly, twinticles were named after their host. And secondly, mr. Shikhar appeared much friendly now. Was he a twinticle too? According to the files I’d seen earlier in the day, I was the fifth person to have a twinticle. And there was no mention of mr. Shikhar having one. My question was answered when I saw him talking strict business with one of his team members. Shikhar kept his personal and professional behaviour different. That wasn’t so freaky compared to my first theory…

After tea and some introductions, we sat in a circle and mr. Shikhar spoke directly to Roran. “Our doctors have created the amoeba like compound very similar to the original one. We must visit there soon.” The rest of the conversation became a blur when my attention shifted to the baby. Koyna 2 was sitting in a corner fidgeting with some toys we recently bought her. I loved soft toys and dolls as a kid, so obviously I bought her some planes and cars. She loved them and I gave myself a smug smile.

Out of nowhere, she stood up and tried to walk towards me. I let out a loud gasp. She fell down and I rushed to pick her up. I loved to see myself as a kid, trying to walk. How many people could see that themselves? I felt like I was the only person enjoying it. The others just started speculating and estimating the time at which she reaches my age. Except for Roran, he just looked terrified. Well, at least he was giving some expression now. It made me believe he was alive.

A few hours later, the discussions ended and Shikhar left with his team. Roran closed the door and I heard tiny footsteps at a faster pace. Koyna 2 was running! She took one of her aeroplanes and ran upstairs. That was fast! I ran after her. She had already reached the terrace. She ran straight to the edge with the plane, and jumped off with it in one hand.

My world stopped for a minute. One second she was right here, running and smiling, the next minute she tried to fly like the plane and landed on the ground, surrounded in her own blood. I couldn’t find my voice, or legs. Somehow still, I gathered myself and ran downstairs. Roran was already by her side, he lifted her and started to bring her inside. I think I could see a part of her brain, her head was in pieces. I was so much in shock that I couldn’t even cry. I didn’t want to literally see myself die. But I did. Roran guessed what I was thinking and spoke, “Don’t worry Koy. She won’t die. They don’t die like this, She’ll be fine in an hour or two”. What the hell did he mean by that?