CHAPTER 5>BEANS SPILLED

I was still too numb from the incident to witness pieces of her head forming themselves. “What do you mean by ‘they don’t die like this’?” I spat at Roran. “There’s something you should know”, Roran spoke, eyes fixed at me. “You are like a little sister to me Koy. I found you after so long and I don’t want to lose you again.” Then he opened his laptop and double clicked on a huge password protected pdf file. “Read section 23” he said, more like ordered. When he said section, I assumed it would be a paragraph or a page. But the ‘section’ turned out to be a story. A big story. I silently wondered if there was a shorter version available. Since there wasn’t, I read, giving extra emphasis to each word.

Subject 3:: Name of subjects: Swann Galvamore and Swann 2

Swann is a modern saint. He strives for humanity and unity. He has won several peace awards and a nobel prize. His twinticle Swann 2 is the complete opposite. He slits people’s throats for money, enjoys every fight and is a murderer of seventy three innocents. He is due to be examined for a psychopath, but turns out he outsmarts everyone.

The rest of the few pages described the difference between the ‘subjects’ and how Swann 2 killed people for fun. It was the second last paragraph which caught my attention.

Swann 2 was on the run. He terrorized every single town in the city. When no one else could get anywhere near him, Swann used his intelligence to draw him out of hiding and the police shot him straight in the heart. Doctors examined him and reported him dead. Swann was devastated after that, believe it or not, because he was too attached to Swann 2. He cried and wept for twenty five minutes, continuing in the ambulance besides the body.

Within an hour, the heart of Swann 2 started to heal on its own. Swann 2 was back on his feet, a smug smile wide on his face. All the researchers were stiff from the shock. Swann’s last words were “I cannot live to see ‘myself’ destroying my fellow beings for one more second” before he used his protection gun on his own brain. The second that Swann’s heart stopped beating, Swann 2 collapsed too, his skin texture like cement, dead for good.

I looked up at Roran, eyes unknowingly filled with terror and panic. “Koy, you’re a nice person, one of the sweetest ones I have ever seen. Which means that this thing, he pointed to the toddler-me, is going to be bad. Very bad. And if it comes to as much as killing her…” he couldn’t complete the sentence, but I knew what he wanted to say, that killing her was only possible if I died.

It took me a moment to process everything. Once I was sure my voice wouldn’t break, I looked at him and said “Roran, it wouldn’t come to that. We’ll think of something if the time comes.” A long pause. “Plus, I’m not a saint. Although I root for world peace, I haven’t really done anything to make it work. We’ll just, we will think of something Roran. We’ll try to control the situations.” Finally the hard look from his face vanished and I got my old Roran back. We half smiled at each other through the sobs which made me feel like I was home.

Within a few minutes, we heard some moans from Koyna 2. I rushed to her side to see her gently opening her eyes. She still lay in a pool of blood, but she was back, alive and healthy. I was so relieved and happy, I picked her up and swayed her from side to side. I think I saw a small smile on Roran’s face too, but it vanished quickly. Atleast, he was somewhat back to normal. We fed her some baby food and she took a nap. The research and long databases of information suddenly became very interesting to me. I wished I could read every word on every file. Unfortunately, after five hours of continuous reading my eyes became weary and I fell asleep right there on the sofa.

When I opened my eyes, sunlight was pouring in. Since I didn’t have my bag of toiletries, I brushed my teeth with my finger and went looking for Koyna 2. I heard mr. H laughing, uhm I think it was H2 because H was rude, arrogant and kept to himself. Obviously, his twinticle was a fun person to be with. Who knew someone could go surfing at the age of 50!? H2 was cool. Anyways, H2 was laughing along with a little kid. I entered his room and found a five year old me trying to reach his head to get a chocolate.

It was still a little funny and spooky at the same time, to see myself as a kid, and growing so fast. Koyna 2 looked like a 5 year old in my old but pretty pink dress.  Roran had taken good care of her supplies. I never asked him how he had my dress, but it sure came in handy today.

“You were not a friendly kid” Roran said suddenly besides me, a hint of a smile playing on his lips. He looked like he was lost on a walk down the memory lane. “I remember your first day to school. Your mother had asked me to come along. You didn’t cry, didn’t laugh, you weren’t even nervous. No one knew how you were feeling. You didn’t make any friends for more than three months! Even as a toddler, it took you a long time to let me play with you.” The things he said were kind of rude, but his playful smile told me he accepted me with my faults and I love him for that. His mood contrast was too much compared to yesterday so I asked him after a wide smile and a few moments of speculation. “What’s up? You seem happier!”

“Because I’ve decided not to give up. Twinticles are human clones after all. If we nurture them well in their growing phase, teach them manners, we could at least try. I am going to do my best with this thing and I’m not going to let it hurt you, or me or anybody else. It’s about time something changes over here. Even if it doesn’t work, we WILL think of something.” Something positive was exactly what I wanted to hear. I gave him a quick hug and went to the kitchen to make coffee. I wished I was awake to hear Koyna 2’s first words. Roran says she said ‘food’ but H2 swears it was ‘dude’. Funny man, H2!

While I was pouring some sugar in the vessel, a sweet voice interrupted, “I want coffee too!” Koyna 2 said, confident that she’ll get what she wants. I loved hearing her voice, and hated turning her down. “I’m sorry Koyna 2, I wish I could give it to you but you’re still too young to ingest caffeine. You can have it tomorrow.” By the pace she was going, I was sure tomorrow she would be a teenager. I resumed back to my work. A tiny detail slipped my head though. Koyna 2 was the opposite of me. Which means that she was not obedient.

She started shouting in a high pitched voice, continuously repeating ‘I want coffee’ so many times that I lost count, along with some hearing too. H, H2 and roran all came running to the kitchen, trying to convince her to stop, but she was so adamant. “Raising her, even for two days is going to be tough” Roran whispered and I nodded in agreement.