To Kill a Cactus - Dark Matter part 5

Dark Matter part 4: HERE

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A small dark-haired boy was playing in a countryside garden, he had crazy curly hair and bright dark brown eyes looking curiously around. He held old toy cars in his hands and seemed very happy with them. Little dandelion dolls were driving the cars and he talked to himself quietly.

Suddenly he looked up towards the gate, there was a young man standing there, the boy stared at him and smiled as if it was someone he knew.

"Hey, Christopher, how are you?" the man asked and walked in. He seemed on the edge, looked around in all directions making sure he wasn't observed by anyone.

"Good," answered the boy, "do you want to play with me, I have dandelion dolls and cars, these ones are policemen and this one was just speeding..."

"That's great, but I can't play with you today," interrupted the man quickly and pushed the toys away, picking the boy up.

"Where are we going?" he asked as the man started walking out.

"You are ill, your mother asked me to give you an injection," he answered.

"I don't want an injection, I want to play," he started wiggling and tried to jump out of the man's grip.

He didn't listen, just kept dragging him along, so the boy started crying, his sister ran out of the door, she was just a few years older than him, she saw them and ran to the man.

"You're not taking my brother," she yelled and tried to take his brother back, but the man just pushed her away, she fell to the ground. The girl shouted out in pain she had fallen on a sharp rock sticking out from the ground and it cut her elbow. Once she got up the man and his brother were gone.

The man and Christopher were driving away, the boy was still screaming, tears running down his face, but the man couldn't have cared less, he drove to an abandoned science lab, where a couple of nurses helped him carry the boy inside, they strapped him to a hospital bed and the man pulled out a syringe filled with dark black ichor.

"This is going to hurt a bit, but it's for your own good," he said as he injected the boy.

He went silent the moment the needle touched his skin, thin lines started spreading from the injection point outwards.

A woman ran in, she looked at the man enthusiastically and asked: "Did it work?"

"We will test him over a few days, but first response is very good," the man answered with a bright smile on his face.

"Oh, Chris, you are going to make our family so proud," said the woman with pride in her voice, he went to hug the boy, but when he didn't respond in any way, he looked back at the man.

"What's wrong with him?" she asked trying to keep calm.

"This is just the first phase, he needs time to get used to everything that he is experiencing right now. You must understand, once you signed that contract you gave us the right to do as we wish, this boy is no longer your son, he's our test-subject," the man said in a tough manner, then two men grabbed the woman by her arms and escorted her out, she was screaming and looking at her son, she had the same dark brown eyes.

I gasped for air when I got out of the vision and saw another pair of dark brown eyes in front of me. I didn't know what had just happened, but everything Christopher had gone through as a child was in my head, everything he felt, thought, saw and it created a clump in my chest.

"Cristopher?" I whispered

He simply nodded and closed his eyes as if he wanted to unsee what he had just shown me. 

...

To Be Continued