Experimental Child

Haunted by the dark side, Emily emerges from the zombie state she has lived in for the past 20 years. Not wanting to face the reality that is her life, she tuned out from what was going on and lived the life of a perfect wife and mother while running only through the motions, but not connecting to what was happening.

Emily started out like everyone else, until her parents decided she was the experiment being the oldest child. After all, she did not come born with instructions, so it was up to them to take a guess and make all their mistakes on her before subjecting further progeny to harm.

They subjected poor little Emily to a series of tests. They beat her and then comforted her. They insulted her and then praised her. They gave her gifts only to smash them to pieces. If she behave properly, they would punish her. If she misbehaved, they would reward her.

Roped off in a different wing of the mansion, Emily was raised away from her brothers and sisters living the perfect life, the benefit they received from the experimental treatment. Emily was allowed to watch this perfect family through the monitor. She was so sad she could never be a part of it, but had no idea of how to live in a perfect family.

On her 18th birthday, her parents thanked her for her cooperation and kicked her out of the house. After all, she was an adult and had to start acting like one. They were trying to do her a kindness. To show their appreciation, they gave her enough money to take the bus out of town and advised her never to come back and ruin the lives of her perfect siblings.

Out in the world, she ran into all sorts of imperfect people, most of whom were experimental children such as herself. One of the people she met was Brian, an experimental former child who was now a drifter. He had a nice place to stay in a large cardboard box behind a restaurant and invited Emily to live with him until she got on her feet.

Emily fell in love with Brian. She had hoped one day she could build a perfect family with him as she had seen on the monitor growing up. Brian was very thoughtful, fun and attentive with Emily and many times would come close to the line of intimacy with her and then pull away leaving Emily confused. She knew he loved her on some level, but he would never speak of it with her.

A very frustrated Emily went on with her life and moved out the box and took a bus to a new town. While riding on the bus, she discovered a handsome man, John, who was looking her over. Immediately they struck up a conversation and developed a friendship. John did not look like the typical former child she was used to seeing in the alleys and on the streets. He looked like any other normal former child. He dressed and spoke well. He was well mannered and polite. The only thing that raised a question in her mind is his reluctance to say anything about his family.

Emily told him about her experimental child status and a former live-in situation. She mentioned that she still had feelings for Brian, but those feelings were never returned and as much as it hurted her, she needed to move on. Expecting him to dump her because of the revelation, she braced herself for more heartache. Instead, he asked her to marry him and have the perfect family of her dreams.

Emily saw she had very few options going for her. Most non-experimental former children rarely want anything to do with experimental children because they come with issues. She figured either John was an experimental former child who hid his past very well or just a really good person who could look past her status.

They took the bus to the Justice of the Peace and were married. He then took her home to his cave and carried her over the threshold. Seeing they were going in the cave, she knew he was too good to be true and felt a wave of fear of what would happen next.

He plopped her down to the floor and immediately she was surrounded by 20 children. They were hungry and dirty and scared. Together they cried for their new mommy to help them. Emily felt ill-prepared for what was going on and demanded John explain it to her.

John was a rescue worker for experimental children. He would sneak into the homes at night and rescue them and take them to his cave. He felt all children deserved to be treated like a non-experimental child with love and dignity, but he was only a man and they needed a woman's touch, one who could understand their plight.

Emily looked into the faces of all those needy children and did not know how to cope, so she went deep inside herself to remember the images on the monitor of her perfect family and went through the motions to be that perfect wife and mother. She just was unable to feel any of it as being real.

One day, John brought home a new child. It had been 20 years since they were married and she was hoping her days of motherhood would soon be over, but John would not let her quit. He felt it was her honor bound duty because she took the vows and should never escape.

Something about that child looked so familiar, but she could not place it. Emily loved him like her own and unlike the other children that came and went through their home, she made a real connection.

A month later, a team of armed men came to the cave and raided the place. They came for the children. Among the raiders was a familiar face, Brian. He came to rescue his oldest son who was taken away while he slept.

It turns out John had his own ideas of what constituted an experimental child. Any experimental child who dared to have children of their own was by the mere definition an experimental one. How on earth could such people know how to raise a child when they were never really one?

They took the children away and returned them to their parents. Emily was relieved to be free of the burden of forced motherhood, but a bit sad when the officers explained the situation. What John did was a misdemeanor and all he would get was 24 hours in jail. There was not much to stop him from doing it again.

While John was in jail, Emily talked to Brian and they were having fun again like in the old days. She expressed how much she bonded with his son and asked where his mother went. Brian told her she's with the angels now and he has been in and out of relationships, but no one was ever good enough for his son and what he deserved.

Feeling a sense of recurring frustration, she just asked him if he would consider having her be the mother to his child. He was flattered, but said she was not good enough. She was an experimental child and his son deserved at least one normal parent. Besides, she was still married to John and made a vow to stay with him until death. Since they were too young to die of natural causes, he didn't see any way to make it work because he would never marry a murderer.

Brian left later that evening as John was coming out of jail. Emily was sad to see the little boy leave her and vowed never to get hurt again, so she returned to her zombie state of perfection going only through the motions, but not the emotions. John moved their operations to a new town and dug a niche in a big tree for them to raise the new batch of children where they would live the rest of their lives.