William spent all his evenings in the library, going through the files he once found in his uncle's house. He was staying at Uncle Ben's home but he was rarely home. Uncle Ben also didn't mind his lateness as he thought that Will was still dealing with the trauma and anything he would say would just upset him more. He already lost his parents and then Uncle Joseph. So, he always gave him space. And he himself was getting weak due to his age. He was 10 years elder to Joseph. William tried to read all the files that were still in the leather satchel from his uncles' home. Nothing made sense to him and there were these redacted files. The only thing he could make out was that there were some scientist working on something big and that was all confidential. That didn't add up quite well. And there was this box with his name on it which didn't open. He tried breaking it, but nothing worked. There wasn't even a key hole to search for a key or likewise. It was just plain wooden box with his name engraved on it but he had no idea how to open it.
It was just another day at school. He always seemed distant at school, though his scores were just a little above average. He was always thinking about that night and the files. He tried to think about something else, but deep inside he knew it was his job to get to the bottom of this. Nearly a year has passed since that night but that night was still fresh in his mind like it all happened just yesterday. He looked very weak and vulnerable. Of course he was. He had battled with some kind of disease that nobody knew what it was all about. His weakness was an opportunity for some guys at school to show their superiority. He was bullied but he never mind them, which was the reason what attracted more attention. Those guys who were bullying wanted attention, which was what school was all about. Will had his mind full with what to do next and what those files were all about.
He was looking at the photo of his parents that was in the diary along with him as a child and was just lost back in time trying to recollect any moments that he could remember when he was a child. That was the only way he distracted himself from the present. It was a magical place in his mind even though he couldn't recollect anything, he just imagined about the happy times. He had gone through a lot and most of that had to do him being unconscious in the hospital bed and he couldn't even recollect that. His imagination of a happy time was his solace among all the chaos in his mind. He was welcomed back to the real world with a smack on his head by the gang of bullies that terrified the half of the school. He wasn't bothered because he knew that nothing good would come if he had stayed there a minute longer. He collected his things and turned back to move.
"What do we have here? Our little will boy along with his parents." "What happened to them, smug? Did they leave you?.... while you cried on the pavement and that old cripple took you in? huh ? " . Will just ignored his comments and tried to take the photo back. But they didn't make it that east for him. The one who looked like the leader of the small gang pushed him back and Will on his back. He was not normal with this. But still he just wanted to get back to his home and sleep. He had been thinking a lot and there were just more and more questions and no answers at all. He was frustrated and this incident was just fueling his frustration. He got up cleaned his dress and again moved forward to take the photo from leader's hands. But another guy just put a leg in the way and he fell again face down. They were testing Will's patience.
"See, guys I don't want to cause any trouble. Just please give me my photo and I will leave quietly", Will said as convincing as possible.
"What? You don't want to cause any trouble? Try me, Try Willy boy. Try". The leader started jumping around tucking he photo in his pocket. "Let see what you got".
"No, I didn't mean that. I just want to go home. That's all. I can't do anything. Just give the photo back". Will said in a pleasing tone.
"Just take it, Willy. Its' just in my pocket", said the leader pushing Will back. Then all the remaining people also surrounded Will and started pushing him in every direction possible. Will's patience ran out. His face turned slowly turned red. He was getting angry.
"What do we have here? See see he is getting angry. I am getting scared. Someone help me, anyone?", the leader started mocking him. Will took a step forward but was met with a leg in the way just like before but he overstepped it, but someone pushed him from behind. Will was unaware of that but the next thing he knew was that the guy who tried to push Will was lying on the ground face down. Another guy tried to fight Will seeing his friend on the ground but that guy was also grounded in a split second. Will just saw him going down but just couldn't make out how that happened. May be he tripped, he thought. It was then two other kids moved from opposite directions to tackle Will and they were also grounded but all Will could remember was that he just blocked. But that was not all, the wooden bench in front of him was also broken in half as if it was struck with a lightening. The leader of the gang couldn't make out what just happened. He looked at Will's eyes. They were blue yet were blazing red with anger. He didn't see Will breaking the wooden bench, but he was the only one standing beside it. Will was feeling a little different, a little bit powerful but he had no idea what was happening. He slowly walked upto the the kid, looked him in his terrified eyes, took the photo out of his pocket and went on his way. The guy never bullied anyone again and never came face to face with Will again.
Wil woke up in the middle of the night lying on the floor beside his bed clutching the photo he took from the guy. He just tried to focus on what had happened that evening in the park. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths and tried to recollect. And he did remember every single moment. In his mind he played the scene at the park again. He stood up and dusted himself off and everything around him became more clear and slowed down in time. He saw the other guys' leg trying to trip him off which he overstepped and then he could hear something moving from his back which in a split second made out that there was another guy trying to push him over again which he realized and escaped and letting him fall on the ground face down due to the loss in momentum. He heard two guys closing on him saying, "What did you do to Jim?" "You are going down", but only that they never said it out loud. Those were their thoughts inside. One guy tried to punch Will which he escaped as a reflex action and moved his leg swiftly on the ground from between the guy's legs that landed him on the ground. When this guy went down, he fell just before the other guy who was coming from Will's behind and he didn't see his friend going down and he accidentally stepped on his friend and lost his momentum and all Will had to do was just give a push from behind and the other guy had no clue how Will got on his back but he was also on the ground face down. And then he walked slowly towards the leader and just looked in his eyes and saw that he was scared, scared to death, for the first time perhaps in his life and Will just took the photo from his pocket and just came back home. Will let out a slight laugh and thought that he was just hallucinating. It must be that meds which he stopped taking since a month.
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Dr. Christopher was vigilant on his work trying to keep his work as discreet as possible because if it falls into the wrong hands then it could be more catastrophic than he could even imagine. A month after he found out that he had eyes on his back, he finally completed the stage II of Elixir. He conducted the normal tests that any scientist would perform. But everything looked normal and there was no change. It didn't make sense. The readings should be different, that was the whole point. He decided to conduct another set of tests which turned out the same result. He thought that may be it was all a huge mistake in the first place and there was nothing great in the Elixir and that the research by Dr. Wilson was all wrong. He was tired and a little frustrated since he felt all these years he had been working secretly for nothing. He was just about to get back to his home when he stumbled on the test result paper which had an extra component which was new. He realized that he was looking at the wrong place all this time. The readings were normal which was the whole point and that ensured that even when it is infused into humans it will not change the state of the body but there was this extra component which will ensure the body's normal functionality and help in averting the infection or creating antibodies whichever was necessary. This unknown component was self sustaining and understands what the body needs and does exactly that. He left for his home leaving everything as it was.
He had taken some samples along with him, two to be exact which were the only remaining from the prototype he created. He had no idea what else it could do. That was another days' problem. He safely put on in a wooden box and engraved it with William's name and locked it up. It had a pattern lock which in time only William will be able to unlock it. He hid the other one safely. Meanwhile, Dr. Cage went through the papers that were spread across Dr. Christopher's table and he also didn't find anything of importance. He took a copy of everything and went into is lab to read them throughly. He went through everything over a hundred times. He was getting furious and with no answers with him he was losing his patience. He took the same to Dr. McCaline who asked him to keep tabs on Dr. Christopher. Dr. McClaine took the papers to his office and went through them slowly and carefully. He knew when he saw it.
Will hasn't gone out of the house in a while. His condition was getting critical each day. The next day when Dr. Christopher was leaving his house he noticed that Will didn't had much time. He had to do whatever was necessary as soon as possible and that time was not on his side this time. He reached his laboratory just in time, but it looked very crowded. Dr. McClaine was standing over the first floor and was directing the people but he didn't notice Dr.Christopher. He tried accessing this lab through his ID card but it didn't open. He knew that something was up. From the glass door he saw that his desk was cleaned and there were people moving all the stuff in boxes. He knew that he was completely made and he had to get out of there. He went through the another door which was at the back of the laboratory. But when he swiped his card, an alert was sent to Dr. McClaine's tablet that Dr. Christopher was in the Laboratory. He sent out the people to bring him back. But he was already out of the facility. Joseph came back to his friend's house which was where William was staying. He was in a hurry. He collected all the work and put it in the bag and decided to make a run for it. Then he saw William. He had to do something about the Elixir. He took it out from his safe and injected it into Will. He prayed to god that it didn't kill him. Will was still asleep and he was weak already. So, when he was normal and was breathing a usual, he didn't panic. And he turned to run away. But he got an alert that those people were already at his actual home and were on their way to this house. He had no way other than to bury everything that he had worked on. He started putting everything in the fire. Will woke up with a mild head ache and peeped through the opening in the door. His uncle caught him staring at him and ran for him. He looked normal and not weak as he looked earlier. He looked more normal and healthy. "It is working and it is fast", he thought in his mind. He hid Will in the secret room below the stairway and returned back to bury the research.
{ To be Continued ... }
The post for the ninth day (H) of the April month is titled Hallucinating under "The Secret Life of Wilson" for April A2Z Challenge .
P.S. : So ? Is anyone even reading this? Or is it just me... reading my own posts. hmph .. *Sigh*
