by Jacob Rayne
Josh went to interrupt Laverick, but the doctor kept on talking. ‘And, this is very important, if Caleb displays any unusually aggressive symptoms, you must call me as soon as possible.’
‘Why?’ Josh said, feeling a chill slide down his spine.
‘Just to be on the safe side,’ Laverick said.
His curt reply worried Josh. He was starting to have doubts about the strange doctor and his unnatural technology.
‘I must be going,’ Laverick said. He quickly shook hands with Josh, gave Marsha a hug then rushed out of the door, Martin in tow.
‘There’s something not quite right about this,’ Josh said. ‘Why would he tell us to call him if there was any aggressive behaviour? I thought we had full control with the remote?’
Marsha shrugged. ‘I’m just glad to have Caleb part of our lives. I’ll take the rest as it comes.’
‘I guess,’ Josh said. He gave her a hug then picked up Caleb. She had a point. It was a miracle just to have Caleb back. He should be grateful. But the doubts gnawed at the back of his mind.
8
The first eighteen months of Caleb’s life flew by. Marsha was busy at home looking after their son, while Josh was working as much overtime as possible in order to manage the mounting bills created by their extraordinary child.
They loved Caleb more each day that passed. Though they had wanted to let him have as natural a life as possible, the temptation of using the device to dial in his routines was too much. The vast majority of the time, the exhausted pair used the device to regulate their son’s needs.
Laverick had kept his promise and had visited them roughly every three weeks, often with a new tip to maximise Caleb’s potential.
Josh had grown to like the strange doctor, but still couldn’t help but find him a little ominous.
Caleb was a happy kid and he clearly enjoyed the love and attention lavished on him by his parents. Home life was perfect.
Until one of Marsha’s friends brought her young son to play with Caleb.
Guy was a similar age to Caleb, but the pair had not met as Cynthia, the child’s mother, had been living in Argentina with her husband. A bitter divorce had led to her moving back to England. She had got in touch with Marsha on Facebook and arranged to meet up.
‘Wow, look at you,’ Marsha smiled, taking in Cynthia’s long, raven hair and slender figure. She felt a little jealous that she hadn’t regained her figure, but was genuinely pleased to see her friend looking so healthy, given her circumstances.
‘Look at you,’ Cynthia beamed. ‘We’re both mothers now, can you believe that?’
‘Yeah, I can.’
‘This is Guy,’ she said, pointing to the dark haired, olive-skinned little boy toddling up the path behind her. Guy gave Marsha an adorable wave as he saw her. He smiled a gap-toothed grin and squealed excitedly.
‘How cute is he?’ Marsha smiled. ‘Caleb is playing inside. Come in, please.’
Cynthia took a quick glance around the house as she came in. ‘Jeez, I wish I had as much time to clean up. The place is spotless, Marsha.’
Marsha smiled.
‘You got a maid or something?’
‘No, it’s kind of a long story. I’ll tell you over coffee.’
‘Oh, he’s gorgeous,’ Cynthia said, looking down on Caleb who was playing with a wooden car park set.
He looked up and smiled at her. Like Guy, he was missing one of his front teeth. ‘Hello,’ he said.
Cynthia was astounded. ‘Guy is still just managing baby noises. And he’s older than Caleb.’
‘I wouldn’t worry,’ Marsha said, feeling like she was somehow cheating on the whole parenting process. ‘I’ll get some coffee on.’
‘Lovely. I’ll have mine black with two sugars.’
‘Same old Cynthia.’
‘Yep.’
Cynthia watched Marsha go into the kitchen, taking another look around to see if the housework had been neglected in any area. ‘How does she find the time?’ she pondered aloud.
Guy was standing by her side when she next looked around. ‘Oh, hi, sweetie. Why don’t you ask Caleb if it’s ok to play with him?’
Guy nodded and walked over to Caleb. He couldn’t articulate the words, but Caleb seemed to understand and patted the rug next to him.
Guy sat down and started pushing one of the cars along the road. Caleb smiled at him for a second then went back to moving his car.
Cynthia watched them play, a grin on her face.
Marsha came in with two steaming mugs of coffee and a plate full of chocolate digestives.
‘You know me so well,’ Cynthia smiled. ‘Look at us, our little boys playing together.’
‘I know. It’s amazing, isn’t it?’
‘Did you have a bad labour?’ Cynthia asked.
The question hit Marsha like an uppercut to the jaw. She debated whether to tell her friend the story and decided to wait for a better opportunity to present itself.
‘Not really,’ Marsha lied. ‘You?’
‘I had the labour from hell.’
I bet it wasn’t as bad as mine, Marsha thought.
‘But it was worth it. I’d go through it a hundred times for Guy.’
‘I know the feeling. Are you ok, then, I mean about the divorce?’
‘Yeah, the fucker cheated on me. He had to go.’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘I’m not. It was the last straw, believe me. At least I got Guy out of it.’
‘He’s gorgeous.’
‘Yeah, looks the spitting double of his father unfortunately.’
‘Shame.’
‘Yeah. Caleb’s a little cutie, mind. He’s the perfect cross between you and Josh.’
‘Everyone says that.’
‘It’s easy to see.’
Caleb turned round at the mention of his name.
‘Keep playing, sweetie, I don’t want you for anything,’ Marsha said.
Caleb turned back to the cars. He handed one to Guy then started making a traffic jam. Guy smiled at him as he took the toy.
‘Another coffee?’ Marsha said, noticing that Cynthia had already drained her cup.
‘I will, thanks. You’re taking your time.’
‘We don’t all have asbestos mouths,’ Marsha teased.
Cynthia laughed. ‘First real laugh I’ve had in a while. I know, I know, I need to get out more.’
‘I’ll fetch you another cup.’
As Marsha got up, Cynthia followed her into the kitchen, leaving the two children playing contentedly on the rug. Cynthia pushed the door most of the way shut.
‘I just wanted a minute with you away from Guy,’ Cynthia said. Tears glimmered in her eyes. ‘I put on a brave face in front of him, but this is killing me,’ she sobbed.
‘Oh, hey,’ Marsha said, hugging her friend against her. ‘You’re better off without the pig.’
‘I know but it hurts like hell.’
Cynthia’s body shook with her sobs.
‘I can’t even imagine what you’re going through, but you have done the right thing. And you’ve got an amazing child out of it.’
‘I know. I just can’t seem to—’
A sudden noise from the front room made them both turn to the kitchen door. There was a second thump. Then a third and fourth in quick succession.
Marsha ran to the door and heaved it open. She gasped when she saw what was going on. A second later, Cynthia screamed as she saw the scene in the front room.
9
Caleb was sat on Guy’s chest, his hands wrapped tightly around his throat, slamming the back of his head into the floor.
Guy was too stunned to even cry out. His eyes were wide with panic and tears and snot ran down his face.
Caleb had a glazed look in his eyes, but his mouth was set in a malevolent grimace. His nostrils were flared like that of a raging bull. He lifted Guy’s head high and slammed it onto the floor so hard that Guy went limp.
Caleb’s thumbs dug into Guy�
��s throat, his hands turning white with the pressure he was exerting. Guy started to go red and his throat gagged as it fought for air. His eyes began to bulge out of their sockets.
Marsha and Cynthia were both too stunned to react for a good couple of seconds.
Guy’s strangled cry shocked both of them out of their inaction.
Cynthia ran to Caleb and started trying to pull his hands from around her son’s throat. Guy convulsed, his eyes almost popping out of their sockets.
Caleb maintained his grip with his right hand but swung his left arm back, bursting Cynthia’s nose with his elbow. She let out a cry that sprayed blood across the back of Caleb’s head. He went back to throttling Guy.
Marsha thought fast and pulled the device out of the gap between the sofa cushions. She flicked the touch screen on and hurriedly searched for the control to reduce Caleb’s aggression.
While she struggled to find it, Caleb drew ever closer to murdering Guy. Thinking fast, she put the device back to the main screen and double-tapped the Z icon.
Caleb collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut and landed facedown on the floor next to Guy.
Cynthia was sobbing against the arm of the chair, blood pouring from the split in her lip.
‘What the hell was happening there?’ Cynthia asked through a mouthful of blood.
‘They must have had an argument,’ Marsha said. She unconsciously hid the device behind her back, not wanting her friend to know that she had a digital child.
Cynthia scrambled to her knees and crawled over to her son who was gagging and retching as he fought for air.
Marsha ran over to him too. Cynthia clamped her mouth to his, leaving smears of blood on his lips, and started giving him mouth to mouth.
Marsha felt guilty as hell about the assault. The thought of what would have happened if Guy had died at the hands of her son struck her like a sledgehammer.
‘Shit, I’m so sorry,’ Marsha said.
Cynthia didn’t hear her, just concentrated on frantically resuscitating her son.
‘Cynthia, he’s already breathing, you don’t need to do that,’ Marsha said.
Cynthia still didn’t respond, so Marsha moved over and grabbed her arm and pulled her away.
‘He’s breathing,’ she said.
Guy’s eyes rolled around as he tried to focus. He saw his mother standing over him with her bleeding lips and he started screaming. Cynthia hugged him hard. Marsha hugged the pair of them, sobbing apologies.
Josh walked in to find them still locked in their embrace. He saw the terrified look on Guy’s face, saw the guilty look on Marsha’s, saw his son spread-eagled on the rug like he’d been pole-axed and started to understand what had happened.
Still he asked the question, just to be on the safe side.
‘We were in the kitchen and heard a thump,’ Cynthia sobbed, still cradling Guy to her chest. ‘We came in and found Caleb slamming Guy’s head into the floor. He was choking him. Guy was purple. Any longer and he would’ve died.’
Josh gave Marsha a grave stare. She stared at the floor.
‘I’m so sorry,’ Josh said, rubbing Guy’s hair.
Cynthia got to her feet, holding Guy against her hip. The poor kid was still crying. ‘I think we’d better go,’ she said. ‘I’ll call you later, Marsha. Nice to meet you, Josh.’
She practically ran out of the house.
‘What the hell happened?’ Josh shouted when he saw that Cynthia’s car had gone from the driveway.
‘I don’t know. They were playing in there, nice as pie, then we came in to find Caleb attacking him.’
‘Not just attacking. Choking,’ Josh said, shaking his head.
Before Marsha could respond, Josh had picked up the phone and dialled the emergency line that Laverick had given them.
The phone rang once before Laverick picked up.
‘Yes, Hank Laverick speaking?’
‘Dr Laverick, Caleb just attacked another kid,’ Josh shouted down the phone. ‘You need to get your ass here and sort this mess out.’
‘Have you adjusted the aggression calibrations?’ Laverick asked. ‘Caleb is at the age where that will start kicking in.’
‘No we haven’t. We want you to come and sort out this mess you’ve created.’
‘I’m afraid I’m rather busy right now, Mr Walker. I can come round this evening. Until then, I suggest you either leave Caleb to sleep or adjust his aggression settings.’
‘That’s not gonna work. He nearly killed the kid. We need you here now.’
‘I can’t make it now. I will be there by six at the latest.’ The line went dead.
‘Motherfucker,’ Josh bellowed, slamming his hand onto the table. He dialled again but the line went dead straight away. ‘He’s left us right in the shit here.’
‘Calm down,’ Marsha screamed. ‘What did he say to do?’
‘Fanny around with the aggression settings.’
Marsha pulled the device out of her pocket and accessed the menu. She typed ‘agg’ in the free search box. The fist symbol came on screen. Marsha tapped it. The slide control was set to the maximum.
‘That’s it,’ she said. ‘The aggression was at the highest level.’
‘This shouldn’t be happening,’ Josh said.
‘I’m reducing it now,’ Marsha said, thumbing the slide control down to within an inch of the bottom of the bar. She clicked the tick icon to confirm.
‘That’s not the point. This shouldn’t have happened. I’m really starting to think this is a bad idea, Marsha.’
‘But it’s our little Caleb.’
‘It’s not really though, is it?’ he sighed.
Marsha ignored him. She concentrated on getting back to the main menu so she could wake Caleb up. She chose a gradual waking pattern. Caleb slowly came round and started screaming and crying as he woke.
Marsha ran in and hugged him.
‘I dreamed I attacked one of my friends,’ Caleb sobbed.
Josh glared at Marsha, shaking his head.
‘It was just a bad dream, darling,’ she said, gently rocking him in her arms until he stopped crying.
Neither of them saw the smug grin on Caleb’s face.
Dr Laverick was taken aback at how furious Josh was when he answered the door. He reckoned he was close to getting punched. Even though a few hours had lapsed, the veins on Josh’s neck remained prominent and his face was still a deep shade of red.
‘The aggression settings sometimes come on suddenly,’ Laverick explained. ‘Usually there should be a warning to let you know the child is coming up to the age where these settings will kick in. Of course, this is mentioned in the manual too.’
‘Don’t you fucking dare try to put the blame onto us for this,’ Josh snapped.
Laverick glanced up at Josh and adjusted his monocle. ‘Mr Walker, I’m not trying to lay the blame at your door.’
‘Good. And you must have had some idea that this would happen, as you said to call you if there were any signs of aggressive behaviours.’
‘Did I?’
‘You’re a terrible liar, Doctor,’ Josh spat. ‘There’s something wrong here, isn’t there?’
‘Not at all. Caleb’s anger kicked in at exactly the right time. Now that we know it is working, we can dial it back, to make sure it doesn’t happen again.’
‘He nearly choked the kid to death, for Christ’s sake.’
Laverick looked a little shocked at this.
‘I want you to take a good look at Caleb. Check his settings and make sure that everything is ok. If it isn’t we want a full refund.’
‘Mr Walker, I’m not in a position to be dishing out refunds willy-nilly. The contract you signed—’
‘I don’t want to hear any more excuses,’ Josh roared.
‘Josh—’
‘Shut up, Marsha. The doctor needs to concentrate while he examines Caleb.’
Laverick shook his head in disgust then went over to Caleb.
‘Sor
ry about the shouting, Caleb,’ he said. ‘I just need to check you over.’
Caleb nodded, his big blue eyes staring up at the doctor.
‘There’s nothing wrong with Caleb, Mr Walker,’ Laverick confirmed half an hour later.
‘Are you sure?’
‘Yes. I see from the history that Caleb’s aggression setting was up at full whack. No wonder this happened.’
‘How were we to know this would happen?’
‘I did tell you to read the manual. The aggression setting should be kept as low as possible unless Caleb is being bullied.’
Josh charged at Laverick and grabbed him by the lapels. ‘I already told you not to even think about blaming us for this.’
‘The blame goes both ways here, Mr Walker,’ Laverick said, snatching Josh’s hands off his lapels with a smooth twisting motion. ‘And if you ever lay a finger on me again I’ll have Caleb taken away from you and put into care.’
‘No,’ Marsha screamed.
‘You wouldn’t dare,’ Josh hissed.
‘Try me,’ Laverick said. ‘Now that Caleb’s settings have been adjusted he will be fine. There is nothing the matter with him. Now, you must excuse me, I have other places I need to be.’
‘I don’t trust him,’ Josh said.
‘Give him a break, he gave us our son back.’
Josh shook his head and went upstairs to bed.
Dr Laverick was true to his word – Caleb was on his best behaviour after the incident with Guy.
Josh and Marsha took a while to get used to the device that controlled Caleb, especially with a whole new range of skills and settings emerging now that he had turned two.
By working to the basic principles of the slides and double-tapping to override, they figured out the controls. They had some fun too, teaching Caleb to speak a number of different languages, to play the guitar and to perform gymnastics.