by Allison Goh
Billion rested a hand on Max’s shoulder. Max had been silent throughout his entire heartfelt explanation and he hoped his speech had gotten through to him.
Unfortunately, Max was far from calm. “Get your hands off me!” he shouted at Billion. Max was not ready to hear this. Three years of work down the drain? No, he wanted to believe it was his father and Orion’s fault. He had held his mother up as an angel, someone he had to protect and rescue. Now to hear all these warped lies, he didn’t believe them. No! He couldn’t believe them.
He was so angry he couldn’t breathe. Max couldn’t look at his father. He couldn’t believe his plans had failed, right at the last moment. Turning away so he didn’t need to look at his father, he tried to contain his feelings. He had to be rational, he couldn’t give up now, he still had a mission to complete.
After fighting with what his heart actually wanted to do, that is to punch Orion in the face and walk out of the room, never seeing his father or Orion’s hypocritical faces again, Max’s mind won. He knew he needed to finish this. Turning back to face them, Max squared his shoulders and met his father’s concerned gaze with defiance, “Let me see her. I don’t believe you. Let me see her.”
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The next day, Max found himself experiencing déjà vu. He had been dropped off at an undisclosed location but the building he saw in front of him was almost exactly the same as the one he had discovered his mother in three years ago.
Entering the building, the ivory walls and ceilings enveloped him, giving him goose bumps as he found himself inexplicably familiar with his surroundings. The only difference he could pick up on was that the security systems had an upgrade. There were cameras all around, more guards, and they were all exceedingly unfriendly.
Max found his hands shaking. He was going to meet his mother. She was going to tell him the truth, give him answers and closure, once and for all.
Max followed two guards into a white bedroom, where he saw a woman lying down on the bed.
Startled at their entrance, she sat up. “Who are you? What are you doing here?”
As Max stepped forward to touch her, she flinched in surprise. With a trembling voice, he said, “Mom, it’s me. It’s me, Max…”
Her eyes widened with surprise when she heard him say that. She said, “Max? What happened, what happened to you?”
She motioned for him to sit next to her and he did. “Your father told me some things but I didn’t expect you would go so far. You poor boy…” Kate’s eyes pooled with tears as she looked at the middle-aged man before her, unrecognizable and foreign to her now. She had heard from her husband that Max had gone through great lengths in the hopes of rescuing her but she didn’t know to what extent. She broke down, “I didn’t mean for you to do this. I’m sorry… I don’t know what to say….”
Max held his mother’s hand tightly, his words temporarily leaving him as he embraced this moment where he was finally reunited with his mother again.
Kate said, “At that time, I just wanted to get out. I didn’t tell you the truth… I didn’t know you would do all this… for me… I’m sorry, so sorry son.”
Max looked at his mother, stunned. Was his mother admitting her guilt? What was she even saying? Was his father right all along?
He said, “Is it true? Ren, Paris, my friends? You harmed them? What did you do mom? Tell me!”
Kate looked downcast, “I did some very bad things… I’m sorry… I couldn’t bring myself to tell you… But my only crime was wanting the best for you, your father didn’t understand… he was always weak…”
Max was mortified. His entire belief system had been shaken. He felt sick, sick to the stomach.
Kate clutched her son’s hand, desperate for him to understand. At that time, she just wanted the best for her child. When that greedy man wanted in on the genetic selection project, she had no choice but to allow it but he had gone too far! It was her project anyway, her baby. The others had to be destroyed! Only her son should survive, her son was perfect.
Kate pleaded for her son to understand but when she saw the look of pain in Max’s eyes and his physical recoil when she reached out to touch him, she was devastated.
Pushing aside her hurt feelings, Kate inched closer to Max, “I’m sorry son, please forgive me…”
Before he registered the small metal object in Kate’s hand, Max felt a sharp pain at his side and everything went black.
Epilogue
Max lay in his bed staring at the ceiling. He was recuperating from his facial de-reconstruction surgeries, transforming him back to 23 year old Maximillion Molten. He was becoming exceedingly familiar with his bedroom ceiling now that he had so much free time on his hands.
On the outside, everything seemed wonderful. With Alex Etak’s disappearance, the public’s fear that the Infinity Chip was in fact harmful was unwittingly confirmed. Why else would the CEO skip town?
Shortly after, the government had issued a statement ordering a recall of the Infinity Chip. They were also partnering with OrionWan-Nutrienas to figure out a safe way to remove the Infinity Chip from customers who already had them installed. The Infinity Clinics had also been converted to makeshift shelters where OrionWan-Nutrienas was sponsoring free health check-ups to monitor the Infinity Chip’s effect on existing customers. This had gone a long way in regaining the public’s favour for OrionWan-Nutrienas and their stock price was beginning to show an upward trend.
Further, the Alpha5 had pledged $30 million dollars to a collective fund, aimed to share their knowledge on genetic selection and further scientific research. This information would be used to expand and enhance the existing Genetic Lottery system. This would ensure that future generations of Egalians would benefit from the Alpha5’s genetic selection project and that the technology would move from being held by the rich and powerful to the masses.
On the surface, everything seemed to have been fallen back into their rightful places, but Max knew the truth. Lying on his bed, he thought of the first time he had woken up in his bed like this. His father had gently broken the news to him that his mother had injected him with a sleeping aid which knocked him out, then proceeded to use him as a hostage before escaping the facility where she was kept. They were looking for her now but Kate Molten was proving to be quite the elusive fugitive.
The news didn’t devastate him as much as Billion thought it would. It seemed that Max was slowly coming to terms with the fact that his mother wasn’t the saint he had made her out to be. Billion hoped that his son would recover from the trauma that the past three years had inflicted. Now that he had come clean with the truth, he hoped that Max would understand his choices. His decision to imprison Kate, while harsh, had saved her from a far worse fate. It was the only way he could appease Orion and the others when they discovered her plan to harm the other children. Although the guilt he felt lying to his son that his mother had passed away was unbearable, he had no choice if he wanted to ensure his wife’s safety. Billion knew his son had a lot to digest at the moment and he prayed that his son would one day forgive him for his choices.
Billion planned to ease Max back into Egalian life as soon as he was up to it, even allowing for Max to only have minimum surveillance. He didn’t want to smother his son. He couldn’t risk losing his son again. He would respect his son’s choices, no matter what they were. Billion sighed, there was also the matter of catching his wife, but right now, he was just happy his son was alive and recovering under his roof.
Max didn’t know what to think. He hated his father and the thought that his mother had also betrayed him caused his head to hurt so much, he just didn’t want to think about it. As he observed how smoothly Bill and Orion had handled this entire fiasco, Max snidely thought to himself that indeed, the perks of being born rich and powerful were undeniable. He had just turned the entire city upside down by leaking the news about their genetic selection and releasing the Infinity Chip, but all the damage he had done in the past few months had been so quickly rever
sed, it was almost as if Alex Etak never existed.
He was able to get away scot-free without even moving a muscle. A brand new identity would be arranged for him by his father so he could ‘come back from the dead’ without arousing suspicion. While that was certainly an option, Max wasn’t quite ready to pick himself back up. To jump back into his old life as if nothing had happened seemed hypocritical. He wasn’t even ready to see his friends yet. Ren and Paris had been constantly asking to visit him and he had turned them down each time.
Didn’t everyone claim that time will heal all wounds? Well, he had a lot of time now. He would let himself lie here like this, staring at the ceiling, unthinking. After the mental and emotional rollercoaster of the past few years, Max was tired, so tired. Perhaps, when he felt better, he would open the tiny microchip his mother had put in his pocket right before she knocked him out. But for now, staring at the ceiling, he let his mind wander…
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An excerpt from “ALPHA”
(#2 EGALIA Series)
Any malicious intent toward Ren or the other children stopped at petty jealousy. Kate truly never ever intended to harm any of the children. The truth was that Kate had stumbled upon Orion’s deepest and darkest secret and the key lay in Ren.
Kate watched over Ren and Max on one of their usual playdates.
Both of them were playing a game of tag on the second floor. Their shrieks of delight and noisy footsteps could be heard even from the first floor.
Kate smiled to herself, glad that the two children were having fun. She returned to her computer where she was crafting an important business email.
She stopped typing when she heard a loud wail. She looked up and saw that Ren had tumbled down the stairs. He started to cry loudly.
Kate rushed over, terrified that Ren had been badly hurt.
First she checked his head to see if he was hurt there. Then, she lifted his clothes and checked all over his body for injuries. She heaved a sigh of relief to see that his head wound was superficial although there was some blood. On his body, Ren had sustained several bruises to his arms and legs but thankfully no sign of broken bones.
Kate left the room to get an emergency kit but she made sure to move as fast as possible. She was really worried about Ren.
When she returned, she was shocked to see that in the few minutes that she was gone, Ren had already gotten up and was beginning to totter about as if nothing had happened.
Kate went to Ren’s side. She sat him down, opened her emergency kit and began to examine him.
Kate’s eyes widened in surprise. Ren’s head wound had largely closed up and his bruises had changed colour from reddish looking to purple.
Kate couldn’t believe her eyes. Her immediate reaction was to doubt herself. It was impossible! Perhaps she had seen wrong? She probably over-estimated the extent of Ren’s injuries at first glance.
In the meantime, Max had climbed down the stairs. He tugged on his friend’s arm to join him. Ren stood up and followed Max to the corner where their toys lay.
Kate watched Ren and Max play. Ren looked perfectly happy and she could hear their excited squeals as they watched their holographic car race. It was as if the tumble down the stairs had never happened.
Kate monitored them in silence, pondering.
She pinched herself hard.
She winced. She definitely wasn’t dreaming.
Kate looked down at her arm. A small reddish-brown bruise had started to form. That would probably last a few days, she thought.
Looking at the bruise on her arm and back at Ren again, Kate bit her lower lip nervously. What the heck was going on?
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ALPHA, Book 2 of the EGALIA Series
Read it here now!
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