Your Own Human

by Arizona Tape

  J awkwardly scratched the back of her head and flipped through her file. “Well… That’s something entirely else. We can only assume this virus triggered something dormant. You went so long without +fluids, your body was craving something. Anything. And I guess that Heather’s blood was the next best thing.”

  I scrunched my nose. “I’ve been drinking plenty of fluids and it does help a little, but sometimes… Sorry, Heather… Sometimes I still get possessed by an unquenchable thirst.”

  My ex nodded thoughtfully as she rubbed her chin. “The blood must have the effect of a drug. You can still some of the hunger with the fluids, but you’ll keep craving her blood. After all, a couple of drops of her blood will give you more energy than any +fluids ever could. This is something we have been examining in a bigger lab, so I’m still waiting on the details on that.”

  I hid my face in my hands as I processed this information. I hoped that enough fluids would keep my hunger at bay, but knowing it could break through at any moment, just scared the hell out of me.

  “But you can cure it, right?” I asked with a small voice.

  A doubtful look appeared on J’s face and she scratched her ear, her tell tale sign more bad news was to follow.

  “Well, here is the thing…

  I held my breath, silently praying for good news. It had to be good news. It just had to be. But I knew it wasn’t.

  “This virus would have been treatable since we have Heather and her antibodies, but unfortunately, the virus has mutated due to your genetic make-up and our bodies resistance.”

  “Which means?”

  “It means… That finding a cure won’t be so easy.”

  “But you will find it, right?” I asked with a small voice. I threw a quick look at Heather who was remarkably quiet. All the colour left her face and I could see the white around her eyes. She was in shock and I couldn’t blame her.

  I knew her well. Apart from J blaming her, she was probably also blaming herself, even though she couldn’t have known.

  “I’m afraid I have more bad news. This virus is smart. And… How do I put this… There has been a cross contamination between you two. The virus started in Heather’s body as something harmless. By having sexual intercourse, it transferred to you. It attacked you and mutated. Then, I’m only guessing now, you two shared bodily fluids again and the mutated virus ended up in Heather’s body. Now, the good news is that the mutated virus is still harmless to her, although I can’t be sure what effects it had on her. But I do know it took on new qualities and further mutated as it got back into your body. So we ‘re dealing with a highly adaptable virus that’s circling between you two and every time you exchange fluids, there is a chance for this virus to become even more and more complex. It’s using the two of you to keep transforming itself. And for some reason, it is only attacking Aria, while Heather is staying perfectly healthy.” J glared at Heather and she cringed.

  I gulped. This was even worse than expected. At least it wasn’t attacking Heather. That was probably the only good thing of this whole ordeal.

  “How long will it take to cure me?” I asked, crossing my fingers. Although I couldn’t remember the last time the gods granted me a wish.

  “It could be years. Or longer… And the virus is strong and it works fast. The decrease in your bodily functions is going down. Fast. Even if we find a way to cure you, I can’t say the damage will be repairable,” J breathed, a soft look in her eyes that I could only describe as pity.

  “You mean I might be stuck with a weakened body for the rest of my life?!” I exclaimed, hoping that wasn’t the case. Our world wasn’t made for weakened bodies. There were no weakened bodies here. That was the best part about our race.

  “Yeah… About that…”

  “What?”

  “Well, your body is working to fight it off. It might just take care of the virus by itself. I doubt your body will allow this virus to completely take your strength and mobility.”

  “But?”

  “But it’s taken a big toll on you. A very big toll, in fact. You’re paying it with your life.”

  I felt a lump form in my throat as I coughed out words I was almost afraid to hear out loud. “Am I dying?”

  J clenched her jaw and her eye twitched. A fiery look appeared in her eyes and she shook her head. “Not on my watch. But that being said, it’s shaving time off of your lifespan.”

  “I’m losing years?”

  She wrinkled her nose, an old habit that she did when she was highly annoyed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Not just years. You’re losing decades… And fast.”

  “Decades? What does that mean for me?” I asked, still not really understanding. I wasn’t dying, but I was still losing years? So how was that different?

  J let out the heaviest sigh I ever heard come from her lips. The sigh was heavier than when her uncle died, or when the funds for her primary research got relocated, or even when I broke up with her.

  Her eyes traveled from Heather to me and from me to Heather again. The previous contempt for her was gone and had made place for compassion. Which could only mean more bad news.

  “I don’t really know how to say this. If we can cure it, you still might be stuck with a weakened body for the rest of your long life. If your body fights harder than the virus, you might keep quite a lot of your normal powers and it won’t cost you too many years. Most likely, your body and virus will work at the same rate. It’ll be able to stop the virus, but not fast enough. You won’t just lose a lot of your strength, you’ll also lose a lot of your life.”

  I growled softly as I listened to my options. None of them were really favourable.

  Heather scowled and chimed in. “What does this mean, exactly?”

  With a pained look, J answered Heather’s question, but I could tell she had to spit the words out with great effort. “Aria is turning human.”

  “What?” Heather bellowed in anger and frustration and I jumped up in surprise.

  J shot her an angry growl. “Sorry, but that’s my professional opinion. All the signs are pointing towards the same conclusion. You’ll probably not die from this virus, but if we don’t find a way to neutralise this quickly, it won’t be long before you’re physically just as weak as a human.”

  I let my head fall in my hands as I let out a long sigh. This could not be happening.

  “Can’t you do something?” I asked, clearing my throat. Hoping I didn’t sound too scared. I couldn’t afford to be scared right now. I needed to pull myself together so I could console Heather.

  She looked so small from here. Her whole frame was jittery and the desperation was clearly visible in her eyes. She seemed spooked, like a deer in headlights. She was softly muttering to herself and wringing her hands as if in a trance.

  I waved my hand in front of Heather, but she didn’t react. She shut off. There was more muttering and I got the sense she was trying to self-soothe, although it didn’t seem to be very effective.

  I decided to give her some space and turned to J again. I needed answer and I needed them now.

  “We haven’t had enough time to study this virus. Anything we give you could trigger it to mutate further or strengthen it. I promise you, I’ll try to figure out something as quickly as I can, but for now… There is nothing I can do,” J spoke, her voice firm and calm. For a moment, it reassured me.

  She turned her back and her head shrunk into her shoulders as she leant on a table. Her hands gripped the workbench so tightly, her knuckles turned white.

  “Nothing!” she yelled, slamming her forehead so hard into the metal table that it left a visible dent.

  “J!” I gasped, running towards her in concern. “Please, don’t do that,” I whispered, prying her hands from the table. I took them between my own, rubbing them to make the pain go away. I urged her to look in my eyes and I carefully touched the reddening spot in the middle of her forehead.

  She flinched away from my touch and took in one deep bre
ath. She straightened her white coat and fixed her frazzled hair. Right under my very eyes, she somehow pulled herself together. I couldn’t help but feel jealous of her perfect self-control.

  She let out one sharp breathe and when she opened her eyes, all hints of fear and weakness gone.

  “I’ll make this right,” she stated firmly, turning her back towards me.

  Chapter 20: Silence

  Heather and I somehow made it home after J dropped that bomb on us. Speechless and restless, we paced. Endless circles around my couch while I pulled the hairs out of my head and Heather bit her nails.

  We tried to get the conversation going, but every time our eyes met, we crawled back. We were just too afraid to say the things worrying us, afraid that saying them would make them real.

  When words were released into the world, out loud into the universe, they suddenly became something. They became real. And we weren’t ready for that.

  But the silence was bearing down on us and it was bearing down on us hard. We were scared. But scared of what exactly? I knew what I was scared of, but Heather seemed just as frightened.

  Was she scared the virus might mutate and attack her? Was she afraid she had contaminated her family? Maybe she feared that this ordeal would expose her human world?

  Or… Was she terrified of losing me…?

  Heather was the first one to break the silence. “Do you hate me?” Her voice trembled as she released her worries into the world, ready for them to become real.

  My heart stopped. From all the things I thought she’d worry about, this one never even crossed my mind. “W-What…? Why, why would I hate you?” I stammered, my brows furrowing in confusion.

  “Because this is all my fault! It’s my fault that you’re sick now. Because of me! If I’d known this could’ve happened, I would’ve nev—”

  “No! Don’t say that,” I interrupted, not wanting to hear words that would hurt me more than anything else. ‘Don’t take us back.’

  “But—”

  I stood up and joined her at the window. It was a foggy day, but then again, it was always a bit foggy. The sun barely came through, it gave the air a weird glow. It seemed windy today. It seemed like a calm day, yet there was a storm raging through my heart. I reached for Heather’s hands and even though she flinched away, I grabbed them tightly. I was sick of the people I cared about flinching around me.

  “No buts. We couldn’t have predicted this would happen. And we can’t go back and undo our journey. We can only accept that this is the outcome and we’ll just have to deal with it.”

  “We…?”

  “Yes, of course, we. You don’t think this is breaking us up, do you?”

  She sniffled, but for the first time since the bad news, a faint smile appeared on her pink lips. “I sincerely hope not.”

  ‘“J is a brilliant scientist. If there’s anyone who can figure it out, it is her. And even if she can’t… Well… Guess I’ll become human. I never planned to become human.”

  Her face fell as I uttered those words and I could see the whirlpool of worries rage through her mind.

  Maybe not the best way to start…

  “I’ve always loved studying humans and their habits. They fascinated me, intrigued me but I never wanted to become like them. Like you—”

  A sadness appeared in her eyes that made me ache to the very core of my being. Damn, I was messing this up.

  My words were hurting her instead of reassuring her. Gently, I cupped her face as I pressed my forehead against hers. I hoped this showed I wasn’t trying to hurt her.

  “But the truth is… Turning human? It doesn’t sound like such a bad fate if it means I get to do it with you,” I confessed, saying things I never thought I would.

  I heard her swallow a lump and she nodded curtly, as a single tear kissed the ground.

  “We’re gonna be okay. I promise you,” I whispered softly. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her in one of the tightest hugs I ever gave her. If my body kept deteriorating, there would come a point in time I would be just as weak as her.

  No. There would come a moment I’d just be as strong as her. And when that happened, I wouldn’t have to worry about accidentally hurting her. For the first time, we would truly be standing on an equal footing. That was not such a bad thing.

  For us to just be two people. Nothing more, nothing less. Just two souls separated at the beginning of time, finally connecting inside the universe of chaos.

  She opened her mouth and I knew she had more worries on her mind. So I just kissed her for reassurance. That was all it was. A kiss soft to silence her worrisome mind.

  And we looked at each other. Two blue eyes looking into one blue and one purple eye, staring like we never saw each other before. In a way, we hadn’t.

  She’d only seen me with purple eyes and I never saw her through a blue one. But by the gods, was she beautiful. She left me speechless. And by her silence, I gathered I did the same for her. Our fears wouldn’t rule what came next. We would decide. Together.

  There was nothing left to say. So we did the one thing there was left to do. I swept her off her feet and carried her to my bedroom. The sheets soft as I entangled with Heather like we never should’ve been apart. In the midst of it all, we found each other.

  Sweet and gentle, but nevertheless urgent and passionate. Almost desperate. In a way, we were both desperate. Desperate to touch each other, to feel each other, to taste each other, to love each other.

  I didn’t know how much time passed. But then again, I never really cared much about time. Time was never of the essence for me, but time had never been an issue before. There was so much time.

  It was the one thing we all had. And the idea of running out of it, was just ridiculous. But yet, with my life disappearing like sand through my fingers, I still didn’t care. I didn’t want to care. Every moment was just so precious, so beautiful it was almost a sin to waste it on worrying about the fleetingness of it.

  It made it even more beautiful. Every moment was so fleeting, so fragile, I couldn’t help but enjoy it. If I didn’t pay attention, that moment would pass without me ever having truly experienced it. It could slip by me and there was no way I could ever get it back. And that just made it… Precious.

  With those thoughts raging through my head as a whirlwind, Heather silenced the storm with a simple kiss that resonated with my core. She found something deep inside of me that purred at her very presence. And like every good adventure, she planted her flag on me.

  We revelled. We revelled in this moment. In each other. And all the noises from the world dampened and eventually disappeared. It was about as silent and quiet as it could get.

  There was just Heather and me. Just us. And for a moment, or for an eternity, we were timeless. Unbound from this world and bound to each other. If it was up to me, I’d stayed here forever. I would’ve.

  But as time did, it passed. And this moment too, passed.

  We came to an end, unsure of how much time had actually gone by. And we didn’t really care. Why would we?

  “We really are gonna be okay… Aren’t we?” Heather murmured, sleepily drawing circles on my upper arm.

  Softly, I planted a kiss on her temple and pulled her closer into me. “We really are.”

  Heather grinned. “You know what?”

  “What?” I hummed, watching how slender fingers drew invisible figures on my skin. She perked up in my arms and pushed a stray lock of hair behind my ear.

  “I like your new eyes. They hold a new glint. It’s almost… Like you found something important. It makes you… It makes you look at peace.”

  I smiled gently. She really did know me. And she hit the nail on the head. “I think I am.”

  She grinned and with twinkling eyes, nestled herself back into me. Lovingly, I wrapped my arm around her as an interesting thought hit me. “I just thought of something funny.”

  “Oh yeah? What’s that” she smiled lazily, hugging me with all he
r warmth.

  I snorted at the irony and kissed her temple. “This time around, I’ll actually be your human.”

  — The end —

  Author's Note

  Thank you for reading this story till the end. I hope you love the way Adrianna and Heather’s story turned out. This is the ending to the series, but I have many other books and stories that you might enjoy. Do have a look!

  If you enjoyed Your Own Human and have a moment to spare, leaving a short review will help me out massively and would be much appreciated.

  Once again, thank you. I hope to see you in my other books.

  Your writer,

  Arizona Tape

  About Arizona Tape

  Arizona Tape is quite a chaotic, young adult that shares her house with a cactus plant and has sleep dates with her bed. She makes up stories in her head all the time like a crazy person and occasionally writes them down too. But only if the mood is right.

  In her spare time, she enjoys discovering new places with her friends, making all kinds of food as she waltzes through her kitchen like a tornado or likes relaxing on her couch with a movie and a cosy blanket.

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