The Somewhat Short Life of Experiment 15

Caught in the Web

June 17th 

“Pan,” I said as we sat down for dinner. She was elegantly hunched over her bowl raw antelope, shovelling each piece carefully into her mouth. Out of all the meats the Lab offered her, she always chose antelope, at least whenever she could. For a thirteen year old, she could sure eat a lot. There were about five steaks of the stuff all piled on to her plate, the blood oozing out a little each time she bit into it. When she looked at me, her mouth was stained red, her canines dripping animal blood.

“I look like Bat, don’t I?” she said, flashing me a bloody smile. I shuddered, the smell causing my gag reflexes to stir a little. Bat was what we all called a vampire, being part human part vampire bat. He had sharp pointed fangs and eyes like coals. Whenever he ate, he demolished his food, most of it ending up over his face. No one, not even Pan, looked as bad as Bat did. But Pan was on her way to looking like a Bat in training.

“Just a little.” I stuck a fork into my leaf salad that had been drizzled with nectar and forked it delicately into my mouth. We both ate in silence for while, the tense atmosphere between us settling as we did. Being part Black Panther Pan had good senses and was able to detect when people were... off as she called it. She knew I had something to tell her, something I was scared to say. Thankfully, she broke the silence. 

“What is it, May?” she asked, finishing her fourth steak. She looked at me with her tense eyes, scanning my emotions. “You’re hesitating about something, I can sense it.”

Finally, I gave in. I took a deep breath, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to repeat myself if she didn’t hear me. Bracing myself, I choked it out. 

“I’m dying,” I blurted.

But I never got a reply from Pan.

Before she had time to react to my secret, I was swirled out from the dining hall into the corridor and into Taran’s arms. Being part Tarantula meant he had perfected the art of sneaking up on people, like the spider would sneak up on his pray. He only did it as a joke, but I think this time he had got more than he had bargained for. He pushed me against the wall, attracting stares from other experiments, but I didn’t think he cared. “You’re what?!” He shouted desperately at me.

His eyes were red like blood, the colour of anger and in some cases lust, and his spider fangs were out. He was mad, but I knew Taran wasn’t angry enough to hurt me. He would never hurt me.

“I’m dying, Taran,” I whispered hoarsely. “My body is giving up on me.”

“What do you mean you’re dying?”

Both Taran and I turned to see Raffe standing behind us, shaking. His coarse fur was light, a sign that he was either ill or shocked. I was taking it that he was shocked. Maybe even ill because he was shocked.

He scratched his head near his ossicones, his eyes tearing up.

“Raffe, I was going to come and tell you,” I started, my voice wavering. “I didn’t want you to find out like -” 

“No! You’re my bestfriend, May! I can’t lose you!” He shouted, just before running off. I tried to go after him but Taran stopped me. Pulling me back to the wall.

“Leave him be, he needs to take it all in,” Taran told me. “Heck, I still need to take it in.” Taran thumped the wall by my head, before storming off just like Raffe. Not wanting to be left alone, I trailed helplessly after him. 

“Taran, I was going to tell you all today,” I told him, hoping it would be any consolation. He just sighed. We walked in silence for a little while, up four flights of stairs and down numerous of corridors until we finally reached his room. He slipped the door card through the sensor until the door clicked open, and we walked in through the door. The thing with the Lab was that we each had our own space of privacy. Well, that’s what we called it. We each had our own individual room and a card key that registered for each of the sensors, and inside a bed, chest of drawers and a desk. Each of the bedrooms were exactly the same: crystal white with a small square window where you could look out onto the ocean. Both of us sat on Taran’s bed, the space between us maybe a foot or so.