The Treatment

Chapter 6

Aaron and David sat on the sofa across from Dr Bellamy. David was rather quiet, he didn't sleep well the night before. Aaron on the other hand was nervous with his foot tapping on the floor.

"Then I found him in the shed. It's the only thing from before the fire." Aaron explained.

Dr Bellamy scribbled in her notebook. "Has he ever done this before?" She asked him.

"I-uh don't think so." Aaron told and looked nervously at his younger brother for confirmation. He just shrugged his shoulders. "Well it's concerning, especially that later that night he had a nightmare."

Dr Bellamy nodded and took a couple more notes, some of these things Aaron had already told her over the phone. "Well we can try to manage the panic attacks." She told them. "I think it might be a side effect of the treatment."

David turned his head toward her, he had been acting strangely since the start of the meeting. "Will it go away?" He asked her directly.

Dr Bellamy smiled at him. "It's nothing to worry about, I'm sure with some techniques it's as manageable as anything else." She told him.

David didn't seem convinced though. "How does the treatment even work?" He asked directly.

"The treatment reverses the age of your cells by about three years." She explained. "While there shouldn't be any impact on your mental health, there may be some issues that existed three years ago, in your case it's a little traumatic. But you may find other things you enjoy, like going to the zoo."

"I always liked the zoo." David dismissed.

"Well maybe there are some other things you liked when you were thirteen." She suggested, trying to get him to open up a little.

"Hardly." David dismissed, his foot started to tap anxiously. "But what would happen if it was more than three years?"

"Similar side effects I suppose, it's not something completely outside the scope of the trial." Dr Bellamy theorised.

"Could it heal other injuries, like it did with my leg?" David asked.

Dr Bellamy smiled a little. "Ten years old is younger than you think it is." She said, seeing right through him. "Everyone would think you belong in middle school."

"What are you two talking about, why would David take it again..." Aaron stopped himself, the answer was obvious. David wanted to reverse the damage done by the fire.

"Think about it Aaron." David growled at him. "It would be like the fire didn't happen. Like I was normal."

"You would be so small." Aaron said and gulped. "Is that what you want, to be ten again?"

"What I want is to look normal. It's three years, not an eternity." David told him. "Why wouldn't I do it?"

"I don't know..." Aaron said and started trying to think of a downside.

"We could do it today." Dr Bellamy interjected.

The two brothers looked at each other. Aaron was concerned, to him it seemed like they were just guinea pigs for Dr Bellamy's experimental treatment. He was starting to wonder if David's history is why she picked him for this trial to begin with. Had she always planned for David to take it again?

"I want to take it." David said firmly.

Aaron sucked in a sharp breath. He thought of everything David would have to go through. Puberty, growing up, not to mention he was a bit hyperactive before the fire even happened. Would that come back too? In the end though it really was David's choice. Despite looking like a newly minted teenager he was sixteen and it really wasn't up to Aaron to get in his way, especially when the benefits of the procedure were so good.