Old Secrets

         Asha shifted, her silver blond hair falling across her pale, ivory face. She whimpered in her sleep as her hydration tube snagged on the bed. A little, old lady sat next to her, reading a Home and Garden magazine, glancing at up at every noise. Only one light was on, but the room glowed sharply anyways. A bouquet of roses filled the room with a fresh, flowery scent.
         A knock, and then the door opened. “What kind of knock was that?” the lady piped, “You young people always rushing things. Wait for an answer next time.”
         “Sorry, ma’am. I just came to check on Ms. Linden,” the doctor stated. He looked down as his beeper went off.
         “Her name is Asha, and mine is Melinda, not Ms. Linden and ma’am. Anyways, not much has changed, except she shifts around more often,” Melinda sighed, “Well, hurry up. I can tell you have somewhere to go.”
         “Thank you, ma-, Melinda. Everything looks fine. I’ll be back in an hour or so to check in again.” He practically bolted out the door. Looking out the window, Melinda saw him run down the hall. Wonder what’s got him in such a rush, she thought, hrmph. Young people nowadays. She went back to her magazine, looking up again only when Asha moved.


         Keith ran through the lab doors, and looked around. He jogged to wards the back where a young woman stood hunched over a microscope. “What’s the emergency Kat?” He bent over and took a couple of deep breaths before righting himself. She turned towards Keith, her lab coat swaying as she did so.
         “There’s more than just one thing, but hold on a sec. I still need to finish up,” she said with a stern, yet comforting voice. She turned back to the microscope and scribbled down a couple more notes. Nothing stirred, except the quick intake of breath every so often. “Whoa, this is crazy. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
         “What?!” Keith asked, startled by the sudden break in silence.
         “Okay. As soon as I clocked in, I was given a handful of things to process. Everything went smoothly, until I found this,” she glanced at him and pointed at the microscope. Keith looked through the ocular lens.
         “I don’t see anything unusual.” Kat rolled her eyes at him. “What? I always hated biology.”
         “This blood sample looks like it has three kinds of blood cells,” Kat explained, “Red, White, and a Purplish color.”
         “Isn’t that just the red blood cells without oxygen?”
         “Not exactly,” she sighed. “Red blood cells turn bluish. How did you become a doctor?” She raised an eyebrow, and chuckled. “The purple ones are red blood cells, but they’ve got another layer. This girl’s DNA encodes unusually specialized proteins. I’m guessing it’s a mutation, though I’ve never heard of any thing like it. The proteins act as an extra protection against viruses.”
         “I’ve run a couple of tests. Unorthodox, but informative. I replicated the sample of DNA and introduced a strong form of the flu, bacteria, and the HIV virus to different batches. The extra coating not only protected the cells from infection, it infected the viral agents with its own DNA!”
         “So she’s a living vaccine?” Keith stared off into space, lost in his own thoughts. A vaccine to AIDS? Could it really be?
         “Yes, and no,” Kat replied.
         “What do you mean?” Keith’s eyes could hardly focus, let alone his mind.
“Her body some how accepts this foreign protein, and it probably protects her from most viruses, but it could very well act as it’s own viral agent if introduced to a human without the genetic mutation,” Kat tucked a piece of her hair behind her left ear, revealing her shocking  amethyst eyes.
         “Laymen’s terms, please!” Keith rubbed his temples to ease the pressure of an oncoming headache.
         “Okay! Don’t get your knickers in a twist. In her body, the protein acts as a shield, a very smart shield, but it would more than likely kill anyone who doesn’t have a similar genetic mutation.” Kat struggled with what she wanted to say next, and made little mousey sounds, like she was mumbling to herself.  “It has the potential to cure viral diseases, but it also has the potential to create an epidemic similar to a wide spread Malaria, maybe even worse than that,” Kat shifted from one foot to the other. She looked at Keith her eyes shining with excitement, while her body shivered in fear.  This could change science and medicine forever, she thought in amazement.
         “Is that it?” Keith asked; his headache had come at him with full force. He wasn’t sure he wanted to hear any more. He ran his hands through his hair, it was starting to get greasy. Kat frowned and her eyebrows furrowed.
         “Sorry! I’m not trying to minimize any thing. You said there were two things you wanted to tell me. I just wanted to make sure that was it.” Keith sighed, his shoulders drooped, and his head sagged. “This is just too much information for me right now; I just got through with a double shift. I need sleep, badly.”
         “That was only the first thing, but I guess the other bit’s not as important, just interesting. Go home, take a shower, and get some sleep. I sure wish I could; I still have a million things to do here,” Kat gave him a quick hug and chuckled again, “Shoo!”



         Asha barely opened her eyes and light pierced through the darkness, blinding her until her eyes adjusted. She fidgeted a bit to make herself more comfortable and almost fell back into her fitful dreams.
         “Ahh, finally awake, I see,” Melinda got up and moved to the side of the hospital bed, “You’ve been out for quite some time. Gave me a great scare you did, almost blowing up the house, and making yourself sick.”
         “Grandma Mel?” Asha blinked; her vision was still blurry and the person next to her was standing in front of the light.
         “Darn right it’s Grandma Mel, who’d you think it was?” Melinda huffed, and rolled her shoulders to settle down. “Anyways, I told you as soon as you feel the fire coming to tell me, but no, you didn’t, and look at what happens. You need to go through your training. This can’t happen again. Every one at the hospital is already asking enough questions as it is.”
         “Grandmama, please don’t lecture me right now. Every thing hurts and my head still feels like it’s on fire,” Asha moaned and turned on to her side, trying to ease the aches.
         Melinda put her hands over Asha’s head. They glowed just the slightest bit, and Asha sighed in relief. “Honestly, girl. You deserve the aches and pains, maybe that’ll knock some sense into you,” Melinda huffed again, “You don’t listen to me next time and I won’t turn down the fire in your head. You’ll feel the pain the same as the rest of the stubborn women in our family.”
         Asha closed her eyes; the light still sent sharp jabs through her head every so often, reawakening her headache. Why was her family so cursed? It was bad enough when she hit puberty and first found out about “the family secret”, but ever since she came of age, it’s just been one thing after the other.
         “Our family is not cursed sweetie,” Melinda cooed, dropping her scolding tone and doing what Grandma’s do best, comforting her grandchild. “We were given great gifts, but every gift comes with a price. The large price we pay for our gifts is balanced by the amazing things we can do. It’s the Gods way of holding us responsible for what we are. We are of the strongest line of humans possible. Who could really ask for more?”
         “I don’t want more. I want less. Why did Pandora let her daughter marry Deucalion? Why “gift” us with this?” Asha rambled, barely forming a thought before it tumbled across her lips.
         “No one knows what is going to happen in the future. Even Pandora, with all her god-given gifts, could not have seen the pain caused by her and her daughter’s choices. Sweet heart, even if she could see, I’m sure she would have made the same decisions, for she would have also seen the great beauty of our gifts.” Melinda pulled a chair over as her back wasn’t as strong as it used to be. She shuffled through her tote bag, pulled out a necklace and handed it to Asha.
         “What’s this?” Asha asked as she looked at it. It was beautiful, an opaque opal, set in a light, shiny silver, and hung on an intricately looped chain.
         “It’ll help keep the fire at bay until you’re well enough to leave the hospital,” Melinda laughed, “If only your mother had seen the doctor’s face when I told him your hundred and five temperature was mild.”
         Asha smiled and put on the necklace. Her headache disappeared and her eyes drifted shut. She was asleep again within seconds of her head hitting the pillow.



         The phone rang sharply through Keith’s restless dream, waking him instantly. He answered it.
         “Keith? It’s Kat.”
         Keith rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. “What’s the matter?”
         “The hospital caught on fire. We need your help.” Kat rushed through her words as if the world was coming to an end.
         “I’ll be right there,” Keith hung up and raced to get himself together.



         “Asha!” Melinda shook her until her eyes peeked open. “Oh dear, what a pickle…”
         “Wha-what happened?” Asha looked around. There were black marks all over the walls, the flowers were nothing but ashes, and her smock was charred.
         “A nurse checked in on you when I went to the cafeteria. She must have removed your necklace; she got the worst of it,” Melinda sighed and attempted to smile, “I came back and everyone was in a panic. Running from the fire no doubt. I was so worried; I’m glad you’re okay, but we need to get out of here.”
         “Where are we going?” Asha could hardly keep her eyes open. A heat wave hit her and she almost passed out.
         “Linda’s. She the only one I know that can tame that much power,” Melinda hushed Asha when she tried to respond. “Up on your feet, you can do it. You’ll need to change; your clothes are in the closet.”
         Thankfully, they were left unharmed. Melinda and Asha left in a hurry, though the panic in the hospital masked their departure. Someone bumped into Asha as they went through the front doors. He seemed vaguely familiar.


         Keith pondered his run in with Asha Linden for a moment, but his thoughts were blasted away by the ruckus before him. It was chaos incarnate. Kat bobbed her head up over the onslaught and waved Keith over towards the lab.
         “Tell me what’s going on here,” Keith looked down at Kat.
         “A fire broke out on an upper floor. It spread, flared up, and dissipated. We don’t know what happened; everyone’s just trying to help as many burned patients as possible,” Kat paused and her expression melted. Bawling and babbling, she tried to explain, but failed miserably.
         “Calm down. Kat, look at me,” Keith rubbed her shoulders trying to relax her, “Take a deep breath. Now, what’s wrong?”
         Kat paused for a few seconds; the moment seemed to go on forever. “Reina’s dead. She was found where we think the fire began.”
         Keith stood shocked. Reina. She was such a great friend and a smart nurse to boot. He thought to himself as he jogged to the elevator. I have to see this for myself.



         “Asha, wake up deary,” Melinda turned to the backseat. Asha had drifted between wakefulness and restless sleep the entire trip. “I’m sorry it took so long. I’ve never actually driven all the way here.”
         Asha sat up, a quilted blanket falling off her shoulders. Her eyes were surrounded by dark circles, and her shoulders drooped, exhaustion fully setting in.
         “Stay in the car,” Melinda gave a quick smile, “I’ll send one of Linda’s boys to carry you inside, then you can sleep for as long as you need.”
         “Grandmama?” Asha looked up at her, “You were right, and I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you. I really should have.”
         “It’s not about who’s right, okay sweetie. Everyone makes mistakes, especially in our stubborn family,” Melinda smiled and shined with love.
         Asha smiled back, relieved for the first time in days, and fell back into sleep instantly.



         Keith looked around at the destruction. Something’s not right. Every thing was either charred or effectively destroyed. Tears welled up in the corners of his eyes, and he shook them away. He had to think clearly. He found no evidence of an electrical or chemical fire, and the path of the flames spread out, not up, like normal. I will find out what happened to you Reina. I swear I will.



To Be Continued

Eventually the story will be extended, but I decided to leave it a relatively short story for the purposes of the class. Here’s a bit of the background, Asha is a descendant of Pyrrha and Deucalion (Pandora’s Daughter, and Prometheus’s Son). Each descendant receives a gift or a few in some cases, the most common being fire-starting (the ability to start fires with the mind), others include clairsentience, clairvoyance, and psychokinetics. [This comes from the myth of Prometheus stealing fire from the Gods and giving it to humans, and the myth of Pandora receiving gifts from all the gods.] The stronger the gift, the more painful it is if it’s left uncontrolled, and the higher the risk of insanity or death. They also have slight genetic differences from the most people, including a natural anti-viral agent, and at least a mild form of telepathy (coincides with the unusual MRI scans that Kat looked over, her second bit of information). It’s a race against time to get Asha into training, before her power consumes her and others. Only someone’s looking into a mysterious fire at the hospital, a lead that could bring light to an age-old secret.