Chapter Six

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.

“Okay, he can do it.” Aaron agreed.

It didn’t take long for David to be back on the bed in the lab. David held the pill in his hand and looked at Aaron. “Even if I look like a twerp, I’ll still be sixteen.” He told his older brother.

“I know.” Aaron confirmed.

David took the pill and layed down on the bed. It wasn’t long until he was sleeping just like last time.

“Let’s go back to my office.” Dr Bellamy suggested.

“Actually, can I watch?” Aaron asked, a little curious and sceptical of the doctor.

Dr Bellamy nodded and let Aaron observe his older brother. For several minutes nothing happened, just David’s breathing raising his chest up and down. Eventually his muscles got a little less defined and he slowly started to shrink. There were twitches in his face occasionally as he slowly lost years of progress.

He rapidly shrunk in height as any sign of puberty disappeared leaving the scarred face of a pre-teen. Aaron’s eyes widened in horror as the scars on his arms and face started to look fresher, as if they just occurred.

“What’s going on!?” Aaron said in a panic.

For once Dr Bellamy wasn’t taking any notes and instead rushed to David’s bedside. “This shouldn’t be happening.” She decided and started to work a heart monitor onto his finger. “It’s reverting the healing he did when he was ten, eleven and twelve.”

Aaron swallowed deeply and went over to the other side of the bed. He saw the twitching on his brother’s face get worse and worse, he was clearly having some kind of nightmare. He slowly watched as the burns on his body got worse. The treatment was slowly coming to a stop. The burns looked only a week old, bright red with bubbled skin, it reminded Aaron of the day he arrived at the hospital, only this time he could see the horrible marks that were hidden by the bandages. “It’s way worse than I thought.” He gasped.

Aaron looked at his brother and could feel tears welling up inside his eyes. He couldn’t help but think how upset and distraught he was going to be when he woke up. “Can’t we do something?” Aaron asked the doctor. “Just give him a little bit more, just a bit!” He was pleading with her. “This isn’t what he wanted!”

Aaron could feel the stream of tears fall off his face and he instinctively went to wipe them away.

Dr Bellamy went over to a fridge and produced a vile and a syringe. Expertly she filled the syringe and looked at Aaron. “Promise me you watch out for him.” She said firmly, no longer having the demeanour of an impartial doctor.

“What is that?” Aaron demanded.

“It’s another dose. It has to be three years at a time, we can’t change that.” She told him and took David’s burned wrist and started to look for a vein.

Aaron was a little stunned but let the doctor work on his brother. “He’ll be like a seven year old.” He said. “He won’t be burned anymore, like it never happened.”

The Doctor stopped and looked at him. “Seven is young.” She insisted. Finally she found a vein. “You’ll need to take care of him, he won’t be able to do a lot of things.”

“I’ll do it.” Aaron agreed, just like before. “I’ll take care of him.”

The doctor nodded. It wasn’t like she had much of a choice, she wasn’t going to let David go through it all over again. She inserted the needle and injected him with a third dose of the treatment.

***
David leaned over the railing of the wolf exhibit wondering what it would be like to be a wolf. He was wearing an oversized hoodie with a pair of blue jeans, his hood was up even though it was summer.

“Hey kid, are you coming for the camp?” A zookeeper asked him.

“Oh, uh, no.” He told her.

“Are you here by yourself?”

“...Yes.” He said. He could tell by the way she looked at his face there was pity. He still had bandages wrapping up the wounds.

“Tell you what, come with me.” She said and let the boy follow her to the camp. David looked around and started sweating. Once he stepped inside he realised he was in his house and the zookeeper was nowhere to be found.

He could smell it again, the fire. This time he wasted no time. He ran up the stairs and rushed into his parent’s room. “MOM, DAD. FIRE!” He shouted at them.

Miraculously they woke up. They scooped him up and rushed him outside. This time rather than it being the middle of the night it was the middle of a Saturday. His brother was standing in the driveway hosing down his bike after riding it through the muddy trails.

“Can I go riding with you?” David asked his teenage brother.

“You’re too little, maybe when you’re older.” He told him.

David was about to protest but got a facefull of water.

***

David’s eyes snapped open and he looked around. Aaron was right beside him and he was looking at him like he was made of glass, like he was going to break. He looked around and saw Dr Bellamy taking notes. “Did it work?” He asked and his hands shot up to his mouth. His voice was high and pitchy.

“David, it didn’t work the way you planned.” Aaron said. His brother, still shocked by his own voice, looked at him. Rather than explain Aaron picked up a handheld mirror he knew he would need for David to understand.

David’s mouth fell open. Looking back at him was a small child. Bushy hair, chubby cheeks. But most importantly not a scar on him. He had effectively been healed but now he was properly a child. David reached up and traced the side of his face where the scar was and felt smooth skin. He smiled a little.

Then he looked at his small hands, turning them over again and again until he eventually looked at Aaron.

“It worked.” He said. He could feel the excitement building up inside him. Feelings he hadn’t felt since the fire. “It worked! It worked! It worked! It worked! IT WORKED! DAD IT WORKED!” He started shouting and stood up on the bed and started jumping. The bottom half of his outfit fell away leaving him in just a long T-Shirt.

Aaron stared at his younger brother in wonder. He had been so worried about what his brother had lost by reducing him to a seven year old he only now understood what he gained. A second chance.