"'Now what the hell do you suppose is eatin' them two guys?'" Aria read aloud the last line of the book she was reading then she glanced towards the door. She felt anxious now, but when Miss Nate informed her earlier that the results of the tests she underwent three days ago would come out today, she was excited.
She looked down to the old but well-kept book sitting on her lap. It was her father's favorite book and the only thing she has that used to belong to him. She brought it with her most of the time and she read it every time she felt restless. Aria has read it twice ever since Miss Nate came by and helped her in a wheelchair, five hours ago.
She was about to pick it up again when she heard the door slide open. She looked up and saw a man wearing a white coat over a dress shirt and pants walk in. He had a vibrant green aura around him.
"Good afternoon, Miss Selman. I'm Dr. Hugh." The man introduced himself with a hostile tone.
"Good afternoon, Dr. Hugh." Aria greeted the doctor.
"Do you want to see the papers or do you want me to just tell you about it?" He asked as he held up a folder with Aria's name on it.
"Just tell me about it, doctor. I'm sure I would not be able to make sense of most of the stuff in there." Aria admitted even if she found him very rude. She knew that would only waste of time if she tried to read it as she would end up asking Dr. Hugh all about it afterward, and she did not want to ask him afterward. He looked like one of those people who only got their job because of connections. Aria surmised that he must be thinking that he is too good for this job.
"Okay, then." Dr. Hugh started explaining the test results to Ari. "The body of a person who has awakened have specific bodily processes that are faster than that of a normal human because of their heritage. Based on the tests, we determined that your cell regeneration becomes five times faster than usual whenever you sustain an injury. That means that you will heal faster but your body will use up a large amount of energy."
"That's amazing…Oh, that's why my body felt weak when I first woke up." Aria mumbled, finally having another question of hers answered. She did not want to admit it, but this rude doctor in front is actually doing a good job in explaining things to her. Aria decided that she may have judged him too harshly.
"We also found out that you are a first-generation descendant of an underworlder."
Or not.
Aria's eyes rounded with shock. "You've got to be kidding me. Just how is that possible? Both my parents were human."
"Well, the DNA test determined only one of them is." Dr. Hugh turned the folder he was interpreting towards Aria while pointing a page filled with what looked like tables.
Aria glared at Dr. Hugh, but he just shrugged and said, "The data never lies."
"But how is this possible? Aren't underworlders technically spirits? How can they have babies with humans? And why don't I look any different?!" Aria raged. She couldn't get her head around what the doctor said about her. She badly wanted to stand up from the wheelchair she was sitting and slap Dr. Hugh. But since she is still feeling a little weak, she settled on bombarding him with curses in her mind.
Dr. Hugh ignored Aria's outburst, and he answered her questions coolly. "When underworlders take on a physical form, say, that of a human, they imitate the human genetic composition. Since these beings are powerful, the human forms they take on are stronger than the true ones. That is why the offspring they have with normal humans are still humans, only a little stronger and with the underworlder parent's abilities. "
"Holy crap. This is a lot to take in." Aria stopped cursing Dr. Hugh in her mind and resigned herself to the fact that her parents might not have been her real parents after all. Aria felt drained but she was relieved that the conversation with Dr. Hugh is over.
"Thank you, doctor." She said as she reached for the wheels on the side of her wheelchair.
"But Miss Selman," Dr. Hugh stopped her, "I still have one last news."
She let out a long sigh and gritted her teeth. "Okay, doctor, just get on with it."
"You know that the underworlder abilities are so strong that a human body cannot normally contain it, right? So most of the first generation descendants do not awaken their abilities and live as normal humans for the rest of their lives, even if they have underworlder genes. They just pass down their underworlder genes to their offspring and as the underworlder genes passed down to from generation to generation, it becomes weaker making it easier for people to awaken."
"I see where you're going with this, doctor. You mentioned earlier that I was a first generation descendant of some underworlder, right?"
Dr. Hugh nodded. "Yes, you are."
"What does that mean, then?"
"It means that you have awakened very powerful abilities, but it will wear you out if you do not stabilize it to a certain point. This stability I'm talking about quantifies how much your body has gotten used to your power. Based on the tests we performed on you, your body is currently about 1.7% stable. Meaning that your body is not stable. At. All." Dr. Hugh closed the folder and tucked it on his side.
"Based on your age and the strength of your underworlder parent, which we are able to determine through your DNA, it means you have about a week left to live unless you manage to suppress your ability long enough to give your body time to recover and become at least 5% stable."
"Then, what about my sister?"
"Don't worry about her. She's not in danger because you are not related."
"…"
Aria felt numb. She could not even bring herself to be mad at Dr. Hugh for being such an insensitive person. She wheeled herself towards the glass window behind her. She was lost in thought that she did not notice Dr. Hugh leave the room.
**********
Cassandra was excited. A few hours ago, when she visited her sister, Aria informed her that her test results would come out today. Cassandra already has an idea about what her sister's abilities might be, but remembering her sister's excited expression made her smile. The kid has really excited about her abilities. Seeing her sister acting that way made her want to thank whoever made it possible for them to awaken abilities they inherited.
When the lost their parents ten years ago, the 9-year-old Aria stopped smiling. She stopped acting like a kid altogether. She began setting high standards in everything she did and forced herself to achieve them. Aria did reach and surpassed everything she set for herself but it strained her emotionally. It wasn't until a year ago that Aria began to laugh and smile again.
Cassandra slowly made her way towards Aria's room. Today, she was finally allowed to walk and she wanted to surprise Aria.
When she entered the room, she saw Aria, sitting on the wheelchair, gazing at the view outside through the glass window.
"Hey, kiddo!" She called out to but she received no reply. She slowly made her way toward her sister. "Hey, Aria," she called out again when she reached her side but her sister still did not reply.
"Are you okay?" Cassandra asked, wondering why her sister is quiet instead of telling her about the test results she was excited about. She got her answer when Aria finally looked up at her with the same lifeless expression she had years ago.
"No...I'm not. Cassandra, you and I...Nevermind. "
"Aria, it's fine. don't force yourself...please?" she immediately pulled her sister into a tight hug. Tears fell down her face in a steady stream. Even if she did not show it, Cassandra knew that Aria is so much pain. That is why is held on and cried for her.
After quite some time, Cassandra felt her sister put her arms around her. "I'll be alright, sis." Aria whispered, "don't worry about me. Focus on getting well, okay?"
Cassandra did not reply but she tightened her arms around her sister. And they stayed like that for a long time.