[Location: The Millennial, Liam's Apartment Complex]
I decided to come back home after the meeting ended, the sudden responsibilities were too much for me to handle. I took a long hot shower as soon as I arrived and now I was sitting in the living room, zoning out. I actually just moved in a few months ago but I never really had the time to look around since I was busy with work. I looked around and noticed that the interior design wasn't even my taste, it was a traditional Eastern Asian made with a modern twist.
'I guess a history professor would love this', I thought cringing at the reds and oranges around the room. I was in a hurry to move out from my old apartment so I couldn't be bothered to care, as long as I felt comfortable it was fine. But despite the bright colours, the atmosphere seemed gloomier than usual making me feel lonelier than I'd like. It wasn't really helpful that the weather looked like it was about to rain cats and dogs. It was times like these that I couldn't help but miss her.
'Fuck', I frowned rustling my still wet hair, 'You still have my heart'. It's been already eight months since it happened, the accident that is. I found it funny how you could lose something so precious to you so quickly. I met her when I first started work in Recel, she was one of the recent batches made for a secretive project. We were trying to prove that the mind's sub consciousness was able to control others we could just make it strong enough.
She was one of our strongest candidates with an exceptionally high IQ and equally powerful mind. I was put in charge of her ongoing tests but I didn't complain, who would when you were just a junior. Every since then we met almost everyday and funny enough, I had started developing feelings for the man-made being. Maybe that was when things started going wrong...
As the time we spent together got longer, I noticed that she had started showing signs of anxiety and depression. I shrugged off the thought at first, it was impossible for someone like her to have feelings, she wasn't programmed to do that to begin with. But as we progressed further into the tests she started to refuse and rebel, at one point we were forced to postpone the testing because of it. 'She had an overdevelopment', I thought, the emotions from the past coming to devour me again.
Her 'brain' that was programmed to obey started to develop on it's own, creating feelings like anger, fear, sadness and, love. But since it was an 'over' development her brain couldn't handle it, making her go insane. Do you know how it was like to see the one you love go crazy? She was in pain but the only thing that could stop it was painkillers. I tried everything to help her but it was too late, she was already in a bad state when I found out.
She started to hurt herself so I would stay with her and that made me lose contact with my family and a lot of my friends, including Max. The night she had died, I was heading back home after she fell asleep, I was just going to take a quick shower and change. Once I arrived, I noticed that the fire alarms were triggered. My worse nightmare was coming true, she was trying to kill herself.
I ran into her cubicle but it was too late, she was already halfway engulfed by the fire. 'Save me Liam!', her voice still haunted me every night, 'You can't leave me like this!'. 'Stop', I forced myself to open my eyes and face the truth, 'Crystal didn't die because of me'. I was distracted from my thoughts by the sound of my phone ringing, it was Max.
"Yeah?", I answered wiping away the tears that escaped beforehand. "Dude, you home?", he seemed to hesitate before asking more seriously, "Are you crying?". "No", I lied clearing my throat, "Why did you call?". "Oh yeah about that", he quickly switched his tone to the usual fun and carefree one he had, "I have something to give you, the expired chunk of meat gave me some files he wanted you to look at".
I laughed faintly at the hostile behaviour Max had for Blake, "What are they about?". "It's obviously about Hel's background you dolt", I could imagine smirking from the other side of the phone, "And I'm reading them with you". "What if I refused?", I teased trying to annoy him. "I know you won't", he replied coolly, "Oh, and cook me something while you're waiting, I'm starving".
"Ask your girlfriend to do that for you Max", I groaned as I stood up, "Where are you by the way? It sounds like you're outside". "I'm heading back to our complex", he said, "I'll be there in half an hour so just make something simple kay?". "I'm not making anything for you Ma-", I was cut off by the phone call ending, he had hung up on me. 'Bastard', I scowled at the my phone before heading into the kitchen with heavy steps.
"The only thing I'll cook is your ass once you arrive", I muttered under my breath searching through my fridge for ingredients. It was exactly seven when I heard my apartment door open, 'He's never late when food's involved', I rolled my eyes as I plated the food. "Where's the food?", was the first thing he said as he walked into the kitchen, "I smell pasta".
"At least try to pretend you're glad to see me you idiot", I complained but his focus was only on the plate I was holding. 'Patience, Liam', I tried to clam down, 'You must have patience'. I gave him the plate of pasta I was holding and proceeded to scoop another plate for myself. He happily took it and walked towards the living room, sitting on the floor in front of the coffee desk.
"We have dining tables for a reason Max", I said displeased at how he was cluttering my space. 'It's only been ten minutes since he arrived', I signed heavily as I sat next to him, 'Why does it feel like it's been a whole hour'. "I missed your cooking so much man", he smiled brightly before he dived into the food. "Slowly, you'll choke", I got up and grabbed some napkins from the dining room.
"Thanks", he said taking the napkins from me, "You're not eating?". I glanced at the untouched plate of food in front of me, "I don't feel hungry". "You better eat", Max frowned at me, "Or I'm not handing over the files". I couldn't help at the thought of a junior of mine lecturing me, "Okay big guy", I replied sarcastically.
After having our dinner and Max had finished washing the dishes, we sat in the living room talking about what had happened after I left. "After you left I went back to work with the others but there was a Code Blue shortly before I was about to head out", he took out some documents from his bag. "Blake gave me these before he went to check on Hel", Max laid down on the sofa after saying that. "Hel?", I asked concerned, "What happened?".
"The call came from Unit Four and Hel's the only resident there so", Max replied closing his eyes. "Is she okay?", I asked shaking Max to stop him from sleeping. "Of course she is", Max replied, "It's Blake's project we're talking about". 'I hope she's okay', I thought, wondering what could've happened. "I see that someone's worried", Max said smiling, "She's fine, it was just a panic attack". "She has anxiety?", I was constantly being surprised by the amount of information I didn't know about her.
"I guess you can say that", Max signed heavily, "I feel like she's showing signs of overdevelopment". I froze after I heard what he said, the forgotten fear from the past had resurfaced again. 'The papers', I thought as I grabbed the documents from the coffee desk, "Max, come here and help me with these".