Spectrum

"Hi, son." He says. The scalpel he's holding is dripping with blood. I scan over Fallyn, she has a cut on her arm, but that's it. "You look shocked."

"Why?" He asks. "What could you possibly be getting from this?"

"Nothing, absolutely nothing. But you must know how hard things have been, with my fame wearing off."

"Wearing off? Have you lost it? You just went out into the public last week for the first time in years."

"You really don't get it, do you? My fame died down years ago, but I told you, and everyone that I got bombarded anytime I went into public."

"Why?" He laughs.

"You're a doctor, a surgeon, for crying out loud, yet you can't figure this out. From the day you came to me with this eye color replacement surgery, I started planning this, and when I came up with that cure, I forgot about it, only momentarily, of course, and then, you announce it and I knew that this was my chance. I saw Fallyn and Lizzie come to sign up and I saw my chance, I knew, if they got the surgery, then I could harvest their brains and eyes, and I would be rich! I would be famous again, everyone would love me again, and not one person would know the truth." He pauses. "But when she opted out of it, I saw my fame and fortune walking away. I thought about just killing her, but what good would that do? She hadn't gotten the surgery. But when I saw Fallyn sign up for it, I saw my chance."

"You aren't making any sense." He says, his voice is tight.

"Oh, Erik, you have to know, some people who got the surgery turned violent and hostile, others didn't. You know why that is?"

"I heard that there were issues, but there's going to be issues with any surgery."

"You're not nearly as smart as you think you are, think about it. I'm the one who brought you the color solution, I'm the one who mixed it and put the finishing touches on it. But no one but me and you knew that. So on some of them, I tampered with the solution, which is what made some of the patients so violent. It can't be reversed, by the way."

"Why did you take Fallyn?" I demand. "What has she got to do with this?"

"When she got her surgery, I gave her the solution I tampered with, well, he gave her the solution I tampered with, but it didn't affect her, not like it affected the others, she was the same, and I wanted to know why. Something must be different with her, something must be special." He turns back to Erik. "And when the radiation sickness hit, and you got sick, I was desperate, so I used the only healthy person I knew trusted me with her life." At that moment, everything goes quiet. "Your mother. You were so young, you believed anything I told you, so when I told you she died from radiation poisoning, you believed me. But she didn't, she was perfectly healthy, she died by my hands. But she saved millions. I did this for us, Erik. For everyone."

"You.. you killed her, for money." He shakes his head.

"Not just for money, for you. You were sick, and so were a bunch of other people. But at the time, I didn't care about those other people. I cared about you. I took healthy cells, healthy blood and bone marrow, and I saved lives."

"You killed an innocent woman, my mother, your wife! I don't care about your reasons. It was wrong. And I'm not going to let you do the same to Fallyn, or Lizzie. You're going to tell me how to fix things or.."

"Or what? You'll kill me? Go ahead, everyone will hate you."

"No, I'm not going to kill you, I'm going to do something much worse, I'm going to tell everyone the truth."

"No one will ever believe you."

"You're right, they wouldn't, except they would."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm recording everything we're saying." I know he's lying, but his father doesn't.

"You wouldn't do that to me, I'm your father. I saved your life."

"You wanna make a bet?"

"Erik, come on. We can be a team. Imagine all the things we could do together. All we have to do is kill the girls, and we'll be free, we can leave the state, we can be famous."

"Save it. I would give up everything I've worked for before I went anywhere with you, now, tell me how to fix things or you can say goodbye to your reputation."

"It's all in my notebook, everything, it's in the cabinet over there." He turns to get it and his father raises the scalpel. He plunges it into his shoulder. Fallyn and I scream. Erik groans in pain and tries to yank it out, but it's too deep. "Did you really think you could trust me? After everything?" He asks, laughing. Erik turns around and shoves his dad against the cabinets.

"Lizze, go! Take Fallyn with you and run!" I yank Fallyn up by her arm and take off. we pound up the steps. I shove Fallyn into an open doorway before going in myself and slamming the door shut. I lock it. I call 911.

"Yes, hi, I'm on the outskirts of town, at the abandoned storm shelters. I need help. My friend is hurt, and another friend of ours could be hurt as well."

"Alright, stay on the phone, we're sending someone out now." We wait for what seems like hours. Finally, I hear sirens. Fallyn and I go back downstairs.

"He confessed to everything." Erik says.

"No! Please, he's lying!"

"No he isn't, we were there." Fallyn says. "And he kidnapped me." They cuff Roger and take Fallyn and Erik to the ambulance waiting nearby.

"Are you hurt?" An officer asks me.

"No, sir. I'm alright."

"Lizzie, find my dad's notes, there should be instructions on how to fix this mess."

"We'll find them for you, don't worry." Another officer says. I hope into the ambulance with Fallyn.

"This is a bit dramatic for a small cut." She says, smiling.

"Precautions, I guess." I whisper. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah. I'll explain everything later."