Science has limits

It was at night, that all were sleeping peacefully in their respective bedroom. Flora eyes closed and holding her pillow as some sort of stuffed toy, was lost, deep inside her dreams. Suddenly she started to frowned instinctively. Something was bothering her. Maybe a bad dream. Smoke started to take place in her bedroom. She started to sniff. The smell was more and more intense. It smelled like burnt. The alarm rang suddenly. Flora opened her eyes, wakening up immediately despite her. She coughed right away, taken by surprise by the big amount of smoke in her bedroom. It was hard to see through it. Going out of her bed, the woman led straight outside of her bedroom. In the hallway, in wasn't better. The smoke was even more heavier. Flora passed through it, hand on her mouth and nose to not inhale too much smoke. Arriving in the hall, she found back the rest of the group.

"The fuck is happening there?!" Shouted out Shawn.

"We need to call the Institut!" Declared Calvin who rushed to the emergency phone. Grabbing it, he composed the number of the Institut. But there was no signal due to the smoke. "Shit..."

"Guys." Declared suddenly Iris before all turned to her. "It's... it's burning..." She said by pointed out to one hallway started to get destroyed by the flames. All widened in horror.

"Let's go outside!" Shouted out Calvin before opening the doors and all left the house. Outside, the group rushed to the gates but they stopped quickly. In the middle of the pathway, flammes all around him, since the trees and flowers were burning, Nolan stood. The boy had a neutral face. His blue eyes were empty. As empty of any soul. Any compassion. Any humanity. Flora noticed a gun in his hand. "N-Nolan..." Stammered Calvin for the very first time. Behind noises afraid the quartet who turned to it. The house got taken by the flames quickly and debris started to fall. The whole place was in flammes and there was no escape right now. All were covered in dust and sweaty due to the hotness. Their bracelets kept shining red. The situation was critical.

"Am I scary?" Questioned suddenly Nolan which incited everyone to turn back to him. The boy raised his blue eyes to them. He got blood on his face. His hands were bleeding too. The quartet didn't understand. What happened for him to be covered in blood? "You know I thought that we could have been friends... But you're so... normal..."

"Nolan." Took back the oldest. "We have to get out of here."

The boy smiled, almost laughing.

"No one get can out of here, she told me." The youngest answered which confused the quartet. "We're all trapped here. I am trapped here. Forever... there's no escape..."

"Fuck it Nolan! Let us go!" Screamed Flora who got struggles to contain her anger.Immediately, the boy's eyes changed to let place to a more terrifying look. He addressed it to the blonde girl who swallowed instinctively.

"Fuck it..." He mumbled. "Yeah, I would love to do that. I would love to say fuck to this damn world. To these damn... people." He spitted out in disgust. "But you guys don't get it... no life's good. While others are mistreated and considered like beasts... Ah, ah... funny... I almost like it now..."

Suddenly, police sirens were heard. All turned to it, except Nolan. The gates opened as Mister Ross, accompanied by two cops rushed to the kids. But they stopped, seeing Nolan in the middle, gun in hand.

"Nolan." Declared the man before the boy turned to him. "Listen to me. Let go of the gun and let them go."

"I don't want to." Answered Nolan simply.

"I... I should have known, Nolan." Took back Ross. "I should have known before. I'm sorry for that. But I can promise you that--"

"Shut up!!" Shouted out Nolan in disgust while raising his gun which provoked a gesture of defense in anyone, all raising their hands as to show that they were not about to do anything to him. "I hate promise!! don't want to hear your apologies!!"

"Nolan. I can help you."

The boy smiled. A smile to the ears.

"Help me? You think that you can help me? But I don't want to be helped. I don't want to... I just want all of this to stop... All of this to burn..."

The fire continued to spread. Despite them, the quartet had to move forward to not get touched by the flammes coming from the house and around. But by doing this they were getting closer to Nolan.

"Just let them go." Took back Ross.

"Why should they have the right to be free and not me?" Asked Nolan more to himself than the rest of the people present. "I wanted to be free... I wanted to live... I liked birds... But then... she started to talk to me... even more... I hated that... But she was there... always there. Everywhere, at any hour of the day. She was suffocating me... and you know what? No one was there for me at that time?!" Said the boy a smile on his face, addressed to Ross. "No one. I was all alone!! Alone like a beast in a cage that we look at like in a zoo!! Am I a beast? Do I need to be trapped forever? Maybe... I don't know... I just... I just wanted to have a normal life... but she thought differently... I had no choice... she gave me no choice..."

"Nolan. I am sorry for what happened. But I promise you that she will pay and that you will get better."

The boy laughed, then more and more and more. It sounded like those psychopath laugh that scared you to the point of making you shiver.

"I don't want to get better... I just want everything to stop." He declared... sadness in his eyes? On those words, Nolan started to point out the gun to hims head. All widened their eyes. "I'm sorry." Declared Nolan to the quartet, a small tear falling on his cheek... Before only the sound of the bullet being triggered was heard. As if time had stopped, only Nolan's body fell on the floor. Eyes opened, the blood was flowing. The boy was not moving anymore. In his eyes, a tear fell down on his face, showing his true emotion. Around, Ross watched Nolan's body, powerless. On their own orders, the cops took the quartet with them. But none could get their eyes off of Nolan. Not even Flora. After a moment, reinforcement arrived on scene. They took care of Nolan's body. Ross continued to fix the boy while a white sheet was put on him. Around, fireman took care of the fire. Ross then looked down. He knew what happened, but wished to have known before. Known before to have reacted before. Leading to the car where the four others were, they were all still under shock.

"Are you okay?" Asked Ross to the others.They all nodded, silent. The man noticed their faces and knew that they needed answers. "Nolan was... he has been abandoned at the age of two." Took back the man before all eyes raised to him. "We didn't know anything about him. Only his date of birth and name written on a bracelet. It was a rainy day and the little boy got left alone in front of the Institut. We decided to take him with us. But while at the beginning we were about to call the child services to take care of him... Lynch saw it differently. She made the papers to become his legal representative." He said before pausing quickly. "At the beginning I though that it was kind, coming from her. But then... Nolan stayed only at the Institut. He had no friends. No other interactions except us and still mostly Lynch. She wanted to watch him... Watch how someone's personality could grow since little. But the more the days were passing the more she... She transformed him... She was so obsessed with those researches. She wanted to discover all types of personalities. All of them. Despite all morals and limits. So... She decided to turn him into a monster... someone with anger and despair in him... He always knew only this in his whole life... since he has a kid... I didn't know... I discovered all of this lately... too late." Paused Ross before looking down. "It's just recently that I understood. He was one of them... I should have known before... Her plan of making him being into this project only to see how your personalities and his were about to react toward each... She was ready to cost a life for those researches... I'm sorry, I should have known before and take you all out of it... I... I..."

Ross didn't know how to finish his sentence. On their side, the quartet stood silent. They understood. Nolan was indeed different, but not because he choose it, because he was forced to be like this. Because all of this has always been what he knew since his childhood. Because this is how people around him wanted him to be.

****

At the Institut and after Ross denounced Lynch, the woman got arrested. As she was taken by two cops, the man stopped in front of her.

"You should be disgusted by yourself." He declared.

"You don't understand, Ross." Answered Lynch, a smile on her face.

"You destroyed this child's life!"

"I gave you an opportunity to research on a rare type of personality!"

"You made him a sociopath!"

"He was an orphan... no one wanted him..."

"Some people could have. If only he had one good choice in his life. Some people would have want him."

"Science has no limits."

"Science has limits. It's called morals." Finished Ross before turning from Lynch. The woman got taken by the police officers. The man watched her leaving, a disgust able to be read on his face. All of this should have never happened. All of this could have been avoided. After this tragic incident, Lynch got convicted by the law and the Institut as all of their schools closed definitively. For the house where the group of five lived, it got condemned. With all of this, the project finally ended.

The End