She told me that today we're going to be conducting a very important experiment, one that will decide the future of the program.
I anxiously wait in my room, hugging my knees on the bed. Listening to the muffled footsteps of the staff walking up and down the hall.
The palms of my hands are pruning from the amount of sweat. Every experiment so far has been minimally painful, but something tells me that might change today.
I hear a rush of air come from underneath the door. Someone's entered the building.
I think it might be time.
Suddenly the door opens and one scientist walks in and wheels in some equipment. A cart with some tools, a scale, and a bottle with a strange liquid inside.
She closes the door and picks up a clipboard. She starts to write a few things, eyeing me briefly between writings.
She sets the clipboard down and smiles at me.
"Good morning, Mint. Did you sleep well?"
I shake my head 'no'.
"That's alright, today will be a quick one."
She starts off by getting my heart rate, weight, height, things that she usually measures everyday.
She finishes up her writings on the clipboard and sets it down again.
"We're going to begin, now."
She picks up the bottle of the strange, dark liquid and opens it. She points the bottle toward me.
"Can you please drink all of this?"
I timidly take the bottle from her hands.
Without inspecting it I start to drink. It's bitter, so so bitter. The thick liquid makes me recoil as it saturates my tongue. I only barely manage to finish it before coughing and gagging, a few tears forming around my eyes.
As the bitterness starts to fade from my mouth, there is a slightly sweet after-taste.
"Thank you." She takes the bottle from me.
The lab-coat wearing lady then packs up her cart and begins to roll the equipment out of the room.
I curl back up into bed and close my eyes.
I wonder what it is they had me drink. They've never had any experiments where I had to drink something before. They're usually just mental experiments, puzzles and questions, watching videos, making hard decisions.
The liquid feels cold in my stomach. Like it shouldn't be there.
A dull pain starts to form in my stomach after a few minutes. Whatever it was, I don't think my body likes it.
With my eyes closed I focus on the gentle hum of the AC, and the footsteps growing louder, then quieter.
The rush of air from under the door again, there's more to come.
The door opens again and the scientist lady comes in again, this time with no clipboard.
"Mint, can we have you stand up and come with me?"
I uncurl and get to my feet. The floor is always so cold.
I take her hand and we walk out of the room and into the bright white hallway.
I always hear so many people walking down these halls, yet when I am brought through them, none of them are there.
We walk a few doors down and enter another double-door into another hall. Then another turn, another hall. None of the doors are labeled. Only numbers and codes.
We finally reach a door at the very end of a hallway, a large metal door. The scientist holds a keycard up to the door and it beeps, then begins to slide open, slowly and loudly. The air pressure difference causing a gust of wind that blows my blue gown up.
This is the biggest room I've seen yet. It has to be at least 6 times the size of my room, the tall ceiling adding this ominous feeling to it all. I'm almost too focused on the ceiling and the observation windows high on the walls to notice that another girl and another scientist are standing in the center of the room. As the sound of our footsteps echo across the massive room, I can't take my eyes off of this girl, who seems to be wearing the same gown I have on.
I grip the scientist's hand a bit tighter.
I can't believe it. How... is this possible?
I didn't know other experiments like me existed here. And not only that... Her hair, and her height...
My chest tightens as I notice more things about the other girl. Is she... related to me? Who is she?
The closer we get, the more panicked I become. Clenching my teeth.
We finally reach the center of the room.
Her face is exactly the same as mine, her every detail down to the moles on her arms match mine.
From what I can understand, the other girl is having the same thoughts as me, the same panicked expression on her face.
My eyes meet with the girl identical to me. We alternate between looking at each other's eyes and each other's bodies. The exchange seems to last forever before the other scientist begins.
"Okay Mint," he looks at the girl he's standing next to. She finally looks away from me.
She looks bewilderingly at the scientist next to her.
"Across from you is another subject who is also named Mint. To make things clear, we are nicknaming you Mint C2 and her, Mint T3."
I'm Mint T3...?
I shift my weight uncomfortably on the concrete floor.
She is doing the same.
"You two are exact genetic clones. Of course, you both might think differently, and might even make different decisions. You both are going to be participating in today's test."
We both carry the same concerned expression.
My scientist chimes in after he stops talking.
"The drink we gave you both earlier is going to be all that was needed to begin."
I remember the taste very well.
"We are going to leave you both alone, but if you hear anyone talking over the loudspeaker, please make sure to follow their instructions."
The loudspeaker crackles with the sound of someone picking up and hanging up a desk phone. I look up to notice more shadows filing in shifting back and forth behind the observation windows high on the walls.
The scientists both share whispers between each other, then both walk away from us, back into the large sliding doors we entered from.
Once the doors finally seal shut, there is a silence that seems to permeate the air.
I stand a good 10 feet away from my clone. She's grabbing and rubbing her arms, likely trying to preserve some warmth into the thin cotton gowns we both wear. At this moment I notice she's wearing an orange band around her left arm. I'm guessing that's how they tell us apart.
My stomach starts to churn again, the unease I feel about this whole situation making it worse.
To have lived in this lab for so many years and never known that I was just one of many. To find this out right now... that I'm just disposable. If there's another of me, why keep me? My mind races with these thoughts making it hard to focus on what Mint C2 is doing.
She leans forward slightly and brings her hand to her mouth. It looks as if she's going to say something, but after a few moments, she looks away and then at the ground.
Maybe she's as wracked with emotion as I am. How long has she existed?
I feel a warmth on the back of my neck.
"You're... me." I start.
C2 begins a shaky frown, her eyes looking at the floor.
Her hands nervously fiddle with the ends of her gown.
Between the emotion I'm going through from seeing her and my stomach crying in pain, I manage to stammer, "There's nothing to worry about."
She clenches her teeth and her knees become weak.
"No, n-no... No..." she mutters while shaking her head.
A new pit in my stomach starts to form. Does she know something I don't...?
"A-are you okay?" I ask.
She continues to shake her head.
Too far into her worries, I start to just think on instinct. If it were me, feeling the way she does...
I start to take steps toward her slowly.
She shivers nervously while tears drip from her eyes onto the bare concrete.
"N-n-no..." she stammers.
"You two are exact genetic clones. Of course, you both might think differently, and might even make different decisions. You both are going to be participating in today's test."
We both carry the same concerned expression.
My scientist chimes in after he stops talking.
"The drink we gave you both earlier is going to be all that was needed to begin."
I remember the taste very well.
"We are going to leave you both alone, but if you hear anyone talking over the loudspeaker, please make sure to follow their instructions."
The loudspeaker crackles with the sound of someone picking up and hanging up a desk phone. I look up to notice more shadows filing in shifting back and forth behind the observation windows high on the walls.
The scientists both share whispers between each other, then both walk
away from us, back into the large sliding doors we entered from.
Once the doors finally seal shut, there is a silence that seems to permeate the air.
I stand a good 10 feet away from my clone. She's grabbing and rubbing her arms, likely trying to preserve some warmth into the thin cotton gowns we both wear. At this moment I notice she's wearing an orange band around her left arm. I'm guessing that's how they tell us apart.
My stomach starts to churn again, the unease I feel about this whole situation making it worse.
To have lived in this lab for so many years and never known that I was just one of many. To find this out right now... that I'm just disposable. If there's another of me, why keep me? My mind races with these thoughts making it hard to focus on what Mint C2 is doing.
Mentha Nolana
She leans forward slightly and brings her hand to her mouth. It looks as if she's going to say something, but after a few moments, she looks away and then at the ground.
Maybe she's as wracked with emotion as I am. How long has she existed?
I feel a warmth on the back of my neck.
"You're... me." I start.
C2 begins a shaky frown, her eyes looking at the floor.
Her hands nervously fiddle with the ends of her gown.
Between the emotion I'm going through from seeing her and my stomach crying in pain, I manage to stammer, "There's nothing to worry about."
She clenches her teeth and her knees become weak.
"No, n-no... No..." she mutters while shaking her head.
A new pit in my stomach starts to form. Does she know something I don't...?
"A-are you okay?" I ask.
She continues to shake her head.
Too far into her worries, I start to just think on instinct. If it were me, feeling the way she does...
I start to take steps toward her slowly.
She shivers nervously while tears drip from her eyes onto the bare concrete.
"N-n-no..." she stammers.
I reach my arms out and place them around her, and without protest, she shakily does the same. The tears roll down from her cheeks onto my shoulder.
She smells like nothing.
The frantic thump of her heartbeat reverberates through my chest, through my arms, accompanied with the sound of her sniffling, her choking on words as she tries to communicate.
"Y-you... You" she gasps for breath repeatedly. "You- You can't..."
My first time in a very long time meeting someone my age... and it's another me.
This revelation is causing such a visceral reaction within me, that I can no longer control myself.
I feel myself breaking down...
A sudden and hot wave of pressure underneath the skin on my face, boiling, starts to bring out tears of my own... How could this be happening...? How is this real? How are you real?
She's identical to me, and yet, I feel as if she's a sister I never had.
The other Mint feels so immediately familiar to me that I can't help but feel like I should have been there for her years ago.
I hold her tighter in my arms and she squeezes me right back.
We both drop to our knees without letting go of each other.
We stay connected for a long, long time.
As the flow of my tears begins to slow, and her sniffling and struggles for breath fade, we weakly collapse onto the cold, concrete floor. Both of us are laid on our side, looking at each other's faces.
Our eyes are both red, our faces both red, hair damp with tears and snot, our hospital gowns becoming improvised tissues.
We both stare at the metal ceiling of the test chamber with our shoulders pressed together. And then I remember the taste of the strange liquid again.
The butterflies in my stomach fall into a pit, and the pit delivers a sudden stabbing pain, and I flinch as the pain pulsates repeatedly throughout my abdomen. I curl in further and further with each increasing wave of pain.
The other Mint seems to be suffering from this same reaction. The flinching turns to violent spasms as we both begin to roll around on the floor.
We panickedly reach out for each other's hands and forearms and bring each other closer, coming in for a half-embrace on the concrete floor.
We both continue to curl and uncurl, our legs flailing and tangling together with our pains, mumbling desperate expressions, unable to form words, to make any pleas for help.
It's by far the worst pain, one-hundred times the worst pain I've ever experienced. The tears start to flow again as I try to keep my hold on C2's hand.
I can barely mange opening my eyes through the pain.
The unmistakeable sight of blood on the floor between us.
Our nails have been digging into each other's hands with so much pressure that blood is dripping from them.
Help. Help. Help.
As the spasms of pain roll through our bodies, the only body parts I can control are my hands, though I start to feel numb at my fingertips.
A look at our hands again.
Our nails are digging so far into each other's hands that we now are burrowing our fingers through the skin, through the muscle, to the bone.
The blood continues to flow, a stream into a puddle, we get quick glances at each other's faces through the writhing we experience.
C2... C2... hang in there...
The flesh we dug through... is only the start...
With only the hope of a shaky hug being our only respite, we try to embrace again, but we cough blood into each other's faces.
We plead for our lives as we smear each other's blood all over the concrete. Our other hands fumble for back of each other's necks, in a fight for our lives, malleable flesh, falling off of us,