Chapter 17: UnDead Girl by Stephen Simpson
Gregory gave a long-suffering sigh. “I may be gay, but
there’s only so much drama I can manage.” He leaned over the table and launched
into his explanation. “Although we were all created somewhere in this
institution, we grew up in very different environments. By now, we all know
about Amelia and her film star parents because she won’t shut up about it.” He
looked in Crystals’ direction. “Crystal grew up on a farm in South Africa with
a mother, father and two brothers.” He moved his gaze to Mya. “Mya grew up in
Mexico with her mother and grandmother, and she has no siblings.” He turned in
his chair to face Cornelius. “Cornelius is from Ireland, which is obvious when
you look at his face and see all those freckles. He grew up with only a
mother.” He swivelled in his chair to face the opposite direction. “Nolan is
from Kenya, and he grew up in an orphanage.” He turned forward, leaning his
elbows on the table. “Julius is from Australia, and he grew up with two dads,
no brothers or sisters.” He sat back in his chair. “I am from Japan and most of
my life I knew I was adopted because I looked nothing like my parents.” He
glanced at the closed double doors and lowered his voice a little. “Eli grew up
in America like Amelia, he had rich parents, but his father had serious anger
issues directed specifically at Eli.”
Julius asked, his Australian drawl was more pronounced, “How
do you know so much?”
Gregory smiled. “I like to talk, and I am very persuasive,
so sometimes even people who are supposed to keep secrets, forget themselves
and tell me everything I want to know.”
Genesis added, “You forgot Finn, who has never left this
place.”
Cornelius said, “That’s kind of sad.”
“Talking
about Finn and Amelia,” Gregory cut in, rolling his eyes. “Those two had an
immediate kinship, but what really brought them together is their shared hatred
of humans.”
Nolan asked, shocked, “I thought the idea behind us living
outside these walls was so that we develop our humanity.”
“That
was the idea, but Finn never left, and Amelia grew up believing normal people
were something to scrape off the bottoms of her designer shoes,” Gregory
explained.
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