3 YEARS LATER

*Tiffany Cadwell's POV*:

Using my workplace identification card, I clocked in to my shift at exactly 8am.

I had the biggest smile on my face as I looked at the calendar next to the punch-in machine. It was friday, September 17th, 2027.

My heels clicked down the hall, approaching the front desk of The Heights high-rise apartments, near the main doors.

Luckily my job consisted of sitting down and answering phone calls, scheduling tours and meetings, and filing documents into the computer. It wasn't as hard as the leasing consultants. I was just a receptionist.

My panty hose rubbed against my pale skin. It itched a little, so I stopped in my tracks to scratch. Wearing them was definitely going to take some getting use to.

I checked to see if my lemonade packets were still in my purse. Sure enough, they were.

I sighed as I placed my stuff down.

"Hey Tiff", a coworker squealed as they hugged me tightly from behind, rocking side to side. My neck-length, wavy, brunette hair swung over my face, preventing me from seeing. "Happy one year anniversary with the company! I remember when you first started."

"Thank you, but can you let go? I can't breathe", I grunted with a chuckle.

Letting go, I took a good look at her.

It was my coworker, receptionist Roshni Viswanathan.

She was dressed business casual like the rest of us. She had on khaki pants with a pink, V-neck blouse and pink ballet flats. Her thick, long black hair was tied into a high bun.

She was of Indian descent, Tamil to be exact. Her chocolate brown skin was beautiful, and her smile could light up the room.

"Sorry, I just miss my work bestie. I had to take a vacation to get away from all of this political mess. It was messing with my mental health", Roshni pouted, furrowing her thick eyebrows.

"Trust me, I won't be here that long either", I sighed. "I got big plans."

There was an awkward silence. Nothing but the tapping of keyboards and distant phones ringing filled it.

"So, you gonna tell me what they are?", she giggled.

"Nah, you know what they say, if you share your goals you are less likely to achieve them."

"Come onnnnnn", she begged, shaking my shoulders.

"No Roshni", I chuckled, shaking my head as I sat down near my computer.

This I couldn't share. It would ruin everything. It's better if she doesn't know.

Thankfully, there were no phone calls as of yet. I was happy today, but not in the mood for the customers.

After clicking onto google, I saw a news article under the logo that caught my attention.

"Countries leaving the World Government in droves. How did this start?"

I clicked on it and began to read.

"Three years ago, tensions began to grow after a video surfaces of an anonymous person taking a secret video of W.L John Victran at a prison. In the video, it shows John Victran taunting a group of experimented adults, one of them being Shimizu Hada (while at gunpoint) and confessing that he killed Shimizu's mother for trying to reveal his secrets. He also admitted to helping release UF-37 to the world to "lower the population" and that the United Nations played a part in using mass media to manipulate the world into thinking the experimented were the problem for years, just to have an excuse to get rid of a great portion of the world's population. UF-37 is the reason for the death of 4 billion people in the span of almost five years. Many have lost family, friends, and even put into medical debt trying to prevent obtaining and spreading this disease. The public rightfully became outraged and protest arose across the world. Signs were held saying "step down John Victran", "no more world government", "we were wrong about the experimented", and "they are human too". Countries left the world government in droves, refusing to associate with the UN and the US, which is the home country of the World Leader. The US is even threatened with war from China, England and South Korea. So far, protests and riots have been taking place in every major city in the world, especially near the two headquarters of John Victran: One in New York City, and the other here in San Francisc-''

I looked up towards the main doors ten feet in front of our desk, after I heard a growing commotion.

Many protesters were approaching the front entrance of the building with signs and angry shouts.

Policemen went outside of the building, standing in front the main doors to make sure no one tries to enter.

"You know it's getting bad when the corrupted World Leader had to hire pigs to protect a place he lives at, as if they will be able to stop a large crowd of protesters rightfully protesting", Roshni ranted with an eye roll.

"Last week, one of them threw a rock through the glass window", I explained, sighing as my eyes went back to the screen. "I hate living in a world full of chaos. And yet, how can I blame them for being angry."

"When will these people learn stopping traffic and preventing people from getting to their place of work doesn't get them anywhere?", an elder coworker ranted while printing out documents. "People are mad about John Victran killing some guy's mother, but didn't the guy tried to kill him plenty of times before?"

"John Victran killed Shimizu's mother eight years ago, when he was what? A teenager? So if you really wanna be honest, Victran started it. Not only that but he helped kill billions of people by unleashing UF-37 out into the world. That dude is disgusting, and everyone else he works with is too. It's already bad enough we have to suffer by having him stay here, why don't they just evict him or even arrest him?! Hell, execute him! He needs to die!"

The other coworkers went silent. Some typed away on their computer, others were like statues, watching us with piles of paper in their hands. They knew she was right about him, it's just that they weren't used to siding with an experimental and the experimented. Doing that means you sympathized with them, which meant you were a freak like them.

Suddenly, a nearby phone rung, causing us to jump.

"I-I'll answer it", I awkwardly smiled, scooting the chair over to the phone. It was a resident. I picked up the phone and placed it to my ear.

"Hi! Front desk, Tiffany speaking!", I said in a fake uppity voice.

"Tiffany, hi! It's John."

I turned to look at Roshni and my other coworkers. They went about doing their job, changing the subject to something completely different near the printer.

"Yes? Do you need something?", I said with a smile, brushing my hands through my hair.

"I, I need you. Come up to my suite. I want to talk to you about something."

I went silent. This was it. This was what I was waiting for.

"I'll be right there", I said to the phone with a slight whisper before hanging up.

"Hey Tiff, who was that on the phone?", Roshni asked, sitting back in her chair as she looked at me.

"A resident was complaining about the ruckus outside, nothing else", I shrugged, telling a lie with a straight face. Flopping my hands on the desk, I stood up. "I'm gonna head to the cafeteria and get some coffee, maybe even a bite to eat."

"Okay, I'll cover for you," Roshni smiled.

Leaving my desk, I grabbed my purse and silently walked towards the elevators down the hall.

Pressing the button to the top floor, I stood in the elevator, a small smile slowly forming on my face, I sighed as I made sure all of my things were in my purse, making sure nothing was forgotten downstairs.

The door opened and I walked down the halls, making no eye contact with those walking past.

I made it down the end of the hall to suite 745.

I knocked three times, with my other hand clenching the handle of my purse.

Opening the door, there he was. John Victran. He stood there with a cup of wine in one hand. He had on casual attire, a black polo shirt and dark blue jeans with black sandals. His hair was shaggy, and his eyes were a bit punk. He clearly didn't get much sleep.

"Tiffany", he smiled.

"John", I said back, raising my eyebrows. "Can I come in?"

"Yes, yes", he nodded, opening the door wider.

Going in, I sat down onto his red couch, crossing my legs and arms. He flopped down next to me after drinking the rest of his wine.

I sighed, turning to him.

"Look, we can't keep meeting like this in private. Eventually people will know, and then imagine the scandal? You're already in a lot of trouble", I confessed with a frown.

"Tiffany, the public wants me either arrested for life or dead. People are calling for the death penalty on me. I'm due for trial tomorrow. I understand if this is tiring for you but please-"

He held my hands.

"Stick buy me, and let's run and go into hiding. We can go someplace place rural and far, a place they never would've thought of finding us. We will change our identities and disappear. We will change our hair colors, IDs, eye colors, and all, just to not be recognizable anymore."

"Not be recognizable huh?", I asked, batting my lashes at him.

"Yes", he responded before kissing my hands. "I met you a year ago, on your first day of work here and I've been hooked on you ever since. You are the only normal thing in my messed up, crazy world. And once we are away, we can date in peace, and-"

John began to touch my thigh.

"We can finally become one."

I stayed silent for a minute. I wasn't ready to have sex with him or make our relationship official.

Running off with him would be a risky decision, and something that could get even I in trouble with the law. Plus, I have goals and things I wanna do in life.

I sighed.

"We need to sip on this before we decide on anything. Here, I brought your favorite: pink lemonade."

I took a pink lemonade packet for him, and regular lemonade packet for me out of my purse, along with two water bottles.

We poured it into our bottles and shook it.

I needed to have this thought over a drink. There was no way I was ready to ditch my life to go hide to lord knows where.

"I know I'm asking for a lot out of you. But think about it this way: if you come with me, we will go to a place far from politics, far from judgment. We will start our own family, have no societal expectations, and most importantly, no experimentals."

I paused, and stared at him deeply at him. I continued to drink the lemonade as he followed suit with his.

He exhaled, refreshed by its taste.

"Experimentals are no where to be seen or heard from again and that's just how I like it. The world doesn't have to worry about them anymore. Once I can convince the world I'm not the problem and it was them, then maybe we can fix all of this. But it will be hard because-

"Because a person leaked a video from three years ago with you at a prison confessing to Shimizu and everyone else that you killed his mom and helped to start a virus that killed a good portion of the world's population", I interpreted, slamming my bottle down to the table, small puddles of yellow liquid spilled from the force.

John began to cough briefly.

"Tiffany. You don't really believe I'm a bad man, do you? I didn't have a choice. I believe the world was getting too populated and to tell people to just stop having children wouldn't work."

I took another sip of my lemonade.

"You wanna know what I don't believe. I don't believe anyone as corrupt as you should hide from your sins. You should face them, but not with the law, but whoever is in charge of the afterlife."

"What?", John said, seconds before he began coughing vigorously, scrunching down on the couch.

"You wanna know what else I don't believe: that you cared about world peace. You and your team didn't. You all just wanted control and the only way to do that was to perform a one-world government and blame the experimentals for everything. But as soon as people found out who you truly are...thanks to that video, they went back to their own governments in droves. Good for them. You would've been the cause of war."

"P-please, Tiffany, it's not-", John whimpered between coughs.

"And one more thing, I am almost certain you and the United Nations created W.E.A to give humans powers. And when SOME of them use it for bad and run rampant through the streets, they will be feared and hated, which all feeds into your plan of creating a narrative that we are the problem, when the true problem was the media...the United Nations...and you."

"We?", he whimpered before he coughed, starting to cough up blood before falling onto the floor. He lifted his hand out. "Tiffany, please, I'm sorry. Help me! Call a doctor!"

"MY NAME ISN'T TIFFANY", I shouted, leaning down at him. I lifted his head up by pulling his hair. His face was inches away from mine.

I took the neck-length, brown, wavy hair off of my head, revealing my natural red hair.

My two long French braids dangled over his body  as I dangled the wig in his face.

"My name is Celosia Robin Douglas and I'm one of those experimentals. I was there that day when you took Shimizu away. Take a good look. Don't you recognize me? I was that redhead."

John Victran's eyes grew wide as he whispered "you" before taking his final breath, closing his eyes.

His head dropped to the floor after I let go of his hair. The world leader was gone. The public didn't have to worry anymore, thanks to that "pink lemonade" Katie made for me: odorless, pink "lemonade".

I got up onto my feet, drinking my regular lemonade down as I kept my eyes on him. I took my contacts off as I threw them down to the floor, along with the wig I had to wear for years.

It's now done. It's over.

The plan succeeded after three whole years of waiting for the right time. Getting a job here, using beauty and sex appeal to get his attention, getting close to him and now I finally poisoned him and rid the world of what was to come.

I walked out of the hotel room, not bothering to close the suite door. A smile on my face, heels clicking with every step and hips swaying. I didn't care of the consequences to come, nor of witnesses.

"HEY!" I heard a man shout.

I turned to look behind me, staring back with a neutral face. It was two security guards, who happened to be walking down the hall until they spotted the room the world leader was in and saw him lying dead in.

They ran over towards me, asking no questions but taking out handcuffs to arrest me.

"Jack, alert the police! She's going into custody!", the male security guard ordered the other.

I grunted as the cuffs wrapped around my wrists. They were tight and cold.

Grabbing me by my arm, they guided me down the hall, into the elevator and to the front entrance.

Commotion arose from those around me, residents and staff.

"TIFFANY?!", I heard someone shouted.

It was Roshni.

Her eyebrows were furrowed with confusion and she was as still as a statue. She looked at my hair, then back at me.

Our coworkers stood beside her, just as confused. They talked to each other as they kept their eyes on me, muttering about what happened that got me arrested.

"Tiffany, what did you do?!", she asked loudly with concern.

I turned my head back at her and our coworkers right before me and the guards went through the entrance into the outside world full of angry protesters.

My orange eyes met her brown eyes and shock arose from the crowd of staff and residents. My eyes weren't blue anymore, but a fiery orange that was hidden from them for so long. It wasn't a normal eye color and it was a dead give-away that I wasn't like them. I wasn't a "regular human".

Roshni placed her hand on her chest and clenched her blouse at the realization that this whole time, her work bestie was an experi-baby.

"You'll see", I smiled before me and the guards walked out of the high rise building.