Chapter 3

[December 1st, 1891 ; Time: 7:00 P.M.]

Henrick had to keep Julian out of his sister's room, even though he fought Henrick as he wanted to see his sister. It wasn't long before Julian began bawling, he knew his sister had just passed away, and he wanted nothing else but his sister back.

As for Henrick, he retreated to his lab down in the basement and he began crying too. He considered Sabrina as a daughter, and now, he only had his nephew left.

He took out his notebook, grabbed a pencil, and quickly wrote a new entry.

[Page from Henrick's Journal: ]

Time: 7:00 P.M.

It is done. I considered Sabrina Dawn as a daughter, and now she’s gone.

Time of death: 6:53 p.m.

I needed a few minutes to get over my loss, and Astra’s taking her time with it too. She and I haven’t spoken since the little one died. I think she blames me a little bit for being a bad caretaker. I have yet to tell her that it was she same illness that killed our mother and Mavis, but I think she’s already figured it out.

However, I’ve narrowed down this disease a little bit and I think I understand it better.

This disease is genetic in nature. It only affects the females in our family. It’s recessive, so I don't think Astra got it. I’m still worried about her, Rachel, and Lori though...

My only hope is that I can either find this specific disease within Sabrina’s genetic code and eliminate it without causing too much damage to the surrounding core, or do some old-fashioned splicing.

Either way, there’s great risk with what I’m about to commit, and I hope that there is someone out there that can understand why I’m about to do this.

___

[Page from Henrick's Journal: ]

December 2nd, 1891
Time: 11:37 P.M..

I have decided yesterday that messing too much with Sabrina’s deoxyribonucleic acid could result in too much damage. Extracting specific genes from her code is too delicate of a process to get wrong, and I don’t have the steadiest hands in the industry. Since we just recently buried Sabrina, getting another sample would not only be immoral, but I risk being haunted for the rest of my life.

Today, I found the first ingredient. I met a man named Braden, and he asked me about what I was so troubled about. I told him everything. The experiments, the disease, the deaths of my mother, my daughter, my sister, and my niece. He told me he’d help me, and gave me a bowl of a golden liquid. He claims it’s a serum that can cure any disease if applied properly. Although I find this claim extremely unlikely, I did some experiments with the serum and I discovered that what he said is not too far from the truth.

I also found a specific organism that possessed an interesting genetic trait. This creature, referred to by the locals as a “multimou,” (which I’m fairly certain is the dumbest name for a creature I’ve ever heard) has a hyper-advanced immune system that will literally cut out dead tissue and corrupt genetic material and regenerate new tissue and material to replace it. It’s very fascinating, despite the fact that it has so many sharp teeth in its many mouths that it makes me wonder why the h*ll nature decided to grant it this trait instead of just diversifying its food source. Picky eaters, for certain.

I’ve gathered other samples to play around with before I get started. I hope there won’t be any physiological repercussions to making a cocktail of genetic code from several different sources… Which is a lie. I know the end result probably won’t be as pretty, but at least I’ll have another chance of being a better caretaker.

I start tomorrow. But I should wait until later on in the experiments to use the other samples. For now, we can focus on just having Sabrina's DNA.

___

[December 3rd, 1891 ; Time: 7:03 P.M]

The cloning machine was warming up as Henrick was beginning to conduct the first attempt at cloning Sabrina. The first test was Sabrina's unmodified DNA. He considered this the control, as all tests of this nature should have an unaltered variation to compare the experiment to.

Henrick hoped everything will go well with the experiments. Before, he only cared if the clone was only sentient and didn't care if it survived or not. This time was different, now he cared that it was sentient and alive. After all, this was his last chance to become a better caretaker.

He loaded the genetic sample into the machine, then pressed the button that activated the machine. After a few minutes, the process was complete. The machine opened up and a small child was inside, she looked practically identical to Sabrina, but she had turquoise eyes instead of emerald-colored ones. Henrick knew eye color didn't really change anything. Cosmetics weren’t the issue. Survival was.

The new clone looked around a little before her eyes turned completely void-black. She collapsed, as though she was in an unconscious state, but her eyes were still open.

Henrick rushed over to the machine and tried to wake her up, but she was unresponsive. He gently picked her up and set her on a spare bed in the lab. For a moment there, he almost felt pity for the clone.

He wrote something in his journal and began starting to get everything ready for the next attempt. But there was still the issue of the unconscious clone. "What should I do with it?" he asked himself.

After consulting his previous research and the many papers written by others, he assembled a stasis pod that would keep the clone alive in suspended animation. "It’s the least I can do." he thought. Once the clone was inside the pod and the pod had been activated, Henrick moved on to the next attempt.

___

The next attempt involved DNA from Sabrina, the gender was changed from female to male. Once again, Henrick loaded the genetic material into the machine and pressed the button. But it was also modified with the gold-colored serum. He mentally prepared himself for what was going to happen, but he wasn’t truly prepared for what happened. This was the genetics of a wild animal that he was playing with. Who knows what kind of savage beast could exit the cloning machine?

When the machine was finished, it opened up and the male clone collapsed, dead. To Henrick, it was equal parts sick, saddening, and anticlimactic. He solemnly shook his head, disappointed with the results. He dragged the body out of the machine and laid it down by the wall.. Henrick then checked for a pulse…

Nothing.

He began crying, thinking to himself that cloning Sabrina would be impossible at this point. Two failed experiments. But he had enough to do two more. He pulled himself together emotionally and continued his test.

___

The third test was just Sabrina's unmodified DNA. He prayed that this worked. If it didn't, the chances of Sabrina being “alive” again would be very slim. Henrick pressed the button and watched the machine go to work, hoping for the best but expecting the worst.

Once it was done. The clone's brown eyes opened, and looked around. Henrick's eyes widened and began crying. Henrick felt like celebrating. It finally worked!

She fell out of the machine and began shivering. Henrick quickly grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around the new clone. “Shh.. it's okay..” He comforted the clone and gently led her upstairs. As soon as Julian saw her he immediately took to her and gave her a hug, then he began crying. It was then Henrick noticed something odd about the new clone.:

She had a deformity on both her hands: 6 fingers instead of 5.

It wasn't life-threatening, but it was still interesting.

Henrick smiled a little as he returned to the basement, preparing one final test, he had enough DNA for one last clone so he may as well try to make a second one.

When he went to set out the final sample of Sabrina's DNA, he accidentally bumped into the shelf with the golden serum and the Multimou DNA. He was afraid of what would come out of the cloning machine because of his mistake.

That was the mistake that began the tale of Harmony Renae Dawn

___

When he started up the machine, his eyes widened in fear as he approached the machine and watched what was going on. He could slowly see that there were many differences about this clone than all the others: Shorter than all of them, like, WAY shorter, about the size of a 1-2 year old, an extra mouth on her left arm, and her irises were blood-red when her eyes opened.

When the machine finished and it opened up, the clone fell out and began crying. Almost like she was a baby. Henrick carefully picked her up and held her close. “Shh.. Hi there baby girl… it's okay now… you're safe…” He whispered to her. “Everything's going to be okay sweetheart..” He grabbed another blanket and wrapped her up in it.

He ran upstairs to the living room where the other clone and Julian were at. Julian's eyes widened when he saw the new clone. He slowly approached Henrick and the new clone. Henrick slowly and carefully handed him his new sister, trusting him to be careful with her.

Julian began crying, keeping the child close to him. “Her name is Harmony.. be careful with her, Julian.” Henrick told him. The other clone tilted her head to the side. She didn't really have a name yet.

Henrick looked over at the other clone and approached her. “Now.. what are we gonna call you..?”

“Hailey.” Julian said to Henrick. “I want her name to be Hailey..” Henrick looked shocked. But nodded his head in agreement. “Hailey it is..