The Boy in the Gray Hoodie

16...

16...

James pressed the phone against his ear and waited as the dial tone sounded several times. "Pick up...pick up...pick up..." he repeated quietly to himself, urging the person on the other line to answer the phone. Finally, he heard a click.

A very tired voice answered. "Hello?"

"It happened." James stated, leaning against the kitchen wall near the door, as far away from the other inhabitants of the house as he could get. His cellphone got the best reception right here anyway.

"...James?" the voice on the other end asked dubiously.

"Yes, it's me. Who else would it be?" He demanded impatiently.

"Satan."

"Ha, ha, Marley. Now pay attention. I've got some news to share-"

"You burned down the lab, James." Marley interrupted, sounding distant in spite of her obvious agitation. "People were hurt."

"That's just the thing, Marley," James said, leaning even closer to the door. "I didn't do anything. It was all him."

"Yeah, I watched the feed, James. I know what you did." Marley hissed into the receiver.

James sighed sharply. "I know you're angry about the last conversation that we had, but you understand it now, don't you? He was listening. I knew he wouldn't believe you'd gone unless you believed it too. You could never lie to him, you know." He said, rubbing his temple.

"And you could never tell him the truth." Marley snapped. "Where is he, James? Where are you hiding him? He isn't some germ in a petri dish that you can stick in your refrigerator at home. He's a human being, regardless of what the paperwork says."

"He's safe, Marley. And he's finally starting to function properly according to the design."

"Starting to function?" she sneered. "Do you hear yourself, James? He is a kid, dammit! He's just a kid, not a-a tool!"

"I didn't call you to argue. I called to tell you I've had a breakthrough. We've had a breakthrough." James' voice was tinged with excitement-an emotion he very rarely experienced. "All our work is coming together, Marley. He's finally starting to develop his abilities. It just takes some coaxing. He can't do it on his own yet but I know that with some encouragement-"

"And by encouragement you mean the kind injected with a needle, right?" she cut him off. "What are you doing to him James? What are you doing to yourself? You're not even human anymore."

James chuckled disbelievingly. "I honestly don't know how you got this job in the first place, Marley. You obviously aren't cut out for this kind of work."

"Torturing innocent children?" she scoffed. "You're right, I'm not that kind of monster."

"You were." James said sharply. "For sixteen years, you did everything I told you to. What happened, Marley?"

There was a pause on the other end of the phone.

"I guess I realized the ends did not justify the means, James." She cleared her throat, holding back the emotion from her voice. "I thought it was noble, you know? I thought what we were doing was good...that the result of all the pain we caused would make things better for everyone."

"It will, Marley. Don't you see it? We still have a chance to make everything worth it." James told her. "I'm not as heartless as you think. I am not willing to cause all this suffering without it having meant something, in the end."