Love You to Death

Love You to Death Chapter 1

My name is Rosemary Ivanov and I thought I lived a very ordinary life. I studied psychology as an undergrad and am currently in my third year of my master's program studying clinical mental health counseling at a prestigious school. My life became not-so-ordinary when I was hand-picked by the government to try one of their new experimental machines out. This is my story.

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Before I begin, I must give you a bit of background on myself. When reflecting on my past, I would say that I had an ordinary life. I grew up in suburban Pennsylvania with divorced parents. I am short, approximately 5'3" with green eyes and auburn hair. I have tattoos and piercings. I grew up listening to classic rock and heavy metal. I would wear band tees almost everyday in high school and college. There was even a record player in my room with hundreds of vinyl stacked in shelving. I had a gecko. I was, and still am, very outgoing and loved socializing with others. I had great friends and a loving family. But nothing would have prepared me for the years to come after high school and college, specifically being offered a chance to participate in a government program.

The year was 2021. I was 24 years old with the world ahead of me. I excelled at all of my coursework because psychology was truly one of my passions. Apparently, one night, my professor, Dr. Melanie Durr, saw something in me that showed how passionate I am about psychology. The middle-aged woman told me to stay after class to just talk in her office. She spoke to me as she gathered her coursework up and put it away in her bag. I shifted nervously where I was standing, wondering if something was wrong. Dr. Durr, being a student of psychology, noticed how my body language shifted, going from that of a state of calm to panic, and she chuckled to herself. What could be so funny?

"Good eggs like you always seem to get nervous anytime a professor says that they want to see you in their office." Dr. Durr said as she put the final book in her bag. "Let's take a walk upstairs to my office. You have nothing to worry about. If anything, you have everything to be excited about."

I honestly had no idea what she was talking about. As Dr. Durr and I walked upstairs to her office, I couldn't think of anything as to why she would be coming to me so abruptly. Dr. Durr and I have worked together on some research projects before but that was only due to me coming to her. Dr. Durr has never approached me. This is why I was panicking, but I tried to replay what she had said to me before we left the classroom and headed to her office. I didn't need to worry about what she was going to tell me about. If anything, I should be excited. But what in the hell could she be telling me? I've made it into one of the country's best Ph.D. programs? I'm adopted? I huffed in despair, knowing that I wouldn't know what she was talking about until she told me. Dr. Durr turned to me after I huffed very audibly and smiled.

"You know I can see the smoke pouring out your ears from the cogs in your brain turning like mad." Dr. Durr stated in a charming, matter-of-factly way.

I felt my face flush slightly crimson, but I smiled.

"Well, it's not every day that a professor asks you to come up to your office unless something is wrong, even though you told me nothing is wrong."

Dr. Durr's heals stopped clicking on the ancient, hardwood floor of the hallway, indicating that she had come to a stop. I stopped next to her and she talked to me in a hushed, almost secretive tone.

"Trust me, there's a good reason why I'm taking you up to my office." She looked both ways down the hallway to make sure no one was there potentially listening. A lonely, old janitor was mopping the floor at the far left end of the hallway, headphones in his ears and mopping his heart out by the women's bathroom.