Claire crept back into her house. She had walked home from the library, her head spinning with all the things she had learned. Alice, her wonderful little cousin, was not really her cousin. She had been adopted. She had been part of human genetic experiments conducted by Hasbio. She had fluffy genes…
…How could that even happen? Angela and Chris had told her that PETA had confidential documents, stolen from HASBIO in the raids which had freed the first fluffies. HASBIO had used fluffies as their test creatures, perfecting a creature that reproduced quickly, and learned to talk in a matter of weeks. They then used fluffies as test guinea pigs, seeing what the effects of adding or deleting specific genes was on the resulting foals. The genes all had names like FOXp2, COMT and MAO-A. The researchers claimed they were linked to human intelligence, language, and things like depression, ADHD and “smarty syndrome”.
The next phase involved inserting new genes into human fetuses. The resulting babies were illegal genetic experiments, as the UN had banned genetic engineering years ago. Angela had told Claire that PETA had found hospital wards, with pregnant women, in addition to the fluffy-farms.
Alice had been one of these babies.
Now that she had time to think about things, a small part of Claire just wanted to curl up in a ball and wail in disbelief. How could anyone do this? To babies? Claire’s mind wanted nothing more than to recoil in horror and pretend she hadn’t found anything out. She almost wished she had left Jelly and Snowflake in the fluffy store that day, and never become involved in this nightmarish conspiracy. But that wouldn’t stop it from being true. That wouldn’t stop Alice from being some kind of Frankenstein with fluffy DNA.
Claire walked past her bedroom door, knowing that Alice would be sleeping in her bed, no doubt surrounded by their fluffies. She went into the main bathroom, and looked at her face in the mirror. The red eyed and confused looking teen that stared back at her was not someone Claire could recognise. Her brown hair was wet and straggly, and Claire thought she looked skinny and awkward. Claire wondered where the little girl that she used to be had gone. Claire missed her dog.
She turned on the faucet and washed her face, washing away raindrops and the tears that they hid. She needed a hot shower, but didn’t want to wake Alice or the fluffies, so she used the shower in the main bathroom. The hot jets of water washed away her feelings for a while.
But there was more. Unbelievably more. Alice had been abandoned by her mother, her real mother, and saved by a pair of feral fluffies, in Seattle. There was even a photograph of her with the mayor of Seattle, who was now a Governor. Governor Quimby, who wanted to be the American President. We have to go public with this Claire remembered Angela telling her. Suddenly Claire felt hot and dizzy. The hot water and steam were too much for her, and she stepped out of it, looking at herself in the mirror again. She looked red faced, hot, and desperately lost.
A few minutes later, Claire snuck into her bedroom, wearing a bathrobe. Just as she thought she would, she found Alice sleeping soundly in her bed, in the middle of a fluffpile. Alice’s fluffies Wendy and Rebecca had now joined Humphrey, and Nutella and Snowflake were cuddled up with them too, illuminated by a night light that Claire had not used since she was Alice’s age. Claire gazed at her beautiful little cousin, her blonde hair and rosy cheeks making her look like a little cherub. One of the fluffies rolled over and squeaked. The scene made Claire’s heart melt.
Taking off her bathrobe, Claire put on her night clothes, and snuck into her bed, snuggling up next to her cousin, and being careful not to squash any of the fluffies. Claire wanted nothing more than to wrap her arms around them, and protect them all from the horrible world they lived in. Claire wanted to hug the whole world to protect it.
The next morning, Claire had school, but managed to spend a little time playing with Alice and the fluffies. Rebecca was pretending to be a monster again, and Humphrey was being the “brave knight”, fighting the “munstah” and saving the other fluffies. Humphrey’s play acting had all of them in hysterics, even Snowflake, who was running around using her wheelie leggies, and laughing along with the rest of them.
“Humpfwee wiww sabe aww da fwuffies!” Humphrey declared, before charging at the “munstah fluffy” Rebecca.
Inevitably, Rebecca knocked Humphrey to the ground, and pretended to bite and savage him, growling while Humphrey pretended to scream and beg.
“Nuuu! Pwease munstah! Nu num Humpfwee!” the green fluffy cried, before playing dead, gurgling and sticking out his tongue.
Claire remembered the dead fluffy mummah, laying there on the concrete, with a barbed wire necklace of dying foals.
Claire gasped, and felt herself tearing up again. The fluffies just carried on playing, all except for Nutella and Alice, both of whom blinked and looked at her, reaching out to comfort her.
“Mummah-Cwaire am otay?” asked Nutella, placing her front hooves on Claire’s leg.
“What’s the matter Claire?” asked Alice, holding onto Claire’s arm. Claire felt as though they had both just read her mind.
“Its… its OK. I’m fine, don’t worry…” Claire made her excuses and left the room, continuing her morning routine to get ready for school. It was strange how Alice and Nutella had reacted so quickly, while the other fluffies remained oblivious.
A little more than half an hour later, Claire opened her front door, and headed out across her front yard, to begin her walk to school. There were vans parked up in her street, and people she didn’t recognise were huffing and blowing steam in the autumnal Canadian air. Some of the people had TV cameras.
“Claire! Claire!” a woman Claire did not know called out to her, rushing over to her with a camera man in hot pursuit.
“Is it true?” the blonde woman asked, a hunger showing in her eyes. “Is Alice Anderson your cousin? Did you know that she was saved by fluffies? And Governor Quimby?”
Claire just stared at the woman, who repeated her questions, then looked uncomfortable, and finally stopped.
Claire placed her finger tips on her forehead, felt her breathing quicken, and then screamed.