The inside was very cozy and was littered with candles. There was an overwhelming amount of scents that tickled Ralhie's nose nauseous. It was no doubt Isa’s mother; there were photos of Isa from when he was younger, paintings, posters, and sculptures, all proudly on display. Several handcrafted chairs sat around the living room, all of them made out of deep brown wood with rounded edges.

  “I apologize, I haven’t had anyone here in a long time. After a while, I just stopped bothering.” Mrs. Timothy picked up some of the knick-knacks off the ground, placing them on a large wooden shelf that was propped up on the side of the room. Mrs. Timothy toyed with a spinner for a second before she handed it to Isa. Isa smiled as he accepted the toy.

  Mrs. Timothy had a hobble when she walked; her hip was severely misaligned. She smelled of cinnamon and butter. “Is she a puppet?” Ralphie asked Leon without realizing how good her hearing was.

  Mrs. Timothy turned around, “I might be a little strange, but no need for names. I did lose my only son.”

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean any harm.”

  “What happened to him?” she asked, making her way over to her kitchen.” She poured some water into a teapot, setting out five teacups on the countertop.

  A woman of her age and stature could handle the truth much better than most people in this world, Leon thought. “He was hidden in the CelTec building. The only one in this town.” Leon watched Mrs. Timothy; her expression did not budge. “They erased his mind permanently. Working to reprogram him for some purpose. I’m sorry, but the son you knew is gone.” Leon said, sitting down.

  Still, she was stoic, “I always knew he was there.” Her voice was deep and strong; buried in it was pain that she had already dealt with. She had already grieved her son. The pot in front of Mrs. Timothy began to bubble a little.

  Ralphie leaned forward to smell one of the candles. “He was in their design lab when we pulled him out. It was a miracle that we pulled him out. Sadly, he hasn’t talked at all. We don’t know if he can.”

  Mrs. Timothy poured the hot water into each of the cups. She sighed, “Give me one second and I will be back.” She walked out of the room.

  As soon as she was out of the room, Ralphie leaned over to Leon, “What's up with the scar across her face?”

  Lily leaned in closer to them, “When Mrs. Timothy lost Isa, she lost herself for a while. She learned everything that she could about her son's disappearance. At one point, she believed that she had figured out how to become Integrated. In Isa's research, he realized that the Minds were dormant inside most of us; he was trying to discover what conditions needed to be met for a Disconnected to become Integrated. Mrs. Timothy went to find someone to perform the surgery, but no one would agree to it. Left with no option, she broke into a surgical center, programming the surgical robots with the surgery. The scars are what's left.”

  “That's mostly true,” Mrs. Timothy said as she walked around the corner. She had a set of papers that she set down in front of the three of them. “I had exhausted all of my time trying to find Isa, but I was disconnected, so there was not much I could do. CelTec had sent him several warnings to cease his research, but he wouldn’t; it was too important to him. I told him he had to be careful. But he didn’t listen to me. “Why be afraid of them when my death will only cause more people to rise”, he used to say. When they took him, no one believed me. He got lost somewhere, they would tell me, he will come back soon, they would say. He used to call me every other night to see how I was doing. I knew I had lost him as soon as the calls stopped. I began to dig up as much as I could.”

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  The papers in front of Leon, Ralphie, and Lily had various things in them: increased muscle density, longer age, and more advancements in the genetic code.

  “CelTec found out a way to change the mutations that a person could develop later in life. They could modify everything else: health, skin color, height, and weight. But I believed that they could give me The Minds.”

  They continued to look through the various papers. Mrs. Timothy walked over to the three of them, handing them their tea. She pointed to the scar on her face, “You were right, this was from an attempt to become Integrated. I had exhausted all of my time trying to find Isa. I was running out of options, so I knew I needed to do something drastic. I knew it was my best option to find Isa.

  I had a friend who had done the procedure before on someone else and believed it had worked. He agreed to perform the surgery for a sum of money. I happily agreed. During the surgery, you get numbed so that you can’t move. But you're still awake. That way, the doctor doesn’t hit any vital nerves. Towards the end of my surgery, the doctor got raided by Blue’s. I sat there, unable to close my eyes as they tortured and killed him before taking me. I ended up in one of their hospitals. They interrogated me for hours. But at the time, my memory was so messed up that I couldn’t remember anything, so they left.

  A couple of days after, I started getting these weird visions of what had happened. Visions in the middle of the day, picture perfect. About a week after I remembered the entire altercation, everything replayed in my mind like a movie. I still see it sometimes, down to every last detail. I think CelTec put that loop in my brain to scare me to never do it again. Which worked because I was hopeless afterwards.”

  Leon took a sip of his tea, “I was told The Minds present differently in people.”

  Lily moved closer to Mrs. Timothy. “Maybe it's a sliver of The Minds that needs molding.” Mrs. Timothy went up to Isa, putting a hand on his shoulder, and he didn’t jump this time. “Unless you wipe yourself with the Mindsweeper, there are too many variables to give a healthy person The Minds. That’s why CelTec created Dullahan.”

  Lily perked up, “You know Dullahan.”

  Mrs. Timothy looked over at Lily, her eyes beaded and cold, her lips pursed tightly. “Yes, I know he's a weapon. A mind designed by CelTec for control. They placed Dullahan into a child, as they have the greatest neuroplasticity. He’s bred to keep people powerless. They say the child that they placed him in was ripped from his family in broad daylight. His parents were tortured as they watched their son turn into a monster who corrupted and killed for CelTec without a drop of empathy.”

  Mrs. Timothy sat down on Isa's armchair, grabbing a lock of his hair and twirling it between her fingers. “So he’s stuck like this.” She frowned for a second.

  Lily answered sadly, “Who he was is gone. His intelligence, his character, I don’t quite know what he is.”

  “He hasn’t lost his beauty,” Mrs. Timothy peered at her son. She was strong; her face was stone. But tears flowed within her.

  Lily tried to comfort her, “Usually, though, when people are wiped, they can’t function at all. It appears CelTec has given him The Minds, at least in some function. Who knows how they programmed him or what skills they gave him? He seems like an incredibly fast learner.”

  Mrs. Timothy shrugged, “I will love him regardless.”

  “Hopefully, he can talk at some point,” Leon pitched optimistically. Ralphie, on the other hand, looked at him with pity.

  “Isa,” Mrs. Timothy said. Isa looked up at her. “Well, he knows his name. What now for you three?” she smiled before looking at them.

  “I’m not sure,” Ralphie said, finishing his drink.

  Lily pulled out her camera, “I would like to get Isa's story and picture out in the world if that's ok with you?” She nodded towards Lily. “Of course, whatever you need,” She said, standing up.

  Lily set up her camera, pointing it towards Isa. Mrs. Timothy put her arm around Isa, smiling. The flash blinded the two of them.

  Leon stood off to the side. “We should get going.” He said to Ralphie.

  Mrs. Timothy, take this.” Lily handed her a sheet of paper with his number on it. Mrs. Timothy took it gratefully.

  On the way out, Leon looked over at Ralphie to say, “We'll stay at Lily's tonight, and then go see your parents tomorrow. I know you're not going to listen to the masked man's warnings, but I think it's too risky tonight.

  Ralphie nodded, “No one tells me I can’t see my family.”