Chapter 43: Passing the Torch
Orcille was sitting in his apartment. He was feeling more conflicted than ever. It appeared he finally had the support and love of his father. He looked around the apartment at the wonderful things he had bought him. His father had given him a top job in his company. He had positioned him to take over after him. He was even working on a possible cure for his ailments. Everything was coming together as he had wanted for so long.
At the same time, he also realised his father was as bad, if not worse, than he had ever been. He still did not have a definitive answer for the whereabouts of the Adoy girls, Jewels and Pearls. He deliberately forced him into an encounter with Arville. His laboratory seemed to be as much about torture as it was about science. His desire to upgrade their species was also concerning. He feared his plans could have a devastating impact on Sapiens and all of Sapey. He needed to reason with his father. If applied in the right way, his science offered great potential. Maybe now that he had won his father’s affection, he would listen to him.
Orcille’s door alarm buzzed. It was Pardi. He was at the apartment reception. Orcille took a deep breath and invited his father up.
Orcille opened the door to Pardi. Pardi walked in to give him a big hug. ‘Well done. Yesterday, you did a great job,’ said Pardi with a broad smile.
‘I’m not happy about it,’ replied Orcille.
‘Give it time. You will get used to it,’ said Pardi.
‘I’m not sure I can,’ replied Orcille.
‘This time next year, this will all be a breeze. You might even enjoy it,’ said Pardi as he continued to smile.
‘There are other ways we can do research. We don’t need to be cruel,’ said Orcille.
‘Why does this conversation keep coming up?’ asked Pardi, as his tone of voice quickly changed to frustration.
‘It does because I believe we can be better,’ replied Orcille.
Pardi put his hands on his face as he walked around Orcille’s lounge. ‘You have suffered so much. Why not let others take some of that suffering away from you?’ asked Pardi as he pulled his hands back down from his face.
‘They don’t deserve to suffer,’ replied Orcille.
‘Do I deserve to suffer?’ asked Pardi as he leaned forward.
‘No, of course not,’ replied Orcille.
Pardi sat on the sofa. Orcille sat next to him.
‘Every time I look at you, I suffer. I did this to you. I destroyed my beautiful child,’ said Pardi as a tear appeared in his eye.
‘That was a long time ago. I forgive you. You’re my dad. I love you,’ said Orcille as he put his arm around Pardi.
‘Let me make this right. Let me make you beautiful again,’ said Pardi.
‘If you love me, I’ll be beautiful to you,’ said Orcille.
Pardi raised his head to look Orcille in the eyes. ‘Let me redeem myself. Don’t take that away from me.’
‘If you want true redemption,’ said Orcille. ‘You need to end all your cruelty.’
Pardi rose to his feet. ‘I’m going back to the office. I need to do a few things. Meet me there in an hour,’ said Pardi, sounding flustered.
Pardi briskly left Orcille’s apartment. Orcille took a deep breath. He felt he had not made any progress. Maybe he could try one more time to convince his father to change.
Pardi entered his top-floor office. He used this private office when he wanted no distractions or interruptions. He paced back and forth several times. He put his hands on his desk. He felt stressed about many things. Orcille played on his mind the most. Orcille was a symbol of both pain and regret for him in so many ways. Orcille’s presence was a constant reminder of that.
For the years Orcille was away, he felt almost free of the pain from his past. He wanted to use his reunion with Orcille as an opportunity to set right his biggest regret. He was beginning to feel that might not be possible. He continued to think through what he should do next. He kept coming to the same conclusion. It felt like this was his only way out.
He called his security team. He asked them to bring Orcille up to his office when he arrived. He called his assistant. He asked him to bring his twins up to the room next to his office. He leaned against his desk and waited.
About twenty minutes later, his security team escorted Orcille in. ‘That’ll do. You can go outside now,’ Pardi told them. They left the room.
Orcille walked towards Pardi. ‘This office is very important to me,’ Pardi said to Orcille. ‘It brings me out of my world. It allows me to explore how I feel about things.’
‘Has it helped you today?’ asked Orcille.
‘Yes, it has. It has given me the strength to be honest with you,’ replied Pardi. ‘I know you respect honesty.’
‘Yes, I do,’ replied Orcille, nodding slightly.
‘You are really smart. In many ways smarter than me,’ said Pardi. ‘At the same time, you choose to be blind. You are capable of seeing everything, but when it conflicts with what you want the most, you ignore it.’
‘I see who you are, and it pains me,’ said Orcille. ‘I don’t just want you to change. I can see the potential for change in you. I see good deep down inside you.’
‘It is so funny that you think you could be the arbiter of what’s good and bad,’ replied Pardi. ‘You backstabbed your own friends to win my approval. You’re the real reason that guy died. Deep down, you know it.’
‘His name was Victor. I am partly responsible for his death,’ said Orcille in a pained tone. ‘I never intended it to end that way for him.’
‘You got him arrested for kidnapping,’ said Pardi as he raised his voice. ‘You knew it was over for him. Don’t deny it.’
‘The girls were supposed to be found unharmed,’ replied Orcille angrily. ‘He was going to face rehabilitation and then be released in a short time. Instead, you used imposters to frame him as a paedophile.’
‘I needed to make sure that group was broken up for good,’ responded Pardi. ‘I don’t feel bad. They weren’t my friends.’
‘Any excuse to give yourself the delusional moral high ground,’ replied Orcille.
‘I stood by my principles and core values. I broke none of those,’ said Pardi. ‘Can you say the same thing?’
‘No, I can’t,’ replied Orcille. ‘That’s because my principles and core values have some meaning.’
‘If you are so willing to break them, then they clearly don’t have meaning,’ responded Pardi.
Orcille gazed at Pardi in anger. ‘I was conflicted. Thanks to you, I don’t think that will be the case anymore,’ said Orcille.
‘You said you respected honesty. I’m honest with you. Now, you want to turn your back on me,’ said Pardi.
‘This isn’t about honesty,’ replied Orcille angrily. ‘This is you attacking me. This is you trying to push me aside yet again. Just one hour ago, you spoke of your desire for redemption. You don’t care about redemption. You only care about your own twisted sick agendas.’
‘I didn’t lie. I had full intention of restoring you to your former self,’ replied Pardi. ‘It would have erased what I had done to you.’
‘It’s all about you,’ replied Orcille. ‘It’s about how you feel. You have no concept of redemption.’
‘Maybe you should be the one seeking redemption after what you did to those two sweet Adoy girls,’ said Pardi as he began to grin.
Orcille looked perplexed. ‘I never even met them,’ replied Orcille.
‘Yes, you did. You got up very close and personal with them,’ said Pardi as he began to laugh.
‘What are you talking about?’ demanded Orcille. Pardi continued to laugh. ‘What the hell are you talking about?’ shouted Orcille.
‘You feasted on their delicious flesh. Is that clear enough for you?’ shouted Pardi.
Orcille lunged forward, knocking Pardi to the ground. ‘Finally, I have waited all these years for you to wake up,’ shouted Pardi.
Orcille pressed his foot on the side of Pardi’s face.
The security guards rushed into the room. They grabbed Orcille and pulled him off Pardi.
‘You are a disgusting freak,’ shouted Pardi. ‘You are not my son. You are not my daughter. You are nothing to me.’
Orcille screamed incoherently.
The twins entered the room from the door behind Pardi. ‘They are my family,’ shouted Pardi. ‘They are my daughters. They are beautiful. They are everything you were and more. This is my true redemption.’
Orcille looked at the twins. He saw himself. ‘Run. Run far away. He will destroy you,’ shouted Orcille desperately.
Pardi shuffled back to where the girls were standing. He pulled them near. ‘I love you. I love you,’ he said to them.
The twins gazed blankly at Orcille. They did not move. They did not respond. Orcille continued to struggle.
‘Take it away,’ cried out Pardi to the guards holding Orcille. ‘Make sure that freak never sees the light of day ever again. Let it die nice and slowly.’
Later that day, Pardi and the twins were back home. Pardi had ordered pizza again. The girls had a slice in front of them. They did not feel like eating it.
‘What’s wrong? asked Pardi. ‘You have been so quiet since this afternoon.’
‘We recognise him from Adoy. He’s always so angry,’ said Yassme.
‘He’s angry because he is very ill,’ replied Pardi.
‘Is he our brother?’ asked Yassme.
‘He was, a long time ago,’ said Pardi. ‘He isn’t anymore. He turned into a nasty, angry monster. I thought I could bring him back, but I failed. Please forgive me.’
‘At least you tried,’ replied Yassme. She put her hand on Pardi’s hand.
Yassmay turned to kiss her sister on the cheek. She then placed her hand on top of her sister’s hand, which was on top of Pardi’s hand.
‘Okay, now eat. You don’t want it to get cold,’ said Pardi. They began eating the pizza together.
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