It was 3 years ago when Lola had that mission. To catch Doctor Gallimore. But the only way to stop that mad man, who murdered his Science team that conducted the first experiments with cloning, was to kill him.

     Now, Lola is in a stinky taxi car returning home. With the clone created by him. If she thought that talking in public with a plant was the most awkward position she would be in, she was definitely wrong. She has to live with this thing from now on.

     Shit! Does he need food?  

     She has to give him food. Maybe Billy knows what to do. But she hasn’t got good, healthy food for forever. Maybe clones don’t eat. Or are they like normal humans? And he’s only twelve. Does she have to treat him like a kid? Technically, his body is stuck as a 12-year-old, but what about his mind? 

     “How old are you?” she asks Su who is shyly looking at his knees.

     The eyes of the boy go wide at her. “T-twelve.”

     “Ok, I’ll ask in another way. How old do you feel?”

     That’s an odd question. Su always knew that he is twelve. That is all the people from the labs said.

     “Since I’ve been conscious it’s been 3 years and 2 months. An age? I wouldn’t know how to feel it if I don’t know what that is exactly. How old do you feel?”

     The words slap her in the face. As a 25-year-old person, Lola feels like she lived double that number. This kid already disturbs her days of indifference.

     Arriving at the apartment, every step that Lola takes feel to add even more numbers to her age. Soon she will be hospital buddies with Mrs. Perry, the neighbor. She slams the door and gives Su a quick tour of the apartment. Then she goes to her bedroom, trying to ignore the kid for the rest of the day. 

     “Show me your training.”

     Lola flinches when Su comes into her room. She turns around from her desk to look at him.

     Why does he have a gun? Oh, the Boss must have given him one. That butt-shaped gelled-head-bastard gives them like it’s candy.

     “My training?” Lola scoffs. “Grab a beer, drink until you can’t no more, roll back to your room and sleep until noon.” That’s pretty much what she does every day. She knows why Boss gave her this mission. He thinks that the clone will make her go back on the field. But she won’t.

     Su eyes the beer on her desk and grabs one, opens it and drinks. He grimaces from the taste, decides that a sip is enough for him to not drink anymore. Then he lies down on the floor and rolls himself out of the bedroom. Lola watches in awe. What did she discover just now?

     This is amazing! 

     “Hey, kid! Come back! Do you know Michael Jackson and the Thriller dance?” she asks amused.

     The boy tilts his head to the side. He never left the labs; the outside world is a mystery for him. But Lola wouldn’t know that. Now all she thinks about is how to profit from it and make the kid clean the entire apartment. She looks at Billy so that it can confirm this genius idea. But a leaf trembles in disapproval- he is just an innocent kid.

     Lola rolls her eyes at her only friend and turns in the chair to face her laptop. “Go to your room and sleep. We had a big day. I will think about things tomorrow.”

     The boy nods and goes to the second bedroom. That's where Lola said he will be sleeping in from now on. With slow movements, he sits on the side of the bed and stares at the wall. In the silence, Su puts the gun to his temple. 

     He could end it all; he will not be a toy for humans anymore. He knows the gun will not kill him. The only way for a clone to die is to take out his heart entirely because the faulted organs would regenerate. But if a clone is caught hurting someone or even themselves, they would be taken and executed on the spot. Because that was the law. A clone can not be violent.

     But he always remembers. The last words of his creator are the only thing that stops his shaking hands to pull the trigger.

     He cannot betray those words.