February 15

2120

Me and Soren have been living out of the camper for almost a week now. Things have settled into a routine and Soren is doing well. We eat three meals a day, filter water from the creek, and sleep together at night. Soren has even started talking more.

He talks about little things, like how to use the water filter or what packaged meal to eat. He still won’t talk about himself, but it’s a start.

Tonight the moon is visible. A rare sight, the misty orb swims in and out of focus through the pollution. I call Soren and we step out of the camper onto the dry ground, staring in awe at the moon together.

“I’ve never seen the moon before.” Soren comments suddenly.

“Really? Never?”

“Never.” He sighs. Before I can stop myself I reach out and grasp his hand in mine. He is startled and looks away. I can’t tell how long we stand like that, time seems to be frozen.

Then the illusive moon slides away into the smog, becoming just a faint, edge less glow. I drop Soren’s hand and we slowly make our way back into the Camper.

We climb into bed together, and I put one arm around Soren. It’s become a habit from having to share a bed with him, if I keep a hand on him he won’t wake up from bad dreams as much. He is a little more comfortable around me now, and will snuggle up and sleep.

February 27

2120

Over the past few weeks I’ve really noticed Soren changing. Yesterday we saw rabbit. It was sickly and skeletal, but it was alive. I thought rabbits had died out like most animals in this area did after the oil spill. Me and Soren watched the rabbit hopping about, and we followed it under a dead bush. Under the bush three wet bundles of fur were squirming around.

And that’s the first time I’ve seen Soren smile. When he saw the baby rabbits he actually smiled.

But he’s gotten better in almost every way in a short time. He hasn’t tried to harm himself since we got here, which is a big relief. And he hasn’t wet the bed in over a week because he’s sleeping much better at night. He even talks a bit about himself sometimes. He told me how the scientists at BioMod taught him what he knows.

They kept Soren under lock and key 24/7, and everyday someone would come to him and teach him things for three hours. They taught Soren how to speak, and about the science of his altered DNA. But there’s some really important things they neglected to teach him.

For example, I had to tell him how babies are made the other day. He must be the only 20 year old guy ever who didn’t know how babies are made.