Marie (Teumessian Trilogy Book 1) Read Online Free

They trusted nobody else with the formula that Stanley had developed. The babies fought the injections but they seemed to respond. They all grew at a healthy rate and none showed signs of illness ever. It was remarkable, Stanley had thought to himself that his drug mixture was appearing to in fact work in its abilities to prevent illness; however, unfortunately, the testing of their ability to regenerate or self-heal, however, was not as successful, since none showed any physical ability to heal any faster than a normal child. The ability to prevent childhood illness was not the outcome the ‘Management’ was after; however, they felt it was progress and progress was enough to keep the program going. Weekly updates were necessary along with weekly blood draws. These poor children was all Stanley could hear in his head, but he knew that they knew no better. They only knew a life of needles, physical tests, and training. They couldn’t think it was bad or wrong or that they didn’t have a normal life. Stanley tried to bring a small sense of normal to them. He would read stories to them at bedtime and would sneak in toys for them to play with under the disguise as ‘learning tools’ to improve their education. He bonded with Marie the most. She had nightmares regularly and he would always be there to cradle her and rock her back to sleep. She was his daughter in every sense of the word and he cared more about her than any of them.  As they grew, they grew only stronger both physically and mentally, but by the age of ten, problems started to show.
    “They are growing up quite nicely don’t you agree?” Jones said with a smile to Stanley.
    “Yes, but I am worried about the three smallest,” Stanley replied as Bruce entered the walkway.              
    “Gentlemen are you enjoying watching the children? I say it’s a bit creepy to just stand here watching them ‘play’,” Bruce said with a smile.
    Stanley gazed back down to the nine of them on the floor of the training facility. Stanley couldn’t take his eyes off his sweet Marie with her long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She was hard to look away from; she was playing with Tommy, the smallest of the boys, as always.
    “They are inseparable those two. It’s kind of cute,” Jones said with a smile.
    “Not really, they aren’t supposed to make friends, they are supposed to form a team, not pair up. The only time ‘play’ is appropriate is when the training demands it. They are my project too,” Bruce replied crossing his arms. Stanley just kept looking at them.
     
    “Marie, come play with us,” Michael called to Marie as she sat on the floor with Tommy playing cards.
    “Ok, come on, Tommy let’s go,” Marie said to him as she started to get up placing the cards on the floor.
    “No, not Tommy, he can’t keep up,” Samuel called out standing next to Michael.
    “Agreed. So Tommy.” Austin added.
    “Come on, let him join in. He makes the rest of us look good.” Justin chimed in with a smile.
    “You’re all mean. He can play too!” Marie yelled back at them.
    “Guys, I don’t really want to play anyway; you go ahead,” Tommy replied straightening his glasses and picking up the cards Marie had put down.
    “I’m not playing unless Tommy plays too,” Marie said flipping her blonde pony tail, crossing her arms, and sitting back down on the floor next to Tommy.
    “Marie, please, we need one more. If Tommy plays we will be an odd number and we can only do relay races with an even number. Scott is in an assessments so Tommy would have nobody to race against anyway,” Michael replied.
    “Then, by your logic, Sam doesn’t get to play since he’s Scott’s twin, no Scott no Sam. They should have to race each other,” Marie said, sticking out her tongue at the boys.
    Tommy laughed.
    “No, your logic doesn’t follow. Scott is on my team. That’s why Tommy doesn’t get to play,” Samuel replied crossing his arms.
    “Marie, my