The Great Escape

Dr. Simmons was an ordinary man who prided himself in his work and cared deeply for his patients. When Ari fought for his life from an ICU bed, Dr. Simmons fought with him every step of the way. At a time when darkness consumed the close-knit family, Ari's doctor was their beacon of light.

From post-operation recovery to regular checkups, Simmons became an integral part of Ari's family. When he realized that Ari was one of his patients for his otherwise monotonous Tuesday, he had something to look forward to.

Ari's father accompanied him through a maze of corridors and hallways that spanned across an enormous campus just outside the city. Led by one of the receptionists, the three made their way past teams of medical professionals and administrative staff at the sprawling complex. After Ari checked in for his appointment, he was greeted by a nurse who handed him off to Dr. Simmons. Smiling widely, he patiently listened as the boy rambled on about his latest updates and progress at school. He gave him a pat on the back for his recent success, sending him into the in-house lab after his usual routine.

While lying motionless on a cold, sterile bed that slowly slid him into a sturdy cylindrical machine, Ari's father meticulously recited the extensive notes left by Hannah for the appointment. The doctor attentively considered the numerous concerns she had raised, but none seemed to offer any insight into their son's troubling migraines. Following the scan, Ari found himself in a sterile white room saturated with the sharp scent of bleach and a distinct electronic aroma that lingered in the air. A technician briefed him on the upcoming holographic virtual reality test, which was intended to provide the doctor with an understanding of his emotional well-being and cognitive abilities. After the technician exited the room, the panels on the walls and ceiling dimmed, and a radiant hologram materialized at the room's center.

While 3-dimensional questions flew past his head, he tapped each of their corresponding answers with his hand. The timed test started slow before questions were thrown at him at lightning speed. Questions ranging from commonly understood facts to complex mathematical problems quantified his cognitive capabilities, the capacity of his short-term memory, and his mental dexterity under pressure. By the end, projected Rorschach images pulsed in neon colors around him, and a computerized voice asked him what they reminded him of and how they made him feel, analyzing the pitch and tone of his responses for psychological analysis. Once the test was over, the fun part began.

Suddenly the room's dim lights brightened and holographic glowing orbs appeared around him. He sprinted and maneuvered around an array of floating spheres as he chased after a brighter blue one that started to flash wildly the closer he got to it. When all of his testing was completed, Ari reconvened with his father and Dr. Simmons, who reassured them both that the results would be sent home.

After he and his father departed, the doctor met back up with his assistant and the technician who ran the tests on Ari. They all exchanged gloomy glances with one another as his test results spanned across the wall next to them.

"The test results didn't fall within the range considered normal. That hasn't happened before. Can either of you explain why?" Asked Simmons.

"Malfunctioning equipment?" The technician chimed in as Simmons sifted through pages of information on an oversized tablet.

"His scores weren't high enough?" His assistant added before Summons gently nodded in disapproval.

"Neither conclusion explains this." He retorted, turning his tablet around so that both could see what he was looking at and when their eyes focused on the myriad of colored graphs and fractioned metrics, they widened.

"That's impossible. It's clearly the result of an error. Perhaps there was a glitch during testing?"

Suddenly a loud knock at the door made his assistant jump, and when the door opened, a man wearing a suit and tie stepped in with piercing eyes fixed on Simmons.

"Leave us." He said, prompting everyone in the room to scurry away before the doctor handed him the tablet with Ari's test results displayed across its screen. "Then it was true all along, what the parents said, and the teachers. I haven't seen anything like this before. Who do we call?"

"Everyone." Said Dr. Simmons before the well-dressed man sprinted out of the office.

When the doctor was alone, he surmised that the anomaly would gather ample attention from the institute's medical board, but it wasn't until he reviewed the results once more that an ominous gloom came over him as he wondered what it would mean for Ari. What would the overbearing institution do when they discovered what he was capable of? His racing thoughts led him to believe that the 12-year-old boy might be in grave danger, and he wondered if he made a mistake in reporting Ari's implicative test results.

A week later Ari was asked to return to the clinic for a follow-up visit, and his father returned with him while Hannah finished up her work at home. Ari was taken into a large waiting room separated from his dad, and as he impatiently waited to be seen by a doctor, he began kicking his feet beneath the chair below him. He waited for nearly an hour before the door finally opened, and when he glanced up to see who it was, his face lit up like the 4th of July. It was Dr. Simmons, who wore a radiant, infectious smile as he approached Ari at his chair, standing over his wide gleaming eyes, causing his heart to flutter.

"Hey buddy!" greeted Simmons as he nervously examined the room around the two of them. "Where's your father?"

"He had to wait in the other room."

"I thought he was going to be with you?" His tone was warm, but his expression told a very different story.

Ari shrugged before Dr. Simmons gazed over at the reception desk where his eyes met that of several administrative staff who were glaring at both of them. The physician knelt next to Ari with a forced grin, shielding his face from the watchful eyes that lay on them, leaning in gently as Ari innocently smiled in return.

"Run." He whispered, causing Ari to become confused as his smirk began to fade. "Get out of here. Go, now!"

It took him a moment to comprehend what he had just heard, and then suddenly, Ari began giggling away at Simmons' words, but the doctor's concerned expression didn't waver. Dr. Simmons shifted away from Ari when he realized that he was asking too much of him, and as he got a closer look at the innocence of the young and naïve boy, his heart started to sink into his stomach.

He searched for some kind of palpable explanation that would send him on his way but couldn't find one. When he turned around to check the staff behind the desk, he noticed that one of them was making a call, and the doctor knew that whoever was on the other end of that call wasn't anyone dismissible. Dr. Simmons knew something Ari didn't, something he couldn't speak of. He knew that if Ari stayed much longer, the institute likely wouldn't permit him to leave. It was at that moment that he made a choice that he knew he could never take back.

"Come with me." The doctor demanded, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder, and gesturing with the other to follow him. Through a maze of walkways that spider-webbed away from the clinic, Simmons guided Ari passed dozens of medical professionals and supporting staff in the enormous research institute, and headed for the exit door.

"What's going on? Where's my dad?"

"Just follow me, and keep your head down."

Ari followed the physician but didn't understand what was happening. He could assume nothing ill-omened of the clinic that saved his life, and he trusted his doctor after everything he did for him over the months. As they exited several secured access corridors, Dr. Simmons tried not to glance up at the cameras that were watching them overhead, but there were so many, and he couldn't help himself for only he knew that on the other end of those cameras was a highly trained team of security agents that were ready to halt their movements at a moments notice.

They passed countless workers who were unaware of what they were doing and greeted them as they passed by. They went through door after door, and after sliding his ID badge to gain access to each section of the complex, the doors' lights turned green with approval. Just before each one was unlocked, the doctor's heart sank into his stomach and his breathing grew shallower, wondering each time if his ID badge would cease to permit access. He wondered how long it would take before anyone caught on to their swift escape.

He tried to conceal his look of sheer terror from Ari, but he found it difficult as the kid looked at him with a glowing grin, focusing on him to gather reassurance that everything would be okay. Suddenly they approached a set of doubled exit doors, and Dr. Simmons felt his heartbeat drumming away inside of him underneath a growing mountain of pressure.

It was the last door. The last chance to make it out with Ari before being detected, and he readied himself as he slid his ID badge through the receptacle next to the door, holding his breath to see what color the light would turn, and whether they would be greeted by security on the other side. He slid the card, and suddenly the light turned green, the doors sliding themselves open. Dr. Simmons stepped in front of Ari, extending his neck out of the doorway to see if the coast was clear. No one was there, and with a sudden furry, he grabbed the boy by his arm, pulling him as he made a full dash towards his car.

Once they arrived at the vehicle, they leaped into it as the doors swung open automatically. Simmons continually gazed around the sprawling parking lot, and once the doors shut, the engine fired up, and both Ari and Simmons heard a blaring alarm outside the complex. That's when he knew that they had to leave immediately before security would stop them.

"Please say or enter destination." The car's computerized voice asked as Simmons fastened his seatbelt before doing the same for Ari

"Manual override!" The doctor exclaimed.

Suddenly the steering wheel unfolded from the dashboard and expanded in front of him. He accelerated the car out of the massive parking lot, and as he drove out onto the boulevard that encircled the institute's campus, he slammed his foot down onto the acceleration peddle, getting them passed an army of security personnel that chased them on foot.

"Where are we going?" Asked Ari.

"I'm getting you out of here. Those men back there are after you."

"Why are they after me?"

"It's complicated Ari. You're in danger, and I'm trying to save you."

"Warning! Vehicle speed exceeds legal limit." The car cautioned.

"What will they do if they find me?"

"Nothing good."

"I want my dad! I want to go home!"

"Can't do that."

"Why?"

"Because you're a danger to them. Now no more questions!"

Dr. Simmons glanced over at Ari and saw tears streaming down his horrified face.

"Warning! Collision imminent!" The car's voice announced, automatically taking control of the car to circumvent an accident with the vehicle in front of them before returning the controls to Dr. Simmons.

"Listen to me, we gotta get you out of here, and I can't explain why because it could make things worse for you. I know this is strange and scary, but I need you to trust me. I'm only trying to help."

Ari began sobbing uncontrollably, streams gushing out of his red eyes as they sped down a congested freeway. Simmons felt awful, but he fought the urge to console him while he drove around clusters of traffic that clogged their path.

When they arrived at a giant freight train depot, he drove around it through an unpaved road of dirt and gravel before parking next to a chain-linked fence. Simmons gripped onto one of Ari's hands while the other held his backpack as they made their way across painfully sharp rocks that covered railroad tracks as they approached an idle train.

"See that freight train? That's your ticket out of here."

"I'm not getting on that thing! Where am I supposed to sit? Why can't you come with me?"

"I said no more questions. Time to get on." He said, hoisting him onto the caboose of the train.

"I'm not going!" Ari snapped back, rising to his feet before Dr. Simmons gripped a handful of his jacket, forcefully yanking it towards his face to confront him.

"You don't have a choice! Now sit down!" He yelled back in a commanding tone, shoving him back into a seated position on the metallic grate that wrapped around the train's car. "This train travels faster than 150mph. They won't be able to keep up with you on it. Once you get to LA., you need to find this address." He continued, handing him a sheet of paper with notes before continuing. "Now look, I'm sorry Ari. I know this is unfair, and it doesn't make any sense, but this is the only way."

"Why is this happening to me?"

"There's something different about you."

"Different, how? What's wrong with me?"

"There's nothing wrong with you Ari. When they saved your life a year ago, something happened to you…something that enhanced you."

"What do you mean enhanced?" Asked Ari as the train suddenly began moving. Before Dr. Simmons could respond, Ari was already yards away, and as the train began moving and rapidly picking up its pace, he waved the 12-year-old boy goodbye.

The doctor didn't know what fate was in store for Ari, but he knew that it wouldn't be good if he stayed behind. Only a child, he faced something much bigger than he could ever imagine, something he was too young to understand. Whatever it was, as he would soon discover, would alter his destiny, placing him against insurmountable odds. He had no idea that inside of him was the key to not only overcoming those odds but even changing the world. If only he knew.