I Was Raised as a Tier-C Lab Rat

1 My mother was one of the nation's most elite genetic researchers. Under her proprietary genetic rating system, she classified my younger sister, Stella, as a "Tier-S" prodigy. Stella had boundless potential and required constant "energy nourishment." I, on the other hand, was classified as "Tier-C," a lowly "energy sink." I was forced to survive on a pitiful fifteen-dollar allowance every month, strictly to prevent my "energy imbalance" from draining my precious sister. I believed it all. Until Stella's graduation gala. Hidden in the shadows, I overheard my mother pitching to her biggest investor. "Nora is a wildly successful Tier-C control group," she bragged. "The chronic nutritional restriction perfectly highlights the superiority of the Tier-S gene. Just look at her. Skinny as a rail. She is the most visceral proof of our experiment's success." ... In the grand banquet hall, the glare of the crystal chandeliers was blinding. I stood in the corner. The old dress I wore had been washed so many times the fabric was practically translucent, the hem fraying at the edges. Stella paraded through the crowd in a limited-edition haute couture gown, her arm linked with my mother, Evelyn. When Stella finally noticed me, a flash of undisguised contempt crossed her eyes. "Oh, you actually showed up?" she asked. Her voice wasn't loud, but it was pitched perfectly for the surrounding guests to hear. "I figured you'd be too embarrassed to show your face." Evelyn frowned, cutting her off. "Stella, ignore her." There wasn't a trace of reprimand in my mother's voice, only the sharp annoyance of having her perfect evening interrupted. "Go say hello to Mr. Donovan. He's the biggest backer our lab has." A waiter ushered me to a table tucked away in the darkest corner of the room. It was completely empty. That was fine by me. I didn't have the energy to deal with their pitying or disgusted stares anyway. I was starving. To save money for study guides before my finals and college entrance exams, I had survived on a single plain bagel a day. The second the exams were over, I threw myself into a grueling temp job, working fourteen-hour shifts for two straight weeks. I picked up my fork and wolfed down the catered food, desperately trying to fill the bottomless black hole in my stomach. Right then, from the half-open door of the adjacent VIP suite, I heard my mother's voice. She spoke in a tone I had never heard from her before. It was cold, clinical, and completely stripped of emotion. "Mr. Donovan, look at the data. Nora is the perfect test subject for my 'Directed Genetic Resource Allocation' theory." My fork froze halfway to my mouth. "Tier-S genes require massive environmental energy to sustain their development. But a Tier-C gene is naturally an energy black hole. It unconsciously drains the energy from its surroundings," Evelyn explained. "My theory is simple. We artificially and precisely restrict all resource supply to the Tier-C subject. We force her to exist at the absolute bare minimum of survival." "By doing this, she lacks the strength to steal energy. Instead, her suppressed vitality creates an energy 'trough,' allowing the Tier-S gene... like Stella... to absorb ambient energy with maximum efficiency." A sickening hint of pride crept into her voice. "Look at Nora. The chronic malnutrition has led to stunted growth, a sallow complexion, and a weak immune system. This data eloquently proves that by strictly suppressing the C, we allow the S to thrive." The food I had just shoved down my throat suddenly turned to molten lead, burning through my insides. I heard the man they called Mr. Donovan let out a booming, satisfied laugh. "Professor Evelyn, you are an absolute genius! This theory is a goldmine!" My mother chuckled, unable to hide her smugness. "To ensure the absolute purity of the experiment, I gave her exactly fifteen dollars a month for living expenses, even during the most critical weeks before her exams." "She was so starved she passed out right in the middle of the testing hall. She barely made it into college." "That clinical data is absolutely priceless." So that was it. My collapse during the exams wasn't an accident. The hunger, the poverty, the crippling insecurity, and the sheer agony I had endured for eighteen years were nothing but cold, hard data points in her research paper. I was just a successful Tier-C control group. Mr. Donovan sounded ecstatic. "Professor, this theory needs massive backing! I'm adding another five million to your funding! We're going to market this to every family raising a Tier-S child!" My entire body trembled. The blood in my veins turned to ice, only to boil over into a violent, raging inferno the very next second. I squeezed the glass water goblet in my hand. Crack. The sharp sound of shattering glass cut through the air. Jagged shards bit deep into my palm. Blood seeped through my fingers, dripping onto the pristine white tablecloth one drop at a time, blossoming like desperate, crimson flowers. 2 I shoved the door of the VIP suite open and stormed inside. The sight of my blood-soaked hands brought the lively conversation to a dead, horrifying halt. The fat on Mr. Donovan's face jiggled as he stared at me in terror. My mother, Evelyn, my father, Richard, and my precious Tier-S sister, Stella, were all sitting there. My eyes bypassed everyone else and pinned Evelyn in place. "What exactly am I to you?" My voice came out ragged, trembling with a primal fury. "A control group?" "A lab rat?" "Or just a bargaining chip to score a bigger check?" Stella was the first to react. She let out an ear-piercing shriek. "Are you out of your mind, Nora? What the hell kind of garbage are you spouting?" She jumped up. "Do you have any idea how important Mr. Donovan's funding is to Mom? Are you trying to ruin her career?" Evelyn's face drained of color. But it only took her one second to regain her composure. A flash of utter, ruthless calculation darted across her beautiful eyes, something I had never seen before. Instantly, that ruthlessness was swallowed by a mask of overwhelming, sickeningly fake grief. She rushed over and threw her arms around me, hugging me so tight it felt like she was trying to crush my bones. "Nora! Oh, my sweet girl! How could you ever think that of your own mother?" Her voice cracked with tears, playing the part of the deeply wronged parent to absolute perfection. She gripped my shoulders, turning to explain to the bewildered investor and the rest of the VIP guests. "I am so sorry, Mr. Donovan. Please excuse her." She wiped a dramatic tear. "This poor child... Her genetic tier is so low, it's made her incredibly insecure and emotionally fragile. She constantly hallucinates that we favor Stella." "As parents, our hearts are just broken over it." My father, Richard, quickly stood up, rubbing his hands together with an awkward, apologetic smile to smooth things over. "Yes, exactly. Her mental state has been highly unstable lately. We were actually just looking into getting her a psychiatrist." He chuckled nervously. "Please don't take the ramblings of a sick kid seriously." Pressed suffocatingly close to my mother's chest, breathing in the nauseating scent of her expensive perfume, I felt my stomach heave. I struggled, but her grip was like a vice, locking me in place with a terrifying, unyielding strength. Without missing a beat, she took a delicate velvet box from her assistant and snapped it open for the entire room to see. "Look, Nora. Look at this. How could a mother ever give up on her child?" Inside the box, resting on a bed of black velvet, was a syringe filled with a luminescent blue liquid. It looked mysterious and incredibly expensive. She held the vial up high, her face a portrait of tearful devotion, addressing the room but speaking directly to me. "I led my team through countless sleepless nights, pouring my blood, sweat, and tears into developing this 'Genomic Enhancer' just for you!" "I never gave up on you, Nora! Once you take this injection, you'll finally escape your Tier-C destiny. You'll be just as brilliant as Stella!" In the blink of an eye, the entire atmosphere in the room shifted. The wealthy socialite sitting next to Mr. Donovan frowned, pointing an accusatory finger at me. "This girl is incredibly ungrateful. Your mother sacrifices everything for you, and you throw a tantrum in public?" "Right? Some kids don't know how good they have it." "Apologize to your mother immediately. Stop breaking her heart." The wave of condemnation crashed over me from all sides. I looked at Evelyn's heartbroken face, then down at the syringe glowing with that eerie blue light. At that exact moment, my heart felt like it had been plunged into a bucket of freezing ice water. 3 I stared dead at the blue liquid. Then, I locked eyes with my mother and her deeply affectionate gaze. Beneath the shimmering tears, I could see it clearly now, the microscopic glint of triumph and venomous calculation. My chest went numb. But instead of fighting her, I slowly forced my muscles to relax. I looked up, pitching my voice to sound almost naive, completely devoid of my previous rage. "If I take this shot... will I really be just like Stella?" "Will I get a five-thousand-dollar monthly allowance too?" "Will I get to wear beautiful dresses, eat until I'm full, and buy the books I actually want to read?" My questions caused a brief, uncomfortable stutter in the room's atmosphere. The guests who had just been tearing me apart suddenly wore very complicated expressions. Evelyn didn't hesitate. She nodded, her tone dripping with ironclad conviction. "Of course!" "Nora, the second your genes are optimized, Mom will give you everything you've ever wanted to make up for lost time!" "My love for you and Stella has always been exactly the same!" Standing off to the side, Stella scoffed, rolling her eyes. She muttered, just loud enough for me to hear. "A Tier-C piece of trash? Keep dreaming." Those words were the pin that popped Evelyn's balloon of manufactured warmth. They also killed the very last, pathetic sliver of hope hiding in the deepest corner of my heart. I reached out and lifted the syringe from the velvet box. The glass was freezing against my fingertips. I looked around the room and said, "Okay." "To prove I'm not crazy." "And to finally get everything I've been owed for the last eighteen years." "I'll take it." A flash of uncontrollable glee erupted in my mother's eyes. She even stepped forward, playing the doting parent, to help roll up the sleeve of my threadbare dress, exposing an arm that was terrifyingly thin from years of starvation. "Good girl. It won't hurt at all. It'll be over in a second," she murmured softly. The surrounding guests smiled in relief, acting as if they were witnessing the beautiful, heartwarming redemption of a troubled teen. The needle gleamed under the harsh chandelier light. I positioned it directly over the prominent blue vein in my arm. Inch by inch, it moved closer. The air in the room stood completely still. But right at the exact millisecond the needle was about to pierce my skin... I violently twisted my wrist and lunged at Stella, who was standing right beside me, completely off guard! Moving at lightning speed, I locked my arm around her throat, pinning her against my chest. At the same time, I aimed the tip of the deadly blue needle straight at her smooth, pristine neck. It happened so fast no one had a chance to blink. A bright, wildly terrifying smile stretched across my face as I watched my mother's expression shatter into absolute panic. "Since this stuff is so amazing, why don't we let my Tier-S sister try it first?" "Who knows? Maybe this shot will upgrade her straight to Tier-SS!" "Mom, didn't you just say your love for us is exactly the same? I insist on giving this incredible gift to my little sister!" "No!" Evelyn let out a bloodcurdling, inhuman shriek. She and my father, Richard, lunged at me like a pair of rabid beasts, all pretense gone. Their faces were twisted in pure, unadulterated terror. "Nora! What the hell are you doing?!" "Drop that needle right now! Stella's genetic makeup is highly delicate! You cannot pump her with unauthorized drugs!" Their frantic screaming. Their utter loss of control. It told the entire room everything they needed to know. This so-called "Genomic Enhancer" wasn't a mother's miracle cure. It was poison meant to destroy the rest of my life. 4 Total chaos erupted. The guests weren't stupid. Even the most oblivious among them could read the desperate panic on my parents' faces. Their expressions shifted from entertained superiority to utter shock and suspicion. Stella thrashed wildly against my chest, screaming at the top of her lungs. "Nora, you psycho! Let me go! Mom! Help!" It took every ounce of strength I had to keep her restrained. Evelyn didn't dare step any closer. She was terrified my hand would slip and plunge the liquid into her golden child. Standing a few feet away, her face was ghost-white as she screamed at me. "Nora! Put that down immediately! You are trying to murder your own sister!" I let out a cold, sharp laugh. "Murder?" "Weren't you just crying crocodile tears, calling this your ultimate act of motherly love?" "What's wrong? Does your brand of love only apply to specific people?" "Or is your love just literally toxic?" I raised the syringe higher, forcing my father to back away as he tried to flank me. Then, while everyone watched in horrified suspense, I used my free hand to pull my phone from my pocket. Evelyn's pupils dilated in panic. She clearly thought I was going to play the audio of her pitching to Mr. Donovan. I hit play. But the voices blasting from the speaker weren't hers and the investor's. It was a recorded argument between her and my dad. The background noise was muffled, like it was recorded secretly near the kitchen. First came my father's voice, cowardly and riddled with anxiety. "Evelyn, isn't the dosage on this Neuro-Suppressant way too high? The warning label says this is strictly for highly aggressive psychiatric patients in Tier-B and above. Nora is barely a Tier-C..." "What if... what if it causes permanent brain damage?" Then came my mother's voice, cold enough to freeze hell over. "Brain damage is exactly what we want." "A quiet, mindless control subject has the highest experimental value." "Otherwise, look at what happens. She actually got accepted into Yale! That is a massive insult to my entire experimental model!" "A high-achieving Tier-C subject muddies my data! It makes the investors question the universal applicability of my theory!" "Get this through your head, Richard. Stella is our only future! Sacrificing one miserable Nora to secure Stella's success is a completely acceptable loss." The recording clicked off. The VIP suite fell into a suffocating, deathly silence. Every single guest stared at my mother as if she were a monster wearing human skin. Mr. Donovan's face was purple with rage. My father collapsed into a nearby chair, his lips trembling, unable to form a single word. As for Evelyn, the elegant, well-maintained veneer had completely melted away, leaving her looking hollow and ghastly pale. She stared at me. She looked like she was seeing me for the first time, or perhaps looking at a demon clawing its way out of the abyss. I thought I had won. I thought this endless, suffocating nightmare was finally coming to an end. But right then, she suddenly started to laugh. It was a slow, eerie chuckle that sounded incredibly sinister in the dead quiet of the room. "You really think this is over, Nora?"

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