Geras
Geras
pg-13
hint!yoosu
For as long as he could remember Luke knew aliens were real. When he tried to explain his theory to the other little children they look at him as though he belonged in a mental institution instead of their very own children’s hospital. Peals of lighthearted laughter and a small pat on the head were all that he received from the nurses and doctors around the building. Nonetheless, Luke knew aliens would one day ride across the midnight sky and, with a soft beam of light, pick him up into a new world.
He had never given up on this hope, holding onto the idea like it was his lifeguard out in the open sea. Over the years, however, he had slowly forgotten this wish with the increasing numbers of treatment he was forced into accepting and as the number of candles on his birthday cake marked a step closer to his demise. Just a few days before his tenth birthday, during a winter Luke remembered being so cold he felt the frost in the marrows of his bones, a strange warm sensation reached the thin veil of his heavy eyelids. Despite being in the high tides of sleep Luke aroused as if the system of mechanics in his clockwork mind was set off.
The door was ajar; leaving a narrow beam of light to enter the dark premise of his room, and with the overcastting glow of the moon outside his window the brightness almost seemed divine. Then through the small crack of the door, Luke saw the shadow of a figure he had long forgotten. It was just as he imagined it- an enlarge head with a small, fragile body, and thin, lanky limbs. His mind raced with the thought of being abducted by the extraterrestrial as adrenaline pumped through his blood.
Too preoccupied in thought, Luke failed to notice the figure’s small, awkward movements toward the door. And then it suddenly hit him. The alien had just peeked into his door, hid itself in the shadows of darkness, and then continued to observe him by the entry. A hesitant smile grazed by Luke’s lips as he watched with awe at how peculiar the alien was. Strange and beautiful, the extraterrestrial had a large forehead that covered half of its face and just below the brow bone, where barely a trace of hair was found, a large, deep set of eyes was fixed as concave hollows. A pinched nose, round cheeks, and small jaw softened the face, almost as though the creature was a child of Earth.
Without prologue, Luke extended his hand out into the darkness, breaking the calm silence the two had shared. “Would you show me your world? Could we become friends?”
The abruptness of it all caused the alien to shrink back into hiding. After a few moments, like a turtle drawing its neck out to the sun, the alien nodded. Luke smiled on encouragingly as the creature stepped into the room. Darkness enveloped the stiff robotic movements of the creature’s limbs; however, the large baldness of the alien’s head was as luminous as the moon itself.
Finally, Luke’s small, cold hands came in contact with the alien’s slim fingers. It didn’t feel quite real then. The hand was as cold if not freezing to Luke, but the part that he couldn’t wrap his mind around was the texture of the skin. It was loose, thin, and wrinkled but perhaps the most shocking was how familiar touch felt-- the outmost layer of human skin.
Everything that happened next was a haze of smog to Luke’s memory. Perhaps it was a dream, a strange and beautiful dream, but then Luke had woken up with the name “Geras” on the tip of his tongue. Memory had not served him well but he felt alive and at that moment it was all that should matter to him. He went around playing with the children with more enthusiasm than ever and ate more than his usual tidbits of food that even the nurses and doctors noticed and were proud of. Still, when Luke brought up the topic of aliens everyone would just smiled at the story and played along as if he still believed in the tooth fairy.
As Luke headed back into his room, dusk lagging behind him like a shadow, he overheard the name “Geras” spill from one of the doctors’ mouth. Wide eyed, Luke came to a halt in the middle of a sea of nurses, doctors, patients and relatives, like worker bees, swarming to and fro with the end of visitation hours. Too engrossed in their discussion the pair of doctors had not realize the information leaking from their lips were going to break the lifelong fantasy of a child wishing to be abducted by the extraterritorials.
“I can’t believe my eyes. In all my years of practicing medicine I’ve never seen anything like this. I’ve checked the family’s medical record, there were no such cases previously found within the genealogy. His sibling is normal, his parents are perfectly healthy, and that kid’s IQ is above average. I don’t understand why he is aging 8 to 10 times the rate of a normal child.”
“This is the first time I’ve seen a case like this as well, Doctor. It is very strange, indeed. In fact, I think I recall reading something of this nature a while back on the American Journal of Medicine. It’s an extremely rare genetic condition known as Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome or just Progeria for short. One in every eight million live births is affected. No known connection has been link to the condition being more susceptible to a certain ethnicity or gender.”
“Progeria…Progeria… ‘Geras’. That’s right! A single letter miscoding in the LMNA gene for the structural protein Lamin A in the first chromosome! Usually, the farnesyl group is removed to form a normal nuclear envelope, but in this case the farnesyl group remain attached, forming progerin which then anchored to the nuclear rim. An abnormal shape nucleus results and the change from cytosine to thymine in the base pair causes a disturbance in the aging process.”
“I don’t recall any viable treatments for this condition…If the rate of aging for him continues I don’t think he will make it to his thirteenth birthday. Most children with this disease die very young.”
“I’m afraid so. Due to the rapid rate at which the condition has lead the child into aging, he will most likely die of age related deaths such as a stroke or a heart attack. We can try treating those but the chances are his body won’t be able to handle it.”
“This is a very tragic case…”
“Let’s not give up yet. Let me try making some phone calls to find out more on this condition. Maybe-.”
There was no need to stay longer. The emotions that had been mounting inside of Luke’s chest had manifested as needles streaming down his cheeks. The pain encompassing him had shut off all other sensation in his body. So with clouded eyes, he headed back to his room and let the pillow take the slaughter of weeps and sobs he could not afford to make obvious around adults. There he cried for a long time, cried for his dreams and hopes, and he cried for his alien.
And then there came a knock.
Someone must have heard him for the walls in the hospitals were thinner than they looked. It was a single knock, not so much of even a disturbance but rather a soft tap requesting admittance. Luke looked around and found no one nearby. The door was not bolted and no one stood by the entryway. Another tap came, softly, and like a pat on the back another followed. Luke got up and check the walls. On instinct, he allowed his feet to carry him to the corridor and stopped outside the room adjacent to his. He knocked- or rather tapped- softly and, when nobody answered, gave himself permission to enter.
The loudness in the pivot of the handle and push of the door in his ears did not prepare him for the sight that greeted him. There lying on the same hospital bed in an identical room with his was his alien friend. A glimmer of a smile was upon the alien’s lips before a somber expression crossed its eyes, stretching at the lines of its small mouth. The shock on Luke’s face must have been obvious. Luke swallowed down the bile of food that he doesn’t recall eating (this is precisely why he barely has an appetite) but is threatening to emerge from his throat as disgusting slime.
In the light of day, the alien child, ‘Geras’ as Luke recalled, resembled more of that of a wizard in a child’s body. No, it was more like on episode of Kids Next Doors when all of the adults were turned into children. Or was it the other way around? Luke couldn’t remember. Despite probably being around the same height and age, Luke suddenly felt very small as he awkwardly stayed frozen in the heat of the alien child’s gaze. Those round innocent eyes, however, lacked the vitality seen in most children. In its place, piercing obsidian eyes rendered him speechless.
“Come. Sit next to me.” The voice called out to him in a childlike whisper, a siren calling. Luke ignored all of the alarms that were going off inside his head and complied with the order.
“Tell me your story.”
As if the alien child had the enchantment of a magician, Luke found it difficult to resist sharing the story of how he became a prisoner to this ward. Within time and through much storytelling and soliloquies, Luke found himself befriending his alien. In truth, it was actually Luke who had abducted Geras into a new world by sharing with him aspects of life that Geras will never be able to experience. Nevertheless, Luke, too, found himself livelier within Geras’ presence, as if some of the magic that encompassed Geras had rubbed off on him as well.
Winter swept up storms of snow and ice, thawed then by spring and buds of life. But for children of the hospital it is another term of trials and therapy. Luke had made it past his tenth birthday but he doesn’t know at what age he will become normal. His mommy and daddy lie to him through their teeth about how quickly everything would be over and secretly cry behind his back. He has been around the hospital long enough to know his way in and out. And he honestly doubts he would be leaving anytime soon. Then again, maybe he doesn’t want to leave anymore.
At least not without Geras.
It is nearing Geras’ thirteenth birthday and the conversation between the pair of doctors would increasingly haunt every waking moment of Luke’s time. He is beyond worried for his alien friend. Ever since the day the two found each other they were pretty much inseparable. The nurses found it a pleasant surprise at how well the two got along. When Luke had to be separated from Geras to start his chemotherapy he had refused and locked himself in his room. All it took was a few light tap on the wall and Luke had submitted to the therapy. The nurses found them joking about Luke’s shaved head afterward.
Perhaps with the gloom of death following closer to Geras, he has been trying harder to keep a strong façade. Luke knew the mask well. He wore it all of the time. Too engaged in his deep chain of thoughts, Luke has cause a pregnant silence to pervade the room.
“Are you afraid?” Luke finally asked.
“Of what?”
“ Of death. Does it not scare you?”
“I think chemotherapy sounds more frightening to me.”A chuckle. Geras smiled. But Luke knew he was just avoiding the question. “Everybody dies in the end. There is no need to be afraid.”
“But you don’t deserve to die. You haven’t even lived yet.”
“I have lived. Maybe at a faster rate to some people and maybe a shorter life to others. But I’ve lived.” As always, Geras was the perceptive one and without needing Luke to vocalize what was on his mind, answered his pondering. “If I’m destined to die young than I won’t be able to escape my fate.”
“Geras, I overheard the doctors talking about a treatment that just came out. Its call Lonafarnib and they said it’s a farnesyl tranferase inhibitor and it seem to be working on other children so maybe-“
“There are about 80 known current cases around the world right now. Most of us die by thirteen and if I’m lucky maybe my early twenties but I doubt I’ll be around for that long. Look at me. I am an alien. I shouldn’t even be living.”
“Don’t say things like that. You’re not an alien. You’re my alien child friend. So I won’t let you die. Who am I suppose to talk to if you leave? I’ll be really lonely and sad. Then I’ll die too.”
“My mom had given up on me. She no longer wants to see me. Do you know why I’m called ‘Geras’? It means ‘old age’ in Greek. Progeria is derived from this Greek word. I don’t even remember my real name anymore.”
“If she’s paying for your medical bills then she still cares about you. Trust me. I’ve seen it on TV many times. Maybe she is just sad she can’t do anything to help you so she can’t face you. But I’m here right? And if you don’t like the name Geras… I’ll give you a new name. Micky that’s your new name from now on.”
“Why Micky?”
“Because you have a big head and large ears… and you kind of look like a mouse.”
“Then you will be June.”
“June?”
“That’s the month of my birth. If I live to see that day it’s going to be thanks to you.”
“So you will take up the treatment?”
“If I’m destined to die, I’ll die anyway right?”
“Let’s tell the doctors.”
+++
Note: Luke has lukemkia while Geras has Progeria. This was written for a biology assignment about half a year ago. This was written with yoosu characterization in mind. Just thought I would share since its the least I can do for going Haitus for like a year.
pg-13
hint!yoosu
For as long as he could remember Luke knew aliens were real. When he tried to explain his theory to the other little children they look at him as though he belonged in a mental institution instead of their very own children’s hospital. Peals of lighthearted laughter and a small pat on the head were all that he received from the nurses and doctors around the building. Nonetheless, Luke knew aliens would one day ride across the midnight sky and, with a soft beam of light, pick him up into a new world.
He had never given up on this hope, holding onto the idea like it was his lifeguard out in the open sea. Over the years, however, he had slowly forgotten this wish with the increasing numbers of treatment he was forced into accepting and as the number of candles on his birthday cake marked a step closer to his demise. Just a few days before his tenth birthday, during a winter Luke remembered being so cold he felt the frost in the marrows of his bones, a strange warm sensation reached the thin veil of his heavy eyelids. Despite being in the high tides of sleep Luke aroused as if the system of mechanics in his clockwork mind was set off.
The door was ajar; leaving a narrow beam of light to enter the dark premise of his room, and with the overcastting glow of the moon outside his window the brightness almost seemed divine. Then through the small crack of the door, Luke saw the shadow of a figure he had long forgotten. It was just as he imagined it- an enlarge head with a small, fragile body, and thin, lanky limbs. His mind raced with the thought of being abducted by the extraterrestrial as adrenaline pumped through his blood.
Too preoccupied in thought, Luke failed to notice the figure’s small, awkward movements toward the door. And then it suddenly hit him. The alien had just peeked into his door, hid itself in the shadows of darkness, and then continued to observe him by the entry. A hesitant smile grazed by Luke’s lips as he watched with awe at how peculiar the alien was. Strange and beautiful, the extraterrestrial had a large forehead that covered half of its face and just below the brow bone, where barely a trace of hair was found, a large, deep set of eyes was fixed as concave hollows. A pinched nose, round cheeks, and small jaw softened the face, almost as though the creature was a child of Earth.
Without prologue, Luke extended his hand out into the darkness, breaking the calm silence the two had shared. “Would you show me your world? Could we become friends?”
The abruptness of it all caused the alien to shrink back into hiding. After a few moments, like a turtle drawing its neck out to the sun, the alien nodded. Luke smiled on encouragingly as the creature stepped into the room. Darkness enveloped the stiff robotic movements of the creature’s limbs; however, the large baldness of the alien’s head was as luminous as the moon itself.
Finally, Luke’s small, cold hands came in contact with the alien’s slim fingers. It didn’t feel quite real then. The hand was as cold if not freezing to Luke, but the part that he couldn’t wrap his mind around was the texture of the skin. It was loose, thin, and wrinkled but perhaps the most shocking was how familiar touch felt-- the outmost layer of human skin.
Everything that happened next was a haze of smog to Luke’s memory. Perhaps it was a dream, a strange and beautiful dream, but then Luke had woken up with the name “Geras” on the tip of his tongue. Memory had not served him well but he felt alive and at that moment it was all that should matter to him. He went around playing with the children with more enthusiasm than ever and ate more than his usual tidbits of food that even the nurses and doctors noticed and were proud of. Still, when Luke brought up the topic of aliens everyone would just smiled at the story and played along as if he still believed in the tooth fairy.
As Luke headed back into his room, dusk lagging behind him like a shadow, he overheard the name “Geras” spill from one of the doctors’ mouth. Wide eyed, Luke came to a halt in the middle of a sea of nurses, doctors, patients and relatives, like worker bees, swarming to and fro with the end of visitation hours. Too engrossed in their discussion the pair of doctors had not realize the information leaking from their lips were going to break the lifelong fantasy of a child wishing to be abducted by the extraterritorials.
“I can’t believe my eyes. In all my years of practicing medicine I’ve never seen anything like this. I’ve checked the family’s medical record, there were no such cases previously found within the genealogy. His sibling is normal, his parents are perfectly healthy, and that kid’s IQ is above average. I don’t understand why he is aging 8 to 10 times the rate of a normal child.”
“This is the first time I’ve seen a case like this as well, Doctor. It is very strange, indeed. In fact, I think I recall reading something of this nature a while back on the American Journal of Medicine. It’s an extremely rare genetic condition known as Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome or just Progeria for short. One in every eight million live births is affected. No known connection has been link to the condition being more susceptible to a certain ethnicity or gender.”
“Progeria…Progeria… ‘Geras’. That’s right! A single letter miscoding in the LMNA gene for the structural protein Lamin A in the first chromosome! Usually, the farnesyl group is removed to form a normal nuclear envelope, but in this case the farnesyl group remain attached, forming progerin which then anchored to the nuclear rim. An abnormal shape nucleus results and the change from cytosine to thymine in the base pair causes a disturbance in the aging process.”
“I don’t recall any viable treatments for this condition…If the rate of aging for him continues I don’t think he will make it to his thirteenth birthday. Most children with this disease die very young.”
“I’m afraid so. Due to the rapid rate at which the condition has lead the child into aging, he will most likely die of age related deaths such as a stroke or a heart attack. We can try treating those but the chances are his body won’t be able to handle it.”
“This is a very tragic case…”
“Let’s not give up yet. Let me try making some phone calls to find out more on this condition. Maybe-.”
There was no need to stay longer. The emotions that had been mounting inside of Luke’s chest had manifested as needles streaming down his cheeks. The pain encompassing him had shut off all other sensation in his body. So with clouded eyes, he headed back to his room and let the pillow take the slaughter of weeps and sobs he could not afford to make obvious around adults. There he cried for a long time, cried for his dreams and hopes, and he cried for his alien.
And then there came a knock.
Someone must have heard him for the walls in the hospitals were thinner than they looked. It was a single knock, not so much of even a disturbance but rather a soft tap requesting admittance. Luke looked around and found no one nearby. The door was not bolted and no one stood by the entryway. Another tap came, softly, and like a pat on the back another followed. Luke got up and check the walls. On instinct, he allowed his feet to carry him to the corridor and stopped outside the room adjacent to his. He knocked- or rather tapped- softly and, when nobody answered, gave himself permission to enter.
The loudness in the pivot of the handle and push of the door in his ears did not prepare him for the sight that greeted him. There lying on the same hospital bed in an identical room with his was his alien friend. A glimmer of a smile was upon the alien’s lips before a somber expression crossed its eyes, stretching at the lines of its small mouth. The shock on Luke’s face must have been obvious. Luke swallowed down the bile of food that he doesn’t recall eating (this is precisely why he barely has an appetite) but is threatening to emerge from his throat as disgusting slime.
In the light of day, the alien child, ‘Geras’ as Luke recalled, resembled more of that of a wizard in a child’s body. No, it was more like on episode of Kids Next Doors when all of the adults were turned into children. Or was it the other way around? Luke couldn’t remember. Despite probably being around the same height and age, Luke suddenly felt very small as he awkwardly stayed frozen in the heat of the alien child’s gaze. Those round innocent eyes, however, lacked the vitality seen in most children. In its place, piercing obsidian eyes rendered him speechless.
“Come. Sit next to me.” The voice called out to him in a childlike whisper, a siren calling. Luke ignored all of the alarms that were going off inside his head and complied with the order.
“Tell me your story.”
As if the alien child had the enchantment of a magician, Luke found it difficult to resist sharing the story of how he became a prisoner to this ward. Within time and through much storytelling and soliloquies, Luke found himself befriending his alien. In truth, it was actually Luke who had abducted Geras into a new world by sharing with him aspects of life that Geras will never be able to experience. Nevertheless, Luke, too, found himself livelier within Geras’ presence, as if some of the magic that encompassed Geras had rubbed off on him as well.
Winter swept up storms of snow and ice, thawed then by spring and buds of life. But for children of the hospital it is another term of trials and therapy. Luke had made it past his tenth birthday but he doesn’t know at what age he will become normal. His mommy and daddy lie to him through their teeth about how quickly everything would be over and secretly cry behind his back. He has been around the hospital long enough to know his way in and out. And he honestly doubts he would be leaving anytime soon. Then again, maybe he doesn’t want to leave anymore.
At least not without Geras.
It is nearing Geras’ thirteenth birthday and the conversation between the pair of doctors would increasingly haunt every waking moment of Luke’s time. He is beyond worried for his alien friend. Ever since the day the two found each other they were pretty much inseparable. The nurses found it a pleasant surprise at how well the two got along. When Luke had to be separated from Geras to start his chemotherapy he had refused and locked himself in his room. All it took was a few light tap on the wall and Luke had submitted to the therapy. The nurses found them joking about Luke’s shaved head afterward.
Perhaps with the gloom of death following closer to Geras, he has been trying harder to keep a strong façade. Luke knew the mask well. He wore it all of the time. Too engaged in his deep chain of thoughts, Luke has cause a pregnant silence to pervade the room.
“Are you afraid?” Luke finally asked.
“Of what?”
“ Of death. Does it not scare you?”
“I think chemotherapy sounds more frightening to me.”A chuckle. Geras smiled. But Luke knew he was just avoiding the question. “Everybody dies in the end. There is no need to be afraid.”
“But you don’t deserve to die. You haven’t even lived yet.”
“I have lived. Maybe at a faster rate to some people and maybe a shorter life to others. But I’ve lived.” As always, Geras was the perceptive one and without needing Luke to vocalize what was on his mind, answered his pondering. “If I’m destined to die young than I won’t be able to escape my fate.”
“Geras, I overheard the doctors talking about a treatment that just came out. Its call Lonafarnib and they said it’s a farnesyl tranferase inhibitor and it seem to be working on other children so maybe-“
“There are about 80 known current cases around the world right now. Most of us die by thirteen and if I’m lucky maybe my early twenties but I doubt I’ll be around for that long. Look at me. I am an alien. I shouldn’t even be living.”
“Don’t say things like that. You’re not an alien. You’re my alien child friend. So I won’t let you die. Who am I suppose to talk to if you leave? I’ll be really lonely and sad. Then I’ll die too.”
“My mom had given up on me. She no longer wants to see me. Do you know why I’m called ‘Geras’? It means ‘old age’ in Greek. Progeria is derived from this Greek word. I don’t even remember my real name anymore.”
“If she’s paying for your medical bills then she still cares about you. Trust me. I’ve seen it on TV many times. Maybe she is just sad she can’t do anything to help you so she can’t face you. But I’m here right? And if you don’t like the name Geras… I’ll give you a new name. Micky that’s your new name from now on.”
“Why Micky?”
“Because you have a big head and large ears… and you kind of look like a mouse.”
“Then you will be June.”
“June?”
“That’s the month of my birth. If I live to see that day it’s going to be thanks to you.”
“So you will take up the treatment?”
“If I’m destined to die, I’ll die anyway right?”
“Let’s tell the doctors.”
+++
Note: Luke has lukemkia while Geras has Progeria. This was written for a biology assignment about half a year ago. This was written with yoosu characterization in mind. Just thought I would share since its the least I can do for going Haitus for like a year.