Secrets of the Tanners (chapters 4-6)
** Chapter 4**
I walked up stairs to see dad in the kitchen sitting at the table with a blank expression on his face. I instantly knew he didn't get the promotion. "Dad?" I asked. "Oh hey want dinner?" He asked trying to change the subject. "No thanks, I think I am going to go upstairs and work on my homework". "Ok" he said sadly, and just as I was about to ascend, he stopped me. "Drake.." He said but stopped. "Uh never mind" I looked at him and then went on upstairs. When I got to my room I went over to my laptop to work on my homework, then I thought of something. I went to the webcam program on my desktop and choose the camera we have in the lab to make sure no one steals anything, as soon as I got it on I saw my dad, in a lab coat, sitting at the computer I was at. But there was something different about him, something that I couldn't notice then he got up and then I saw it, he had a tail, I screamed....loudly; so loud in fact he heard me, I saw him take the coat off, and I saw more, he had scales...he was, he was, on his way up to my room! I closed my laptop and turned on the TV. "Drake!" I heard him yell. "Drake!" I could tell he worried. "Yeah dad" I said as he entered my room, he was human, no tail. "What, why did you scream?" he asked confused. "I -I had the TV on to loud" I said, "Oh..um..ok", He looked at me for a minute or two. He then walked back downstairs and back to the basement. I opened my laptop back up and saw the basement empty for a minute, and then he walked back down and went to the main computer and shut it down. And walked back upstairs, I heard him go to his bedroom and slam the door.
Chapter 5
I got up early and went downstairs, dad wasn't anywhere to be found, so I snuck in to the basement and pulled up the last work done. And saw the screen flash 'Test results: Failure' so I continued to search the page till I found the key for the entire document. It read [Molecular Retardation Experiment 3033| Stage 3| Project sub-title: Genetic Recession| Subject (s): Tanner, Nathan J. and Tanner, Drake F.| Description: To cure me and my son] I sat there in the glow of the computer screen, then I looked at the clock '10:45am' I jumped out of my seat and ran up there stairs, right into my dad, knocking him over in the process. "Whoa, where's the fire son?" He said chuckling. "Dad it 10:45 I am late for school" I said rather angrily. He looked at me and started laughing "Drake, its Saturday and its only 9:45" I looked at him and then looked at my watch, he was right. I can't believe I forgot yesterday was Friday. "Oh sorry" I said feeling really dumb. He chuckled then noticed the basement door was open, he looked at me, and I could tell he was furious. He jumped up and ran down the stairs to the basement. He yelled then, so loud you could almost call it a roar, but it was what he was yelling that scared me, it was my name.
Chapter 6
We were sitting on the couch, not looking or speaking to each other, just staring at the TV, which I wished was on. "You saw me the other day down stairs didn't you?" It wasn't a question so much as it was a statement. I nodded, "How?" he asked trying to control his temper. I turned to him and look down, "The security camera" I said. Another minute passed and neither of us said anything. Then he asked "And you're the one who was looking at the chart..." He turned to look at me "...Aren't you?" I nodded, "Do you understand any of it?" he asked rather coldly. "I read the key" I said, "Ah" he said and then turned away from me, "Would you like to know the full story?" he asked. "Sure" I said, He got up and paced around and finally sat down on the living room table "Drake...we are a very...unique family" he stated. "I kinda figured that" I said, "Uh huh, Drake tell me something," he looked at me in the eyes "Can you believe in something that makes no sense?" he finished. "I-I guess" I said; "Good because what I am about to tell you will not make any sense what so ever, but it is the complete truth, understand" I nodded. "About 35 years ago, I met your mother, but not like the way you know it. We met by sheer luck, Drake I was... am a dragon." He stated and gave me a moment to let this soak in. "And so are you" I just sat there, just looking at him. "35 years ago, the military destroyed my home, although it was nothing more than a cave it was still my home, so I ... attack them, and got captured, they moved me to a lab, the same one down the street" he pointed in the direction of it. "Your mother was the .... Caretaker of me, she would give me things to make me settle down, and because of her, I am alive today. Drake they changed me, they gave me this drug that turned me into a anthro-dragon. Then they tried to go farther, but it didn't completely work..." , "...They tried to turn you into a human" I finished for him. "Yes they did and it worked, to a point. You see I only turn when I don't have this on" He showed me his wrist on it was a little blue band, "I have been working with them to, help you, to make you human too. But they don't want us to be Drake, they want me to....." he paused and looked at me like he was inspecting me. "What?" I asked. "Drake, look at your skin" he said. I looked down and saw my skin ripple, turn red and suddenly I had scales.