Bright End

Xiaolian stood there on my front porch. She wasn’t trembling, nor was she eager to step inside. It was as if she was judging me and at the same time allowing me to do the same with her.

I looked past her, scanning the driveway and the edge of my front lawn. There were no unfamiliar cars parked in my driveway or on the street out front. No one lingered by the mailbox or on the sidewalk across the street. She’d come alone.

“Xiaolian,” I said finally.

I pulled her into my arms and hugged her tight, needing to know this was real. Only then did I pull away, holding her at arm’s length. I studied her face, smoothed her hair back like she was still the same girl found abandoned inside a suitcase outside my office building.

She now stood the same height as me, her arms athletic like mine. Her slender frame now had curves. We looked more alike now than we ever had when she was a child. I figured she was in her early twenties, if I’d done the math right.

“I’m sorry,” I laughed, realizing I was poking and prodding. “I’m treating you like you’re some kind of experiment.”

“Well, I am.” She smiled.

The truth, of course, was that I hadn’t forgotten who she really was or where she’d come from. 

My DNA had been stolen at the height of my career in Hong Kong. Xiaolian was the result of three-parent embryo engineering—me, combined with two host donors. A state-backed program by a rogue group inside the Chinese government had been pushing beyond disease correction and into human replication. They wanted to recreate the brilliant minds of the world but reenvisioned as Chinese people. Dominance would be obtained not through a war of bombardment but from one of intelligence. Raise these individuals from birth with the right intention and you would create a superpower like the world had never seen. 

Imagine a person who had the traits and potential of Michael Jordan but knew what he was capable of. How much better would he be with a basketball in his hands from day one with that knowledge? Xiaolian was that for me. The perfectly curated version of me. Not a copy of my life—but a better version of me, of my potential. It was also Xiaolian’s purpose to stop the program that gave life to her.

“I thought you were dead all these years,” I said.

“I know, and I’m sorry.”

I invited her inside. She hesitated at first, still unsure of me, of my home. But she eventually stepped through the doorway, head on a swivel as she took in the sitting room.

“It’s just like I remembered,” she said. “Nothing has changed.”

“Yeah, I’m boring like that. Come on.” I hooked my arm around hers and led her down the hall. We settled on the back porch with a pot of hot tea as we struggled for the right start to a conversation long overdue.

“The explosion,” I finally said, not sure why, it was just what came to mind. “I saw it. The facility, it erupted in flames.”

“It was the only way,” she said. “I had to be sure to end the program, to destroy it once and for all. I know I left you with a million questions and no answers. I’m sorry for that.”

“I believe you.” I gave her thigh a comforting pat. “What you did was necessary. Keeping me out of the loop was necessary. I get it. If I were in your shoes…”

“You’re not just saying that because I’m here, are you?”

“Not at all. But I do have a million questions.”

A smile formed on her face. 

“If my math is correct, what’s it been? Ten years?”

She nodded and simply started talking. “I had to disappear completely. Destroying the building erased decades of valuable research—work that can’t be replicated, at least not in any meaningful time.” Her eyes met mine. “A lot of people died. People who weren’t in charge. Innocent, really… I tried to save a few, but there wasn’t much time, and if the wrong people found out, they might have stopped it. I couldn’t let that happen, not after everything I had gone through.”

She paused, taking a sip of her tea, staring at the small table between us like she was still there, watching it unfold.

“People had to believe everything had been lost,” she continued. “The laboratories. The school. All of the data. Me, of course. There couldn’t be anything left to question.”

“So, did it work?”

“As far as I can tell.” A slight pause. “I have people friendly to my cause in the Chinese government… They would warn me if that changed.” She met my eyes again. “I really am sorry about how things ended between us.”

“Stop feeling guilty. You did what you had to do,” I said. And I meant it because I would have done the same.

“I want you to know that I never forgot you. Or Ryan and Lucy. Not even Po Po.”

“You were never forgotten here either.”

Just then the door to the back porch opened and Po Po stuck her head out. Her eyes settled on Xiaolian, narrowing for half a second before her breath hitched.

“Xiaolian,” she said, shuffling forward to embrace her. “You come home.”

My eyes welled as I watched the two. Xiaolian let out a soft laugh through her tears as she hugged Po Po. She was the one who had named her Xiaolian. Before that, everyone had referred to her as Suitcase Girl.

Po Po pulled back enough to look her over and feel her rib cage. “You must be hungry. I make breakfast.”

After Po Po disappeared inside, Xiaolian leaned back in her chair, the smile still lingering on her face until she drew a sharp breath. “Ryan and Lucy. Are they here too?” She popped out of her seat, ready to go and search them down.

I grabbed her arm. “Relax, sit back down. They both moved out.”

“Yes, of course. They’re adults like me. What was I thinking?”

“Lucy’s attending university in Los Angeles. She comes home for holidays and the occasional long weekend. It’s a short one-hour flight. Ryan, on the other hand, works for the State Department. He’s in an entirely different country—our relationship is mostly video chat. I’m lucky if he visits once a year. That said, both are healthy and pursuing their dreams.”

“I’m happy to hear that.”

“And what about your friends…the others like you? I swear you mentioned that at one point.”

“Yes, luckily all five of us made it out safely,” she said. “Those early years were tough. We kept each other going, kept our spirits up. I don’t know how I would have made it if it wasn’t for them.”

“And where are they now? Hiding in the shadows?” I asked. “Did they send you first, to vet me?”

A faint smile appeared as her gaze fell to the floor. “You would have done the same.”

“You’re right. Ten years is a long time. I could have turned into a nutjob.”

She looked back up. “Please understand, this isn’t about doubt or trust,” she said. “It’s like you said—so much time has passed, and even though I knew deep down I didn’t have to worry about you, the others…they don’t have the connection we have.”

I leaned back and crossed my arms over my chest. “So did I pass?”

“Oh my God, Abby. You passed the moment you opened the door. It feels like we’re picking up right where we left off. Do you feel the same way?”

“Absolutely.”

And that was the truth. Xiaolian wasn’t the shy little girl I’d taken in all those years ago. She’d blossomed into what appeared to be a strong, intelligent young woman. She seemed normal by all accounts. I didn’t pick up that she was on the run or in trouble—or worse, here for nefarious reasons. None of that felt like the motivation for this visit.

But something was.

“Why now?” I asked. “Why show up early this morning?”

“Because we’re running out of time,” she said without hesitation.

“I’m not sure I’m following you.”

She set her teacup down. “The engineering behind us wasn’t perfect. Yes, we were the second iteration of our kind—the Second Borns—engineered to surpass the First Borns. The leap forward was so dramatic that at the school where I grew up, we weren’t merely praised, we were revered. We were told we represented the future. And we believed it.” She paused. “But it wasn’t until we left the island that we learned the truth. We weren’t without faults. Through our own monitoring and testing, we discovered it for ourselves.”

I leaned forward, concerned. “Xiaolian, what are you trying to say?”

She let out a soft breath. “It turns out the way the doctors integrated the DNA…it’s not stable. Not long term. The easiest way to describe it is that it’s fractured. So knowing that…I, well…” She hesitated. “What I’m saying is, I could spend my time underground, hiding.” She paused, “Or I could choose something else. You know what I mean? To live life to its fullest. Not waste a day.”

Her eyes held mine, steady and unflinching. I realized right then that this wasn’t about catching up or a chance to reminisce. I already knew what she was going to say.

“I’m dying, Abby.”