Kevin Brooks - See Through Me

‘What about my mum?’ I asked. ‘What’s this unknown abnormality linked to in her case?’

‘We don’t know yet. We’re still looking.’

‘And if you find it . . . will that tell us what killed her?’

‘If the coupling of her variants is consistent with the pattern in the other two genomes – and we’re fairly sure that it is – then the link should lead us to an abnormality that causes some kind of genetic disorder. Whether or not that turns out to be the direct cause of your mum’s death . . . well, we won’t know that until we find it. And even then, there’s no guarantee of an answer.’

From the way he looked at me then – his gaze direct and purposeful – I knew he was telling me something. And it wasn’t hard to guess what it was. Why he didn’t just come out and say it, I really don’t know. And as he sat there looking at me, clearly expecting me to take the initiative, I felt a flutter of resentment – and perhaps even anger – rising in my heart. But it only lasted a moment. I didn’t have the will or the energy to care about meaningless things.

‘The same goes for me, doesn’t it?’ I said to him. ‘Even if you find the link, there’s no guarantee that it’ll be the direct cause of my transparency. And even if it is, there’s no guarantee it’ll make any difference. Genetic disorders can’t be cured, can they?’

‘Well, there’s been some success with experimental gene therapy treatment, but you’re right – there’s no cure for the vast majority of genetic disorders. But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to be done. In lots of cases it’s possible to treat and manage the symptoms of the disease . . .’

I don’t remember the rest of it. I think I’d reached a kind of saturation point, and my head was so full of abnormalities and variants and genes and disorders and DNA sequencing and god-knows-what else that I simply couldn’t take in any more, and something in my mind – some kind of safety mechanism – just shut everything down.

And I zoned out.

Just like Dad.

Only no one could see that I wasn’t there.

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