There are two kinds of people. The ones who had their path in life chosen for them, and those who don't. The destined and the blank page. Perhaps you were born into a wealthy family, meant to take over the family business, or a child genius who always knew you were going to live a life of science. Maybe even someone born with some mental defect that prevented you from doing anything, destined to live a life constrained by your disability. Personally, I think those are the lives that are easy. For those of us that are set down a course we would need to chart ourselves, we are given the heavy responsibility of making decisions. It doesn't matter if we were derailed from our destined path or were born a blank slate. Once a life of decisions is chosen, we must expect to live with regrets.

Professor Leah Leslie Hulway was one of those that had her life set from the get-go. She was born to nothing, with null to her family name. She was destined for obscurity. “We were simple folks, just trying to get by everyday,” she said as the church disappeared from us in the rear-view mirror, the setting sun behind it. “Dad was a grocer and mom a housewife. Had a baby sister two years younger than me who couldn't attend school for a year since we did not have enough money.”

The bug-like yellow car she drove turned tightly as we headed back onto the small road that would lead us back to E.F.A Headquarters.

“How did you end up here?” I asked, looking at her rather solemn face.

I found the professor easier to talk with compared to the others I've met since I woke up, even more so than my wife. There also seemed to be a mutual attraction, though neither sexual or romantic. If I had to put a a finger on what it was, I'd say it was more of a curiosity.

She lingered on the question a moment, opening and closing her mouth as she attempted to form words before replying in an almost musically sad tone. “In the end, we could only afford school for one of us. At first I wanted my sister to go, but she practically cried me into submission. Said that I was always the smarter of the two of us.”

She drove silently for a few minutes, and I waited intently for her to continue her story. The sun cut off at the horizon, bathing the surrounding suburban buildings with shingles that seemed aflame.

Just when I thought that perhaps the topic was too sensitive for her to want to talk about, she continued, “So my sister gave up her bright future. She had all that potential and she decided to past all of that to me. One thing let to another, and I ended working here, at the E.F.A as the decoder for your grandfather.”

“You knew my grandfather?” I exclaimed in genuine surprise, before remembering that her entire career had been built around deciphering his predictions.

“Before that I was just an intern. Then one day, your grandfather walked in, pointed to me, and said, 'She'll be my translator!' which was weird at the time, cause he was speaking perfect English by my standard.” She laughed at the memory and I could not help but smile. That was how my grandfather was as a person after all. And my fond memories of the old man had not faded, even after the discovery of his secret life. Leah continued, “You can imagine my surprise when I realized who he was. Back then, the E.F.A just got started. Barely a decade old, and this guy was already a legend, and I was to decode his visions.”

“I know it's rude to ask,” I said nervously, “But how old are you?”

“Physically, I'm thirty-four years old, same as you. Physically at least,” she replied matter-of-factly. “But I've been alive for fifty-four years now.”

I did the quick math, coming to the conclusion she had been frozen for twenty years total. “So you're actually older than me?”

She chuckled as I said so, “You're kind of rude, aren't you? First you ask a girl her age, now you're calling her old?”

“I'm an asshole,” I replied. “It's in my blood.”

“Oh, I know. It was in your grandfather's blood too. Old man wouldn't stop insulting people even when we begged.” We were now on the main road back to the headquarters, circling round the city instead of going through. G must have taken the long route to show me the progress of the construction. Leah continued, “But yeah, I am older than you. I was born eighteen years after the Mist entered. I started working with your grandfather the same year you were born.”

“What was he like back then?” I asked suddenly, too entranced by the tale to think properly about my interruption.

However, the professor trailed onto my topic without even skipping a beat, as if her words danced from track to track. “He was kind of a big deal. All these stories of how he saved the world from death and destruction. How he helped rebuild the city after the Mist. Of course, I was barely an adult back then, and the population of the world was so small after all the natural disasters that I took all those stories as just that, stories. Didn't stop him from embellishing in them though. The man had some ego.”

I recalled as a child how he would often tell exaggerated tales of his youth. “Sounds about right.”

“Anyway,” she continued, “We worked together to decipher his latest premonition. The one you're part of right now. See, the lyrics said, 'with my blood in his vein'. That meant someone who carried his blood. And 'My son to son' meant you, the son of his son. But you were already born by then, so there was no way you would live for over a hundred years. Unless we clone you.” She stopped for a moment, as if reminiscing on that idea before saying, “But that was too expensive they said. And 'From limped till the end', well, that's self explanatory. When you become disabled.”

“So you guys knew I was going to be crippled?”

“We knew it was going to happen, but not the how or the when,” she defended, still focused on the road as the large dome of headquarters building came into view. “All we knew was your disability would be the starting point. We didn't know it was going to be Mist Poisoning of all things. Once we deciphered the song, we started a think tank to find a solution to preserve your life for the hundred plus years. Within a few months, the Cryo-Tube prototype was created. I volunteered, turned myself into ice for twenty years, and here I am.”

Pulled back to the initial question that got us sidetracked into the conversation in the first place, I asked, “So what happened to you when you first came to?”

She took a deep breath, as if gathering strength for what she was about to say next. “I was like you, in and out every few years for maintenance. But it always for just a couple of days before going in again. At first I was frozen for a year. Twice. Then three. And five. And finally ten.”

The car slowed down as we pulled up on the side of the highway. The topic apparently not just sensitive, but draining for the professor. I placed a hand on her slim shoulder, and in what I thought was a pretty weak attempt at comfort, told her, “You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to. Like maybe you were all wrinkly when you came out. I can't live with not knowing.”

She laughed with a genuine smile, teeth shining through and all. “You really are an asshole, you know that?” She laid her head against the headrest and wrapped her hand over mine, as if to gain strength. “After that five years gap, I came out and found out my parents had past away. They didn't want to wake me cause they thought my work was more important than them. I argued with my sister about that whole incident and I went back in with our relationship in pieces.”

I wanted to ask what happened afterwards, but as if reading my mind, she took a grip of my hand and brought in down to be wrapped in her other, cupping my single fist in both of her palms.

With a voice so gentle that it could only be trumped by that of my wife, Leah said with two drops of tears rolling down her cheeks, “Give it time. I know it may seem like your daughter hate you now, but trust me when I say hate doesn't last forever.”

“Your little sister-” I began asking.

However, she cut me off. “We're fine. She's not so little any more but we're fine,” she shook my hand as if confirming the situation. “We have lunch together every month and I go to her place on the holidays. Turkey dinner. Every time. No idea why. You just have to give it time. And you have all of that in the world right now.”

“Turkey dinner,” I said, smiling.

She let go of my hand and returned to the wheel. “Yeah.”

The car started again and we were back on the road in a matter of seconds. We drove the last few miles in silence, listening to the hum of the engine as I contemplated on what to do next. As we headed up the road that let to the guardhouse, Leah held her card out the window, with the same beam of light as before scanning it, the grates rising to let us in.

“I've decided,” I began. “I'll leave the decision of when I wake up next to my wife and daughter.”

“Okay,” she replied without questioning further. A gesture I was thankful for, as I wasn't sure I could reply with an answer for my decision. “We will arrange for that.”

The car stopped in front of the building's main entrance and we both got out. Locking the doors with a press of her remote control key, the yellow bug-vehicle descended into the automated parking lots below.

Without further conversation, we headed through the lobby, with people greeting the Professor as we went. She returned the greeting with graceful smiles and gentle nods, her sylphlike personality and figure seemed to charismatically charmed anyone who knew her. Down the elevator. Through the long corridor. Into the Cryo-Tube chamber. Not a single delay in our steps.

I'd like to think that the period of silence was both of us reflecting on our lives. Uniquely different in so many aspects, but similar in more ways than one. I was born to a blank page, with a myriad of possibilities for a future. Yet, I ended up on a predetermined path in the past forty eight hours of my life with one single decision, full of regret and possibly, even more pain in the future. Somehow, the two of us convened at the same place, at the same time. Different reasons, different lives, different people. But we were there with the same feelings. At least, that's what I'd like to think.

There were no formalities this time. I got dressed in the special pyjamas, stuck a new ECG on my chest and headed to the machine. Leah waited for me at the bottom of the steps, now dressed in her lab coat.

I approached her and she said, “You know Milton, I know this might sound selfish but, I'm glad you got frozen. I've waited seven years to share the experience with someone who might even remotely understand.”

“It's not selfish at all.” I smiled back. “I mean, 'Hey. Do you remember the one time I got cryogenically frozen?' isn't exactly a relatable dinner topic.”

Leaning in, she gave me a full-on hug and I returned the gesture. “It'll be okay,” she says again. “I know it will.”

Not having much left to say, I simply nodded in confirmation. We parted and she headed to the controls while I climbed the ladder, this time without G or Matthews by my side. I stood on the panel and took a long scan of the room. Just a day before for me, I was watched over by my entire family and a room full of scientists as I was lowered into the Cryo-Tube. That day, only the scientists remained. Just a room of scientists and one friend. No agents. No wife. No parents. No daughter.

I gave Leah a thumbs up to show I was ready. The panel started its descent and I wondered when, if ever, my family would want to see me again.