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During my baptism the pastor asked my mom _Same deal as the last one · Martin Animations

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Speaker 1: During my baptism, the pastor asked my mom, same deal
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Speaker 1: as the last one? I was seven years old when
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Speaker 1: I got baptized at St. Augustine's Church, and that's the
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Speaker 1: day everything started unraveling. The church smelled like incense and
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Speaker 1: something metallic I couldn't place, and I wore this white
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Speaker 1: dress my mom had been obsessing over for weeks. She
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Speaker 1: kept pulling at the fabric and checking the sleeves like
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Speaker 1: it had to meet some specific requirement I didn't understand.
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Speaker 1: My older sister Olivia sat in the front pew looking
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Speaker 1: gray and hollow, and when I waved at her, she
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Speaker 1: turned away fast like seeing me hurt. The baptismal font
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Speaker 1: was old stone, and Pastor William stood beside it with
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Speaker 1: this expression that wasn't quite a smile. More like the
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Speaker 1: face you make when you're about to do something unpleasant
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Speaker 1: but necessary. My parents flanked me on either side, and
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Speaker 1: I noticed my dad's hand kept twitching toward his pocket.
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Speaker 1: My mom's fingers dug into my shoulder hard enough to
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Speaker 1: leave marks through the dress fabric. Pastor William started the
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Speaker 1: ceremony in Latin, his voice echoing off the vaulted ceiling,
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Speaker 1: and I watched other families in the pews. They weren't
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Speaker 1: looking at me with the usual warm church expressions. They
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Speaker 1: looked uncomfortable, some even sad, like they were witnessing something
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Speaker 1: they wished they could stop but couldn't. That's when Pastor
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Speaker 1: William leaned down close to my mom and said it.
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Speaker 1: His voice was low, but I was standing right between
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Speaker 1: them at the perfect height to hear every word. Same
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Speaker 1: deal as the last one? There was no warmth in
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Speaker 1: his tone, just this cold transactional quality like he was
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Speaker 1: confirming a business arrangement. My mom's entire body went rigid
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Speaker 1: and her fingers clenched on my shoulder so hard I
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Speaker 1: had to bite my lip to keep from crying out.
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Speaker 1: She nodded once, sharp and fast, and wouldn't look at him.
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Speaker 1: Pastor William's eyes dropped to me for just a second,
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Speaker 1: and something flickered across his face. Pity mixed with resignation.
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Speaker 1: like he was sorry but not sorry enough to stop
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Speaker 1: whatever was happening. Then he straightened up and poured the
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Speaker 1: holy water over my forehead. And the water felt wrong.
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Speaker 1: Too cold. Almost burning. And I gasped, but nobody seemed
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Speaker 1: to notice except Olivia, who made this small, wounded sound
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Speaker 1: from the pew. The ceremony ended and people clapped, but
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Speaker 1: it sounded hollow and forced. My mom rushed us out
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Speaker 1: to the car before anyone could talk to us, practically
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Speaker 1: dragging me by the arm. In the car, I asked
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Speaker 1: what Pastor William meant about the last one. And my
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Speaker 1: mom's hands shook on the steering wheel. Olivia was in
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Speaker 1: the back seat with her eyes closed and her face
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Speaker 1: turned toward the window. My mom opened her mouth twice
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Speaker 1: before any sound came out. and when she finally spoke,
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Speaker 1: her voice was too bright and fake. She said Pastor
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Speaker 1: William was talking about church donation arrangements, and I shouldn't
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Speaker 1: worry about adult business. But her eyes were red and wet,
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Speaker 1: and I knew she was lying. That night, I heard
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Speaker 1: my parents fighting in their bedroom, their voices rising and
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Speaker 1: falling through the walls. I caught fragments. My dad saying,
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Speaker 1: we can't do this again, and my mom sobbing, we
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Speaker 1: already took the money, and something about a contract. I
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Speaker 1: lay in bed staring at the ceiling, and every time
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Speaker 1: I closed my eyes, I saw Pastor William's face and
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Speaker 1: heard those words. Same deal as the last one. The
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Speaker 1: next morning, Olivia was gone. Not gone like she'd left
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Speaker 1: for school early, but gone like someone had erased her
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Speaker 1: from the house. Her bedroom door stood open, and inside,
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Speaker 1: everything was perfectly neat like she'd been expecting to leave.
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Speaker 1: My parents said Olivia went to stay with relatives for
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Speaker 1: a while because she needed a change of scenery. They
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Speaker 1: said it so casually, like shipping your teenager off to
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Speaker 1: live somewhere else was completely normal. But I'd seen Olivia
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Speaker 1: the night before, and she'd looked at me with these
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Speaker 1: hollow eyes and said, I'm sorry I can't protect you.
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Speaker 1: I asked which relatives, and my mom said an aunt
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Speaker 1: in Vermont, which was weird because we didn't have any
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Speaker 1: aunts in Vermont. When I pushed for details, my dad
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Speaker 1: told me to stop asking questions and finish my breakfast,
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Speaker 1: and his voice had this edge I'd never heard before.
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Speaker 1: That afternoon, I went looking for Olivia's things to see
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Speaker 1: if she'd left any clues about where she really went.
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Speaker 1: Her room was too clean, almost sterile, like someone had
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Speaker 1: scrubbed away any evidence she'd ever existed there. But when
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Speaker 1: I checked under her mattress, I found a journal wedged
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Speaker 1: into the bed frame. My hands shook as I pulled
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Speaker 1: it out and saw her handwriting on the first page.
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Speaker 1: If you're reading this, Natalie, they've already started. Get out
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Speaker 1: while you can. The entries were dated over the past
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Speaker 1: three years, starting when Olivia was thirteen. That's when they'd
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Speaker 1: begun what she called the treatments. According to the journal,
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Speaker 1: our parents had made some kind of deal with the
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Speaker 1: church before Olivia and I were born. They'd been drowning
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Speaker 1: in debt after my dad lost his job, facing foreclosure
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Speaker 1: on the house and bankruptcy. Pastor William had approached them
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Speaker 1: with an offer. The church had connections to a medical
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Speaker 1: research organization that would pay families to allow their children
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Speaker 1: to participate in genetic enhancement trials. The parents would receive
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Speaker 1: immediate financial relief and ongoing payments. and the children would
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Speaker 1: supposedly benefit from treatments that would make them healthier and smarter.
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Speaker 1: All they had to do was sign a contract agreeing
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Speaker 1: to let the church monitor and treat their children from
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Speaker 1: age 7 until age 18. My parents had been desperate
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Speaker 1: enough to agree, and they'd signed me and Olivia into
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Speaker 1: the program before we were even born. Olivia wrote that
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Speaker 1: the treatments had started small when she turned 7. Monthly
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Speaker 1: visits to a doctor named Vivian Cross who would draw
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Speaker 1: blood and do scans and inject her with things she
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Speaker 1: called genetic catalysts. At first, nothing seemed wrong. The shots
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Speaker 1: made her tired, but otherwise she felt normal. But around
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Speaker 1: age 14, things changed. The injections started making her violently sick.
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Speaker 1: She'd vomit for hours after each treatment and develop fevers
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Speaker 1: that lasted days. She wrote about how her hair started
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Speaker 1: falling out in clumps and how she'd wake up with
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Speaker 1: nosebleeds that wouldn't stop. She'd begged our parents to let
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Speaker 1: her quit the program, but they said the contract was
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Speaker 1: legally binding and there was no way out. If they
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Speaker 1: tried to stop the treatments, the church would sue them
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Speaker 1: for breach of contract and demand repayment of all the
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Speaker 1: money they'd received, plus penalties that would destroy the family financially. Worse?
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Speaker 1: The contract included clauses that made our parents legally responsible
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Speaker 1: for any harm that came to us if we didn't
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Speaker 1: complete the program. It was designed to trap families into
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Speaker 1: compliance through fear and debt. Olivia had tried to research
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Speaker 1: the organization behind the treatments, but found almost nothing. The
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Speaker 1: company was called Genesis Evolution Institute, and it operated through
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Speaker 1: a network of shell corporations that made it nearly impossible
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Speaker 1: to trace. Dr. Vivian Cross was the only name she'd
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Speaker 1: been able to confirm, and when Olivia searched for her,
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Speaker 1: she found articles about a researcher who'd been banned from
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Speaker 1: conducting human trials after multiple deaths. Dr. Cross had supposedly
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Speaker 1: moved her operations overseas, but apparently she was back and
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Speaker 1: working through the church to access test subjects. The last
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Speaker 1: few entries in the journal were barely legible, written in
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Speaker 1: shaking handwriting that didn't look like Olivia's neat script. She
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Speaker 1: wrote that the treatments were killing her and she knew it.
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Speaker 1: Her organs were failing and she was having seizures, but Dr.
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Speaker 1: Cross kept insisting they were normal adjustment reactions and that
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Speaker 1: Olivia needed to continue the full course of treatments. Our
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Speaker 1: parents were terrified, but felt powerless to stop it. In
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Speaker 1: the final entry, dated just two days before my baptism,
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Speaker 1: Olivia wrote that she'd overheard Pastor William telling our parents
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Speaker 1: they'd need to bring me in for baseline testing soon.
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Speaker 1: that my treatments would begin within the next few months
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Speaker 1: now that I'd been baptized and officially entered into the program.
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Speaker 1: She wrote that she was so sorry she couldn't stop
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Speaker 1: this from happening to me, and that if I found
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Speaker 1: her journal, I should run. Just grab whatever I could
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Speaker 1: and disappear before they started the treatments because once they began,
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Speaker 1: there was no escape. I sat on her bed reading
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Speaker 1: those words over and over, my heart pounding so hard
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Speaker 1: I thought I might pass out. My sister wasn't visiting
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Speaker 1: relatives in Vermont. Something terrible had happened to her, and
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Speaker 1: now I was next in line. I heard footsteps in
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Speaker 1: the hallway and shoved the journal back under the mattress,
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Speaker 1: then scrambled out of Olivia's room just as my mom
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Speaker 1: appeared at the top of the stairs. She asked what
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Speaker 1: I was doing and I said I missed Olivia and
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Speaker 1: wanted to be in her room for a while. My
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Speaker 1: mom's face crumpled and she looked like she might cry.
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Speaker 1: But then she pulled herself together and said that was fine,
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Speaker 1: but I should come down for dinner soon. That night,
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Speaker 1: I couldn't eat. I pushed food around my plate while
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Speaker 1: my parents made awkward small talk about nothing important. My
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Speaker 1: dad asked about school and I gave one-word answers. My
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Speaker 1: mom kept glancing at me with this guilty, haunted expression. Finally,
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Speaker 1: I asked when Olivia was coming back and the silence
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Speaker 1: that followed was suffocating. My dad cleared his throat and
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Speaker 1: said Olivia needed to stay with relatives for a while longer,
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Speaker 1: maybe a few months. My mom added that Olivia was
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Speaker 1: going through some health issues and needed special care and
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Speaker 1: that we'd be able to visit her soon. I wanted
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Speaker 1: to scream that I knew they were lying, that I'd
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Speaker 1: found Olivia's journal and knew about the treatments and the contract.
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Speaker 1: But some instinct told me to keep quiet, to not
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Speaker 1: let them know what I'd discovered. If they knew I
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Speaker 1: was aware of the program, they might accelerate the timeline
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Speaker 1: or do something to ensure my compliance. I needed to
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Speaker 1: stay under the radar while I figured out what to do.
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Speaker 1: After dinner, I went to my room and pretended to
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Speaker 1: do homework while my mind raced through possibilities. I was
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Speaker 1: seven years old with no money, no way to contact
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Speaker 1: authorities that would believe me, and parents who were legally
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Speaker 1: bound to hand me over to people who'd apparently killed
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Speaker 1: my sister. Running away seemed impossible. Where would I go?
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Speaker 1: How would I survive? But staying meant subjecting myself to
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Speaker 1: the same treatments that had destroyed Olivia. I thought about
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Speaker 1: her last entry telling me to run, and I wondered
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Speaker 1: if she'd tried to escape and that's what had really
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Speaker 1: happened to her. The next morning, my mom said we
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Speaker 1: had a doctor's appointment after school. She tried to make
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Speaker 1: it sound routine, just to check up with my pediatrician,
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Speaker 1: but I saw the fear in her eyes and knew
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Speaker 1: it was more than that. I asked which doctor and
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Speaker 1: she hesitated before saying Dr. Cross, a specialist who worked
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Speaker 1: with the church. My stomach dropped. This was it. They
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Speaker 1: were starting the baseline testing Olivia had written about. I
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Speaker 1: went to school that day barely able to focus on
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Speaker 1: anything the teacher said. During lunch, I sat alone trying
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Speaker 1: to form a plan. I couldn't run away yet because
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Speaker 1: I had nowhere to go, but I also couldn't just
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Speaker 1: cooperate and let them start experimenting on me. I needed
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Speaker 1: to do something to buy time, to make myself unusable
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Speaker 1: for their research, or maybe even expose what they were doing.
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Speaker 1: By the time my mom picked me up after school,
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Speaker 1: I decided on a strategy. I would act sick. If
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Speaker 1: I could convince them I was already ill with something,
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Speaker 1: maybe they'd delay the treatments until I recovered. It wasn't
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Speaker 1: much of a plan, but it was all I had.
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Speaker 1: On the drive to Dr. Cross's office, I started complaining
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Speaker 1: about a headache and stomach ache. My mom looked worried
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Speaker 1: and asked if I wanted to reschedule. And I said no.
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Speaker 1: I wanted the doctor to check me out because something
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Speaker 1: felt really wrong. The office was in a building that
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Speaker 1: looked more like a warehouse than a medical facility. There
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Speaker 1: was no sign outside, just an address number, and we
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Speaker 1: had to be buzzed through a security door. The waiting
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Speaker 1: room was empty and too quiet. and the receptionist knew
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Speaker 1: my name before my mom said anything. She led us
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Speaker 1: down a hallway with fluorescent lights that buzzed loudly, and
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Speaker 1: I noticed there were no windows anywhere. The examination room
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Speaker 1: was cold and sterile, with medical equipment I didn't recognize. Dr.
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Speaker 1: Cross entered a few minutes later, and I understood immediately
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Speaker 1: why Olivia had been terrified of her. She was tall
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Speaker 1: and thin with sharp features and eyes that looked at
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Speaker 1: me like I was an interesting specimen rather than a person.
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Speaker 1: She smiled, but it didn't reach those eyes. She introduced
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Speaker 1: herself in a voice that was professionally warm, but somehow
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Speaker 1: threatening underneath. She asked how I was feeling and and
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Speaker 1: I immediately launched into my act, saying I'd been having
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Speaker 1: terrible headaches and stomach pains for days. I made myself
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Speaker 1: sound as sick as possible, even managing to work up
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Speaker 1: some tears. Dr. Cross exchanged a glance with my mom
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Speaker 1: that I couldn't read, then said we should do some
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Speaker 1: tests to figure out what was wrong. She started with
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Speaker 1: basic things like checking my blood pressure and listening to
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Speaker 1: my heart, but then she pulled out syringes and said
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Speaker 1: she needed to draw blood. A lot of blood. She
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Speaker 1: filled six vials while I watched, and the sight of
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Speaker 1: my blood flowing into those tubes made me feel genuinely dizzy.
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Speaker 1: She also did a full body scan with a machine
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Speaker 1: that looked like something from a science fiction movie, and
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Speaker 1: she took swabs from inside my mouth and nose. The
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Speaker 1: whole time she was making notes on a tablet, and
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Speaker 1: I saw she was recording everything about my physical condition.
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Speaker 1: When the examination finally ended, Dr. Cross told my mom
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Speaker 1: that she'd found some concerning markers in my preliminary tests
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Speaker 1: and wanted to run more comprehensive analysis before proceeding with
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Speaker 1: the program protocols. She said it in this clinical way
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Speaker 1: that made it clear she was talking about the genetic
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Speaker 1: enhancement treatments without actually naming them. My mom looked both
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Speaker 1: relieved and terrified, and she asked what kind of concerning markers. Dr.
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Speaker 1: Cross said she couldn't be specific yet, but that she'd
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Speaker 1: need to see me again in two weeks for follow-up testing.
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Speaker 1: After we left, my mom was quiet during the whole
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Speaker 1: drive home. I pretended to fall asleep in the car,
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Speaker 1: but I was actually listening to her call my dad
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Speaker 1: and tell him about the appointment. She said Dr. Cross
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Speaker 1: had concerns and was delaying the start of the program,
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Speaker 1: and my dad's voice through the phone was tight with
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Speaker 1: stress as he asked what kind of concerns. My mom
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Speaker 1: said she didn't know, but that we'd find out more
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Speaker 1: at the next appointment. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
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Speaker 1: I couldn't keep it under my mattress because my mom
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Speaker 1: sometimes changed my sheets, so I found a loose board
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Speaker 1: in my closet and hid the journal there along with
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Speaker 1: a flashlight. Over the next two weeks, I read every
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Speaker 1: entry multiple times, memorizing the details about the Genesis Evolution
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Speaker 1: Institute and Dr. Cross's methods. Olivia had documented everything meticulously,
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Speaker 1: including names of other children in the program and what
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Speaker 1: had happened to them. According to her research, at least
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Speaker 1: 12 kids from our church had gone through the treatments
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Speaker 1: over the past 15 years. Four had died, six had
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Speaker 1: developed severe disabilities, and only two had survived relatively intact.
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Speaker 1: One of those survivors was a boy named Michael Pritchard,
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Speaker 1: who'd run away from home at 17 and disappeared. Olivia
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Speaker 1: had been trying to find him because she thought if
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Speaker 1: they worked together, they could expose the program. She'd actually
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Speaker 1: managed to track him down to a city called Ashland
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Speaker 1: about three hours north, and she'd written his last known
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Speaker 1: address in the back of the journal. I decided that
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Speaker 1: if I could get to Michael, maybe he could help me.
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Speaker 1: He was an adult now, around 20 years old, and
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Speaker 1: he'd successfully escaped the program. He might know things that
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Speaker 1: could help me survive or even shut down the whole operation,
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Speaker 1: but I was seven years old with no way to
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Speaker 1: travel three hours to another city on my own. I
10:45
Speaker 1: needed to wait and plan carefully. The two weeks passed
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Speaker 1: in a blur of anxiety. I continued pretending to have
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Speaker 1: mysterious symptoms, complaining randomly about dizziness and nausea to maintain
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Speaker 1: the illusion that something was wrong with me. My parents
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Speaker 1: watched me constantly, and I could see them struggling with
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Speaker 1: guilt and fear. They knew they'd signed me up for
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Speaker 1: something that had killed Olivia, and now they were trapped
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Speaker 1: between their legal obligations and their conscience. The night before
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Speaker 1: my follow-up appointment with Dr. Cross, I heard them fighting again.
11:08
Speaker 1: My dad was saying they should run away, just pack
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Speaker 1: up and disappear to another state where the church couldn't
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Speaker 1: find us. My mom was crying and saying they'd be
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Speaker 1: hunted down that the contract they'd signed gave the Genesis
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Speaker 1: Evolution Institute rights that extended across state lines. She said
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Speaker 1: the organization had connections to law enforcement and government agencies,
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Speaker 1: and that families who'd tried to run in the past
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Speaker 1: had been tracked down within days. I listened with my
11:26
Speaker 1: ear pressed against my bedroom door, and I heard my
11:28
Speaker 1: dad break down crying. He said he'd destroyed our family
11:30
Speaker 1: by signing that contract, that he should have let us
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Speaker 1: lose the house and go bankrupt rather than sell his
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Speaker 1: daughters to these people. My mom was sobbing too, and
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Speaker 1: I heard her say that Olivia might still be alive
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Speaker 1: if they'd fought harder to get her out of the program.
11:41
Speaker 1: That confirmation hit me like a physical blow. Olivia was dead.
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Speaker 1: My sister was actually dead. And my parents had been
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Speaker 1: lying about Vermont this whole time. I stuffed my fist
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Speaker 1: in my mouth to keep from screaming and ran back
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Speaker 1: to my bed where I cried silently into my pillow
11:52
Speaker 1: for hours. The next morning, I was exhausted and genuinely
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Speaker 1: sick from crying all night, which actually helped my performance.
11:57
Speaker 1: When we arrived at Dr. Cross's office, she took one
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Speaker 1: look at me and frowned. She did another round of tests,
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Speaker 1: drawing even more blood and doing additional scans. This time,
12:05
Speaker 1: she also had me do cognitive tests, showing me patterns
12:07
Speaker 1: and asking me to identify sequences. I deliberately got several wrong,
12:10
Speaker 1: pretending to be confused and slow. After an hour of testing, Dr.
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Speaker 1: Cross called my mom into a private consultation room while
12:15
Speaker 1: I waited alone in the examination room. I could hear
12:17
Speaker 1: their voices through the wall if I pressed my ear
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Speaker 1: against it, and what I heard made my blood run cold. Dr.
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Speaker 1: Cross was saying that my baseline markers were poor and
12:24
Speaker 1: that she had concerns about my viability as a test subject.
12:26
Speaker 1: She said my immune system appeared compromised and my cognitive
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Speaker 1: function was below average, which would complicate the treatment protocols.
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Speaker 1: She recommended waiting at least six months before beginning the program,
12:35
Speaker 1: possibly longer depending on whether my condition improved. My mom
12:38
Speaker 1: asked what would happen if I never improved enough to
12:40
Speaker 1: be viable, and Dr. Cross's response was chilling. She said
12:43
Speaker 1: the contract required families to provide suitable subjects, and if
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Speaker 1: I proved unsuitable, there would be significant financial penalties. However,
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Speaker 1: she added that most children who showed poor baseline markers
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Speaker 1: could be improved through preliminary conditioning treatments. My mom asked
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Speaker 1: what kind of conditioning, and Dr. Cross said it involved
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Speaker 1: strict dietary protocols, vitamin supplementation, and something she called cognitive
13:01
Speaker 1: enhancement exercises. Basically, they wanted to prepare my body and
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Speaker 1: brain to handle the actual genetic treatments. When we left
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Speaker 1: the office, my mom looked like she'd aged 10 years.
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Speaker 1: She told me Dr. Cross wanted us to follow a
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Speaker 1: special diet and exercise routine and that I'd need to
13:12
Speaker 1: take vitamins every day. She tried to make it sound positive,
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Speaker 1: like this was just to help me be healthier, but
13:17
Speaker 1: I could hear the desperation underneath. That night, I made
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Speaker 1: a decision. I couldn't wait six months, hoping my fake
13:21
Speaker 1: symptoms would continue to delay the program. Eventually, they'd either
13:24
Speaker 1: figure out I was faking or decide to start treatments anyway.
13:27
Speaker 1: I needed to take action now, and that meant finding
13:29
Speaker 1: Michael Pritchard. I started planning my escape carefully. First, I
13:32
Speaker 1: needed money. I began stealing small amounts from my mom's
13:34
Speaker 1: purse and my dad's wallet. just a few dollars at
13:36
Speaker 1: a time so they wouldn't notice. I also collected change
13:38
Speaker 1: from around the house, checking coat pockets and undercouch cushions.
13:41
Speaker 1: Within a month, I'd saved $ 43, which I hoped would
13:44
Speaker 1: be enough for a bus ticket to Ashland. Next, I
13:46
Speaker 1: needed to figure out how to actually get to the
13:47
Speaker 1: bus station and buy a ticket without my parents knowing.
13:50
Speaker 1: I started paying attention to their schedules, noting when they
13:52
Speaker 1: were both occupied and when I might have a window
13:54
Speaker 1: to slip away. I told them I wanted to join
13:56
Speaker 1: an after-school program at the community center, and they were
13:58
Speaker 1: so relieved to see me showing interest in normal activities
14:00
Speaker 1: that they agreed immediately. The program ran until six in
14:03
Speaker 1: the evening, three days a week, which gave me a
14:05
Speaker 1: three-hour window when my parents thought I was supervised, but
14:07
Speaker 1: I could actually leave. I spent weeks memorizing bus routes
14:10
Speaker 1: and schedules, using the computers at school during library time
14:13
Speaker 1: to look up information about getting to Ashland. I practiced
14:15
Speaker 1: the route in my head over and over, imagining every
14:18
Speaker 1: step from leaving the community center to boarding the bus
14:20
Speaker 1: to finding Michael's address once I arrived. The hardest part
14:22
Speaker 1: was accepting that if I did this, I might never
14:24
Speaker 1: see my parents again. They were trapped and complicit in
14:26
Speaker 1: something evil, but they were still my parents and I
14:29
Speaker 1: loved them despite everything. But I loved being alive more.
14:31
Speaker 1: and I wasn't going to let them feed me to Dr.
14:33
Speaker 1: Cross's experiments the way they'd fed Olivia. Three months after
14:36
Speaker 1: my first appointment with Dr. Cross, I made my move.
14:38
Speaker 1: It was a Wednesday afternoon, and I'd told my parents
14:40
Speaker 1: I was going to the community center program as usual. Instead,
14:42
Speaker 1: I walked straight past the center and kept going toward downtown,
14:45
Speaker 1: my backpack heavy with the few belongings I'd packed. I
14:47
Speaker 1: had Olivia's journal, some clothes, a water bottle, and my
14:49
Speaker 1: money wrapped in a plastic bag. The bus station was
14:51
Speaker 1: two miles away, and I walked fast with my head down,
14:54
Speaker 1: terrified someone would recognize me and call my parents. When
14:56
Speaker 1: I finally reached the station, I realized I'd made a
14:58
Speaker 1: critical mistake. You had to be 16 to buy a
15:00
Speaker 1: bus ticket without an adult. The woman at the counter
15:02
Speaker 1: took one look at me and asked where my parents were.
15:04
Speaker 1: I panicked and said they were parking the car and
15:06
Speaker 1: would be right in, then ducked into the bathroom before
15:08
Speaker 1: she could ask more questions. I sat in a stall
15:10
Speaker 1: trying not to cry and figuring out what to do.
15:12
Speaker 1: I couldn't just walk up and buy a ticket, but
15:14
Speaker 1: I also couldn't give up now. Then I heard women's
15:16
Speaker 1: voices in the bathroom and peeked through the crack in
15:18
Speaker 1: the stall door. Two teenage girls were fixing their makeup
15:20
Speaker 1: at the mirror, talking about taking the bus to visit colleges.
15:23
Speaker 1: They looked about 16 or 17, old enough to buy tickets.
15:26
Speaker 1: I waited until they left the bathroom, then followed them
15:28
Speaker 1: at a distance. They went to the ticket counter and
15:30
Speaker 1: I heard one of them say she was buying tickets
15:31
Speaker 1: to Ashland. My heart jumped. I approached them nervously and
15:34
Speaker 1: asked if I could talk to them for a minute.
15:36
Speaker 1: They looked at me curiously and I blurted out a
15:37
Speaker 1: story I'd prepared. I said my older sister was supposed
15:40
Speaker 1: to meet me here to take the bus to visit
15:41
Speaker 1: our grandmother in Ashland, but she'd just called saying she
15:43
Speaker 1: was stuck at work and couldn't make it. I had
15:45
Speaker 1: the money for my ticket but couldn't buy one because
15:47
Speaker 1: of my age and I really needed to get to
15:49
Speaker 1: my grandmother who was sick. Could one of them buy
15:51
Speaker 1: my ticket for me? The girls looked skeptical and I
15:53
Speaker 1: didn't blame them. It sounded like a scam or something.
15:55
Speaker 1: But then one of them, a girl with kind eyes
15:57
Speaker 1: and purple streaks in her hair, said she'd help me.
16:00
Speaker 1: She asked how much money I had, and I showed
16:02
Speaker 1: her the $ 43. She said a ticket to Ashland was $ 36,
16:05
Speaker 1: which left me with $ 7. She bought my ticket along
16:08
Speaker 1: with hers and her friends and handed it to me
16:10
Speaker 1: with a warning to be careful and stay with other
16:11
Speaker 1: families on the bus. I thanked her profusely and promised
16:14
Speaker 1: I would, then sat in the waiting area trying to
16:16
Speaker 1: look inconspicuous. The bus didn't leave for another 40 minutes,
16:19
Speaker 1: and every second felt like an eternity. I kept expecting
16:21
Speaker 1: to see my parents burst through the doors or hear
16:23
Speaker 1: my name being called over the loudspeaker, but nothing happened.
16:26
Speaker 1: At 5.30, the bus started boarding, and I got in
16:27
Speaker 1: line with everyone else, clutching my ticket and trying to
16:30
Speaker 1: look older and more confident than I felt. The driver
16:32
Speaker 1: barely glanced at me as I boarded, and I found
16:33
Speaker 1: a seat near the back where I could see everyone
16:35
Speaker 1: who got on. The bus filled up with commuters and families,
16:37
Speaker 1: and at 5.45, the doors closed and we pulled out
16:39
Speaker 1: of the station. I watched through the window as my
16:41
Speaker 1: town disappeared behind us, and I felt a mixture of
16:44
Speaker 1: terror and relief. I'd actually done it. I'd escaped. The
16:46
Speaker 1: bus ride to Ashland took three and a half hours
16:48
Speaker 1: with multiple stops along the way. I spent the whole
16:50
Speaker 1: time clutching Olivia's journal and going over the plan in
16:53
Speaker 1: my head. Michael's last known address was an apartment on
16:55
Speaker 1: River Street downtown. I'd memorized the address and had looked
16:58
Speaker 1: up the route from the bus station using maps at school.
17:00
Speaker 1: It was about a mile walk, which I could do
17:02
Speaker 1: even in the dark. My biggest worry was what I'd
17:04
Speaker 1: do if Michael didn't live there anymore, or if he
17:06
Speaker 1: refused to help me. I had $ 7 left and nowhere
17:08
Speaker 1: else to go. If this didn't work, I'd be a
17:10
Speaker 1: homeless seven-year-old in a strange city with no one to
17:12
Speaker 1: protect me. But I couldn't think about that. I had
17:14
Speaker 1: to believe Michael would help me, that he'd understand what
17:16
Speaker 1: I was going through because he'd been through it himself.
17:18
Speaker 1: The bus finally arrived in Ashland at 9.15 at night.
17:21
Speaker 1: The station was bigger than the one in my town,
17:22
Speaker 1: full of people rushing to catch buses or waiting for arrivals.
17:25
Speaker 1: I slipped off with the crowd and found my way
17:27
Speaker 1: to the exit, then stood on the street corner trying
17:29
Speaker 1: to orient myself. The city was overwhelming, all bright lights
17:31
Speaker 1: and traffic and strangers walking past without looking at each other.
17:34
Speaker 1: I pulled out the small map I'd drawn based on
17:36
Speaker 1: my research and started walking toward River Street. The walk
17:38
Speaker 1: took longer than I'd expected because I kept getting turned
17:40
Speaker 1: around in the unfamiliar streets. Twice I had to duck
17:42
Speaker 1: into doorways when I saw police officers, terrified they'd stop
17:45
Speaker 1: me and ask why a little girl was wandering alone
17:47
Speaker 1: at night. By the time I finally found River Street,
17:49
Speaker 1: it was almost 10 o'clock and I was exhausted and scared.
17:51
Speaker 1: Michael's apartment building was old and run down, with graffiti
17:54
Speaker 1: on the walls and trash piled in the entryway. I
17:56
Speaker 1: found apartment 3B and stood outside the door for a
17:58
Speaker 1: full minute before I could make myself knock. My hand
18:00
Speaker 1: was shaking so badly I could barely form a fist.
18:02
Speaker 1: When I finally knocked, the sound seemed impossibly loud in
18:05
Speaker 1: the quiet hallway. I heard movement inside the apartment and
18:07
Speaker 1: then footsteps approaching the door. A voice called out asking
18:09
Speaker 1: who was there and I said my name and that
18:11
Speaker 1: I was Olivia's sister. There was a long pause and
18:13
Speaker 1: then the door opened slowly. A young man stood there
18:15
Speaker 1: looking at me with shock and confusion. He was in
18:17
Speaker 1: his early 20s with messy brown hair and tired eyes,
18:19
Speaker 1: wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt. He stared at me like
18:21
Speaker 1: I was a ghost and then said, You're Natalie. You're
18:24
Speaker 1: the little sister. I nodded and he stepped back to
18:26
Speaker 1: let me in, looking up and down the hallway first
18:28
Speaker 1: like he was checking if I'd been followed. Inside the
18:30
Speaker 1: apartment was small and messy but clean enough. There was
18:32
Speaker 1: a couch and a TV and piles of books everywhere.
18:35
Speaker 1: Michael closed the door and locked it with three different locks,
18:37
Speaker 1: then turned to me and asked how I'd found him.
18:39
Speaker 1: I pulled out Olivia's journal and handed it to him.
18:41
Speaker 1: He took it with trembling hands and flipped through the pages,
18:44
Speaker 1: and I saw his eyes fill with tears. He said
18:45
Speaker 1: he'd been trying to contact Olivia for months, but she'd
18:47
Speaker 1: stopped responding to his messages. He asked where she was,
18:50
Speaker 1: and I told him the truth. She was dead. The
18:52
Speaker 1: treatments had killed her. Michael's face went white, and he
18:54
Speaker 1: sat down heavily on the couch like his legs wouldn't
18:56
Speaker 1: hold him anymore. He asked when, and I said about
18:58
Speaker 1: four months ago, though my parents hadn't told me the
19:00
Speaker 1: exact date. They'd pretended she was visiting relatives right up
19:02
Speaker 1: until I found her journal. Michael put his face in
19:04
Speaker 1: his hands, and his shoulders shook with silent crying. After
19:06
Speaker 1: a few minutes, he looked up and asked why I
19:08
Speaker 1: was here, and I explained everything. The baptism, Pastor William's words, Dr.
19:11
Speaker 1: Cross's attempts to start treating me, my months of pretending
19:14
Speaker 1: to be sick to delay the program— Michael listened with
19:16
Speaker 1: growing horror and said I'd been smart to run, that
19:18
Speaker 1: if I'd stayed they would have killed me just like
19:19
Speaker 1: they'd killed Olivia and so many others. He explained that
19:22
Speaker 1: he'd gone through the full program from age 7 to 17,
19:25
Speaker 1: and the only reason he'd survived was because his body
19:27
Speaker 1: had somehow adapted to the genetic modifications in a way
19:29
Speaker 1: that didn't kill him. But he'd still suffered permanent damage.
19:32
Speaker 1: He rolled up his sleeve and showed me scars running
19:34
Speaker 1: up and down his arms, and he said he had
19:36
Speaker 1: organ damage and chronic pain that would never go away.
19:38
Speaker 1: The treatments were supposed to enhance human capabilities— to create stronger, smarter,
19:42
Speaker 1: faster people. But the technology wasn't ready, and the researchers
19:45
Speaker 1: didn't care how many kids they killed trying to perfect it.
19:47
Speaker 1: Michael had escaped the program by faking his own death.
19:49
Speaker 1: On his 17th birthday, he'd staged a drowning accident at
19:51
Speaker 1: a lake, leaving his clothes and ID on the shore
19:53
Speaker 1: and disappearing into a new life under a different name.
19:56
Speaker 1: His parents thought he was dead, and the church thought
19:58
Speaker 1: they'd lost another subject to the program's high mortality rate.
20:00
Speaker 1: He'd been living in Ashland for three years, working under
20:03
Speaker 1: the table jobs and staying off the grid so the
20:04
Speaker 1: Genesis Evolution Institute couldn't find him. He said the organization
20:07
Speaker 1: was more powerful and connected than most people realized. with
20:10
Speaker 1: ties to government research programs and pharmaceutical companies. They'd been
20:13
Speaker 1: conducting illegal human experiments for decades, using churches and community
20:16
Speaker 1: organizations to recruit vulnerable families who wouldn't ask too many questions.
20:20
Speaker 1: Michael made me food and let me take a shower,
20:22
Speaker 1: and while I was cleaning up, he made some phone calls.
20:24
Speaker 1: When I came out, he told me he'd been in
20:25
Speaker 1: contact with a few other survivors over the years, people
20:27
Speaker 1: who'd escaped the program or whose families had managed to
20:29
Speaker 1: get out. He said there was a woman named Diane Sutherland,
20:32
Speaker 1: who'd been gathering evidence about Genesis Evolution Institute for years,
20:35
Speaker 1: trying to build a case strong enough to bring to authorities.
20:37
Speaker 1: She'd been a research assistant for Dr. Cross back before
20:39
Speaker 1: everything went fully underground, and she'd kept copies of documents
20:42
Speaker 1: and data that proved what they were doing. Michael said
20:44
Speaker 1: if we could get Olivia's journal to Diane along with
20:46
Speaker 1: my testimony as an active target of the program, it
20:48
Speaker 1: might finally be enough to take action. He called Diane
20:51
Speaker 1: that night and explained the situation, and she said she
20:53
Speaker 1: could be in Ashland by tomorrow afternoon. In the meantime,
20:55
Speaker 1: Michael said I needed to stay hidden in his apartment
20:57
Speaker 1: because by now my parents had definitely realized I was
20:59
Speaker 1: missing and would have filed a police report. If I
21:01
Speaker 1: got picked up by cops, they'd return me to my
21:03
Speaker 1: parents and I'd be right back in the program's clutches.
21:06
Speaker 1: I spent that first night on Michael's couch, exhausted but
21:08
Speaker 1: unable to sleep because every sound made me think someone
21:10
Speaker 1: had found me. Michael stayed up too, sitting in a
21:13
Speaker 1: chair by the window watching the street below. Around 2
21:15
Speaker 1: in the morning, he told me about the other kids
21:17
Speaker 1: he'd known in the program. A girl named Rachel who'd
21:19
Speaker 1: died at 14 when her immune system completely failed. A
21:21
Speaker 1: boy named Thomas who'd survived but had such severe neurological
21:24
Speaker 1: damage that he couldn't walk or talk anymore. Another girl
21:26
Speaker 1: named Sophia who'd made it to 18 but now lived
21:28
Speaker 1: in a care facility with permanent cognitive impairments. He said
21:30
Speaker 1: Olivia had been one of the stronger ones, lasting until 16,
21:33
Speaker 1: and that I should be proud of her for fighting
21:35
Speaker 1: as long as she did. and for documenting everything so carefully.
21:38
Speaker 1: He said her journal was going to save lives because
21:39
Speaker 1: it was concrete evidence of what Genesis Evolution Institute was
21:42
Speaker 1: doing to children. The next afternoon, Diane arrived at Michael's apartment.
21:45
Speaker 1: She was in her mid-50s with gray-streaked hair and sharp,
21:47
Speaker 1: intelligent eyes. She hugged Michael like he was her son,
21:49
Speaker 1: then turned to me with an expression of such sadness
21:51
Speaker 1: and determination that I immediately trusted her. She said she'd
21:54
Speaker 1: been waiting years for enough evidence to expose Dr. Cross
21:56
Speaker 1: and the Genesis Evolution Institute, and between Olivia's journal and
21:59
Speaker 1: my testimony, she finally had what she needed. Diane explained
22:02
Speaker 1: that she'd been documenting the program's activities for over a
22:04
Speaker 1: decade— keeping detailed records of every child who'd been enrolled
22:07
Speaker 1: and what had happened to them. She had medical files
22:09
Speaker 1: that Dr. Cross thought had been destroyed, financial records showing
22:12
Speaker 1: money transfers between the church and Genesis Evolution Institute, and
22:15
Speaker 1: testimony from three other families who'd been brave enough to
22:17
Speaker 1: come forward despite the legal threats. What she'd been missing
22:19
Speaker 1: was recent evidence and someone who could speak to active
22:21
Speaker 1: recruitment and treatment protocols. Olivia's journal provided both. That evening,
22:25
Speaker 1: Diane sat down with me in a video camera and
22:26
Speaker 1: recorded my full testimony. I told her everything from the
22:28
Speaker 1: baptism to the treatments Olivia had described to my own
22:30
Speaker 1: experiences with Dr. Cross. I showed her the scars on
22:33
Speaker 1: my arms from where Dr. Cross had drawn blood, and
22:35
Speaker 1: I recited details from Olivia's journal about other children in
22:37
Speaker 1: the program. Diane asked hard questions about dates and names
22:40
Speaker 1: and specific procedures, and I answered as thoroughly as I could.
22:42
Speaker 1: The recording session lasted three hours, and by the end
22:45
Speaker 1: I was emotionally drained, but also felt lighter somehow, like
22:48
Speaker 1: speaking the truth out loud had lifted a weight off
22:49
Speaker 1: my chest. Diane said she was going to take all
22:51
Speaker 1: this evidence to a federal prosecutor she knew, someone who
22:54
Speaker 1: specialized in medical fraud and human rights violations. She said
22:57
Speaker 1: it would take time to build a case, possibly months,
22:59
Speaker 1: but she was confident they could shut down the program
23:01
Speaker 1: and bring criminal charges against everyone involved. The biggest challenge
23:03
Speaker 1: would be keeping me safe while the investigation proceeded, because
23:06
Speaker 1: if Dr. Cross and Pastor William realized I'd gone to authorities,
23:09
Speaker 1: they might try to silence me before I could testify.
23:11
Speaker 1: Michael said I could stay with him as long as needed,
23:13
Speaker 1: and Diane said she'd work with victim advocates to find
23:15
Speaker 1: me a safe placement. She also said we needed to
23:17
Speaker 1: be strategic about when and how to contact my parents.
23:19
Speaker 1: On one hand, they were victims too, coerced into this
23:21
Speaker 1: program through debt and legal threats. On the other hand,
23:24
Speaker 1: they'd failed to protect Olivia and me, and their continued
23:26
Speaker 1: cooperation with the program made them legally complicit. Diane said
23:29
Speaker 1: the prosecutor would likely offer my parents immunity in exchange
23:31
Speaker 1: for their testimony against Dr. Cross and Genesis Evolution Institute.
23:34
Speaker 1: Over the next two months, I lived in hiding while
23:36
Speaker 1: Diane worked with prosecutors to build the case. Michael took
23:39
Speaker 1: care of me, teaching me things and making sure I
23:41
Speaker 1: stayed occupied so I wouldn't sink into depression about everything
23:43
Speaker 1: I'd lost. He got me books from the library and
23:45
Speaker 1: helped me keep up with schoolwork using online resources. I
23:48
Speaker 1: couldn't attend regular school because that would leave a paper
23:50
Speaker 1: trail that could lead the program to me. Some nights
23:52
Speaker 1: I cried for my parents, missing them despite everything, and
23:55
Speaker 1: wondering if they were looking for me or if they'd
23:56
Speaker 1: given up. Michael always let me cry without trying to
23:58
Speaker 1: make it better, and afterwards he'd tell me stories about
24:01
Speaker 1: the world outside the program, all the normal things I'd
24:03
Speaker 1: get to experience once this was over. Diane visited once
24:06
Speaker 1: a week with updates. She said the prosecutor was taking
24:08
Speaker 1: the case seriously and had assigned investigators to look into
24:10
Speaker 1: Genesis Evolution Institute's financial structure and leadership. They'd identified at
24:14
Speaker 1: least six other research sites operating under different names, all
24:16
Speaker 1: conducting similar experiments on children. The scope of the organization
24:19
Speaker 1: was bigger than anyone had realized. and it was going
24:21
Speaker 1: to take a coordinated multi-state effort to shut it all down.
24:24
Speaker 1: In the meantime, they'd gotten a warrant to search Dr.
24:26
Speaker 1: Cross's facility in my hometown. The raid happened early one
24:29
Speaker 1: morning with federal agents and local police descending on the building. Inside,
24:32
Speaker 1: they found medical equipment, frozen tissue samples, and extensive files
24:36
Speaker 1: on over 200 children who'd been through the program over
24:38
Speaker 1: the past 30 years. They also found Dr. Cross herself,
24:41
Speaker 1: attempting to destroy evidence by dumping files into an industrial shredder.
24:44
Speaker 1: She was arrested on the spot and charged with human experimentation,
24:47
Speaker 1: medical fraud, child endangerment, and about a dozen other crimes.
24:50
Speaker 1: Pastor William and three other church leaders were arrested the
24:52
Speaker 1: same day. The news broke nationally within hours. Major media
24:55
Speaker 1: outlets picked up the story about the evil church and
24:57
Speaker 1: research organization that had been experimenting on children for decades.
25:00
Speaker 1: My face wasn't shown because I was a minor, but
25:02
Speaker 1: Olivia's name came out as one of the victims. I
25:04
Speaker 1: watched the news coverage from Michael's apartment and cried when
25:06
Speaker 1: I saw photos of my sister on the screen. They
25:08
Speaker 1: showed her school picture from when she was 14, before
25:10
Speaker 1: the treatments had made her sick. She looked happy and normal,
25:13
Speaker 1: and I ached thinking about everything that had been stolen
25:15
Speaker 1: from her. My parents were named in the news as
25:17
Speaker 1: participants in the program, though the reports mentioned they'd been
25:20
Speaker 1: coerced through financial desperation and legal contracts. The public reaction
25:23
Speaker 1: was split. Some people felt sorry for the families who'd
25:25
Speaker 1: been trapped in impossible situations. Others said any parent who'd
25:28
Speaker 1: signed their child up for experimental treatments regardless of the circumstances,
25:32
Speaker 1: deserved to be prosecuted. Diane said she'd been in contact
25:34
Speaker 1: with my parents through her lawyer, and they were cooperating
25:37
Speaker 1: fully with authorities. They'd provided testimony about how they'd been
25:40
Speaker 1: recruited into the program and what threats had been used
25:42
Speaker 1: to ensure their continued participation. In exchange for their cooperation,
25:45
Speaker 1: prosecutors had agreed not to charge them criminally, though they'd
25:48
Speaker 1: likely face civil lawsuits from other families. My mom had
25:50
Speaker 1: asked about me, wanting to know if I was safe,
25:52
Speaker 1: and Diane had told her I was being protected but
25:54
Speaker 1: couldn't have contact until after the trials. The legal process
25:56
Speaker 1: took almost a year. Dr. Cross and Pastor William both
25:59
Speaker 1: went to trial, and I had to testify at both.
26:01
Speaker 1: Walking into that courtroom and seeing Dr. Cross sitting at
26:03
Speaker 1: the defense table was one of the hardest things I'd
26:05
Speaker 1: ever done. She stared at me with such cold hatred
26:07
Speaker 1: that I almost couldn't speak. But then I thought about
26:09
Speaker 1: Olivia and all the other kids who'd died, and I
26:11
Speaker 1: forced myself to tell the truth about everything she'd done.
26:13
Speaker 1: My testimony lasted two full days, and I had to
26:15
Speaker 1: answer questions from defense lawyers who tried to make it
26:17
Speaker 1: seem like I was lying or confused. They suggested I'd
26:20
Speaker 1: run away because of normal family problems and made up
26:22
Speaker 1: this story for attention. But Diane and the prosecutors had
26:24
Speaker 1: prepared me well. and I stuck to the facts without
26:26
Speaker 1: getting emotional or defensive. When they showed Olivia's journal as
26:29
Speaker 1: evidence and I had to read passages out loud describing
26:31
Speaker 1: her treatments and suffering, several jury members were crying. The
26:34
Speaker 1: trial ended with guilty verdicts on all major charges. Dr.
26:37
Speaker 1: Cross got life in prison without the possibility of parole.
26:39
Speaker 1: Pastor William got 30 years. Other church leaders got sentences
26:42
Speaker 1: ranging from 10 to 25 years. The Genesis Evolution Institute
26:45
Speaker 1: was dissolved and its assets seized. Dozens of civil lawsuits
26:47
Speaker 1: were filed by families seeking compensation for what had been
26:50
Speaker 1: done to their children. The whole organization collapsed like a
26:52
Speaker 1: house of cards once the truth came out. After the
26:54
Speaker 1: trials ended, I was finally allowed to see my parents again.
26:56
Speaker 1: We met in a supervised visitation room at a victim
26:58
Speaker 1: services center with Diane present to mediate. My mom broke
27:01
Speaker 1: down crying the second she saw me and my dad
27:02
Speaker 1: couldn't even look me in the eye. They apologized over
27:05
Speaker 1: and over saying they'd made terrible choices and failed to
27:07
Speaker 1: protect us and they understood if I never forgave them.
27:10
Speaker 1: I told them I was angry and hurt and that
27:12
Speaker 1: what they'd done to Olivia and almost did to me
27:14
Speaker 1: was unforgivable in a lot of ways. But I also
27:16
Speaker 1: said I understood they'd been manipulated and trapped by people
27:18
Speaker 1: who were experts at exploiting desperate families. The organization had
27:21
Speaker 1: designed the whole system to make parents complicit and keep
27:24
Speaker 1: them silent through fear and shame. My parents would have
27:26
Speaker 1: to live with their choices for the rest of their lives,
27:28
Speaker 1: and so would I. The question was whether we could
27:30
Speaker 1: rebuild any kind of relationship moving forward. We started slowly,
27:34
Speaker 1: with supervised visits once a month, and gradually worked up
27:36
Speaker 1: to more regular contact. I never moved back in with them. Instead,
27:39
Speaker 1: I stayed in the foster care system and eventually was
27:41
Speaker 1: placed with a family who'd lost a daughter to the
27:43
Speaker 1: program years earlier. They understood what I'd been through without
27:45
Speaker 1: needing explanations, and they gave me space to heal while
27:48
Speaker 1: also providing stability and support. I'm 16 now, the age
27:50
Speaker 1: Olivia was when she died. I think about her every
27:52
Speaker 1: day and wonder what kind of person she would have
27:54
Speaker 1: become if she'd been allowed to live. I visit her
27:56
Speaker 1: grave once a month and tell her about my life,
27:58
Speaker 1: about how I'm doing in school and what I want
27:59
Speaker 1: to study in college. I think she'd be proud that
28:02
Speaker 1: I fought back and helped expose the people who killed her.
28:04
Speaker 1: The Genesis Evolution Institute is gone, but the damage it
28:07
Speaker 1: caused will last generations. Some of the surviving victims are
28:09
Speaker 1: still dealing with health problems and disabilities from the treatments.
28:12
Speaker 1: Families are still broken and struggling to recover from the
28:14
Speaker 1: trauma of what they went through. There's a support group
28:16
Speaker 1: now for survivors and family members, and I attend meetings
28:19
Speaker 1: when I can. It helps to be around people who
28:21
Speaker 1: understand what it's like to be targeted by an organization
28:23
Speaker 1: that saw children as experimental subjects rather than human beings.
28:26
Speaker 1: Michael is doing well. He finished his degree and is
28:28
Speaker 1: working as an advocate for medical ethics and patient rights.
28:30
Speaker 1: He speaks publicly about his experience and works with lawmakers
28:33
Speaker 1: to strengthen regulations around human research trials. Diane published a
28:36
Speaker 1: book about the case that's been used in medical schools
28:38
Speaker 1: to teach about the importance of ethical oversight. My relationship
28:40
Speaker 1: with my parents is complicated. We talk regularly and they're
28:43
Speaker 1: trying to make amends, but there's a distance between us
28:45
Speaker 1: that might never fully close. They're seeing therapists and working
28:48
Speaker 1: through their guilt, and I'm working through my anger and grief.
28:51
Speaker 1: Someday maybe we'll find our way back to something resembling
28:53
Speaker 1: a normal family, but for now we're just taking it
28:55
Speaker 1: one day at a time. I decided to study bioethics
28:58
Speaker 1: in college because I want to make sure nothing like
28:59
Speaker 1: Genesis Evolution Institute ever happens again. I want to be
29:02
Speaker 1: part of the systems that protect vulnerable people from exploitation,
29:05
Speaker 1: and I want to honor Olivia's memory by fighting for
29:07
Speaker 1: kids who can't fight for themselves. She saved my life
29:09
Speaker 1: by documenting what was happening to her, and I'm going
29:11
Speaker 1: to spend my life making sure her death meant something.
29:13
Speaker 1: The fear isn't completely gone. Sometimes I still wake up
29:15
Speaker 1: in the middle of the night thinking I hear Dr.
29:17
Speaker 1: Cross's voice or see Pastor Williams' face. Sometimes I have
29:20
Speaker 1: nightmares about being strapped to a table while they inject
29:22
Speaker 1: me with things that burn through my veins. My therapist
29:24
Speaker 1: says it's PTSD and that it might never fully go away,
29:26
Speaker 1: but it will get easier to manage over time. I'm
29:29
Speaker 1: learning to live with the trauma instead of letting it
29:30
Speaker 1: control me. The story got a lot of media attention
29:33
Speaker 1: and sometimes people recognize me from news coverage. Most are
29:35
Speaker 1: kind and supportive, but some ask invasive questions or want
29:38
Speaker 1: me to relive the worst moments for their entertainment. I've
29:40
Speaker 1: learned to set boundaries and walk away from situations that
29:42
Speaker 1: don't feel safe. Life isn't perfect and probably never will
29:45
Speaker 1: be completely normal, but I'm alive, and I'm free, and
29:48
Speaker 1: I have a future that Olivia never got to have.
29:50
Speaker 1: That has to be enough. I'm building something from the
29:52
Speaker 1: rubble of what was taken from me, and every day
29:54
Speaker 1: I survive and thrive is a victory against the people
29:56
Speaker 1: who tried to destroy me. Olivia's journal sits on my
29:58
Speaker 1: bookshelf now. a reminder of her courage and love. Sometimes
30:01
Speaker 1: I read through it and talk to her through the pages,
30:03
Speaker 1: telling her about my day or asking her advice about things.
30:06
Speaker 1: She can't answer, but I feel like she's still with
30:08
Speaker 1: me somehow, watching over me and cheering me on. The
30:10
Speaker 1: day I graduate high school, I'm going to put a
30:12
Speaker 1: copy of my diploma on her grave and tell her
30:14
Speaker 1: we made it. Not the way we planned, not the
30:16
Speaker 1: way it should have been, but we survived. And that's everything.
30:19
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to my story. It's not easy to tell,
30:21
Speaker 1: but it matters. These things happened, these systems exist, and
30:24
Speaker 1: we have to stay vigilant to protect kids from people
30:26
Speaker 1: who see them as means to an end rather than
30:28
Speaker 1: precious lives with infinite value. If you ever feel like
30:31
Speaker 1: something's wrong in your life, trust that instinct and find
30:33
Speaker 1: someone safe to tell. You deserve protection and care, not exploitation.
30:37
Speaker 1: And if you know a family in trouble, offer help
30:39
Speaker 1: without judgment because you never know what people are facing
30:41
Speaker 1: behind closed doors. We're all in this together. Appreciate you
30:44
Speaker 1: watching this far. If you enjoyed it, drop a like,
30:47
Speaker 1: leave a comment, and subscribe so you won't miss the
30:49
Speaker 1: next story.