Lab Rats

Just a Burden

Chapter 1

"Sabrina was the first girl who's ever shown any interest in me and you ruined it. Thanks a lot," Chase sighed and walked away. He turned his head, disguising the tears welling up in his eyes and made his way to the elevator to the lab downstairs.

Chase had been bullied and pushed around by his siblings his entire life. They constantly made fun of him – calling him names like nerd, teasing him about being useless, calling him a girl, and so many other things. When Mr. Davenport had created nicknames for Bree and Adam – Hustle and Muscle – and only said they would find him an "-ustle" and never really meant it or bothered, that had hurt. When he and his siblings had run away to protect the Davenports, Adam and Bree pretended to be a couple and claimed Chase to be their "daughter", Piper. That hurt as well. Did everyone hate him? Had he done something wrong? Why did no one actually want him, except for the one time his maniac father, Douglas, found him in the snow and attempted to convert him to his side. If he had to be honest, he really did have a point. Chase never did get the credit he deserved. He was always neglected by his family and teased for his smarts.

But compared to this, all of that was nothing. Adam was so jealous that his younger brother could actually get a girl to notice him over Adam, he had to do something to screw it all up. According to Adam, it had to be a nightmare or some kind of joke. According to Adam, no one could actually like Chase. Especially not a girl. So, he had to fix it. How? By making his own little brother make a fool out of himself. By making him look like a monster. In front of the only girl who had actually looked at him without laughing because of who he was or using him to get good grades. That hurt. A lot. It was like a stabbing pain in his chest that continued for far longer than it should have.

When he arrived at the elevator doors, the tears began to slip down his cheeks, one by one. The doors slid apart and he stepped inside. After pressing the button to take him to the lab below, Chase stepped back and leaned against the wall. He brought his hand up to his face and used his palms to wipe his face clear of the tears. He closed his eyes and took deep breaths so he would not burst into sobs. Why was it so hard for his family to see him with a girl who wanted to be with him too? Was it really so impossible?

Reaching the lab, the doors slid open again and Chase stepped out. He slowed walked over to his capsule and stepped inside. He had had enough. He was sick of his siblings putting him down and teasing him. He wasn't going to let them hurt him anymore. He was done. But it hurt. Oh how it hurt him. It burned like fire and ice. It cut away at him like a dulled knife pulling and tugging and a slab of meat over and over until it cut through; it never stopped. They teased and abused and isolated him. And he would never recover from these psychological wounds inflicted on him.

But this time they had gone too far. Enough was enough. As he leaned against the back side of his personal capsule and slid down he made the decision. If no one loved him, then he would just let them. It was obvious they never liked him, so he would let them continue disliking him. He would get in their way; he wouldn't speak to them so they wouldn't be annoyed; he wouldn't hang around them to be teased and called names or sent away because he was an embarrassment. He wasn't going to be a burden to them anymore.

When reached the bottom of the capsule, he brought up his hand to wipe away the final wave of tears and they instantaneously stopped. He closed his eyes, pressed them into his drawn up knees, and fell asleep.

The next morning, Chase woke up early – earlier than usual. He was always up before his siblings cut never by this much time. When he opened his eyes, he realized he was still on the floor of his capsule rather than standing up. He glanced left and right seeing Adam and Bree still asleep next to him. He stood and pushed open the door to his personal capsule. Discovering that it was 5:19, he blinked and considered going back to sleep, but decided against it realizing he had not finished all of his homework from the night before.

Before going upstairs to finish his assignments, Chase returned to his capsule to change out of his clothes from yesterday into new ones for that day. After completing the task, he climbed into the elevator and went up to the second floor where his homework awaited him. Entering the family room and flicking the light switch on, he noticed that the destruction from the night before was absent. There was no evidence that Spike had ever been there. The remains of his Chemistry project were missing as well. Deciding to find and repair it later, he pulled out his backpack and unzipped the pockets to find a pencil and his homework. The pencil he laid carefully on the table in front of him before pulling out his notebooks and textbooks he would need.

Yawning, Chase started his homework. He knew it would take him less than an hour to complete because of his super-smarts, but he took his time. He had nothing better to do.

Just over an hour had passed when Chase completed the homework. Putting his school supplies away, he heard footsteps coming from behind him. He turned to see Tasha Davenport coming down the stairs in her teal silk pajamas and bare feet.

"Chase, how are you sweetie? We didn't see you at dinner last night. Are you okay?" Tasha asked.

Tasha seemed to be the only person who ever cared about Chase. She was certainly the only one who was actually kind to him. Never had she spoken a rude comment to or about him. She was always so supportive and always seemed to be proud of him even though she never got to spend much time with him. If Chase had to be honest, it was Tasha that he loved the most. He hardly even knew her and they had never really had any special times together, but there were never any bad times either. And he loved her for it.

"I'm okay. I just didn't feel well last night. I went to bed early." He replied. It was partially true. He did go to bed early and didn't feel well, but not in the way he wanted Tasha to think. Hopefully she believed he just had a stomach ache or something of the like.

"Aww, are you feeling any better?"

"Yeah," Chase lied. "Loads better."

"Good," Tasha came and sat next to him. Nudging him on the shoulder she teased, "Donald told me you had a girl over last night. How did it go?"

Chase frowned. "It didn't. She wasn't interested. We just worked on a project. That's all." He looked away.

"Aw, baby, I'm so sorry. Sometimes girls are tricky. They act like they're interested when they're really not. Did she use you to get a good grade?" Tasha rubbed his shoulder.

"No, she just wasn't interested in me like I thought she was." Chase felt terrible for lying to her, but he didn't want to share what had really occurred the night before. He didn't want to burden her with his problems. Because that's all he was to anyone else: a burden. That was the last thing he wanted to do to Tasha. She was the mother he needed but never had when he was little.

Turning his focus back to the table in front of him, he sighed. "It's okay. I'm used to it. I'm a nerd. Girls don't like nerds, and this is just something I'll have to get used to."

Tasha moved her hand up to stroke his hair and Chase rested his head on Tasha's shoulder, tears welling up again in his eyes. He knew what he said was the truth. The only girl who had ever shown interest in him was gone and no other girl would ever look at him again for anything other than good grades. He sniffled and tears came more steadily, cascading down his cheeks and onto Tasha's pajamas. The mother and son rested there for quite some time. Chase eventually fell back into a slumber.

When Chase woke again, there was a sounding of shoes on the stairs. Mr. Davenport was up and coming down for breakfast before setting off for work. Chase sat up quickly and rubbed his eyes. He glanced around to see the time, startling Tasha a bit.

"Chase?" Mr. Davenport asked. "You're up pretty early, aren't you? I usually don't see you before 7:30! It's ten 'til!"

Rubbing his eyes again, Chase replied, "I had to finish my homework from yesterday. I didn't feel well last night, so I went to bed early."

"Oh, is that where you were last night? What happened to the gir-" He cut off, looking at his wife. "I mean… did you sleep well?"

Looking down, Chase fiddled with his hands. "You can talk about Sabrina. I don't mind. I'm over it now."

"She ditched when it was done, didn't she?" Donald questioned.

"Donald!" Tasha cried. "What a terrible thing to say! Especially when Chase is hurting. Poor baby." She wrapped her arms around him once more.

"Right! I'm sorry, Chase." Donald replied.

No you're not. You never liked me anyway. Chase thought. Nobody ever did.

"I'm going to go finish getting ready. Pack up my project and stuff…" Chase trailed off and got up. When he got into another room, he clenched his fists.

Do not cry. Do not cry. He told himself.

When he reigned in his emotions, Chase looked around for the remnants of his project from the night before. When he couldn't find them in that room, he returned back to the kitchen to search. He returned to muffled words of anger from Tasha to her husband. She pointed to the direction Chase had just left the room from and then brought her hand back to jab the same finger into Mr. Davenport's chest. She must have seen Chase out of the corner of her eye because she quickly spun around and smiled at him.

"How about some breakfast, Chase? You must be hungry considering you missed dinner last night." She quickly made steps into the kitchen.

"Maybe in a minute. I'm still packing up my project."

"Oh. Okay. Let me know when you're hungry, sweetie, okay?" She turned back toward Donald and glared at him.

Chase turned into the kitchen and spotted a cabinet door that was not completely closed. Upon further inspection, Chase discovered that a plastic bin was keeping the door open. He pulled out the bin and pried off the lid. The small pieces of his molecule were lying in a heap in the bin. He closed the cabinet door and stood with the bin in his arms. Grabbing his backpack, he slipped on his shoes and walked out the front door, knowing he could get to school to finish his project with no interruptions and no encounters with his family members – especially Adam.