Born just three minutes apart, Alexander and Kal had always been a pair—their small town used to joke they were clones, one just photocopied from the other. Same soft brown hair, same lean little arms and skinny knees, same quick, bright smiles. Wherever one went, the other followed.
By the time they were eight, they had the same favorite foods, same clothes, same everything. Two halves of one whole.
And their father loved that. Dr. Emmerich was a man of science, a quiet, focused type who spent most of his time in the basement lab when he wasn’t sitting at the breakfast table with his boys. He always told them how special they were.
“Identical twins,” he’d say, ruffling their hair. “A perfect genetic match. Rare and valuable.”
The boys would giggle, not really knowing what he meant, only that their dad’s eyes would go soft when he looked at them like that. Proud. Like they were his greatest invention.
It was around their ninth birthday when the “thyroid problem” came up.
“Nothing serious,” their father told them, voice calm, gentle. “But you both have a slight imbalance. It happens sometimes in boys your age. Easy to fix with a little medication.”
He showed them the bottles himself, their names written neatly on the labels. One marked ALEXANDER, the other KALVIN.
“Just one pill every morning after breakfast,” he said, setting the small white capsules out for them at the table. “You won’t even notice it. But it’ll keep you strong and healthy.”
They trusted him completely.
The routine started like that—every morning, two glasses of orange juice, two tiny pills. Alex would knock his back and grin. Kal would follow, feeling a little more grown-up for having a “condition” that needed medicine. The way their dad smiled at them afterward made it feel like something to be proud of.
No one knew, of course, that only one of those bottles contained the real formula.
Alex was swallowing down the first dose of a new hormone therapy—experimental, designed by his own father. A blend of anabolic compounds, growth hormone derivatives, androgen boosters. Carefully measured. Meticulously recorded.
Kal’s bottle was filled with sugar.
The boys grew up side by side, none the wiser.
The boys didn’t question it. They kept sharing clothes, wrestling on the living room floor, trading off who got the top bunk. They were best friends, brothers, reflections.
But every night, after the boys were asleep, Dr. Emmerich was downstairs in the lab, entering data, adjusting formulas. Watching. Waiting.
CHAPTER ONE — Pills and Promises
The twins were inseparable.
Born just three minutes apart, Alexander and Kal had always been a pair—their small town used to joke they were clones, one just photocopied from the other. Same soft brown hair, same lean little arms and skinny knees, same quick, bright smiles. Wherever one went, the other followed.
By the time they were eight, they had the same favorite foods, same clothes, same everything. Two halves of one whole.
And their father loved that. Dr. Emmerich was a man of science, a quiet, focused type who spent most of his time in the basement lab when he wasn’t sitting at the breakfast table with his boys. He always told them how special they were.
“Identical twins,” he’d say, ruffling their hair. “A perfect genetic match. Rare and valuable.”
The boys would giggle, not really knowing what he meant, only that their dad’s eyes would go soft when he looked at them like that. Proud. Like they were his greatest invention.
It was around their ninth birthday when the “thyroid problem” came up.
“Nothing serious,” their father told them, voice calm, gentle. “But you both have a slight imbalance. It happens sometimes in boys your age. Easy to fix with a little medication.”
He showed them the bottles himself, their names written neatly on the labels. One marked ALEXANDER, the other KALVIN.
“Just one pill every morning after breakfast,” he said, setting the small white capsules out for them at the table. “You won’t even notice it. But it’ll keep you strong and healthy.”
They trusted him completely.
The routine started like that—every morning, two glasses of orange juice, two tiny pills. Alex would knock his back and grin. Kal would follow, feeling a little more grown-up for having a “condition” that needed medicine. The way their dad smiled at them afterward made it feel like something to be proud of.
No one knew, of course, that only one of those bottles contained the real formula.
Alex was swallowing down the first dose of a new hormone therapy—experimental, designed by his own father. A blend of anabolic compounds, growth hormone derivatives, androgen boosters. Carefully measured. Meticulously recorded.
Kal’s bottle was filled with sugar.
The boys grew up side by side, none the wiser.
The boys didn’t question it. They kept sharing clothes, wrestling on the living room floor, trading off who got the top bunk. They were best friends, brothers, reflections.
But every night, after the boys were asleep, Dr. Emmerich was downstairs in the lab, entering data, adjusting formulas. Watching. Waiting.