Dr. Randal
“Alright, test ape 5C is ready for the procedure. We just need this one last shot… Wait! No! Don’t!”
Dr. Peter Randal watched the recording over and over again. It was almost some sort of weird addiction he had. He watched the film of his test go wrong, and his parents, whom he had a certain affinity for, get killed right in front of him. He watched it, as if he felt that he could change the outcome. He would always talk to himself before he put the tape in, saying “Alright Doc, this time make sure you double check the medicine.” He was almost becoming paranoid the more and more he watched the recording. Every time, in the tape when the ape started to go crazy due to the drug, he would try and shout at his dad through the television, telling him to get out of the way, and tried to reach out for his moms hand. As much as he wanted to change the outcome, he could not. He was in need of someone to alleviate the pain.
He was not the only person to be affected by that day. His greedy girlfriend Karli Walker had a weird demeanor of trying to avoid him after he lost his job. He was on the verge of becoming the richest man alive with his new pill he was working on, that allowed the human body to use 100% of their brain. He was using apes as test subjects, when that tragic event happened. After he lost his job his girlfriend realized he had no money, and left him. He was slowly losing his mind after this. His best friend, and fellow scientist Dr. Jason Ramirez tried to help him, but Peter always pushed him away. He looked at all the apes he used as test subjects, as his friends now. His neighbors reported of seeing him playing with his apes in his front yard, and then he would go inside and they would watch television together. One neighbor said that they looked in his window and saw him watching a video of a lab procedure consisting of apes. It was the recording of the procedure that killed his parents.
After four months of being alone, sheltering himself from the world, Dr Randal went out in public. He went to grab a bite with Dr. Ramirez. Dr. Ramirez did not like not being able to see or talk to his best friend, so he invited him to go out to dinner. He met Dr. Ramirez at their old favorite restaurant called Le Cuisine. It was a fancy restaurant, which was why Dr. Ramirez was surprised to see that Peter brought his two apes. Peter thought his meal was rather insipid, be he did not say anything, for he did not want to be inpolite.
“Hey Peter, how have you been feeling?”
“Alright, I guess. Alright.” Dr. Randal put down his tablet, that played the recording of his parents in his lab.
“I, uh think we should go sit down. Want to?” Dr. Ramirez asked.
“Sure, yeah, one second. I need to ask my dad some extra procedural questions first.”
“Oh… uh okay. I’ll be right over there if you want.” Jason walked away, hoping that this paranoia stage would not last long.
They got to their table and started talking about their lives. It had been almost four months since, Jason has seen Peter. He told him he had a girlfriend and he could not wait for Peter to meet her. Hearing this made Peter think about his old girlfriend that left him. He became to grow saddened again. He pulled out his tablet to watch, but Jason took it away before he could even turn it on.
“Come on bud, lets just talk, you need to get over that day.” Jason told him “Hey so I’m having a new years party this friday, you should come, see some old friends.”
“Okay. I will.”
“Alright bud, I got to get going. So see you saturday?”  Jason asked.
“Yeah, sounds fun.”
“Also, can you not bring your monkeys.”
“Apes. They are apes.” Peter said, before they left.
Friday came, and Peter dressed up for the party. He had not dressed up so fancy in a long time. He was actually excited for once. He grabbed his tablet, and left for the party. When he arrived as Jason’s house he was greeted by Karli, his old girlfriend. He was almost as surprised as she was. He wasn’t sure while she was answering the door, until he remembered Jason telling him that he had a new girlfriend.
“Hey, so you’re Jason’s girlfriend now?”
“Uh, actually I’m his fiancee now.” Karli replied, awkwardly scratching her head. “I’m really surprised to see you here.”
“Yeah… me too.” He walked inside to Jason’s party. He found Jason and went to talk to him.
“Hey bud, I forgot you clean up nice.” Jason joked.
“Haha thanks, you too. So I meant to tell you at dinner last week, in my ‘freetime’ the past couple of months, I’ve been working on my pill.” Peter replied.
“And…?”
“I think I’ve completed it. I would like you and Karli to come down to the lab sometime this week to see it in action.”
“Okay. We shall see your work on Sunday.”
“See you then bud.” Peter said, and left the party too soon.
On sunday, Jason and Karli arrived at the lab. They found Peter and followed him into the main room.
“Some setup you got here.” Karli complemented.
“Thanks honey, I mean Karli.” Peter said awkwardly. “I just want to warn you guys, the last time I had company in front of my apes, that company never left this room. They were my parents. I accidentally gave one of my apes a medicine known as Type 8. It gives the ape a violent reaction, and they won’t stop until they succeed. Now don’t worry these apes are locked away in cages, so you are safe. Now just stay here while I grab the pill. This is actually really exciting to see the apes use this. So just watch some TV while I’m gone, I’ll be back shortly with the pills.” On the television, came the recording of the day Dr. Randal’s parents died. Jason did not want to watch this, however he noticed something strange. He noticed that the ape did not even bother going for him, and that Peter looked as if he was happy, in the recording. Before it ended, Peter came on the television.
“Hello guys, I just wanted to say welcome. Welcome Karli my girlfriend, and Jason. My best friend who took care of my girlfriend while I was gone. He even made her his fiancee. How kind. Well, I think that Jason is smart enough to realize that the night my parents died was no mistake, it was simply a ‘misunderstanding’ if you would. Now that you know my story, I can’t let you tell anyone about this.
“What… this whole time. You killed them! You…!” Jason could not finish his sentence, for the cages that held the poisoned apes, opened.
“Good boys.” Peter mumbled, as he walked away, holding his tablet, watching his fresh new recording.