My name is Sam Staples and I was involved in the creation of the revolutionary drug Xanacet. Xanacet is a drug that creates an open connection through the neurons in the brain allowing old memories that were forgotten to be reinstalled and enhanced. Put simply it’s a cure for Alzheimer’s and various brain diseases. My partner in the creation is Tim Beveridge, who is the owner of several pharmaceutical companies mainly involved brain disease research. Tim is a good pharmacist but lately he has become obsessed with money and power and it has got to the point where I am questioning his priorities. Quality and reliability of the drugs used to be paramount, along with following strict guidelines and legal requirements. Now he only cares about creating quick results, disregarding rules and quality safeguards. Although I am far more cautious and much less of a risk taker it is me who has to deal with the aftermath of his questionable practices.
Most concerning of late, I have had to deal with a peculiar occurrence in a few patients of the Xanacet drug trials. Some of the patients on this trial have been complaining about confusing memories that don’t make sense to their lives. Robert Chadwich, patient 64 of the program has reported strange memories of a coal mining accident but the problem with all this is that Robert was an architect and has never worked in a mine. Other stories similar to this had arisen, like Samuel Jones, patient 43, remembering being a top level spy during the cold war, long before he had been born. There were over 70 cases similar to this in the1000 test subjects and some of the memories experienced by people have been distressing and deeply disturbing. Potentially cold case crimes could be reopened or even solved or is it as I suspect that these memories not be real but being generated by enhanced neurological activity in the subject’s brain. My most worrying example is Jason Joaner, patient 23, who has had vivid memories about committing horrific crimes including murder, rape and gang land activities when he absolutely could not have done them as he was hospitalized at the time of the memories for a spinal cord replacement.
Alarm bells have been going off in my head but Tim, on the other hand, is disregarding these anomalies and instead is focusing on the potential of the drug and on how much money and fame it will bring us. I have had sleepless nights thinking of what happens if people act on these generated memories; what terrible consequences could result? I can’t stand it anymore...it goes against all I ever learned about research and ethics and I have now decided to walk away from the whole thing. How do I confront Tim about this? He has a volatile temper and he is very defensive of the project. He stands to lose much more than me. He may even try to kill me rather than risk me going public with my concerns. I need to think about what to do. I make myself a cup of tea and have my daily Xanacet tablet and wonder how I can get myself out of the situation safely.
Suddenly I remember my days as a contract killer and it all becomes very clear. All I need to do is kill him before he kills me and destroy all evidence of the project. It will be so easy as he has no idea of my previous life.
I will make it look like an accident and remove all evidence of the trial. Yes, that is what I will do tomorrow but first I need a good night sleep...I have much to do.
By Cooper Peacock Year 11 English
