Four years…It’s been four, long years since I had seen my father. Now, here he is…Sitting here in the flesh. I smile. My hard, painful endeavor is finally over. Daddy is finally home…

How did I get in this position? I was eight years old. I was a blissful little boy; living in the imaginary world that most little boys live in. I played with toys and friends, just like any other children my age. I remember family outings and Daddy buying me gifts and ice cream.

Daddy was a biochemical engineer. He was researching disturbing things that I did not understand at that time. He never let me see his work. One night, he fell asleep and left his study unlocked. That’s when I saw what would change my innocent way of view of life and mortality. I walked into his room in the middle of the night still in my pajamas. The computer screen was open to a private internet webpage. I didn’t understand what many of the words were; such as “nuclear transfer” or “cellular division”. There was one word that interested me: clones.

I nudged Daddy’s shoulder. He awoke; startled and confused. “Oh hello, Charlie. How did you get in here? I told you not to come in here. You could get hurt!” he said, lifting me up and escorting me out of the room. “Sorry, Daddy…” I replied, nuzzling into his chest. He took me back to my bedroom, tucking me into the covers.

“Goodnight, my son. Sweet dreams.” He said, about ready to leave. My curiosity took over. I had to know what a clone was. “Wait, Daddy!” I yelled. He turned around, looking back at me.

“Daddy, what’s a clone?” I asked. He looked back at me and sighed, sitting at the foot of my bed. “Charlie, a clone is a copy of a living being. It’s a genetic duplicate of someone else who’s already living or was once living.”
“Why would you want two of somebody? We already have twins!” I replied. Looking back at this, I feel so ignorant.
“Well, for many reasons. Some women can’t have babies of their own, so sometimes they clone someone else and raise them as their babies. It’s not just people. Back in the twenty-first century, people used to even clone their dogs!” he said, teasing.
“Why would you clone your dog?
“Sometimes people get really attached to their pets and can’t live without them, so when they die, some people clone them so they can still have their precious puppy with them.” Daddy said, rustling my hair. We talked for another ten minutes or so. He explained that clones can essentially bring back the dead.
“Daddy,” I started, “If you ever die, I’ll clone you so I can have you forever!” I hugged my father and he looked at me with a shocked expression. I guess it was childhood innocence. He smiled and kissed my forehead before leaving and turning off the light.
A few weeks later, tragedy struck. Daddy was driving me to his work one day. I had requested for him to bring me there. Ever since he told me what cloning was, I couldn’t stop looking into it. I researched for hours and hours online. As we were about to exit the highway, an idiot driver hit our car from the side as he tried to merge. Our car flipped over. I blacked out for a few moments, but I survived. I had a large scar going from my forehead down to my chin on the left side of my face. Blood gushed, but I didn’t care. Daddy was hurt.
I got out of the car as best I could. “D-Daddy?!” I cried, trying to wake my father back into consciousness. His head was bleeding and his arm was almost completely severed. “Daddy!!!!” I called again; still no response. I took his pulse…Nothing. Daddy…was dead.
“NO!!!” I screamed, throwing a fit. He couldn’t die! I couldn’t live without him! So I did what I had to. In the back seat, he had a kit he had taken home from work. I took a syringe and a tube. I drew as much blood as I could. Daddy would come back to me.
I also chopped off some of the skin tissue that was already torn off of his arm with a scalpel in the kit. I put the tissue into a sample bag and ran. I ran till I couldn’t anymore.
Eventually, the police found me and brought me back home to my mother. I despised my mother. She left Daddy when I was only three years old. I knew she didn’t want me to even exist. When I was told to get my things, I made sure to grab the flash drive that contained all of Daddy’s research. I grabbed any book or tablet that had useful information in it. I would get my Daddy back.
My mother left me alone most of the time. She was either at work, with her friends, or drunk off her ass. This was perfect for me. I would often sneak away to our storage unit across town and continue to research cloning. I kept Daddy’s blood and tissue in my personal freezer.
Daddy’s life insurance paid for a lot of my research. I had inherited almost a million dollars and used a good quarter of it to fund my experiments. Daddy’s research team had figured out how to clone a living organism without a natural growing womb. This method, called “farm-growing”, as it was nicknamed, could create an organism that could reach full maturation in only a few months inside of an artificial womb. This meant that I could clone Daddy and he would be the same age he was when he passed away.
It took me almost four years to complete my experiment. I made an incubator and did the cloning myself. After many failed attempts, I finally managed to get a foreign somatic cell to adopt its new DNA and from there, Daddy grew.
He matured for exactly four months. Today is the day I will remove Daddy from his incubator. By what I calculated from the notes and data and if I did this correctly, Daddy will have full memory of me and of his life. He will be just as smart and intelligent. Life will at last return to normality. I don my gloves and protective gear, just in case I screwed this up. I drain the nourishing liquid from the incubator-tube. After it is clear, I remove Daddy from the tube and place him on a stretcher. I cut off the artificial umbilical cord that has been supplying him with vital nutrients, energy, and hormones to speed up the growth process.
I do a physical examination of him. He seems to be breathing. His pulse is that of a normal human’s. Best of all, he’s slowly gaining consciousness. I notice something slightly odd though. Daddy’s eyes were originally brown. Now, they’re green. Maybe it’s a side effect from the farm-growing method? This hadn’t been tested on humans prior to this; just lab rats and chimpanzees. Hopefully this is nothing to worry about…
In about two hours, Daddy wakes up. I couldn’t believe it! My deceased father is finally here again! I begin to cry. This is absolutely incredible! I’m a real scientist; just like him!
“Oh, Daddy! You’re finally alive again!” I say, hugging him at his waist. This is the fruit of my four years of labor.
Suddenly, a loud, animalistic groan comes out of Daddy’s mouth when I hugged him. “A-Are you alright, Daddy?” I ask, “It’s me, Charlie!” Daddy doesn’t respond. He looks at me with those eerie green eyes…then, throws me to the ground.
What is going on?! This isn’t what Daddy would do! He picks up the nearest object and flings it at me. Something must have gone wrong. This isn’t right! My four years of work have gone down the drain! This isn’t my Daddy!
I panic and flee to the other side of my laboratory. I rummage around to find the sedatives I bought just in case something like this would happen. I fill the syringe and turn around, but it’s too late. The terrible creation had picked up the stretcher I had him on and hurls it at my head. Then…everything goes dark…
I woke up in a white room. There seems to be no one around. My clothes have been changed to a white robe and there is no blood to be found on my body. Out of the white, an even brighter light appears before me. I shield my eyes and when I look back up, I find a familiar figure standing in front of me.
“D-Daddy?” I mutter out. The figure comes closer. It…It is my Daddy!
“Charlie, why did you do this? You literally got yourself killed!” Daddy says to me. I can’t take it anymore. I run to him and hug him tight.

“Oh Daddy! I’m so sorry!” I blubber out; releasing my tears. He hugs me back. “Hush my little boy...It’s alright. God has forgiven you.” Daddy tells me. I stand there and sob into his robe for a few moments more. He releases our hug and says, “Come now, Charlie. Let me take you home.” Another bright light appears before me. I smile and walk towards it, following Daddy.
I am finally going home. Daddy has brought me home…