A History of Hybrids

“What do you mean you failed a test on the history of hybrids? You’re dating one!” Cailean said exasperated.

Rosalind winced, “It not like Deimos talks about his species, ok.” She protested.

Cailean ran a hand through his hair, letting out a sigh. “Come to think it, he never paid attention either. He'd just be writing things in Greek or sketching…”

“Deimos can draw?” Rosie asked. She'd never seen him do so, he seemed to spend most of his free time on his phone.

“I don't know, give me your book.” Cailean ordered, holding a hand out for the textbook. Rosie obliged and handed him her textbook. Cailean took a moment to glance over the test, and then the chapter, before setting both on the table. “This… this is common knowledge if you just paid attention to news.”

“Well sorry.” Rosalind retorted bitterly.

Cailean muttered something about summing up the chapter for her before he began talking. “The first recorded hybrid was in the mid 1700s, though surely there’s been some before that as vampires and were-creatures don’t seem to learn lessons well. Anyway, according to the document, it was horribly disfigured, and as a product of the times was also dubbed a demon, or alternatively, possessed. It survived for less than thirty minutes, and evidently when an autopsy was later done, they found the child was born without a brain and stomach, and it’s knees were bent backwards... like a wolf’s. Even as recently as the late 1800s, hybrids almost always died at birth. The ones that survived were so severely disabled they had a terrible quality of life, especially back in those days. However, something's changing in their DNA, and quickly.

For whatever reason, they started getting stronger. They survived more often. But they were still different - they had a higher chance of being born without limbs, or paralyzed, etc. Most couldn't do basic things, talking, eating on their own… And by the 1950s, hybrids were already dubbed as dangerous by humans due to an increase of them becoming serial killers, abusers, and mental health patients in general. This was when hybrids being abandoned by their parents started happening. No one wanted to deal with them, not even their own parents, so they’d just leave them to die.”

Rosalind’s mind went to Deimos’ past. How his parents had abandoned him before a day had even passed since he’d been born. “But Deimos was left at an orphanage, so surely not all parents hated the hybrid offspring.” She wasn’t really sure if she could call the slight bit of humanity of leaving him at an orphanage actually not hating him considering what they told him when they met again, but they could’ve left him in the wilderness, or something, and instead chose to leave him at the door of a place that would care for him, so it counted for something, right?

Cailean nodded, “Around... “ He glanced to the chapter, “Ah, in 1985, there was starting to be more promising hybrid births. There were still disabilities among them, some were born paralyzed, others blind, or deaf, but - and this partially just due to a better quality of life in general for people with disabilities - they were living longer, and were seeming to be healthier. However, at this point, a new epidemic rose among hybrids. Their suicide rates seemed to double overnight, then it kept growing, and that’s how we’re at the statistics we’re at now, is because of the research back then. It’s still relatively accurate, but it hasn’t really been updated since the early 90s. Another statistic that was growing was hybrids being raised amongst humans. They were still being abandoned at an alarming rate, usually left to die. Still, even hybrids with the best families had a higher suicide rate, as well as a higher chance of mental health issues. Their suicide rates have remained the highest among any species though, according to somewhat recent research.” He turned the page, seeing they were at the 1990s now.

“Now we’re at Deimos’ generation of hybrids. At this point, mental illness was becoming less common, but being born blind or deaf was still disproportionately high for hybrids compared to literally any other species. Serious mental illnesses seemed to wane, but they would still often be diagnosed with at least depression at shockingly young ages.” The book, clearly a bit outdated, stopped in the 1990s, though he knew the rest. He shut it and continued. “Starting around 2005, hybrids with few health problems changed gears from extremely rare to simply uncommon. It would appear that hybrids as a species are evolving right before our eyes, but no one really knows why or how, and it’s also not consistent.. While one hybrid can die immediately after birth, another could be born perfectly healthy. Hybrids can’t breed, so that’s not the reason for the change in genetics. Even siblings have been born extremely different-”

“Deimos and Felix.”

“-Yes, like Deimos and Felix. But even with shorter age gaps, there are records of siblings only a couple years apart from each other that have had very different birth results. Suddenly, stillborns are evening out to a more average statistic, and neurotypical, able-bodied hybrids have started appearing.” He paused, “Of course, some of these hybrids are still very young, so things could change as they get older, but they seem strangely average. Scientists are theorizing we may see a hybrid in our lifetime without body pains and maybe even one day able to have kids.”

“So basically hybrids went from dying immediately to being perfectly average…” Rosalind rested her chin in her hands, pouting a bit. “It’d be nice if Deimos could have kids.” She muttered under her breath, forgetting she was with a werewolf.

Cailean raised an eyebrow, lowering his head to hide a silent laugh.

Rosalind blushed furiously and got defensive, “And… And why do you know so much about hybrids?” She asked, pointing at Cailean accusingly.

“Because my friend is one.”

“Look classes are extremely boring here okay so stop judging me.”

“Mmhmm…”

“Also Deimos still doesn’t see you as a friend, you know that, right? He gets angry just thinking about you.”

“The pup’ll figure it out eventually.”