SherlockHolmes0
09-26-2013, 02:01 PM
Pete's POV:
I wake up to a sound of loud banging. It sounds like the train outside my house is moving, and it's going out to the city on the other side of the town called Bellatrix, or district 22. I roll from my side onto my back. Sitting up, I make a quiet groaning sound. The house is silent, Ryan went out to spend the night with someone else.
Slowly, I mosey through the house. The sound of the train means I have to start getting ready for work. I have to get breakfast, Ryan’s food made for school, Della’s medicine around, Nina’s breakfast made and of course my lunch. Once I get downstairs, though, I notice the house work is done. The food made. Medicine out, and a letter that says “Thank you for all that you do sweetie! I decided to take up some of the heavy lifting today. Love- Nina.”
I smile. My wife is the sweetest.
Soon, I hear knocking at the door. I walk out and find Della. She's sporting her long blonde braid, single orange streak in her bangs, three earrings in her right ear and six in her left. Her clothes consist of a jacket, bright orange tee-shirt, straight-leg jeans and large hunter's boots.
“Hey kiddo! How did you sleep?” I ask, inviting her in.
Della has been close to me since she was a baby. Della was sort of my adopted daughter till I lost her. She was kidnapped, but when we found her the entire city agreed to make sure she was returned safely. She has a deadly disease that's killed nearly two thirds of the human population, and she's on constant medication for the pain she's in. The kid has the non-contagious version, the one that she inherited from her mother when she was born. Della's growth and physical development was stunted, so she's very small and frail. It's almost like she has diabetes too, with her blood sugar being very difficult for her. I've been asked to pick her up from school more than once for that.
Della lives with her uncle Leonard, but trusts me with her medicine right now. I'm a doctor, along with her best friend Drake. She comes between us for her medication.
“I slept horrible. Leo kept talking in his sleep again, and he kept yelling 'bacon cheese patties!', and I was so annoyed!” Della rants.
I hand her the medicine and a cup of water and say “I'm sorry. He's had terrible nightmares though. Even when he's screaming funny things, he's just having bad times.”
“I know. But it doesn't make it any better now. I'm sleepy.” Della pouts.
She swallows all the pills at once, and drinks the entire cup in one swallow.
“Wow. I'll warn Drake when he takes the medicine to you at lunch.” I say, raising an eyebrow.
“I'm sorry. I'm just stressed. School is hard. I never went to school before! And people are mean to me. So very mean to me.” Della says sadly.
I invite her to sit with me. “What do you mean by 'mean'?”
“They call me names and avoid me because of the disease. Like, because I have the disease, they're all gonna die.” Della admits.
“Well you know they're wrong, right?” I ask.
She nods, frowning at the table.
“And you know Drake and I are gonna find a cure, right?” I continue.
Her head shoots up, a smile on her face, and she nods eagerly. “Yeah! I know it! I know you can do it!”
I smile and say “Then hold your head up and show you don't care. Cause if things will get better, their words are no more than wasted breath.”
She smiles, hugs me and says “Thank you uncle Pete.”
Della pulls out an old pocket watch from her coat's pouch and says “Oh I gotta go. Bye!”
She throws her arms around me again and runs out the door. Ryan trudges along. He's my son, but I constantly wonder if he's okay. He's a very interesting character. Ryan has been in juvenile hall a couple times and really isn't pleasant to be around.
“How's it going, son?” I ask.
“Dad do you have to embarrass me in front of my friends? Just call me by my name!” He protests.
I sigh and say “Here's your lunch. Please behave.”
Ryan rolls his eyes and says “Whatever Dad.”
He leaves, slamming the door in front of me. I sit down at the table, head in my hand. What am I gonna do? I think.
Soon my phone starts singing to me. That means I only have fifteen minutes to get to work and to stop goading. So I toss on my work shoes and run out the door, fixing my tie and trying to get my coat on at the same time. Once I get to the hospital, my tie is on correctly, my suit jacket looks pristine, and my hair looks neat.
Drake Harken is talking to a receptionist, a small girl named Willow. They've been very close as of recent, and I think they're hitting it off. Until I realize Willow looks like she wants to knee him in the crotch. Seems like Drake isn't taking what's going on well either. So I intervene, saying that Drake is needed at the clinic.
Willow leaves the area, and Drake sighs.
“So what's wrong?” I ask.
“Willow told me she was looking for someone different.” Drake shrugs “That's fine.”
I nod. “Well, you do need to get to the clinic.”
Drake smiles “Hey, are we still having dinner at your house?”
“Yeah. Nina's really excited to have everyone over. Oh, and Rosie will be there.” I nudge him, laughing.
“Laugh it up. I doubt Rosie will talk to me. Last time I made her run away crying.” Drake slaps me.
Rosie is my youngest sister, being only 22. I'm 36, so there is quite the age difference between us two.
I walk into my office. I am a general health and fitness associate. But I can do anything and everything they need me to here in the hospital.
Today is relatively slow, nothing much really happens. Rare for a hospital in the middle of a city full of hypochondriacs running in telling me they have the disease and are dying. Soon, though, someone knocks on my door.
I get up and open it. There I find Rosie, my little sister. She's adorned in a bright red polka-dot dress, some flat ankle-length boots, a black jacket, her short brown hair is contained in a headband and she has makeup on today.
I give Rosie a big hug and say “What are you doing here so early?”
“I just came home to see you and Nina. She said she needed help with some things and asked if I could come. I'm not busy so I said yes.” Rosie replies.
“Oh. Okay. Nina's at home. Do you remember where I live?” I ask her.
“Yeah. Don't worry about me. I'm not gonna get lost.” She laughs.
I laugh and shrug. She turns and leaves. Rosie still has that little bounce in her step that she had when she was a little kid. Not much about her has changed. She's still relatively small, too. No where near Della small. But kind of little.
Slowly the day drags on, and my shift is over at 4:30. Just enough time to run home, change and help Nina with anything she needs me to help with. I run out, making the same mad dash over from the hospital to my house. Opening the door, I’m automatically greeted by Nina, who's dressed very prettily in a bright yellow dress with dark leggings and a white sweater. She has beautiful black hair, dark brown eyes and a deep, deep complexion. We greet each other kindly.
We finish dinner together as everyone files in. Leonard and Della walk in talking about school, Drake walks in by himself wearing casual clothes and his blonde hair spiked up a little, Nina’s friends Ray and Bethany Begetter worth come in as a pair and finally my son Ryan rolls in with his friend Michael Graham. Nina and I set the table with Della’s help, and we all sit at the table together.
Isaac Festal runs in a little late, apologizing “I was working on a project and lost track of time!”
“It's okay, Isaac We're just setting up.” I say, inviting him to sit.
He takes a seat between Rosie and Leo. Rosie is stationed between Leo and Drake, Drake next to Della, Della next to me, I next to Nina, Nina next to Ryan, Ryan next to Michael and Michael next to Isaac. Nina and Rosie prepared some really good food, what looks like a banquet to everyone.
Drake and I have an announcement that we need to make, but just before I am able to, Nina and Rosie both get up and say they have something they want to tell all of us. Nina takes her seat again and says “I’m pregnant, honey.”
My heart stops. “What?”
She smiles and hugs me. But I am frozen. She pulls away and says “There was something you wanted to say?”
“Uh, yeah. Um. I forgot. Sorry.” I shrug.
Drake just looks at me and Nina, his mouth agape. “Pete, can I talk to you?”
We walk to the hallway a few rooms away.
“What are you thinking?” He demands.
“What am I gonna do, Drake? My wife is pregnant! I can't leave now!” I snap quietly. “If I do, what will happen to her?”
Drake sighs. “You have a point. But what am I gonna do? I can't go alone, Pete. And I know you. You're most definitely not going to let Nina go
on a trip like this.”
I cross my arms in front of my chest. “I don't know what to do, Drake.”
Drake shrugs and says “Whatever you need to. If you feel that Nina needs you, then she does. But if you feel you can come for a couple months, then do.”
I scratch my head and say “I need to talk to her about it.”
Drake nods. We go back, pretending to be discussing something about the hospital. We aren't really talking about anything that coincides with the others statements, but they don't really seem to notice. Drake and I sit down, we give thanks to God, and we eat.
Everyone talks and enjoys themselves. But I have the nagging sensation in the back of my head that something bad will happen if I go and leave Nina all by herself. She's strong. But Nina's been exhibiting signs of the disease. If she gets it, there is no way in a million years I'll leave her alone. Not even for a day.
Soon, everyone but Drake, Ryan and Rosie file out. I send Ryan to his room, to which he calls me the single worst parent that ever existed on this planet. Things like that make me giggle on the inside a little bit.
“Nina, we need to talk about something.” I say gently.
She looks at me and Drake. Drake is looking at his phone, but is paying attention to what I say. Rosie is cleaning up in the kitchen, something she does when she knows something bad is going on and she needs to keep active.
Drake and I tell her our plans to leave, why we are and ask her what she thinks. Nina just looks at me. Then her eyes slowly go down to her lap.
The insecurity in her face tells me she doesn't want me to go. But she knows Drake and I need to go and get help for finding the cure.
“If I let you go, you have to take one person in particular with you. So I know you'll be safe.” Nina says, taking my large hand in her small one.
I raise an eyebrow. “Who?”
Nina smiles. “Take Della.”
My heart stops for a second. Drake exclaims “What!”
“Sweetie, taking Della doesn't guarantee our safety. We love her, but if she gets sick while out, what in the worlds are we going to do?” I say gently.
“Look, it's either that or... I'd prefer you stay home.” She gets up and walks away.
I place my head in my hands and say “What am I gonna do?”
Drake says “We should probably go. Take Della and Rosie with us, and I think we'll be fine.”
Rosie runs out and says “Tall creepy blonde guy say what?”
Drake sighs and crosses his arms.
“We're gonna go find a cure for the disease. But Nina wants me to take Della with me. If you go, maybe thing will go better. Please, Rosie. This is very important to me.” I plead with my little sister.
Rosie crosses her arms. “Pete, stop begging. I was gonna go anyways. I just didn't want to be volunteered.”
“Am I the only one that thinks bringing Della like this is a bad idea? She and Nina both are sick. If we take her, all we'll have is basic medical equipment. Not what she may need. And Nina... I just don't know.” I say, my head spinning with confusion.
Rosie sits down next to me and says “It'll be okay, Pete. If you want, I can take my own motorcycle and bring some extra equipment. I think we can do this. If we're quick and don't linger.”
I don't look at her. She's probably right. I just never thought I'd leave Nina alone like this. She needs me now more than she's ever needed me. If she gets sick while she's pregnant, and I'm not here, what will happen? I know Ryan can be a good kid, but what will he do?
I decide to tell them in the morning. Rosie is staying with our parents in their apartment, so I can think about this by myself. I don't get to sleep tonight, I don't think. I have too much to think about, too little time.
Soon, Nina comes downstairs and says “Are you okay, hon?”
I wrap my arms around her gently and say “I don't know what to do.”
“Go get us cured, Pete.” She urges, kissing my cheek.
I frown, and say “'Us'?”
She looks at me and says “Us.”
My heart beat picks up. “You got the call?”
She nods.
“And the result was positive?”
Her head goes up and down again. I don't know what to say. Part of me wants to be angry at my workmates for not telling me. Part of me wants to be afraid. Yet still, part of me wonders why she just now told me.
Tears fill her eyes and roll down her cheeks. I gently wipe them away, then hold her close to me. “Do you promise you'll be okay if I go?”
She pulls away from me and says “I'll be sure I'm fine. Ryan will take care of me. And if he doesn't, he'll wish he did.”
I laugh and say “I'll bet.”
She smiles and says “Why don't we go to bed? You got a big trip to prepare for.”
I nod, and we go to bed.
Ryan wakes me up early the next day, saying “Mom wants to talk to you.”
I slowly get up and walk to the living room, where Nina is. She is sitting on the couch, her fingers clenching the phone tightly. I sit down next to her, placing my hand on her clenched one.
“Honey, is everything alright?” I ask.
Tears start rolling down her face. “That was the doctor.”
“What did she say?” I ask.
“That my baby is gonna have the disease. It's guaranteed.” She whispers.
My heart fails to beat. “Nina...”
She bursts into a storm of tears. Her entire body wrenches, and she sobs. I take her into my arms gently and let her cry it out. After a little while, Ryan quietly gets everything set up for me. Della's medicine, his lunch, our breakfast, and gets himself ready.
Finally, as Della arrives for her medicine, Nina calms down. I get up and give her the medicine. She can tell something is wrong, so she decides to leave immediately. Ryan decides to walk her to school, since it is still very early.
Nina blows her nose loudly, then says “I'm sorry.”
“No it's okay. I'm just sorry for you. This can't be easy.” I say gently.
Her head begins to shake. “It's not.”
I hug her gently and kiss her cheek. “It'll be alright.”
She nods. “I know. It just sucks right now.”
I nod. I get up, toss on my work clothes and drive Nina to work. Then I walk from her office to the hospital, leaving her with the keys and car. I walk in, and Drake runs in, about running me over.
“Listen, tall guy, just because you're 6'3” doesn't give you rights to barrel down us short guys!” I laugh.
Drake laughs and says “Sorry. I'm running a little late today. The alarm clock didn't go off, then the train was on a delay.”
“It's okay. Today I think you're on clinic duty again.” I say.
“Man, how long till I'm off that?” Drake asks.
“Infinite.” I joke.
He sighs. “It feels like it.”
I smile and pat his back as he walks to the clinic. I mosey along to my office, where I immediately get a call that Della needs picked up. But it's
not for her usual heath problems. I sigh, tell my boss Sarah that I'll be back, and run over to the school.
The security guard, a friend named Mickey Winter, greets me.
“What happened with Della?” I ask.
“A big group of boys beat her up for having the disease.” He replies.
“Oh gosh, Della.” I run into the school.
I jet past everyone and to the principle's office. Swinging the door open, I immediately see Della. Her face is scratched, bruised and blotchy.
That's all I need to see. Her eyes turn to me, and she hugs me without saying a word. Her little body shakes with her sobs.
We sit down, and I tell her it's okay. That it'll all be taken care of soon. Ryan runs in too, and sees me here.
“Dad, thank God you're here!” He sighs, putting his hand on his chest.
“What happened?” I ask him.
“A group of kids from my class decided it would be cool to pick on her.” Ryan says, his face twisted with bitterness.
“To me it looks a little more than picking on.” I say, looking at all her bruises, cuts, and what looks like a broken finger.
Della can't even speak, she's crying so hard. Then she spits out “It hurts.”
“What hurts?” I ask gently.
“Everything.” She responds, taking a deep breath.
I look at her, worried. “Is it the disease, or what they did?”
“What they did.” She nods.
“What all did they do?” I ask.
“First they just called me mean names. When I showed them it didn't bother me, they got mad. The next thing I knew one of them was picking me up and throwing me down the stairs. I screamed, but they punched and kicked me before anyone got to me.” Della explains, wiping the tears off her cheek with her soiled sleeve.
I tell the principle I'm taking her with me, then I give her a piggy-back ride to the hospital. We go to Drake's clinic room, and when he comes out his eyes light on fire. Della explains to him what happens.
“I'll get her bandaged up.” Drake nods.
I nod, and wait in the room. Della didn't want me to leave her, anyways. The poor little thing shakes like a scared puppy. When Drake is done, he sighs, saying “Well you're all band-aided up now.”
She nods and hugs Drake, saying “Thank you.”
Drake says “Anything for my best buddy.”
She smiles. “I'm sorry for pulling you away from work again.”
“No, it's fine. Work's been lax anyways.” I say.
“Can I go home? I don't wanna go back to school.” She asks.
“Yeah, I'll take you home.” I nod.
She thanks me, and I take her to Leonard's house. Leonard works from home, in case she ever needs to stay home for any period of time from
school, so he can be there with her.
“What happened?” He asks, looking very worried.
“She got beat up at school. She didn't want to go back, so I brought her home.” I explain.
“Thank you for taking care of her, Pete.” Leo says.
Leo has piercing blue eyes and jet black hair. He shares Della's fair skin, though. He's about my height, but he's much more fit than I will ever be. I can tell he really cares for his niece, but he's not quite ready for a child, especially one that has her needs. Leo is only about 24, as old as Drake is, so he's still very young. He was a late child from Della's grandparents. Her mother was about 13 when he was born. So she's much older than he.
“Pete, can I talk to you about something?” Leo asks after Della goes to her room.
I nod and say “What do you need?”
“Well, Della seems to trust you more than she does me. Is there some way that I can be what you are to her?” He blurts.
“Well, yeah. Just give her time. Della's been hurt a lot for being so young. She adores you, Leonard. She just needs to warm up to you.” I say.
Leo nods. “That does make sense. I just don't want her to think she can't come to me when she's having problems, especially in school.”
“Then talk to her about it. It's useless to talk to me. I'm like her dad, but I am not like Della. Give her time, and let her come to you.” I advise.
He nods. Finally I can get back to work. Once I get there, I start rubbing my forehead. Its already been a long day, and it's not even 11 yet. I
think.
Work is rather slow, which is good in comparison to my long morning. At 4, when I am suppose to go home, I hear someone scream. I run out to find Willow having some form of seizure on the floor. Before I can reach her, she falls to the ground, coughing up blood. Her seizing stops. I check her pulse, and my heartbeat quickens.
“Pete?” I hear.
I look up at Drake, and shake my head.
Drake looks away, trying to keep it together. I stand up straight and say in a loud voice “Okay. What happened?”
No one responds, and I start to become mad.
“Come on! Willow is dead! Speak up or one of you is fired!” I yell.
Everyone just looks at me. It's rare that I ever threaten to fire someone. I think this was the first time, honestly. One, a male practitioner named Dexter, says “She came in feeling really sick. Her skin was more pale than usual, and her eyes looked clouded over. Just before she died she screamed and started shaking.”
I cross my arms, thinking deeply. “Someone get her to the autopsy room. Drake, come on with me.”
Drake runs up to me, and we walk to my house. He looks completely war-torn. As we reach my house, I hear him start to cry. I tell him “Drake, do not cry just yet.”
We get into my house, and into my home office. “Now, Drake.”
Then he starts weeping full-force. He sits down on my chair, hardly able to move. Drake is a good kid, fresh out of college. He's also not afraid to weep profusely over anything. A good quality that Della says makes him an attractive little bug. Why she calls him a bug I'll never understand.
Finally, he's done crying.
“Are you feeling better?” I ask.
He nods. “I'm sorry about that.”
“No, it's okay. So what happened between you and Willow?”
“I called her last night and asked her for forgiveness for whatever I did. She told me it was okay. She finally told me she loved me...” Drake says, sounding lost.
I pat him on the back. “Is there anything I can do?”
He says “When are we leaving for our trip?”
I think about it. “Soon. We will soon.”
Drake nods.
Soon I hear Nina walk in. I walk out to see her, and I tell her what happened.
Drake slowly walks out, hunched over a little bit.
“Oh Drake, sweetie...” She says, giving him a hug. “Do you wanna stay here tonight?”
Drake says “That would be nice, actually. Thank you.”
Nina nods, and goes out to make the guest room ready. I tell Drake to get whatever he wants from the fridge, cabinets, just not the beer. He's
not allowed to drink the beer. Or anything alcoholic. Or anything spicy, come to think about it.
I sit on my bed, trying to think of what happened today. Nina walks in and sits next to me, gently rubbing my back.
“Is there anything I can do?” She asks.
I shake my head no. “When do you think we should go?”
“Within this week. We need this cure.” She says.
I place my hand on top of hers and say “What if we don't come back with the cure? Or at all?”
She kisses my cheek. “I know you'll come back. With the cure. I know you too well.”
I smile and kiss her back, then say “I just don't want to leave you alone.”
She pats my back. “We already went through this, sweetie. Ryan will be here. I am convinced he will do what he's suppose to.”
I nod and sigh. “I should probably get dinner ready. It's my night, after all.”
Nina and I leave the room, and together we make pasta with vegetables and chopped fruit. Everyone eats together in silence. No one raises eyes at one another. We just eat. Then we separate, do our own things. Go to bed.
I sit there, unable to sleep. All these things flooding my mind, making me realize that I have way too much going on for my own good. I slowly get up, so as to not wake up Nina. Slowly, I walk out of the room and sit down at the computer in the living room. I listen to music and reply to emails.
Soon I hear my wife coming down the stairs. It's 3:36 am, the time she always comes down the stairs to use the bathroom and get some water.
“What are you doing down here, honey?” She asks sleepily.
“Just work-based stuff.” I reply.
“Why aren't you in bed?”
“I couldn't sleep.” I shrug.
She gives me a hug and says “Are you still stressed?”
I nod. She kisses my cheek and tells me it'll all be alright. We talk for a little bit, and she tells me how things at her office have been, the new annoying girl that's been really raking on her nerves, and what colors she wants the nursery to be.
I listen to her patiently. She talks a lot when she's worried, and she's talking up a storm and a half. But I know not to cut her off. Nina already feels bad about talking up like that, so I don't need to make it worse. I just listen, nod, smile, laugh, say “Yeah” and “No”.
She finally stops, falling asleep on my shoulder. I gently pick her up, and take her to bed. She looks so peaceful when she's asleep. I never like waking her up.
I slowly walk down the stairs, and back to my computer. I play a video game for a little bit, but get tired of it quickly and decide to watch videos on the internet. The videos I choose are hilarious, but I end up waking up Ryan, who tells me if I am going to watch videos that are that laugh-at worthy, he should be allowed to play video games till midnight. Which made me laugh and send him to his room. But I do decide I need to quiet down.
Finally, it's around 6:30, and the train leaves the station. Meaning I can start doing something.
I get everyone's stuff around, but today instead of getting ready for work I start packing for my trip.
Then I realize- I have yet to talk to Leonard.
I throw a mini adult fit, then slam my phone down on the counter, breaking it's screen.
“Ah dang it!” I snap.
I try to fix the screen just as Della gets here. As I let her in, I notice that the bruises are much more prominent than they were yesterday.
“Della...” I say quietly.
“I know. They look bad. Can I skip school or something today?” She asks.
I laugh and say “No, hon. You can't skip school.”
She sighs and asks “Why not?”
“You need to go to school sometime.” I say.
She sighs again, takes her medicine, and says “Are you going somewhere?”
I look over at my bags and say “Kind of.”
“Can I come?” she pleads.
“Let me talk to Leo.” I answer.
She shrugs and says “Fine.” under her breath.
We talk a little bit more about school, and then I decide to walk her there. All the parents of the students think I'm an oddball for taking Della under my wing when she has this disease. I love taking care of her, really. She's a joy. Although somewhat sassy in nature.
I talk to the principle, and tell him if Della get's hurt again I will be taking more extreme measures. Then I walk myself back home. The car is gone, meaning Nina went to work. Drake's boots are still here, meaning he never woke up.
I go up to the guest room, sit down next to his bed and stare directly at him.
Slowly he wakes up to see me staring into his face.
“Hello gorgeous.” I say.
“Pete, you're married!” Drake scolds, sitting up and stretching.
I laugh and say “And you're not my type.”
Drake throws his legs over the edge of the bed and says “Good. Cause I do not roll like that. Call me old-fashioned, but to me it's unnatural.”
“Ditto, kid. Ditto. I remember a time when it was unacceptable.” I say.
“You probably remember when oil was discovered.” Drake laughs.
I just look at him, my eyebrows raised. He seems very humored by what he said, because he's still laughing. I smack him in the back of the head and say “Go home and get ready. We're gonna try to leave by Friday.”
“Have you talked to Leo?” Drake asks.
“No. I haven't gotten the chance.” I respond. “But I am gonna once you leave.”
“I see how it is. Come over, Drake. Sleep at my house. Now get the heck out!” Drake laughs.
I roll my eyes. There's something wrong with Drake though. He never makes jokes and laughs at them. He's suffering very badly from what happened yesterday, and trying to hide it. It's not working. Anyone with half a brain would know that.
I walk with him to his apartment, which is right next door to Leonard's house.
I knock on Leonard's door in my normal, rough manner. He greats me well, and we go into the house.
“What can I do for you, Pete?” He asks.
I tell him everything, and he just looks at me for a moment. His eyes look shocked about everything I've said. Leonard is a good guy, but he's
also extremely stubborn. Which is why I'm prepared for the
“No.” He snaps. “Not gonna happen.”
“Leonard...” I start.
“No! She's not in any position to go anywhere like that!” He cuts me off.
“Leonard, you aren't thinking this through. This could mean the lives of tons more people.” I say gently.
He looks away, his shock and bitterness written on his face like a poem.
“Leonard...” I say, taking a strong swallow. What am I doing?
“What?” He snaps.
You can still back out of this... “Would you like to accompany us? To be sure Della remains safe.”
Wuss!
“Wait... You're asking me to come?”
I nod.
He doesn't even hesitate before he agrees to come. I sigh, thinking Here we go.
He jumps up and starts packing his things, like he's 4 and I just told him I'm taking him to Disney Land. I rub the back of my neck, desiring a nap. I know I just started my day. But it's already been dragging on, since yesterday.
I tell him to be ready by Friday, and to remember to breathe. Then I leave, walking over to Drake's apartment again.
I just walk in without knocking and tell him what happened. Drake's apartment is very small, but perfect for just himself. He's a bit of a neat freak, it's picked clean. Drake is kind of like Rosie, he cleans when he is stressed out and doesn't want to face reality. Which is kind of funny to me, since he comes to my house, and for three weeks Nina and I find socks of his laying in various spots we don't remember him going into.
“Drake.” I say. He didn't notice I walked in.
He jumps and snaps “Don't sneak up on me like that!”
I laugh and say “Relax. I was just coming by to tell you we're gonna be leaving Friday. Della's coming. It's all good.”
Drake sighs. “That's good.”
“Not really.” I admit.
“Why?” Drake looks confused.
“Leo is coming.” I reply.
Drake crosses his arms. “You're the only one that doesn't like him, you know.”
I sigh and say “I know. But it's like he's trying to take Della.”
“You and Della aren't related, Pete. He's not taking Della from you. You're taking Della from him.” Drake reasons.
“I raised her! He didn't even know she existed till three years prior to her being found at Jon's work camp.” I snap.
“And yet he's the one that saved her.” Drake says calmly.
I sigh. He's right. But I don't want him to be. Why is it that he's a kid, and he's reasoning better than I am?
“Well, whilst on the topic, Della called and said she didn't want to get her medicine.” Drake says. “So I'm gonna drop it off to her.”
I nod and say “That sounds just fine. Be sure she's doing good, alright?”
Drake nods, and I go home.
Drake's POV:
I slowly walk to the high-school, where I know Della is. She's the tiniest one there, so it's easy to spot her from my height. Della doesn't like to walk from school to my apartment and back, so I am willing to go to her instead. It's what we doctors do. We cater.
At least, I do.
I walk into the cafeteria after letting the principle what I'm doing, to see a big group of kids surrounding a small spot. I shove through to see
Della on the floor, unconscious.
“What happened?” I snap, looking around, stooping down to her level.
No one speaks. They all just look at me.
I stand up straight and say “If someone doesn't tell me what happened to this kid right now I will get all of your parents here and I will be sure every single one of you has summer school!”
“Vaughn beat her up!” One girl chants.
I look around to find this “Vaughn”.
I find a very smug-looking boy, about a foot shorter than me and at least sixty pounds heavier. He just looks at me, and I can tell he's chuckling.
I adjust my coat collar, walk over to him and slam my hand down in front of him, making the kid jump.
“Why are you laughing?” I demand.
“There's a big tough guy trying to defend the freak.” He laughs.
I stand up tall. “The freak? Oh- oh you mean Della?”
Vaughn nods and says “You got that right, tooth-pick.”
I laugh. “Tooth-pick?”
I laugh for a little bit, then say “If I am such a tooth-pick, why'd you jump?”
He shrugs and says “I didn't see you among the anebas.”
“Anebas?” I repeat.
“Yeah. Are ya stupid?”
No, I think, but you are. “Listen. I am going to your principle. You're coming with me. If you don't, you're gonna regret your birth.”
After a stare down, I win and he comes with me. After I scoop up Della, we quickly arrive at the office. I make sure the principle punishes Vaughn well, and then I take Della to the hospital. Once I get her checked out, they tell me the kid smacked her with something on her head, knocking her cold. But she'll be okay. I'm given more medication to give to her, and we go to Leo's house.
I kick the door, since I have her in my arms. Leo walks out, already ranting “Are you crazy? You don't...”
Then he gets a look at Della. His entire face just freezes over. I take her to her bedroom, gently laying her down on her bed. Then I walk out and say “That school is in big trouble.”
“No kidding.” Leo says.
I cross my arms and say “Leo, this is a big factor that Nina had in when she told us to take Della on our trip. She's getting abused at that school, and no one's helping her. She needs to get out.”
Leo crosses his arms too. I can easily look over the top of his head, but instead I look right at him.
“Drake, if I let her go without me, what will that reflect on my guardian skills?” He asks.
“If you keep Della here, going to that school, it'll make you seem a heck of a lot worse.” I answer.
“I already said she can go if I come too.” Leo says, defending himself.
“I know. But what about later, Leo? When she comes back. I know what kind of branch of disease she has, there is little hope that the cure will work for her.” I snap.
“What!” we both hear.
Chills crawl up my spine as I look over to see Della, awake and tears in her eyes. I go to approach her, but she takes a swift step backwards.
“Della...”
“No!” She screams. “You promised we'd find the cure!”
“Della, I know, but-” I start.
“No! You promised! How can you lie?” She starts to cry.
“Della, please don't cry.” I plead. “I... I don't even know how to defend myself.”
“That's because you can't. You should have told me before.” She crosses her tiny arms.
“Well it's likely we can't cure you. But there is a chance we can.” I say.
“You said there is little hope.” She counters.
“Exactly. Little. Perfect for your size.” I say, defending my previous out-of-stress statement.
She smiles, trying her hardest not to laugh. I can finally approach her, and I place my hands on her shoulders. “Listen, you know what happened to Willow yesterday. I'm gonna say some things that I regret. Some things that aren't true. I'm gonna scream and shout and cry and be angry and sad for no apparent reason. But you gotta remember you're still my best friend, and I promised I'd make you better. So I will.”
“And you have to remember I'm here if you need to scream and shout and cry and be angry and sad to someone. For no apparent reason.” She smiles.
I smile, and she gives me a hug. She's a massive hugger, which was weird when I first met her. Everyone she saw she'd want to hug. But now I've come to appreciate it. That makes her unique. She's like a little sister to me; I always have to be sure she's protected or I feel mad at myself.
Like today and yesterday, when that stupid Vaughn kid was picking on her. I feel so ticked off at myself for not being there to make sure the kid leaves her alone. But she's home now, away from Vaughn and the rest of those idiots.
I excuse myself, and go to Pete's house. There I run into him talking with the school on the phone. So I just walk in, grab a drink from his fridge and sit down. He finishes, and sighs.
“What do you think you're drinking?” He asks.
I look down at the bottle. “Just some Gin.”
He raises an eyebrow, and I laugh. “Just some Cola, Pete. Relax. I'm not that stupid.”
“I don't know, with the most recent events...” He sighs.
I get up and say “Don't worry about me, Pete. I'm fine. None of what's happened is gonna make me an idiot. Perhaps less cautious though.”
“How can you be any less cautious?” Pete laughs.
I shrug and say “It can happen. I'm not dead yet.”
Pete sighs. “That was Della's school. Apparently they didn't like how you handled Vaughn, and Della is suspended for two months.”
“Why in the heck would they suspend her!?” I snap, jumping from my seat.
Pete shrugs. We sit and don't really speak for a while. Pete reads the newspaper, I read a document from one of my patients. My phone goes off, and the autopsy office got something from Willow.
Without speaking, I jump up and run to the coroners office in the hospital and say “What happened?”
They tell me that she had the disease. It was dormant for her entire life, till yesterday when it attacked her cerebral cortex. It sent waves of pain though her entire body so severe that her body couldn't handle it, so she died. I don't know how to fathom this.
Did Willow know? Did her parents? Or her little brother James? Who knew? Someone had to have. This isn't something you can just not know. Someone had to have known. But I guess that doesn't matter now. She's gone. There's no way anyone can do anything.
I thank the coroner and leave, walking through the small city. Walking into the corner store, I run into Rosie, Pete's little sister. She has a basket full of stuff.
“Oh, I'm sorry.” She stammers. “I'm cooking for my parents tonight, and I needed to pick some stuff up.”
“No it's fine. Sorry for not watching where I'm going.” I say.
She nods, then puts her head down, swiftly walking away. I just stand there, rather confused by what just happened. Rosie looked very embarrassed just there. Maybe I embarrass her a little bit. I don't know how I would. But it's possible.
I pick up a couple things, a gift for Della and some food for tonight, since I plan to spend tonight actually at my own apartment rather than at Pete's house.
As I walk through town back to Leo's and later my apartment, Pete calls. He tells me that we're leaving tomorrow rather than Friday, and he hopes it's not too late notice. Really, it is. But I know he's going through a lot, so I tell him it's not and I'll be ready by 10 tomorrow morning.
I run over to Leo's, drop of Della's gift, then I run up to my apartment. I'm not exactly sure how long we're going to be gone, but I do know it'll be longer than a week. So I pack some clothes and a Vacci-Pal, and get out my stored cash. Since I've never really been on a trip like this before,
I am not sure what else to bring. I'm sure it'll all be fine.
I go down to the main office and pay off two months of rent just in case. Then I run back up to my apartment and sprawl out on my bed. I don't really plan to move the rest of the night, unless I catch on fire or something.
Slowly I fall asleep.
I wake up an hour later to my phone buzzing. Picking it up, I sleepily answer.
“What?” I ask.
“Drake?” I hear.
“No, this is the grump.” I answer.
“Well grump, I have good news for us.” Pete says.
“What?” I sit up, rubbing the sleep in my eyes.
“There are four different labs that are willing to let us combine ideas for the cure. I contacted a few old friends, and they said most definitely.” Pete says enthusiastically.
“Well don't that sound beautiful!” I say, jumping from bed.
“One minor detail though.” Pete says.
“What?” I ask, calming myself down a little.
“We have to let them talk with Della about her disease.”
I sigh and say “Okay. Well does she know?”
“No. I am too scared to tell her.” Pete admits.
I sigh deeper and say “I'll tell her, alright?”
Pete agrees I should. We talk for another couple minutes, then hang up. I get up and get ready to walk over to Leo's house, again. For the third time today. I hang out a lot at his house, but I find this a little excessive. But I know she needs to know before we leave tomorrow. I check my watch. It's only 5:30 P.M. Still plenty of time to do stuff, if I want to.
I get to the house, and Della opens the door. Her shirt and face is lightly dusted with flour.
“Hey! Uncle Leo, Drake's here!” Della yells.
She lets me in, and I remove my house, like Della wants everyone to. Della tells me to sit down on the couch, and that she'll be right back. They're making home-made cakes for the road, and she and Leo got into a fight with the flour. She wants to clean up before we hang out.
I sit there, feeling uncomfortable and fidgety. I don't really know how I am going to tell her. But Pete wants me to, and I offered. So I have to do
it.
She comes back with a towel, smelling thickly of strawberry-scented soap.
Then the bomb... “Why are you here, anyways?”
I sigh, then explain to her everything. She drops her towel, and just looks at me.
“What?” She whispers.
I place my hands gently on her shoulders. “Listen to me very carefully, Della. Okay?”
She nods, not wanting to look at me.
“We don't want you to have to talk to anyone. We'd rather you sat somewhere safe, doing whatever you wanted. But that's not gonna happen now. We're gonna pull our pants up to our chests and deal with it. Like you saw in my high-school photos. All the way up! Then we gotta go out and do it. No matter how not fun it really is.” I say.
She smiles, but doesn't wanna look at me.
“Della. Are you smiling?” I demand.
“No.” She mumbles, looking away.
I start poking her ribs. “Are ya now?”
She starts laughing and yells “No! Stop it!”
She gives me a hug, then says “So now I'm gonna be little Drake in high-school?”
I nod. She starts giggling, then gets up, pulls her pants up over her shirt and starts walking around awkwardly, saying in a nasally voice “I'm Drake Harkeen, in hah-school. I'm gonna go be a doctor and get my deh-gree and get pants that fit me right.”
“Oh you little punk, get back here!” I start chasing her around her house.
Leo yells “Hey! Dinner time!”
Then they invite me to stay, which I agree to. Leo made hamburgers, fries and Della chose root beer floats to drink. Leo asks me questions about the trip, questions I don't know how to answer. I redirect him to Pete. Soon enough I excuse myself, wanting to take a walk around town before tomorrow. I don't really know how long till we get back, and I have a few people to say goodbye to.
I get home around 9:15 pm. Right outside my door, I find a small box. Confused, I pick it up, walk into the house, and place it on my table. On the outside, it just has “Drake Harken” written in big letters. Taking out my pocket knife, I slice the tape and open the box, to see it's contents.
Inside is a bunch of packing peanuts, a small ring box, and a note. Tearing the envelope open, I read the note.
This is not the end.
Willow Donson was not the first to go,
She will not be the last. Count your minutes,
because they are coming short. Drake
Mason Harken, you are next.
Well isn't that ominous? I open the small ring box, to find a bottle of pills that contains different failed cures. There is only one explanation for this, and his name is Jon Begetter. I slam my hand down on the counter, and shout “Not now!”
Five minutes later, my neighbor, Rachel Montgomery, an elderly woman that always has to know what every little sound is, demands what happened here. I tell her I was just frustrated, and apologized for the disturbance.
Finally, she leaves, and I take a deep, angry breath. I walk into my bedroom, careful not to slam my door, rip my glasses off my face and silently fume, wanting to do something but not quite sure what to do yet.
I sit down on my bed. My face is covered in tears of frustration. Really, I almost never cry. But right now, this is too much. I dig my fingers into the bed beneath me, then I jump up, place my glasses on my face again, grab my keys and run out to the garage. I get on my motorcycle and drive it outside of town. I live on the city line, so it's not too far from where I want to go.
Obviously speeding, I get myself over to a cornfield. It's bare for the season, and the family doesn't mind if I go and release steam. I jump off the cycle, as it sits in the air hovering, and take off, running pointlessly through the field. Then, as if on a constant Que, I trip, screaming, till my throat feels completely raw, and I begin coughing.
On the ground, on my hands and knees, my breathing shutters, tears stop falling, my heartbeat quick and lungs burning. Slowly, I force my shaky body to get up. I look out towards the farmhouse, and see someone I haven't seen in a long time. To my knowledge, that's just Troy, the fields owner. But there's something wrong. He's too short, his build too small.
That can't be Troy. It's not, I know it.
“Who are you?” I yell, despite my throat being on fire from screaming.
But they don't reply. I start walking towards the person, and soon see his face.
No. This can't be right.
But it is.
Jonathan Begetter. He's the creator of the disease.
I take off in the opposite direction, my feet pounding on the ground as though it were disappearing. I leap onto my motorcycle and speed home. Quickly, I lock the door, all my windows, shut all my blinds, and sit on the floor, gasping for air.
My shaking fingers call Pete, and I tell him what happened. Everything that happened.
“Wait. Jon is in the city?” Pete demands.
“I don't know, Pete. I ran off the second I saw who it was.” I say between gasps.
“It's okay, Drake. Calm down. I'll be right there, okay? Just don't do anything stupid.” Pete says quickly.
We hang up, and I sit on the couch, breathing deeply. I'm frustrated, panicked, scared, worried, angry... Ah! This is just too much to deal with
right now!
By the time Pete comes, I am calmed down quite a bit, and I've stopped freaking out. I tell him all I saw, and all that.
He takes the bottle of pills and says “These could kill you.”
“I know. What do I do?” I ask.
“Keep Jon on your tail, for now. You're completely immune to the disease. He's not gonna be able to hurt you. If he thinks he can get to you, he won't hurt anyone else for a while.” Pete says.
“That's true. So I am bait, till we find the cure?” I ask.
Pete nods, then apologizes.
“It's fine. It'll keep me on my toes.” I shrug.
Pete says he has to leave. Nina wants him home tonight before we all leave for the death trip. By the time he leaves, the time reaches 11. I decide it's a good time to go to bed.
When I wake up, it's 8:15 in the morning. I have enough time to equip myself and my motorcycle for the trip. I get to Pete's early, to help him with anything that he'll need help with. Ryan opens the door for me, and says “Now's not exactly the best time... Mom and Dad are crying right now.”
“What happened?” I ask.
“I don't really know. I just don't think Dad wants to leave. He feels bad or something.” Ryan answers, looking worriedly back at his parents.
Ryan seems upset. So I ask him what's up. He never let me be a brother to him like Della did, so I am curious if he'll finally open up.
Ryan spills his heart out, how he feels bad about being a delinquent, for not caring about his parents before and everything else. “And the worst part is, I feel as though it's too late for me to ever make it better.”
I just look at him. He's been harboring feelings of regret for a long time. It's not good for someone to hold feelings of anything in. Even something as simple as happiness.
“It's not too late, Ryan. You just have to be willing to accept what you did as wrong and work to change it.” I say, “I'm sure they'll accept any effort you put in.”
Ryan gives me a half-smile, then says “Come on in.”
I wake up to a sound of loud banging. It sounds like the train outside my house is moving, and it's going out to the city on the other side of the town called Bellatrix, or district 22. I roll from my side onto my back. Sitting up, I make a quiet groaning sound. The house is silent, Ryan went out to spend the night with someone else.
Slowly, I mosey through the house. The sound of the train means I have to start getting ready for work. I have to get breakfast, Ryan’s food made for school, Della’s medicine around, Nina’s breakfast made and of course my lunch. Once I get downstairs, though, I notice the house work is done. The food made. Medicine out, and a letter that says “Thank you for all that you do sweetie! I decided to take up some of the heavy lifting today. Love- Nina.”
I smile. My wife is the sweetest.
Soon, I hear knocking at the door. I walk out and find Della. She's sporting her long blonde braid, single orange streak in her bangs, three earrings in her right ear and six in her left. Her clothes consist of a jacket, bright orange tee-shirt, straight-leg jeans and large hunter's boots.
“Hey kiddo! How did you sleep?” I ask, inviting her in.
Della has been close to me since she was a baby. Della was sort of my adopted daughter till I lost her. She was kidnapped, but when we found her the entire city agreed to make sure she was returned safely. She has a deadly disease that's killed nearly two thirds of the human population, and she's on constant medication for the pain she's in. The kid has the non-contagious version, the one that she inherited from her mother when she was born. Della's growth and physical development was stunted, so she's very small and frail. It's almost like she has diabetes too, with her blood sugar being very difficult for her. I've been asked to pick her up from school more than once for that.
Della lives with her uncle Leonard, but trusts me with her medicine right now. I'm a doctor, along with her best friend Drake. She comes between us for her medication.
“I slept horrible. Leo kept talking in his sleep again, and he kept yelling 'bacon cheese patties!', and I was so annoyed!” Della rants.
I hand her the medicine and a cup of water and say “I'm sorry. He's had terrible nightmares though. Even when he's screaming funny things, he's just having bad times.”
“I know. But it doesn't make it any better now. I'm sleepy.” Della pouts.
She swallows all the pills at once, and drinks the entire cup in one swallow.
“Wow. I'll warn Drake when he takes the medicine to you at lunch.” I say, raising an eyebrow.
“I'm sorry. I'm just stressed. School is hard. I never went to school before! And people are mean to me. So very mean to me.” Della says sadly.
I invite her to sit with me. “What do you mean by 'mean'?”
“They call me names and avoid me because of the disease. Like, because I have the disease, they're all gonna die.” Della admits.
“Well you know they're wrong, right?” I ask.
She nods, frowning at the table.
“And you know Drake and I are gonna find a cure, right?” I continue.
Her head shoots up, a smile on her face, and she nods eagerly. “Yeah! I know it! I know you can do it!”
I smile and say “Then hold your head up and show you don't care. Cause if things will get better, their words are no more than wasted breath.”
She smiles, hugs me and says “Thank you uncle Pete.”
Della pulls out an old pocket watch from her coat's pouch and says “Oh I gotta go. Bye!”
She throws her arms around me again and runs out the door. Ryan trudges along. He's my son, but I constantly wonder if he's okay. He's a very interesting character. Ryan has been in juvenile hall a couple times and really isn't pleasant to be around.
“How's it going, son?” I ask.
“Dad do you have to embarrass me in front of my friends? Just call me by my name!” He protests.
I sigh and say “Here's your lunch. Please behave.”
Ryan rolls his eyes and says “Whatever Dad.”
He leaves, slamming the door in front of me. I sit down at the table, head in my hand. What am I gonna do? I think.
Soon my phone starts singing to me. That means I only have fifteen minutes to get to work and to stop goading. So I toss on my work shoes and run out the door, fixing my tie and trying to get my coat on at the same time. Once I get to the hospital, my tie is on correctly, my suit jacket looks pristine, and my hair looks neat.
Drake Harken is talking to a receptionist, a small girl named Willow. They've been very close as of recent, and I think they're hitting it off. Until I realize Willow looks like she wants to knee him in the crotch. Seems like Drake isn't taking what's going on well either. So I intervene, saying that Drake is needed at the clinic.
Willow leaves the area, and Drake sighs.
“So what's wrong?” I ask.
“Willow told me she was looking for someone different.” Drake shrugs “That's fine.”
I nod. “Well, you do need to get to the clinic.”
Drake smiles “Hey, are we still having dinner at your house?”
“Yeah. Nina's really excited to have everyone over. Oh, and Rosie will be there.” I nudge him, laughing.
“Laugh it up. I doubt Rosie will talk to me. Last time I made her run away crying.” Drake slaps me.
Rosie is my youngest sister, being only 22. I'm 36, so there is quite the age difference between us two.
I walk into my office. I am a general health and fitness associate. But I can do anything and everything they need me to here in the hospital.
Today is relatively slow, nothing much really happens. Rare for a hospital in the middle of a city full of hypochondriacs running in telling me they have the disease and are dying. Soon, though, someone knocks on my door.
I get up and open it. There I find Rosie, my little sister. She's adorned in a bright red polka-dot dress, some flat ankle-length boots, a black jacket, her short brown hair is contained in a headband and she has makeup on today.
I give Rosie a big hug and say “What are you doing here so early?”
“I just came home to see you and Nina. She said she needed help with some things and asked if I could come. I'm not busy so I said yes.” Rosie replies.
“Oh. Okay. Nina's at home. Do you remember where I live?” I ask her.
“Yeah. Don't worry about me. I'm not gonna get lost.” She laughs.
I laugh and shrug. She turns and leaves. Rosie still has that little bounce in her step that she had when she was a little kid. Not much about her has changed. She's still relatively small, too. No where near Della small. But kind of little.
Slowly the day drags on, and my shift is over at 4:30. Just enough time to run home, change and help Nina with anything she needs me to help with. I run out, making the same mad dash over from the hospital to my house. Opening the door, I’m automatically greeted by Nina, who's dressed very prettily in a bright yellow dress with dark leggings and a white sweater. She has beautiful black hair, dark brown eyes and a deep, deep complexion. We greet each other kindly.
We finish dinner together as everyone files in. Leonard and Della walk in talking about school, Drake walks in by himself wearing casual clothes and his blonde hair spiked up a little, Nina’s friends Ray and Bethany Begetter worth come in as a pair and finally my son Ryan rolls in with his friend Michael Graham. Nina and I set the table with Della’s help, and we all sit at the table together.
Isaac Festal runs in a little late, apologizing “I was working on a project and lost track of time!”
“It's okay, Isaac We're just setting up.” I say, inviting him to sit.
He takes a seat between Rosie and Leo. Rosie is stationed between Leo and Drake, Drake next to Della, Della next to me, I next to Nina, Nina next to Ryan, Ryan next to Michael and Michael next to Isaac. Nina and Rosie prepared some really good food, what looks like a banquet to everyone.
Drake and I have an announcement that we need to make, but just before I am able to, Nina and Rosie both get up and say they have something they want to tell all of us. Nina takes her seat again and says “I’m pregnant, honey.”
My heart stops. “What?”
She smiles and hugs me. But I am frozen. She pulls away and says “There was something you wanted to say?”
“Uh, yeah. Um. I forgot. Sorry.” I shrug.
Drake just looks at me and Nina, his mouth agape. “Pete, can I talk to you?”
We walk to the hallway a few rooms away.
“What are you thinking?” He demands.
“What am I gonna do, Drake? My wife is pregnant! I can't leave now!” I snap quietly. “If I do, what will happen to her?”
Drake sighs. “You have a point. But what am I gonna do? I can't go alone, Pete. And I know you. You're most definitely not going to let Nina go
on a trip like this.”
I cross my arms in front of my chest. “I don't know what to do, Drake.”
Drake shrugs and says “Whatever you need to. If you feel that Nina needs you, then she does. But if you feel you can come for a couple months, then do.”
I scratch my head and say “I need to talk to her about it.”
Drake nods. We go back, pretending to be discussing something about the hospital. We aren't really talking about anything that coincides with the others statements, but they don't really seem to notice. Drake and I sit down, we give thanks to God, and we eat.
Everyone talks and enjoys themselves. But I have the nagging sensation in the back of my head that something bad will happen if I go and leave Nina all by herself. She's strong. But Nina's been exhibiting signs of the disease. If she gets it, there is no way in a million years I'll leave her alone. Not even for a day.
Soon, everyone but Drake, Ryan and Rosie file out. I send Ryan to his room, to which he calls me the single worst parent that ever existed on this planet. Things like that make me giggle on the inside a little bit.
“Nina, we need to talk about something.” I say gently.
She looks at me and Drake. Drake is looking at his phone, but is paying attention to what I say. Rosie is cleaning up in the kitchen, something she does when she knows something bad is going on and she needs to keep active.
Drake and I tell her our plans to leave, why we are and ask her what she thinks. Nina just looks at me. Then her eyes slowly go down to her lap.
The insecurity in her face tells me she doesn't want me to go. But she knows Drake and I need to go and get help for finding the cure.
“If I let you go, you have to take one person in particular with you. So I know you'll be safe.” Nina says, taking my large hand in her small one.
I raise an eyebrow. “Who?”
Nina smiles. “Take Della.”
My heart stops for a second. Drake exclaims “What!”
“Sweetie, taking Della doesn't guarantee our safety. We love her, but if she gets sick while out, what in the worlds are we going to do?” I say gently.
“Look, it's either that or... I'd prefer you stay home.” She gets up and walks away.
I place my head in my hands and say “What am I gonna do?”
Drake says “We should probably go. Take Della and Rosie with us, and I think we'll be fine.”
Rosie runs out and says “Tall creepy blonde guy say what?”
Drake sighs and crosses his arms.
“We're gonna go find a cure for the disease. But Nina wants me to take Della with me. If you go, maybe thing will go better. Please, Rosie. This is very important to me.” I plead with my little sister.
Rosie crosses her arms. “Pete, stop begging. I was gonna go anyways. I just didn't want to be volunteered.”
“Am I the only one that thinks bringing Della like this is a bad idea? She and Nina both are sick. If we take her, all we'll have is basic medical equipment. Not what she may need. And Nina... I just don't know.” I say, my head spinning with confusion.
Rosie sits down next to me and says “It'll be okay, Pete. If you want, I can take my own motorcycle and bring some extra equipment. I think we can do this. If we're quick and don't linger.”
I don't look at her. She's probably right. I just never thought I'd leave Nina alone like this. She needs me now more than she's ever needed me. If she gets sick while she's pregnant, and I'm not here, what will happen? I know Ryan can be a good kid, but what will he do?
I decide to tell them in the morning. Rosie is staying with our parents in their apartment, so I can think about this by myself. I don't get to sleep tonight, I don't think. I have too much to think about, too little time.
Soon, Nina comes downstairs and says “Are you okay, hon?”
I wrap my arms around her gently and say “I don't know what to do.”
“Go get us cured, Pete.” She urges, kissing my cheek.
I frown, and say “'Us'?”
She looks at me and says “Us.”
My heart beat picks up. “You got the call?”
She nods.
“And the result was positive?”
Her head goes up and down again. I don't know what to say. Part of me wants to be angry at my workmates for not telling me. Part of me wants to be afraid. Yet still, part of me wonders why she just now told me.
Tears fill her eyes and roll down her cheeks. I gently wipe them away, then hold her close to me. “Do you promise you'll be okay if I go?”
She pulls away from me and says “I'll be sure I'm fine. Ryan will take care of me. And if he doesn't, he'll wish he did.”
I laugh and say “I'll bet.”
She smiles and says “Why don't we go to bed? You got a big trip to prepare for.”
I nod, and we go to bed.
Ryan wakes me up early the next day, saying “Mom wants to talk to you.”
I slowly get up and walk to the living room, where Nina is. She is sitting on the couch, her fingers clenching the phone tightly. I sit down next to her, placing my hand on her clenched one.
“Honey, is everything alright?” I ask.
Tears start rolling down her face. “That was the doctor.”
“What did she say?” I ask.
“That my baby is gonna have the disease. It's guaranteed.” She whispers.
My heart fails to beat. “Nina...”
She bursts into a storm of tears. Her entire body wrenches, and she sobs. I take her into my arms gently and let her cry it out. After a little while, Ryan quietly gets everything set up for me. Della's medicine, his lunch, our breakfast, and gets himself ready.
Finally, as Della arrives for her medicine, Nina calms down. I get up and give her the medicine. She can tell something is wrong, so she decides to leave immediately. Ryan decides to walk her to school, since it is still very early.
Nina blows her nose loudly, then says “I'm sorry.”
“No it's okay. I'm just sorry for you. This can't be easy.” I say gently.
Her head begins to shake. “It's not.”
I hug her gently and kiss her cheek. “It'll be alright.”
She nods. “I know. It just sucks right now.”
I nod. I get up, toss on my work clothes and drive Nina to work. Then I walk from her office to the hospital, leaving her with the keys and car. I walk in, and Drake runs in, about running me over.
“Listen, tall guy, just because you're 6'3” doesn't give you rights to barrel down us short guys!” I laugh.
Drake laughs and says “Sorry. I'm running a little late today. The alarm clock didn't go off, then the train was on a delay.”
“It's okay. Today I think you're on clinic duty again.” I say.
“Man, how long till I'm off that?” Drake asks.
“Infinite.” I joke.
He sighs. “It feels like it.”
I smile and pat his back as he walks to the clinic. I mosey along to my office, where I immediately get a call that Della needs picked up. But it's
not for her usual heath problems. I sigh, tell my boss Sarah that I'll be back, and run over to the school.
The security guard, a friend named Mickey Winter, greets me.
“What happened with Della?” I ask.
“A big group of boys beat her up for having the disease.” He replies.
“Oh gosh, Della.” I run into the school.
I jet past everyone and to the principle's office. Swinging the door open, I immediately see Della. Her face is scratched, bruised and blotchy.
That's all I need to see. Her eyes turn to me, and she hugs me without saying a word. Her little body shakes with her sobs.
We sit down, and I tell her it's okay. That it'll all be taken care of soon. Ryan runs in too, and sees me here.
“Dad, thank God you're here!” He sighs, putting his hand on his chest.
“What happened?” I ask him.
“A group of kids from my class decided it would be cool to pick on her.” Ryan says, his face twisted with bitterness.
“To me it looks a little more than picking on.” I say, looking at all her bruises, cuts, and what looks like a broken finger.
Della can't even speak, she's crying so hard. Then she spits out “It hurts.”
“What hurts?” I ask gently.
“Everything.” She responds, taking a deep breath.
I look at her, worried. “Is it the disease, or what they did?”
“What they did.” She nods.
“What all did they do?” I ask.
“First they just called me mean names. When I showed them it didn't bother me, they got mad. The next thing I knew one of them was picking me up and throwing me down the stairs. I screamed, but they punched and kicked me before anyone got to me.” Della explains, wiping the tears off her cheek with her soiled sleeve.
I tell the principle I'm taking her with me, then I give her a piggy-back ride to the hospital. We go to Drake's clinic room, and when he comes out his eyes light on fire. Della explains to him what happens.
“I'll get her bandaged up.” Drake nods.
I nod, and wait in the room. Della didn't want me to leave her, anyways. The poor little thing shakes like a scared puppy. When Drake is done, he sighs, saying “Well you're all band-aided up now.”
She nods and hugs Drake, saying “Thank you.”
Drake says “Anything for my best buddy.”
She smiles. “I'm sorry for pulling you away from work again.”
“No, it's fine. Work's been lax anyways.” I say.
“Can I go home? I don't wanna go back to school.” She asks.
“Yeah, I'll take you home.” I nod.
She thanks me, and I take her to Leonard's house. Leonard works from home, in case she ever needs to stay home for any period of time from
school, so he can be there with her.
“What happened?” He asks, looking very worried.
“She got beat up at school. She didn't want to go back, so I brought her home.” I explain.
“Thank you for taking care of her, Pete.” Leo says.
Leo has piercing blue eyes and jet black hair. He shares Della's fair skin, though. He's about my height, but he's much more fit than I will ever be. I can tell he really cares for his niece, but he's not quite ready for a child, especially one that has her needs. Leo is only about 24, as old as Drake is, so he's still very young. He was a late child from Della's grandparents. Her mother was about 13 when he was born. So she's much older than he.
“Pete, can I talk to you about something?” Leo asks after Della goes to her room.
I nod and say “What do you need?”
“Well, Della seems to trust you more than she does me. Is there some way that I can be what you are to her?” He blurts.
“Well, yeah. Just give her time. Della's been hurt a lot for being so young. She adores you, Leonard. She just needs to warm up to you.” I say.
Leo nods. “That does make sense. I just don't want her to think she can't come to me when she's having problems, especially in school.”
“Then talk to her about it. It's useless to talk to me. I'm like her dad, but I am not like Della. Give her time, and let her come to you.” I advise.
He nods. Finally I can get back to work. Once I get there, I start rubbing my forehead. Its already been a long day, and it's not even 11 yet. I
think.
Work is rather slow, which is good in comparison to my long morning. At 4, when I am suppose to go home, I hear someone scream. I run out to find Willow having some form of seizure on the floor. Before I can reach her, she falls to the ground, coughing up blood. Her seizing stops. I check her pulse, and my heartbeat quickens.
“Pete?” I hear.
I look up at Drake, and shake my head.
Drake looks away, trying to keep it together. I stand up straight and say in a loud voice “Okay. What happened?”
No one responds, and I start to become mad.
“Come on! Willow is dead! Speak up or one of you is fired!” I yell.
Everyone just looks at me. It's rare that I ever threaten to fire someone. I think this was the first time, honestly. One, a male practitioner named Dexter, says “She came in feeling really sick. Her skin was more pale than usual, and her eyes looked clouded over. Just before she died she screamed and started shaking.”
I cross my arms, thinking deeply. “Someone get her to the autopsy room. Drake, come on with me.”
Drake runs up to me, and we walk to my house. He looks completely war-torn. As we reach my house, I hear him start to cry. I tell him “Drake, do not cry just yet.”
We get into my house, and into my home office. “Now, Drake.”
Then he starts weeping full-force. He sits down on my chair, hardly able to move. Drake is a good kid, fresh out of college. He's also not afraid to weep profusely over anything. A good quality that Della says makes him an attractive little bug. Why she calls him a bug I'll never understand.
Finally, he's done crying.
“Are you feeling better?” I ask.
He nods. “I'm sorry about that.”
“No, it's okay. So what happened between you and Willow?”
“I called her last night and asked her for forgiveness for whatever I did. She told me it was okay. She finally told me she loved me...” Drake says, sounding lost.
I pat him on the back. “Is there anything I can do?”
He says “When are we leaving for our trip?”
I think about it. “Soon. We will soon.”
Drake nods.
Soon I hear Nina walk in. I walk out to see her, and I tell her what happened.
Drake slowly walks out, hunched over a little bit.
“Oh Drake, sweetie...” She says, giving him a hug. “Do you wanna stay here tonight?”
Drake says “That would be nice, actually. Thank you.”
Nina nods, and goes out to make the guest room ready. I tell Drake to get whatever he wants from the fridge, cabinets, just not the beer. He's
not allowed to drink the beer. Or anything alcoholic. Or anything spicy, come to think about it.
I sit on my bed, trying to think of what happened today. Nina walks in and sits next to me, gently rubbing my back.
“Is there anything I can do?” She asks.
I shake my head no. “When do you think we should go?”
“Within this week. We need this cure.” She says.
I place my hand on top of hers and say “What if we don't come back with the cure? Or at all?”
She kisses my cheek. “I know you'll come back. With the cure. I know you too well.”
I smile and kiss her back, then say “I just don't want to leave you alone.”
She pats my back. “We already went through this, sweetie. Ryan will be here. I am convinced he will do what he's suppose to.”
I nod and sigh. “I should probably get dinner ready. It's my night, after all.”
Nina and I leave the room, and together we make pasta with vegetables and chopped fruit. Everyone eats together in silence. No one raises eyes at one another. We just eat. Then we separate, do our own things. Go to bed.
I sit there, unable to sleep. All these things flooding my mind, making me realize that I have way too much going on for my own good. I slowly get up, so as to not wake up Nina. Slowly, I walk out of the room and sit down at the computer in the living room. I listen to music and reply to emails.
Soon I hear my wife coming down the stairs. It's 3:36 am, the time she always comes down the stairs to use the bathroom and get some water.
“What are you doing down here, honey?” She asks sleepily.
“Just work-based stuff.” I reply.
“Why aren't you in bed?”
“I couldn't sleep.” I shrug.
She gives me a hug and says “Are you still stressed?”
I nod. She kisses my cheek and tells me it'll all be alright. We talk for a little bit, and she tells me how things at her office have been, the new annoying girl that's been really raking on her nerves, and what colors she wants the nursery to be.
I listen to her patiently. She talks a lot when she's worried, and she's talking up a storm and a half. But I know not to cut her off. Nina already feels bad about talking up like that, so I don't need to make it worse. I just listen, nod, smile, laugh, say “Yeah” and “No”.
She finally stops, falling asleep on my shoulder. I gently pick her up, and take her to bed. She looks so peaceful when she's asleep. I never like waking her up.
I slowly walk down the stairs, and back to my computer. I play a video game for a little bit, but get tired of it quickly and decide to watch videos on the internet. The videos I choose are hilarious, but I end up waking up Ryan, who tells me if I am going to watch videos that are that laugh-at worthy, he should be allowed to play video games till midnight. Which made me laugh and send him to his room. But I do decide I need to quiet down.
Finally, it's around 6:30, and the train leaves the station. Meaning I can start doing something.
I get everyone's stuff around, but today instead of getting ready for work I start packing for my trip.
Then I realize- I have yet to talk to Leonard.
I throw a mini adult fit, then slam my phone down on the counter, breaking it's screen.
“Ah dang it!” I snap.
I try to fix the screen just as Della gets here. As I let her in, I notice that the bruises are much more prominent than they were yesterday.
“Della...” I say quietly.
“I know. They look bad. Can I skip school or something today?” She asks.
I laugh and say “No, hon. You can't skip school.”
She sighs and asks “Why not?”
“You need to go to school sometime.” I say.
She sighs again, takes her medicine, and says “Are you going somewhere?”
I look over at my bags and say “Kind of.”
“Can I come?” she pleads.
“Let me talk to Leo.” I answer.
She shrugs and says “Fine.” under her breath.
We talk a little bit more about school, and then I decide to walk her there. All the parents of the students think I'm an oddball for taking Della under my wing when she has this disease. I love taking care of her, really. She's a joy. Although somewhat sassy in nature.
I talk to the principle, and tell him if Della get's hurt again I will be taking more extreme measures. Then I walk myself back home. The car is gone, meaning Nina went to work. Drake's boots are still here, meaning he never woke up.
I go up to the guest room, sit down next to his bed and stare directly at him.
Slowly he wakes up to see me staring into his face.
“Hello gorgeous.” I say.
“Pete, you're married!” Drake scolds, sitting up and stretching.
I laugh and say “And you're not my type.”
Drake throws his legs over the edge of the bed and says “Good. Cause I do not roll like that. Call me old-fashioned, but to me it's unnatural.”
“Ditto, kid. Ditto. I remember a time when it was unacceptable.” I say.
“You probably remember when oil was discovered.” Drake laughs.
I just look at him, my eyebrows raised. He seems very humored by what he said, because he's still laughing. I smack him in the back of the head and say “Go home and get ready. We're gonna try to leave by Friday.”
“Have you talked to Leo?” Drake asks.
“No. I haven't gotten the chance.” I respond. “But I am gonna once you leave.”
“I see how it is. Come over, Drake. Sleep at my house. Now get the heck out!” Drake laughs.
I roll my eyes. There's something wrong with Drake though. He never makes jokes and laughs at them. He's suffering very badly from what happened yesterday, and trying to hide it. It's not working. Anyone with half a brain would know that.
I walk with him to his apartment, which is right next door to Leonard's house.
I knock on Leonard's door in my normal, rough manner. He greats me well, and we go into the house.
“What can I do for you, Pete?” He asks.
I tell him everything, and he just looks at me for a moment. His eyes look shocked about everything I've said. Leonard is a good guy, but he's
also extremely stubborn. Which is why I'm prepared for the
“No.” He snaps. “Not gonna happen.”
“Leonard...” I start.
“No! She's not in any position to go anywhere like that!” He cuts me off.
“Leonard, you aren't thinking this through. This could mean the lives of tons more people.” I say gently.
He looks away, his shock and bitterness written on his face like a poem.
“Leonard...” I say, taking a strong swallow. What am I doing?
“What?” He snaps.
You can still back out of this... “Would you like to accompany us? To be sure Della remains safe.”
Wuss!
“Wait... You're asking me to come?”
I nod.
He doesn't even hesitate before he agrees to come. I sigh, thinking Here we go.
He jumps up and starts packing his things, like he's 4 and I just told him I'm taking him to Disney Land. I rub the back of my neck, desiring a nap. I know I just started my day. But it's already been dragging on, since yesterday.
I tell him to be ready by Friday, and to remember to breathe. Then I leave, walking over to Drake's apartment again.
I just walk in without knocking and tell him what happened. Drake's apartment is very small, but perfect for just himself. He's a bit of a neat freak, it's picked clean. Drake is kind of like Rosie, he cleans when he is stressed out and doesn't want to face reality. Which is kind of funny to me, since he comes to my house, and for three weeks Nina and I find socks of his laying in various spots we don't remember him going into.
“Drake.” I say. He didn't notice I walked in.
He jumps and snaps “Don't sneak up on me like that!”
I laugh and say “Relax. I was just coming by to tell you we're gonna be leaving Friday. Della's coming. It's all good.”
Drake sighs. “That's good.”
“Not really.” I admit.
“Why?” Drake looks confused.
“Leo is coming.” I reply.
Drake crosses his arms. “You're the only one that doesn't like him, you know.”
I sigh and say “I know. But it's like he's trying to take Della.”
“You and Della aren't related, Pete. He's not taking Della from you. You're taking Della from him.” Drake reasons.
“I raised her! He didn't even know she existed till three years prior to her being found at Jon's work camp.” I snap.
“And yet he's the one that saved her.” Drake says calmly.
I sigh. He's right. But I don't want him to be. Why is it that he's a kid, and he's reasoning better than I am?
“Well, whilst on the topic, Della called and said she didn't want to get her medicine.” Drake says. “So I'm gonna drop it off to her.”
I nod and say “That sounds just fine. Be sure she's doing good, alright?”
Drake nods, and I go home.
Drake's POV:
I slowly walk to the high-school, where I know Della is. She's the tiniest one there, so it's easy to spot her from my height. Della doesn't like to walk from school to my apartment and back, so I am willing to go to her instead. It's what we doctors do. We cater.
At least, I do.
I walk into the cafeteria after letting the principle what I'm doing, to see a big group of kids surrounding a small spot. I shove through to see
Della on the floor, unconscious.
“What happened?” I snap, looking around, stooping down to her level.
No one speaks. They all just look at me.
I stand up straight and say “If someone doesn't tell me what happened to this kid right now I will get all of your parents here and I will be sure every single one of you has summer school!”
“Vaughn beat her up!” One girl chants.
I look around to find this “Vaughn”.
I find a very smug-looking boy, about a foot shorter than me and at least sixty pounds heavier. He just looks at me, and I can tell he's chuckling.
I adjust my coat collar, walk over to him and slam my hand down in front of him, making the kid jump.
“Why are you laughing?” I demand.
“There's a big tough guy trying to defend the freak.” He laughs.
I stand up tall. “The freak? Oh- oh you mean Della?”
Vaughn nods and says “You got that right, tooth-pick.”
I laugh. “Tooth-pick?”
I laugh for a little bit, then say “If I am such a tooth-pick, why'd you jump?”
He shrugs and says “I didn't see you among the anebas.”
“Anebas?” I repeat.
“Yeah. Are ya stupid?”
No, I think, but you are. “Listen. I am going to your principle. You're coming with me. If you don't, you're gonna regret your birth.”
After a stare down, I win and he comes with me. After I scoop up Della, we quickly arrive at the office. I make sure the principle punishes Vaughn well, and then I take Della to the hospital. Once I get her checked out, they tell me the kid smacked her with something on her head, knocking her cold. But she'll be okay. I'm given more medication to give to her, and we go to Leo's house.
I kick the door, since I have her in my arms. Leo walks out, already ranting “Are you crazy? You don't...”
Then he gets a look at Della. His entire face just freezes over. I take her to her bedroom, gently laying her down on her bed. Then I walk out and say “That school is in big trouble.”
“No kidding.” Leo says.
I cross my arms and say “Leo, this is a big factor that Nina had in when she told us to take Della on our trip. She's getting abused at that school, and no one's helping her. She needs to get out.”
Leo crosses his arms too. I can easily look over the top of his head, but instead I look right at him.
“Drake, if I let her go without me, what will that reflect on my guardian skills?” He asks.
“If you keep Della here, going to that school, it'll make you seem a heck of a lot worse.” I answer.
“I already said she can go if I come too.” Leo says, defending himself.
“I know. But what about later, Leo? When she comes back. I know what kind of branch of disease she has, there is little hope that the cure will work for her.” I snap.
“What!” we both hear.
Chills crawl up my spine as I look over to see Della, awake and tears in her eyes. I go to approach her, but she takes a swift step backwards.
“Della...”
“No!” She screams. “You promised we'd find the cure!”
“Della, I know, but-” I start.
“No! You promised! How can you lie?” She starts to cry.
“Della, please don't cry.” I plead. “I... I don't even know how to defend myself.”
“That's because you can't. You should have told me before.” She crosses her tiny arms.
“Well it's likely we can't cure you. But there is a chance we can.” I say.
“You said there is little hope.” She counters.
“Exactly. Little. Perfect for your size.” I say, defending my previous out-of-stress statement.
She smiles, trying her hardest not to laugh. I can finally approach her, and I place my hands on her shoulders. “Listen, you know what happened to Willow yesterday. I'm gonna say some things that I regret. Some things that aren't true. I'm gonna scream and shout and cry and be angry and sad for no apparent reason. But you gotta remember you're still my best friend, and I promised I'd make you better. So I will.”
“And you have to remember I'm here if you need to scream and shout and cry and be angry and sad to someone. For no apparent reason.” She smiles.
I smile, and she gives me a hug. She's a massive hugger, which was weird when I first met her. Everyone she saw she'd want to hug. But now I've come to appreciate it. That makes her unique. She's like a little sister to me; I always have to be sure she's protected or I feel mad at myself.
Like today and yesterday, when that stupid Vaughn kid was picking on her. I feel so ticked off at myself for not being there to make sure the kid leaves her alone. But she's home now, away from Vaughn and the rest of those idiots.
I excuse myself, and go to Pete's house. There I run into him talking with the school on the phone. So I just walk in, grab a drink from his fridge and sit down. He finishes, and sighs.
“What do you think you're drinking?” He asks.
I look down at the bottle. “Just some Gin.”
He raises an eyebrow, and I laugh. “Just some Cola, Pete. Relax. I'm not that stupid.”
“I don't know, with the most recent events...” He sighs.
I get up and say “Don't worry about me, Pete. I'm fine. None of what's happened is gonna make me an idiot. Perhaps less cautious though.”
“How can you be any less cautious?” Pete laughs.
I shrug and say “It can happen. I'm not dead yet.”
Pete sighs. “That was Della's school. Apparently they didn't like how you handled Vaughn, and Della is suspended for two months.”
“Why in the heck would they suspend her!?” I snap, jumping from my seat.
Pete shrugs. We sit and don't really speak for a while. Pete reads the newspaper, I read a document from one of my patients. My phone goes off, and the autopsy office got something from Willow.
Without speaking, I jump up and run to the coroners office in the hospital and say “What happened?”
They tell me that she had the disease. It was dormant for her entire life, till yesterday when it attacked her cerebral cortex. It sent waves of pain though her entire body so severe that her body couldn't handle it, so she died. I don't know how to fathom this.
Did Willow know? Did her parents? Or her little brother James? Who knew? Someone had to have. This isn't something you can just not know. Someone had to have known. But I guess that doesn't matter now. She's gone. There's no way anyone can do anything.
I thank the coroner and leave, walking through the small city. Walking into the corner store, I run into Rosie, Pete's little sister. She has a basket full of stuff.
“Oh, I'm sorry.” She stammers. “I'm cooking for my parents tonight, and I needed to pick some stuff up.”
“No it's fine. Sorry for not watching where I'm going.” I say.
She nods, then puts her head down, swiftly walking away. I just stand there, rather confused by what just happened. Rosie looked very embarrassed just there. Maybe I embarrass her a little bit. I don't know how I would. But it's possible.
I pick up a couple things, a gift for Della and some food for tonight, since I plan to spend tonight actually at my own apartment rather than at Pete's house.
As I walk through town back to Leo's and later my apartment, Pete calls. He tells me that we're leaving tomorrow rather than Friday, and he hopes it's not too late notice. Really, it is. But I know he's going through a lot, so I tell him it's not and I'll be ready by 10 tomorrow morning.
I run over to Leo's, drop of Della's gift, then I run up to my apartment. I'm not exactly sure how long we're going to be gone, but I do know it'll be longer than a week. So I pack some clothes and a Vacci-Pal, and get out my stored cash. Since I've never really been on a trip like this before,
I am not sure what else to bring. I'm sure it'll all be fine.
I go down to the main office and pay off two months of rent just in case. Then I run back up to my apartment and sprawl out on my bed. I don't really plan to move the rest of the night, unless I catch on fire or something.
Slowly I fall asleep.
I wake up an hour later to my phone buzzing. Picking it up, I sleepily answer.
“What?” I ask.
“Drake?” I hear.
“No, this is the grump.” I answer.
“Well grump, I have good news for us.” Pete says.
“What?” I sit up, rubbing the sleep in my eyes.
“There are four different labs that are willing to let us combine ideas for the cure. I contacted a few old friends, and they said most definitely.” Pete says enthusiastically.
“Well don't that sound beautiful!” I say, jumping from bed.
“One minor detail though.” Pete says.
“What?” I ask, calming myself down a little.
“We have to let them talk with Della about her disease.”
I sigh and say “Okay. Well does she know?”
“No. I am too scared to tell her.” Pete admits.
I sigh deeper and say “I'll tell her, alright?”
Pete agrees I should. We talk for another couple minutes, then hang up. I get up and get ready to walk over to Leo's house, again. For the third time today. I hang out a lot at his house, but I find this a little excessive. But I know she needs to know before we leave tomorrow. I check my watch. It's only 5:30 P.M. Still plenty of time to do stuff, if I want to.
I get to the house, and Della opens the door. Her shirt and face is lightly dusted with flour.
“Hey! Uncle Leo, Drake's here!” Della yells.
She lets me in, and I remove my house, like Della wants everyone to. Della tells me to sit down on the couch, and that she'll be right back. They're making home-made cakes for the road, and she and Leo got into a fight with the flour. She wants to clean up before we hang out.
I sit there, feeling uncomfortable and fidgety. I don't really know how I am going to tell her. But Pete wants me to, and I offered. So I have to do
it.
She comes back with a towel, smelling thickly of strawberry-scented soap.
Then the bomb... “Why are you here, anyways?”
I sigh, then explain to her everything. She drops her towel, and just looks at me.
“What?” She whispers.
I place my hands gently on her shoulders. “Listen to me very carefully, Della. Okay?”
She nods, not wanting to look at me.
“We don't want you to have to talk to anyone. We'd rather you sat somewhere safe, doing whatever you wanted. But that's not gonna happen now. We're gonna pull our pants up to our chests and deal with it. Like you saw in my high-school photos. All the way up! Then we gotta go out and do it. No matter how not fun it really is.” I say.
She smiles, but doesn't wanna look at me.
“Della. Are you smiling?” I demand.
“No.” She mumbles, looking away.
I start poking her ribs. “Are ya now?”
She starts laughing and yells “No! Stop it!”
She gives me a hug, then says “So now I'm gonna be little Drake in high-school?”
I nod. She starts giggling, then gets up, pulls her pants up over her shirt and starts walking around awkwardly, saying in a nasally voice “I'm Drake Harkeen, in hah-school. I'm gonna go be a doctor and get my deh-gree and get pants that fit me right.”
“Oh you little punk, get back here!” I start chasing her around her house.
Leo yells “Hey! Dinner time!”
Then they invite me to stay, which I agree to. Leo made hamburgers, fries and Della chose root beer floats to drink. Leo asks me questions about the trip, questions I don't know how to answer. I redirect him to Pete. Soon enough I excuse myself, wanting to take a walk around town before tomorrow. I don't really know how long till we get back, and I have a few people to say goodbye to.
I get home around 9:15 pm. Right outside my door, I find a small box. Confused, I pick it up, walk into the house, and place it on my table. On the outside, it just has “Drake Harken” written in big letters. Taking out my pocket knife, I slice the tape and open the box, to see it's contents.
Inside is a bunch of packing peanuts, a small ring box, and a note. Tearing the envelope open, I read the note.
This is not the end.
Willow Donson was not the first to go,
She will not be the last. Count your minutes,
because they are coming short. Drake
Mason Harken, you are next.
Well isn't that ominous? I open the small ring box, to find a bottle of pills that contains different failed cures. There is only one explanation for this, and his name is Jon Begetter. I slam my hand down on the counter, and shout “Not now!”
Five minutes later, my neighbor, Rachel Montgomery, an elderly woman that always has to know what every little sound is, demands what happened here. I tell her I was just frustrated, and apologized for the disturbance.
Finally, she leaves, and I take a deep, angry breath. I walk into my bedroom, careful not to slam my door, rip my glasses off my face and silently fume, wanting to do something but not quite sure what to do yet.
I sit down on my bed. My face is covered in tears of frustration. Really, I almost never cry. But right now, this is too much. I dig my fingers into the bed beneath me, then I jump up, place my glasses on my face again, grab my keys and run out to the garage. I get on my motorcycle and drive it outside of town. I live on the city line, so it's not too far from where I want to go.
Obviously speeding, I get myself over to a cornfield. It's bare for the season, and the family doesn't mind if I go and release steam. I jump off the cycle, as it sits in the air hovering, and take off, running pointlessly through the field. Then, as if on a constant Que, I trip, screaming, till my throat feels completely raw, and I begin coughing.
On the ground, on my hands and knees, my breathing shutters, tears stop falling, my heartbeat quick and lungs burning. Slowly, I force my shaky body to get up. I look out towards the farmhouse, and see someone I haven't seen in a long time. To my knowledge, that's just Troy, the fields owner. But there's something wrong. He's too short, his build too small.
That can't be Troy. It's not, I know it.
“Who are you?” I yell, despite my throat being on fire from screaming.
But they don't reply. I start walking towards the person, and soon see his face.
No. This can't be right.
But it is.
Jonathan Begetter. He's the creator of the disease.
I take off in the opposite direction, my feet pounding on the ground as though it were disappearing. I leap onto my motorcycle and speed home. Quickly, I lock the door, all my windows, shut all my blinds, and sit on the floor, gasping for air.
My shaking fingers call Pete, and I tell him what happened. Everything that happened.
“Wait. Jon is in the city?” Pete demands.
“I don't know, Pete. I ran off the second I saw who it was.” I say between gasps.
“It's okay, Drake. Calm down. I'll be right there, okay? Just don't do anything stupid.” Pete says quickly.
We hang up, and I sit on the couch, breathing deeply. I'm frustrated, panicked, scared, worried, angry... Ah! This is just too much to deal with
right now!
By the time Pete comes, I am calmed down quite a bit, and I've stopped freaking out. I tell him all I saw, and all that.
He takes the bottle of pills and says “These could kill you.”
“I know. What do I do?” I ask.
“Keep Jon on your tail, for now. You're completely immune to the disease. He's not gonna be able to hurt you. If he thinks he can get to you, he won't hurt anyone else for a while.” Pete says.
“That's true. So I am bait, till we find the cure?” I ask.
Pete nods, then apologizes.
“It's fine. It'll keep me on my toes.” I shrug.
Pete says he has to leave. Nina wants him home tonight before we all leave for the death trip. By the time he leaves, the time reaches 11. I decide it's a good time to go to bed.
When I wake up, it's 8:15 in the morning. I have enough time to equip myself and my motorcycle for the trip. I get to Pete's early, to help him with anything that he'll need help with. Ryan opens the door for me, and says “Now's not exactly the best time... Mom and Dad are crying right now.”
“What happened?” I ask.
“I don't really know. I just don't think Dad wants to leave. He feels bad or something.” Ryan answers, looking worriedly back at his parents.
Ryan seems upset. So I ask him what's up. He never let me be a brother to him like Della did, so I am curious if he'll finally open up.
Ryan spills his heart out, how he feels bad about being a delinquent, for not caring about his parents before and everything else. “And the worst part is, I feel as though it's too late for me to ever make it better.”
I just look at him. He's been harboring feelings of regret for a long time. It's not good for someone to hold feelings of anything in. Even something as simple as happiness.
“It's not too late, Ryan. You just have to be willing to accept what you did as wrong and work to change it.” I say, “I'm sure they'll accept any effort you put in.”
Ryan gives me a half-smile, then says “Come on in.”