The Iron Quill

by Shelena Shorts

And who knows, somewhere in my mind, I was hoping to document everything in case I did die and met him again someday. Maybe the journal would save him from having to repeat himself.

  Most of my time was spent concentrating on the journal entries, but I did manage enough mediocre studying to pass my final exams. Considering that I’d waited for graduation forever, my feelings were a little anticlimactic. I was just glad to be done and was not in the mood for a big celebration, but my mom, Wes, and Tom surprised me with a cook out/mini-party with grilled kabobs. They’d invited the Healeys, which was a nice surprise.

  In fact, the nicest memory of the whole party was when Danny took me aside to tell me how close he’d come to being like Chase. He talked about how Tim kept trying to get him to try the drugs, and the only reason he had declined was the needle. He admitted that at the time, his hesitation had nothing to do with catching anything. It was more to do with his dislike of being pricked.

  He’d been shocked to learn how Tim had almost put him in the same boat as Chase. Because of that scare, he said, he’d taken a close look at his life and wanted to make it better. He was taking school more seriously, helping out his dad more, and he’d even started dating someone.

  I’d always liked Danny as a brother, and seeing him that day almost brought tears to my eyes because I knew he was going to have a nice future ahead of him, even if I might not.

  That would have been enough to make it a good day for me, but Wes topped everything off with a graduation present. He waited until it was just the two of us in my room.

  When we were alone, he sat at the foot of my bed and patted the empty spot next to him. “I didn’t forget about a gift for you, you know?”

  I plopped down, “I told you not to get me anything.”

  “You ought to know I never listen to you.”

  I laughed, “Yeah, right. You always listen to me.”

  “Not this time.”

  “Wes.”

  “What? I’d be an inconsiderate jerk if I didn’t get you anything on a day that is supposed to be special to you.”

  “I thought we’d already established that you’re far from one of those.” I went over to my desk and picked up the white porcelain horse he’d bought me when he proposed. “Yeah, this pretty much solidifies your consideration status.”

  He laughed. “Well, I got you something anyway.”

  I thought about what it could be and was stumped. He’d already given me a gorgeous bracelet and a ring. I already had an awesome necklace of my own. “Okay, I give. What is it?”

  “You have to sit down first.” I made a face. “I need to explain the gift.”

  I sat and he pulled out a small rectangular box. “Now, this gift signifies the future.”

  I took it and opened it quickly. It was a Coach wallet. I raised an eyebrow.

  “Wes? I don’t get it.”

  “It’s not the wallet, it’s what’s in it,” he clarified.

  “Okay.” I unfolded it to reveal one Visa card with a fuchsia-colored rose design. I flopped it back shut. “Wes, money does not signify my future.”

  “Shush!” he put his hand over my mouth. “It’s not money! It’s what I want you to do with the money.” His hand was still over my mouth. “I just added you as an authorized user. You always complain that my house looks like it’s not lived in. Well, you’re going to be living with me soon, and I want you to make it a home. Your home.

  “Buy china, furniture, paint, rugs, whatever else goes with girly. You have no idea how important it is to me to have my house be our house. So please, take the gift. For me, please.”

  He still had his hand over my mouth, so I pulled it down. Then I smacked his arm. “Geez Wes, I swear, if I die, I’m going to turn into the most evil ghost in the world and haunt someone with a vengeance, for taking me away from you.”

  “That’s not funny.”

  “Well, stop making my life so darn perfect that I’m clinging to it with both arms and legs wrapped around you.”

  “But I like your arms and legs wrapped around me.”

  “Shut up, it’s not funny.”

  “I’m not being funny.”

  “You know what I meant.”

  His smile turned serious. “Listen, we can sit here and debate it if you want, and I’ll live in a cold, dreary house forever if that’s what you really want.”

  “Fine. You win.” I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Thank you.”

  His gift did exactly what it was meant to, because no matter how much I tried to convince myself that I was not in a spending mood, I found myself looking towards the future. The next day, I was drawn to the computer, searching for a new comfy couch that might look good in Wes’ house. It was the perfect graduation celebration, and I made sure to capture it all in my journal.

  After that entry, the pages were blank. What next? I was sitting at my desk with it open, wondering and wondering what would fill those pages, when the phone rang. It was the clinic. Nothing like hearing from the clinic to remind me that those pages may not like what’s written next.

  “Hello?” I answered.

  “Ms. Slone?”

  “Yes?”

  “Your results are in. You can come down any time to get them today.”

  I tried to figure out whether or not the receptionist knew the results when she called, but she always sounded like a recording. Maybe that meant this time was no different.

  “Okay, thanks.”

  Soon after I hung up with her, Wes called.

  “Hey, you,” he said, “Good news.”

  “Yeah, what’s up?”

  “We found Dr. Carter.”

  “You did?”

  “Yes, well, we think so.”

  “Where?”

  “We found his father living in West Virginia. Dr. Lyon flew there yesterday and got him to help us reach Dr. Carter. At first he wouldn’t cooperate, but Dr. Lyon convinced him that he was in no way connected to the military and that we needed the doctor’s medical help. He eventually told Dr. Lyon about a small cabin in the middle of nowhere on some peak nearby. It had belonged to his late brother, and he told us we could find him there.”

  “That’s great.” And I meant it, but couldn’t seem to stop thinking about the previous call, and as always, Wes picked up on my mood.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing’s wrong, yet. I just got called in for the latest results.” The last two had come back negative, but this time felt different.

  He was silent a minute. “Wait for me. I’ll pick you up in an hour.”

  “Well, wait. What are you going to do about Dr. Carter?”

  “I’m going to fly out and convince him to come here.”

  “When?”

  “I was planning to go this weekend.”

  “You can’t leave me again.”

  “I’ll only be gone a day.”

  “It’s not the day I’m worried about. It’s the distance. We said we wouldn’t be that far apart again.”

  “You hate flying.”

  “I hate being away from you more.”

  He was quiet for another minute, and I knew that was a good sign. He was weighing the pros and cons and when he started thinking, the pros always came out on top. Even so, the lingering silence had me worried.

  “You’re not leaving me alone, Wes.”

  “Okay.”

  “Okay?”

  “Yes. Okay. I don’t want to be far away from you anyway, and I think having you there will help Dr. Carter see why we need him.”

  “Wow, that was easy.”

  He huffed. “What? Am I that difficult? Just last night I was so amazing you wanted to cling to me with both arms and legs.”

  “Whatever. You are not difficult.”

  “Good. See you soon. Love you.”

  Getting to go with Wes to West Virginia was good news. I honestly don’t think I could’ve managed another separation. Especially after the other news.

  An hour and half later
, I found myself receiving my latest results. It seemed like everyone’s eyes were on me from the moment we walked through the doors, including the other people in the waiting room. It was like they were trying to figure out how I’d gotten myself in the same predicament as they had.

  In addition to that, the nurse led me to a different room than usual. That’s when I knew the results were positive. The room was more comfortable and housed a TV. They made me watch a ten minute video about how to live a quality life with the virus.

  I could tell Wes wanted to sweep me out of there, but he went with the flow, holding my hand the entire time. It’s funny that I don’t remember much about how I felt during that visit. I was pretty numb and remember only glancing at Wes to see if I could read how he was taking it.

  It was hard to tell. His face was stoic and all he did was squeeze my hand a little harder with each turn of my head in his direction. After we listened to an attempted make-you-feel-better talk, the doctor wrote me a prescription and let me go.

  Finally alone in the car, Wes made me look at him and said, “I can fix this. I’m sure of it. It may take some time, but I promise you, I’ll fix it.” I forced a smile and the only thing I could think of to say was to ask him not to tell my mom yet. I didn’t want her freaking so soon.

  He leaned over and kissed me assuredly, then nodded and put the car in motion. With all my other thoughts contained within me, I turned my head and looked out the window. It only took a minute before the tear in my right eye spilled over, leaving an impossible-to-ignore trail down my face. I casually wiped it away so Wes wouldn’t see it.

  Chapter 22

  THE CLIMB

  The next day was absolutely horrible. I was suffocating in my house and Wes was constantly on the phone with the lab doctors checking progress. The weekend couldn’t have come fast enough—I was itching to get away from the regular cloud that hung over me.

  I could tell my mom believed the story about our past, because she was fine with me going with Wes to bring Dr. Carter back. Even though I was eighteen, graduated, and could pretty much do what I wanted, her approval was still important, because I hadn’t moved out yet.

  Both Wes and I figured it would be better to take that step a tad slow with her. With all that was going on in the past weeks with my finals, his lab, and my status, living together now wouldn’t have been truly enjoyable anyway. So the plan was to get Dr. Carter on board to finish the formula for the treatment, test it on me, be cleared, get married, and voilà. Not too much to ask, right? I hoped not.

  Wes picked me up early Saturday morning for our flight. Dr. Lyon wanted to come, but Wes insisted we would be fine. It still wasn’t clear how much Dr. Lyon knew about Wes, and Wes preferred to keep it that way. He trusted Dr. Lyon, but figured if he knew Wes’ secret and wanted Wes to know he knew, then he would’ve talked to him about it by now. Therefore, Wes decided to keep what was unsaid and unknown between them the way it was.

  He also thought it would be more intimate if Wes and I confronted Dr. Carter alone. That didn’t mean we traveled alone. Wes brought two of his security detail along for the ride.

  I’d prepared my nerves for a regular plane trip, but when we pulled up to a small airstrip, which ran alongside a lot full of small planes, my stomach did a cartwheel. We were flying on a small jet? I didn’t even bother complaining, because it wouldn’t do any good anyway. It’s not like we could snap our fingers and be in West Virginia, and I wasn’t going to make a production about going to a “real” airport, so I went with the flow.

  Let’s just say Wes knew it wasn’t easy for me and gave me lots of hand squeezes and shoulder rubs.

  We landed at the Charleston airport in West Virginia at 12:30 EDT and rented an SUV for the expected hour-long drive to the cabin. If nature was ever speaking to me, showing me its beauty, it was during the drive from the airport. Unbelievably beautiful mountains. Hills and valleys, up and down, around and around. The road just kept going, winding over, through, and down and back up again.

  I was amazed at how it looked like people had literally carved a valley out of the mountain to make way for a road. How long would it have taken for something like that? Mile after mile of road intruding through rocks and trees. It was fascinating and intimidating at the same time.

  My gaze fixated on the rocks when we passed a Watch for Falling Rocks sign. Most people probably wouldn’t think twice about a sign like that. But me? I couldn’t help feeling like if one would fall on anyone, it would be me. The paranoia didn’t stop there.

  Just when I’d settled my concern about the rock warnings, my peaceful thoughts were interrupted by tractor trailers zooming past, threatening to swipe us right off the side of the mountain.

  And to top it off, we kept passing signs for little turn offs here and there labeled Runaway Ramp.

  “What is that for?” I asked. It was a narrow uphill ramp that was just off the road with a huge pile of sand at the end.

  Wes leaned over to peek out my side window in time to see where I was pointing.

  “That’s for the trucks. If they can’t stop on the downhill, they can go over there. It’s a safety measure.”

  “Alrighty, then,” I replied, suddenly hoping there weren’t any more trucks barreling behind us as we began another decline with a sharp turn around the mountain.

  “How much further?” I asked.

  The driver, one of Wes’ security detail, filled us in. According to his GPS, we had twelve more miles to go. That wasn’t too far, so I blocked out the fear of passing eighteen-wheelers, and concentrated on the mountains.

  What was so captivating was that the mountains in Virginia had houses every now and then. These mountains just seemed to be trees and more trees. I saw hardly any broken patches for houses. It was literally like there was nothing but nature, mile after mile.

  About twenty miles east of Charleston was a small turn off with one gas station on the corner. From there, it was practically straight up with a few curvy bends. My ears were going nuts from popping.

  “What on earth would Dr. Carter be doing out here?”

  “Well, Dr. Lyon said his father wouldn’t give up his location easily, so my guess is that he doesn’t want to be found.”

  “Of course,” I replied sarcastically. “So I take it he doesn’t know you’re coming?”

  Wes shook his head and squeezed my knee for comfort.

  Our conversation was limited in the car due to our company, who didn’t know anything beyond needing to protect lab owner and heir Weston Wilson III. I couldn’t just come out and ask, “So are we going to knock on his door and explain, ‘Hi it’s Wes and Amelia, remember us?”

  This was going to be interesting.

  Eventually, the SUV slowed and veered onto an even narrower road, heading straight up.

  “Imagine what this is like in the winter time. No one is going up or coming down if it snows.”

  Thinking about that predicament gave me flashbacks of Virginia. I shook my head and shuddered.

  The further we climbed, the denser the woods became. It was absolutely beautiful, but I couldn’t imagine someone having a house up there.

  Wes leaned over to look out my window.

  “I’m sure it’s exactly what you see on your side,” I joked. “Trees.”

  He laughed. “Well, that explains why he has no telephone.” He checked his cell phone, “Or cell signal.”

  “Great. So we don’t have any way to contact someone in case of an emergency?”

  “We won’t have an emergency, and if we do, that’s what these nice gentlemen are for.” He patted both of them on their shoulders.

  “Seriously though. There are no phones up here?”

  “I’m sure there are, but Dr. Carter’s father said their cabin just didn’t have one.”

  “Of course,” I sighed.

  “So what’s our game plan?” I whispered, suddenly, wishing I’d thought about hashing it out on the plane, instead of being too busy concentr
ating on relaxing my nerves.

  “We’re going to wing it,” he said with a wink.

  About fifteen minutes later we slowed to a stop in front of a narrow gravel driveway.

  “This is it?” Wes asked.

  The driver nodded. “Looks like it.”

  We surveyed the area and saw a Private Property sign next to the driveway. The entrance was blocked by a chain stretching between two trees on opposite sides of the driveway.

  “Looks like we’re not invited,” I said.

  The driver got out and checked the chain. “It’s locked.”

  “Looks like you might be right,” Wes agreed.

  “So what now?”

  Wes looked around and unbuckled his seat belt and then undid mine. “We walk,” he answered, flatly.

  “Walk?”

  “Yes. It’s obvious he doesn’t want anyone driving up there.” Wes hopped out of the car and came around to my side. “Come on. We’ll walk and they’ll keep the car here.”

  “No, Sir, we stay with you.”

  “No. We’ll be fine. Just stay here and wait for us to return.”

  It was daylight, so they didn’t argue much, but they did give Wes one of their earpieces so they could communicate. He stuck it in his pocket, promising to alert them if we needed them.

  Having no idea how long the driveway was, we headed hand-in-hand up the narrow, winding, gravel entrance. I was amazed that we still seemed to keep going upward. “How high are we anyway?”

  “I have no idea, but we should be there soon.”

  “So can we talk about the plan now?”

  “There is no plan.” He pulled me to him and put his arm around my shoulders. “I told you. We’re winging it.”

  “Wes, I know you have a plan of some sort.”

  “Sophie, I just brought some pictures of the past—the same ones I showed your mother— and then we’ll see. I mean, I never planned for this day. Never in a million years did I think I’d see him again.”

  “But you saw me.”

  “Yeah, I did. Maybe you two should stop stalking me.”

  I smacked his waist. “Right, then where would you be? No lives to save, no pressure to cure the world? How boring.”

  He laughed and kissed my forehead. “I love you, you know?”