Chapter Thirty-Four: Caryn
The rest of that day seems like a blur. Anderson, along with fifteen other officials, including Foreman, were arrested and taken to a long term prison facility. They can have visitors, but I think it will take a while before any of us will want to open that part of our lives again. I discovered that Second Official Whit had seen Heather talking with the new custodian and had killed her because he assumed she was giving them information. Although I suspect he was looking for an excuse.
If I had seen the T-Man behind the mayor, he disappeared before anyone else could notice him and, from what I overheard when two of the hospital security guards passed by, the authorities are still looking for him. The mayor discovered that there had been a notification protocol between the hospitals and the Compound for every anemone poisoning. An official was sent to the location and shortly afterward, no matter how the patient appeared, the patient died with symptoms consistent with all other anemone victims.
Kai was rushed to Highton’s biggest hospital where he had several surgeries on his knee. Anderson had given him gangerious poison, but when he stuck the needle into Kai’s neck he missed the vein completely. The needle poked through the esophagus wall and the poison never had a chance to enter his blood stream and kill him, especially since he threw up almost immediately.
At my request, I was given a room across the hall from Kai. They treated my anemone stings and I had 36 straight hours of sleep, which I probably could have done even if I didn’t have the help of medicine. It was Sunday when I woke up to see Doc Hubbard in my room. He assured me that the cure was not tampered with and they had given it to everyone in need with a perfect success rate. He thought it also made the children a little hyperactive because they were making up for several days worth of inactivity in the few hours after their treatment. By the sound of it, the Hubbard’s beds and walls would never be the same again.
Dr. Kendal was not poisoned by gangerious, but a fast clotting serum that triggers strokes. He was found and rushed to the hospital where he had intensive surgery and although they were unable to recover most of his movement, his mind remains intact. Together with Doc, another doctor I haven’t met yet, and Dr. Kendal they have been given control of the Compound’s facilities and will continue to keep the Aquarium going so that the Haydon cure can be collected whenever it is needed. The anemone was no longer poisonous, but the jigger scent still contaminated the air. However, the cure would continue to lengthen the life of the average person and researching new possibilities would continue to play a major part in most of the buildings on the Compound. With the exception of one. Mrs. Hubbard has submitted paperwork to turn the main Compound building into a school and boarding house for disadvantaged children like Kai, Tommy and others who live on the streets.
I hear the nurse clomping down the hall.
“What do you want now?” he demands.
“Is there any more of this pudding?” Kai asks. His mouth sounds full.
“Yes, would another three be sufficient?”
“Should probably make it four or five.” Kai calls after the leaving nurse.
I take my time getting out of bed and cross the hall. Kai is sitting in bed, his left leg elevated and bandaged. Three empty dinner trays are stacked precariously on a cart and Kai is wiping his finger around the edge of a pudding cup. He waves at me with his free hand.
“The mayor told me I could have whatever I wanted as long as I’m in here,” he says.
“Do they know any more about your knee?” I ask.
“Oh, I’ll be able to walk, but they said I’ll have to have a lot of therapy and I might limp. That shouldn’t affect my swimming though, and as soon as they take this off I want a rematch. But no fair practicing while I’m stuck in here. I can’t swim so you can’t either.”
I laugh and Kai smiles.
“I saw Doc earlier,” I say.
“Yeah, I saw him too. He wants me to live at the Compound, study science and maybe take a job there after college.”
“Will you?”
Kai tilts his head and looks at me. “Depends. What are you planning to do?”
“I haven’t thought about it.” I sit in a chair next to his bed and look out the window. His view is better than mine. It looks out over the lake, shining and alive with the colors of the setting suns.
“There you are,” Janissa says. She enters the room with a bouquet of yellow flowers, a kind I’ve never seen before. May follows in after her holding a box of chocolates. Janissa’s eyes turn to Kai. “Is this him?”
I nod. “May and Janissa, this is Kai, the guy who saved me.”
“Hey.” Kai waves and points at the chocolates. “Are those for me?”
Janissa giggles and May waits for my nod before she hands them over. Instead of opening them he sets them aside, probably to save for later.
“We’ve heard much about you,” May says.
“So,” Janissa nudges May’s elbow. “Are you going to tell her?”
“Tell me what?” I ask.
“I’m going to be leaving at the end of this month,” May says. “I was given an internship on a science vessel. They’ve found a new planet and want to study it before starting a colony and they need computer technicians. They saw some of the work I did this past week and wanted me to join the project.”
“She has a real aptitude for it. Has the highest scores they’ve ever seen!” Janissa brags.
“That’s great!” I say, although I can’t imagine life or the Compound without her.
May ducks her head, but she’s smiling.
Everything is changing. I stand and walk over to the window, enjoying the movement of my muscles, even the straining of my healing skin. Each breath I take is sweeter than the one before because they are all new and fresh. I’m alive. Moments, even the bitter-sweet ones, are precious. I want to capture them and remember them for as long as I live.
I was wrong before. When the Tournament was done I thought May and Janissa were facing the future with nothing, but that is not the way it is for me now. I stand here looking out the window at the orange and red sky. The future looms before me, but I am not bringing nothing to it. Rather the opposite. I have everything. I could become anyone. Go anywhere. The possibilities are overwhelming. But one thing is already decided. I know who I want to be with.
“You know I almost beat her when we were racing in the lake,” Kai says.
May is shaking her head like she doesn’t believe him and Janissa giggles again.
“I was taking it easy on you,” I say.
“Yeah, right.”
“You know, I think you should have a whole week to practice before we race again. Because even if I had a month out of the pools I could still beat you with one hand tied behind my back.”
“I’d like to see you swim with one hand tied behind your back.” Kai raises his eyebrow, but there is a sparkle in his eye and I can’t wait to get back into the water.
I did not plan to live a long life, but I am going to make the most of the time I have, if it lasts for three days or three hundred years. No one is designed to live forever, but one life can make all the difference.
~~~~~
About the Author
Christina J. Adams finds inspiration in the green rolling hills and farmland surrounding her home in Maryland. She loves hanging out with children and teens and gets more excited about a new book coming out, from any of her many favorite authors, that it’s probably not good for her health. She didn’t think being a writer was a serious profession until after high school, but has since decided it is the best career ever.
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