Grandfather (18 page)

“
Oh!” he exclaimed, as if
just remembering something. “I have a card Dr. Mac got me for
helping him out.”

“
Card?” I asked.

“
Bitcoin card,” he said.
“Only has about forty bitcoin on it, but that’s enough.”

“
Quit helping him!” Marley
said. “This is too dangerous. You can’t do this. You just
can’t.”

Ashton was really making
it difficult to say no. I shook my head, thinking for a few
seconds. Finally, I came to a decision. “Okay,” I told
him.

His facial expression
turned to one of excitement. He was ready for another
journey.

“
I can’t believe it,”
Marley said, throwing her hands up in defeat.

“
It’s okay,” Ashton said.
“Like I said before, I’ll stay away from Cornelius. I have bitcoin.
I can get him there.”

Marley still didn’t like
it, but as a friend, she finally promised to not say a word. I knew
she hoped for nothing more than to find out that Cornelius was
lying. I supposed a small part of me wished the same. But the rest
of me needed it to be true.

I kept my promise and
waited for more answers to come out. That didn’t take too long.
Edgar returned dressed in the same clothes he wore when I met him.
In his hands, he had a newspaper. He approached me and handed it to
me.

I read the
headline.
PRESIDENT CORNELIUS WILL FIND
BOY
. I skimmed the article, only grasping
one sentence. “
Marriage certificates and
birth certificates have been found, proving that Benjamin and
Jacyln are, indeed, the orphan’s parents.”
I read aloud. I lifted my head up. Edgar looked
worried.

“
I’ll never understand what
it’s like to not know my parents,” Edgar said. “I grew up inside
the wall, always having them there to take care of me. I had
everything. I understand you’re curious.”

“
It’s
true then?” I asked. “Cornelius probably really does have something
to give me
. . .
something that belonged to my dad?”

Overhearing
our conversation, Belladonna joined Edgar’s side.
“Grandfather has so many resources,” she said. “It would’ve been so
easy for Cornelius to create the certificates.”

“
He could even create a
fake person,” Edgar added.

“
Wait a minute,” I said.
“So you guys think this is all fake?”

Edgar and Belladonna
exchanged worried glances again. They should have known I wasn’t
going to handle it well.

“
It’s possible he’s
targeting your state of mind,” Belladonna said.

“
But you don’t know that,”
I argued.

“
We don’t,” Edgar said.
“But don’t you think he would’ve said something when you were with
him in the office?”

I had thought about that,
actually. But then, he had planned to keep me, not knowing I would
escape. He did say I’d find out very soon. Maybe that’s what he was
going to tell me. “So you’re basically saying none of this ‘proof’
matters?” I asked.

“
Right,” Belladonna agreed
softly.

I was getting angry all
over again. They tell me that they’ll find proof. When they do,
they say it could be fake. I read over the article again,
remembering my deal with Ashton. I promised that I wouldn’t act
until we had more information. Well, here it was and it wasn’t good
enough for me. Edgar and Belladonna thought Cornelius was just
making it all up. I didn’t know. I had to find out for
myself.

I
needed
to find out.

I waited in my room until
it was nearly 8:00, when the sun would have already nearly gone
down. I ran to the small closet where I kept the suit Edgar had
given me. It was still clean. The cappuccino stain was practically
invisible. Thank you, Edgar and Robert, for a
black
suit.

I put it on, giving myself
a pat on the back for not untying the tie. That would’ve been a
disaster, because I still didn’t know how to tie one.

My plan was simple. I
would wait until dark before sneaking out to the ladder. It was a
good thing I remembered how to get there. I wouldn’t say anything
to Ashton and Marley about my plan. Sure, I told Ashton that he
could go with me, but I didn’t know what I would’ve done if he were
caught and something bad happened to him. It was best for him to
not go. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a flashlight, so I’d be
walking to the road in the dark. But I’d manage. And unfortunately,
I would have to make the entire walk by foot. Okay, my plan was
definitely not simple. It was stupid. There were so many things
that could go wrong. For one, I wasn’t even sure if I could just
walk straight through the wall entrance. But I didn’t care. I was
desperate.

I made sure nobody was in
the hall before I darted out of my room. I quickly rounded the
corner and nearly ran until the light from the torches could no
longer be seen. First small step was a success. Since it had gotten
dark, I kept my arms extended out, allowing me to feel the wall
when I got too close or if the tunnel turned. It helped.

Soon, I approached the
meeting room where light escaped through the cracks. Somebody was
in there. Probably Belladonna. I had to be extra careful. I kept to
the opposite side of the hall, tiptoeing.

“
The order will work
perfectly,” I heard Belladonna say. “But we’re running out of
time.”

“
I’ll gather somebody right
for the job,” Robert said.

I didn’t know what they
were talking about. It didn’t matter.

I tiptoed until I could no
longer see light shining from the room. Second step was a success.
I had to be careful with the next step.

I approached the end of
the hall. I found the ladder with my hands. Slowly and blindly, I
held onto the sides, placed a foot on the first step, lifted myself
up, and slowly made my way up. I soon reached the top. This was
going to be tricky. I didn’t want to accidently fall. Holding onto
the ladder tightly with my left hand, I used my right to push the
door open. With all the force I had in me, I flung the trap door
open. Stars in the night sky twinkled above. Moonlight seeped into
the hall, allowing me to see once again. I crawled out of the hole
and closed the hatch.

I was alone, looking at
the forest. The air was starting to get cool. The leaves rustled
with the breeze. It wasn’t feeling like summer at all.

I followed the arrows
leading to the road. Once there, I stood still for a few seconds,
thinking things through. It was time for the longest step: Walking.
At least it felt good outside. Perhaps a driver would feel sorry
for me and pick me up. I wasn’t sure if that would’ve been safe. I
wouldn’t worry about it unless it actually happened.

Very few vehicles passed
by, which made sense because of the late hour. The rich didn’t
think it was safe outside the wall. They probably enjoyed the city
at night. Nights ended early for the poor, probably because there
was nothing for us to do. But in the city, there seemed to be so
much to do. I laughed quietly to myself. After what had happened
last time, I didn’t want to go to the city for a long time. Now,
about a week later, I was headed back. Funny how things
work.

I thought about what I was
going to ask Cornelius when I saw him. I wondered if he expected me
to find him. After all, he did tell me to go to him. I just wasn’t
sure it was a good idea. I was going to be very angry if it turned
out that Edgar and Belladonna were right. As I’ve said a hundred
times, I had to find out. I was going crazy in that
mountain.

I even thought about
passing by the orphanage on my way, but there was no way I would’ve
been able to find it from where I was. And besides, even if I
could, I didn’t have that time, neither did I actually care. I
don’t even know why that crossed my mind.

The walk got kind of
boring. To pass time, I found myself humming and whistling random
notes. Then, I heard humming come from behind me. I stopped
immediately. The humming stopped. Was my humming echoing? I doubted
it. I was going to keep walking when I heard footsteps. They
stopped. I wasn’t alone.

I turned around. There,
ten or so feet away, stood Ashton, wearing his black suit. “Did you
really think this would work?” he said.

“
I hoped it would,” I
answered. Though I hadn’t wanted him to come, I felt relieved to
see him.

“
I’m coming,” he said.
Maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad to have somebody go with
me.

“
Please don’t.”

“
Listen,” he said. “I
understand that we may not be the best of friends after the way I
treated you before. I’m still trying to make up for that.” He then
dug into his pocket and took out two plastic gray cards. “And
besides, I got bitcoin.”

I smiled. The thought of
not having to walk made all of the difference. And company was
going to be fine, too. “Okay,” I said. “But you can’t see Cornelius
with me.

“
I’ll leave before then,”
he said.

I nodded. He joined my
side. Just as we were about to start walking, I heard somebody
calling our names. We turned back around quickly to see a shadowed
figure running in our direction. “Wait!”

Yeah … it was Marley. It
wasn’t until she got closer that I could see she was wearing a red
dress that came to her knees. She wore black stilettos. Her hair
was in a tight bun. I wondered where she’d gotten everything or
even found the time to get ready so quickly.

“
What are you doing?”
Ashton yelled. “No, no, no.”

“
If you can go, I can,”
Marley said. “And I’m going.”

I said nothing. Having
both of them made it even more dangerous. That was just the thing I
had been trying to avoid. So much for that.

“
What if something
happens?” Ashton asked her.

“
It’ll be fine,” she
said.

“
But what if it’s
not?”

She didn’t say anything
for a few seconds. Then, she walked past us, in the direction of
the city. We turned around. She stopped. “Doesn’t matter,” she
said. “I’m going either way.”

“
You knew I’d go?” I asked,
still not liking the idea that both were going with me. Now I had
something else to worry about.

“
Well,
obviously,” Marley said. “We may not know each other extremely
well, but I know you’re really curious. And Ashton . . . well . . .
I
do
know him
well.”

I wasn’t very happy about
it, but there was nothing I could do. Neither Ashton nor I would be
able to get Marley to go back. Arguing would be a lost cause and
waste of time.

. “Let me know if you see
a cab,” Ashton said.

We all kept a lookout for
the cab and started walking again. Moving downhill did wonders on
my legs, and I felt like I could walk the entire way.

I sneaked several gazes at
Marley. She was absolutely beautiful. She was going to blend in
well. I asked her where she got everything.

“
It’s just something Momma
got me just before we found Edgar and Belladonna,” she said. “I’ve
been waiting to wear it. Seemed like a good
opportunity.”

“
And the makeup?” Ashton
asked. “Where did you get it at?”

“
My mom had it,” she said.
“We were saving all of this for the right time. Now seemed
perfect.”

“
Oh,” was Ashton’s simple
answer.

“
Well, you look nice,” I
told her.

“
Thank you,
Carsyn.”

We walked alongside the
road, having no luck with a cab. You could hear the sound of
crickets singing to one another.
The sound
was soothing when combined with the rustling of the leaves and the
whistling from the breeze.

We probably walked for
nearly ten minutes, not saying a word. Marley broke the
silence.

“
Me and Momma used to take
walks on nights like this,” she said, looking up at the sky,
smiling. “I miss it.”

That’s when I realized I
knew nothing about Marley and Mae before they found Edgar. I wasn’t
surprised she didn’t tell me. I couldn’t complain. I didn’t really
say much about my life, either. I figured having nothing else to do
on the walk, I might as well ask.

“
It was alright,” Marley
said when I did so. Ashton looked straight ahead. I wondered if he
was listening.

“
Did you guys live here?” I
asked. “Inside or outside the capitol wall?”

“
We lived outside of the
wall in Boston.”

I had never heard of the
city, which wasn’t surprising. “Which region is that
in?”

“
Northeastern.”

“
Was it as bad as it is
here?” Ashton asked.

Marley nodded slightly,
frowning “It’s the same everywhere,” she said. “Every city
separates itself from those outside. My dad hated it.”

It was the first time I
heard anything about her dad. From the look on Ashton’s face, he
was just as surprised. Marley must have noticed.