Rising From The Ashes

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

I’m in love. I never even knew what love really was, not until I met Jacob. He has changed everything for me. I can’t believe they would keep a feeling like this from us. By keeping us apart the government is denying every single person the chance at ever being truly happy. There will always be a hole in us all that will never be filled and almost no one will even know what it is that they are missing. I know now and I will do everything in my power to make sure everyone else is given the chance to know too.

-The Diary of Lucinda Jane Waders

I’ve been going to see Cameron every day for a week now. No one knows and no one will know. I’ve been extremely careful, only coming in the middle of the night when no one will see me. It was hard for me sneaking out at first, but I knew that I was doing the right thing so I pushed my guilt away and focused on helping Cameron.

Throughout the week I had been building Cameron’s supplies, so he now had enough food and water to last him for quite a while. I had also been getting things to make his stay at the house a bit more comfortable, like blankets, pillows, a toothbrush, soap, and a bunch of other things. As a joke I brought him a bunch of old board games I found stashed in my attic, but somehow he and I actually found ourselves playing them a lot. I think it started with him telling me that he was the champion at candy land or something like that and so of course I had to prove to him that he wasn’t. It was actually really funny and since then we have been playing all the other games I brought as well.

Although, since he couldn’t exactly play against himself when I wasn’t there I also brought things to keep him occupied during the day. I gave him my Ipod, which I downloaded with a bunch of things I thought he might like. Although, I knew that would get old soon enough, especially since he couldn’t charge it without power so I finally got him to give in and I brought him some books. Turns out he actually likes to read, although I swore to him I would never tell anyone.

I had also been learning a lot about Cameron with all the time I had been spending with him. I learned about his brother, Jayson, who was an Official that worked on the other side. I could tell that Cameron was sort of ashamed of his brother for this and he told me that they hadn’t talked in a long time. After their father died, Jayson and Cameron went in completely different directions. Cameron followed in his father’s footsteps and became a rebel, while Jayson went into working with the Officials to stop the very thing his father had worked for. I didn’t really understand what his reasons were and Cameron definitely didn’t, but I knew Cameron still cared about his brother even if they were on complete opposites sides. Cameron also told me that his brother had no idea about him working with the rebels or at least he didn’t think so. I knew he wanted to believe that if his brother did know he wouldn’t turn him in, but I could also tell that he wasn’t so sure. Kind of reminded me of another sibling I knew.

I also learned the how his father had died. He had passed away due to an illness that was really only one of the sicknesses that killed people any more. Before the wall was built there had been a doctor that had found a way to cure almost all diseases. Apparently there was some connection between them all that made it possible to treat them with the same thing, some medicine the doctor had made herself. People called it a miracle, but it quickly turned out to be not such a good thing. With there already being population issues this only made them worse. Hardly anyone was dying of disease, which meant that there were more and more people. Not a good thing for an already overpopulated world.

Anyway, since then there is really only one disease that seems to be incurable. It is pretty uncommon, but when someone does come down with it then everyone knows they don’t have very long to live. I had known a few people that had contracted the illness and Cameron’s father was one who had died from it. I felt terrible for him that he had to go through this, especially because from what Cameron told me his father seemed like a pretty amazing guy.