Gifted

Ch. 14 The Long Way There

Aiden looked back from the town car, he could hear his father's thoughts, but the black Jeep directly behind him blocked the view. I love you Dad. Tell Mom I love her too.

            I will Aiden, be safe! Cole responded, happy that he was able to get say some sort of goodbye to his son, even though it was a far cry from what he had hoped for.

            The caravan continued along small roads until it reached the crumbling Interstate 295, and raced along it, swerving across lanes to avoid broken up asphalt and debris. Eventually, 295 merged with Interstate 95, the road that the caravan would continue down for the remainder of their two and a half hour journey. Finally, the cars stopped in Eliot, Maine, a small abandoned border town.

            "Let's keep moving Aiden," Franklin told Aiden, shaking his knee to jolt Aiden back to consciousness, he had fallen asleep on the drive. The pair stepped out of the town car, and the driver helped get Aiden's backpack onto him.

            A group of special ops men in gilly suits approached Aiden. "You're the one?" he asked skeptically, giving Aiden a once over.

            "He's the one, trust me," Alfred Franklin assured the man. "Aiden, take the contacts to the restroom over there," he pointed to a small shack, "and put them in your eyes."

            Aiden looked over at the shack, and then at the rectangular case, Franklin was handing him. "Right... and how do I do that?" Aiden had heard about the contacts, but never actually put them on.

            "Never mind, I'll go with you," Franklin said, walking forward with the assistance of his cane. They walked into the building and Franklin tore open the box that held the contacts. Inside was a plastic case that was ovular in shape and had two caps that could be opened, the plastic case was clear, and the left side cap had an "L" sloppily etched into it. "Ok, now open the left cap."

            Aiden opened the left cap and saw the brown contact lens. "Now what?"

            "Now use your index finger to get the contact out of the case," he watched Aiden do so, "yes, see how it makes a bowl shape on your finger? Okay, now use your thumb and index finger from your other hand to hold your eye open and stick the contact lens in."

            Aiden paused for a moment, looking down at the lens on the tip of his finger. Then he stuck the lens onto the surface of his eye. It was such a strange sensation, not itchy, or painful necessarily, just awkward. Aiden uncapped the other side of the plastic case and repeated the process so that both lenses were on his eyes.

            "Good job," Franklin congratulated him, "when you get to your apartment in New York, take them back out and put them back into the plastic case. Put them on your eyes when you first wake up every morning, and take them back out every night before bed. When you put them back in the case, also submerge them in contact solution, it's just like special water. I put it in the outer pocket of your backpack, go ahead and put the plastic case there too," Franklin instructed.

            Aiden did so, and then they both walked out of the shack.

            "Ya look great kid," the lead spec ops man said, "my name's Jack Bulwark. I'll be leading the team that is gonna get ya to Hampton, New Hampshire. Are ya ready? 'Cause we gotta get ya into your suit," Bulwark explained.

            "Suit?" Aiden asked.

            "Yup, you're gonna be in one-a these babies," Bulwark said, raising his arms to show Aiden the full extent of the gilly suits.