INKWELL

Chapter Fourteen

September 27, 2081–December 9, 2081

Our nightmare became a reality. Three days after Angela's death, I was talking to Grace when I noticed ink coming out of her nose. I was so shocked that I stumbled and almost fell. Grace stared at me in confusion but when she realized what was wrong, she went into a panic mode. Her panic was like a wave spreading through to everyone who heard about it. It took a while to calm her down and quarantine her.

After that, people began to get infected. Apparently, we were right all along about the infection being contagious. Those infected were quarantined and the doctors and scientists tried to improve on the medicines they had given Angela. The latest development caused an uproar among the citizens of Inkwell. A lot of people had gone back to being angry with Angela for bringing the disease back after they believed it was gone for good, but she was dead, so there was nothing they could do.

I was afraid I'll be infected. I had been around Angela before her death and I had even hugged her on several occasions. The doctors gave me some medicines to take, although they warned that they weren't sure it would prevent the infection.

Wunmi joined the scientists and I wasn't surprised. Back on earth, she had told me that she had wanted to be in science department although the ink took away our dream of going to secondary school. Now, she was interested in joining the scientist to find a cure and that became more important to her when her mum got infected.

I had taken over responsibility of Inkwell and there were a lot of things to do. I had also appointed seven advisers from the continents for me to appease the adults who were reluctant to let me lead Inkwell because of my age. They were angry with Angela for hiding her infection but they couldn't ignore her dying wish for me to take over leadership. She had done a lot of good for them that they couldn't ignore it.

They also knew I was the best for the job, I knew a lot about Inkwell that they didn't know. They complained about a teenager leading them but no one was ready to take up the seat of presidency as soon as the infection started. It was clear that it was too much work, perhaps impossible to handle it. They weren't ready to receive pressure from the citizens and that was sure to come.

Despite this, they were all ready to blame me. It seemed they had sworn to complain for the rest of my tenure. They were all waiting for me to fail so they could blame it all on me, even though they knew that they wouldn't be able to do anything if they were in the same shoes with me.

Caleb had been there for me, supporting me. A lot of people were happy when I finally agreed to be his girlfriend. It wasn't as I expected when I thought of how my first relationship would be but it was nonetheless romantic. We sat at our spot on the wall, under the night sky and we both cried—for Angela, for all we had lost, for everything that was happening. Caleb wasn't afraid to show me the soft side of him and that was what broke the barriers left in my heart. So when he asked me that night if he could be the shoulder I wouldn't hesitate to cry on, I agreed.

There weren't fireworks like in the movies but it was all magical. We had become the ideal couple in Inkwell. He was a caring and loving boyfriend.

He had taken charge of the architectural designs in our world and each month he came up with new, exciting ideas. I was quite proud to have him as my boyfriend. He was a really good guy. I just wished Angela would have been here to see us together. Although it was her death that brought us closer.

Mrs. Abimbola had taken charge of the children which was not much of a surprise. We had a lot of children and we built a school at an easily accessible place. Structures like hospitals, schools and labs were built in easily accessible places, and away from the wall to prevent accidents of any kind. Mrs. Abimbola was the head of the school and there were several teachers under her.

December had come and we had still not gotten anywhere with a cure. Some of the infected still lived because of the drugs they were taking. A few have died and unfortunately, two of our scientists had gotten infected too. I was surprised I hadn't gotten infected. With the time I had spent with Angela before she died, many were afraid I would be infected. Grace who spent a lot of time with Angela had also been infected.

"How's your mum?" I asked Wunmi.
I had gone to visit her in the lab. With my taking over Inkwell and her working so hard to find a cure, we hardly had time to meet and chat up.

She looked tired and worked up and I knew the stress had gotten to her. I was glad to see her eating up the bread I had brought for her, which happened to be her first meal of the day.

"She's..." She dropped the slice of bread she was holding on the table. "I don't know, Ivy. It's hard seeing her sealed away from us. Dad visits her everyday and he's moody around the house. I'm afraid of what would happen if we don't find the cure. I don't want my mum to die."

I pulled her into my arms as she started sobbing. I knew what it was to lose a parent to the infection, in fact I had lost both. Wunmi was a strong girl but I didn't think she could handle it if she lost her mum. She had always been so close to her parents, it wasn't hard to imagine how she would fall apart if anything happened to any of them.

I stayed with her for a few minutes before she had to go back to work. I had things to do too but I wanted to rest. Though I had assisted Angela when she was president of Inkwell, I was beginning to feel a little overwhelmed by the responsibilities of handling Inkwell. I was determined to prove myself. I knew some of the elderly men had placed bets on me giving up but I wasn't going to give them the benefit of being right.

I looked at my watch, it was one o'clock. I figured Caleb would still be in his office so I decided to pay him a visit. His office was also in the main house, close to mine. Caleb knew how to relax me with his jokes and sometimes just being with him took my mind off worrisome things. He wasn't in his office so I decided to check the main house where I and a few of the leaders lived.

"Have you seen Caleb?" I asked Caroline. She was the official I had made friends with in the spaceship, and I had chosen her as one of my assistants when I took charge of Inkwell.

"He should be in his room." She paused, looking thoughtful. "Come to think of it. I haven't seen him leave his room today."

I frowned and muttered a quick thank you to her as I walked to Caleb's room. Thinking of it, I realised I had not seen him at all today. He had been affected by Angela's death, more than any of us. I understood her was still grieving but I wanted him to know he could share his grief with me.

It took a few knocks on his door before I heard a sound coming from inside. It sounded like a groan. I was just contemplating calling someone to break the door down when it opened. Caleb was leaning heavily on the door with only his boxers on. His head was down, his hair hiding his face, and it looked like he just stood up from his bed.

"Caleb," I called, putting out my hand to touch him.

He moved back quickly, too quickly, and had to hold the door to stop himself from falling. He raised his head and everything became clearer. There was a trail of ink from his mouth to his chin.

I gasped.

Caleb was infected!

AUTHOR'S NOTE

O

ur worst nightmare has become a reality. 😱

Is it just me or are things getting worse? 😖 I mean, there are some good stuff like Ivy taking over Inkwell. How do we feel about that?

And she finally accepted to be Caleb's girlfriend. 😍

But now the ink is back and Caleb is infected. 😭😭 Remember the words on the cover of this book: You can run from the ink but you can't hide from it. (looks like the blurb and cover gave a lot of subtle hints😉)

Is this the beginning of the end of Inkwell? Would they survive this? What would happen next?

But most importantly (for some of us) will Ivy get infected?

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©Jesutofunmi Fekoya2019