INKWELL

Chapter Sixteen

December 20, 2081-December 23, 2081

As I walked out of the lab, I bumped into Wunmi's father.

"Sir!" My face fell as I took in the bags underneath his eyes and his fragile looking frame.

"Ivy! How are you? It's so good to see you. Wunmi had been worried about you. She said she hasn't talked to you in days."

I grimaced. "Yeah. I just talked to her a few minutes ago."

He raised a brow. "Everything is okay?"

"Yeah, we've settled everything."

He smiled. "It's been a while since I last saw you."

"Yeah." I smiled back. "I've been busy with Inkwell."

"We are all so proud of you and what you are doing."

I scoffed and then quickly apologized. "Sorry. It's just that I don't feel as if I'm doing anything. More people are getting infected, more people are dying, and I don't know what to do. I feel like Inkwell is going to fall into ruins under my watch."

"Don't say that. We all know it's not your fault. Things like this happen. Life loves to bring up obstacles in our way. Our duty is to overcome those obstacles. I know you are doing the best you can."

I didn't understand how he could say that. Deep down I knew he expected me to fix it, everyone expected me to fix this. I was leader of Inkwell, it was my duty. No matter how I worried or worked hard to fix it, no one would consider it fixed until they saw results. I didn't even know if I could fix it. I had a feeling I was going to disappoint everyone. "How can you say that? Your wife is currently infected and I don't know if she will survive this..." I trailed off when I realized what I had said.

Wunmi's dad turned away and I could see his adam apple bobbing as he swallowed. It was obvious that my words had angered and hurt him.

"I'm so sorry, I'm really sorry. I don't know what came over me. I didn't mean to say that." My eyes watered. I was already disappointing people.

"I know that my wife is not going to die, I believe she isn't going to die." He turned and fixed a look on me. "I know you're going to find a cure to this. I know everything is going to be fine."

"How do you know all that? How do you believe that?"

He shrugged. "Being optimistic has its disadvantages. When life breaks your heart more times than you can count, it gets hard to remain positive. But look at us, who ever thought we'll survive the ink? Everyone thought we'll all die but this happened. Angela happened. Inkwell happened. For some reason, things seem to be on our side. Maybe it's not yet time for mankind's doom. We are still alive, right? That has to mean something."

He was right. After everything that had happened to us, we were still alive. That had to mean something.

He placed a hand on my shoulder. "You shouldn't be too hard on yourself. Everything happens for a reason. I'm sure you'll find out."

"What if I fail? What if we don't find a cure?"

He sighed and turned his gaze into the distance. "What if we don't fail? What if we find a cure?" He turned and smiled at me. "Even if we go down, I'll rather go with light and hope in my heart, than with darkness and grimness."

I watched him walk away, hope once again brewing in my heart.

I'll rather go down with light and hope in my heart, than with darkness and grimness.

I walked away and found myself walking over to Mrs. Abimbola's place. I contemplated stopping and changing course back to my house, but then I remembered what Wunmi had said. Besides, I couldn't always run away from things.