Legacy

Unraveling

Astor

The debtors would forever be my enemies. There was no reasonable way for me to achieve my justice and earn a fraction of the money needed to pay off all my debt. My main concern was to maintain my cover as a proper and rich Frenchman. I had to keep up with the payments to the hotel and also have my fashion be on point. Still, it bugged me, knowing that it was only a matter of time before legal means would be taken against me. I wondered if they had already claimed my home just like they did his. Even while lost in my inner turmoil, I managed to hear when my new pupil made his entrance. He was talking with the staff downstairs. With idle curiosity, I elected to focus on the conversation.

"I am looking for a man called Romain Bonnaire. He lives here."

"I am sorry, sir, but we have not been informed that mister Bonnaire is expecting visitors," a woman politely replied.

It was strange. Why would mister Collingwood be back so soon it had only been one day. Annoyed, I found some suitable clothing and ventured downstairs. In my haste, I barely remembered to bring my protection. Putting on my gloves and forgetting the blindfold.

"Well, can you not just tell him I am here? My name is Nathan Collingwood," he asked, frustrated.

"I am sorry, sir, but we cannot do that. We are only to disturb mister Bonnaire if he has told us he is expecting guests," she explained.

A safety measure I had put in place in case people from my past ever came looking for me. It was usually not an issue since I rarely had visitors. Today it was a cause for minor annoyance. Just being in the lobby was straining my sense as people wandered around going about their days. It was mostly staff right now, but the people living here were no shut-ins. Standing at the bottom of the staircase, I felt drowned in my surroundings. It was embarrassing looking so weak in such a public space. Before I could gather myself, I was dragged into the argument.

"See, I told you he knew I was coming," he declared, poting at me.

And then he went over to me in a decisive march. Baffled by his abrasiveness, I gave him a stern look.

"We need to talk. I know a place nearby we can go," it was decided.

It was hard to hide my immense displeasure as he gripped my arm. If not for my senses weakening me, I would never have allowed him to drag me with him out of the lobby. My protest was stuck in my throat as he took me outside. The lights, the sounds of people commuting, and the smell of sweat it was too much. I tasted my breakfast coming up in my mouth. Huge spots of blackness took up my vision. Yet my captor made no motions to slow down nor release me.

I have no recollection of how we arrived at this establishment. Yet when I woke up, mister Collingwood was still babbling. It was a real mystery if the man had ever managed to be silent in his life. Perhaps most of his issues at his school could be fixed if he learned to be quiet once in a while.

"Is that man, alright? I can contact a hospital if it is he looks sick," was nervously asked.

"It is a medical condition. My friend is going to be fine soon enough if he gets some peace," Collingwood replied.

The word friend was an overstatement. Even a man as dense as mister Collingwood would know that they had known each other for about a day. Besides, this whole situation made me ponder what was going on. There was no need for this man to act so recklessly and rude today. Yes, I may have made jabs at his etiquettes before, but this was extreme. As the place grew a tiny bit more peaceful, the man decided to shed some light on the situation.

"So I am not sure if you have heard about this, but my department acquired news of some new research conducted on some exotic brand of fungus. Two unlicensed scientists had originally conducted the research," he began.

I nodded, trying to hide my inner anger under a stoic facade.

"But anyway the research is like insanely restricted, so it was a big deal that we were allowed to get involved with it. We are just students, but they needed some new people to look at it. Rumors had it that the first team of researchers all came down with some infection. I am not sure if they are throwing students at it because they fear they might lose more proper scientists, but it is a huge chance for us," he continued.

I nodded again, getting frustrated by the length of this speech. I took a shallow breath feeling my emotions getting the better of me.

"Of course, I had to look into all the records I could get my hands on for this case. It was not on purpose, but I found this old casefile it was restricted even to us, but I had to know more, so I borrowed it. I was shocked by the file's content; it seems like the ministry has dealt with something similar to this fungus before years ago. There was this outbreak in a small town called Brightstone, and they had to burn it down. It was all contaminated. They were so sure the fungus was gone, but here it is again showing up."

I had heard about that town. He had told me about it, and how he got the last sample we had studied. Still, I kept my face neutral. It was better not to show mister Collingwood how invested I was in the topic.

"It is funny how your symptoms seem to match those from the report Romain. Where did you acquire this condition of yours?" he asked, giving me a piercing look.

I kept silent. There was no reason to play along with the unstated judgment.