Legacy

Hollow revenge

Astor                                

That thief. I should have known better. I turned around on the couch, trying to keep down another violent cough. The apartment was empty. He had left with a suitcase before I had woken up. I was such a fool. I should have known better than to trust somebody like him. Now I had nothing and no real way to do anything about it. I shifted my weight on the couch, feeling the painful feeling of raw chunks of fungus coming up. It had not been worth bringing up, but I knew I did not have long left. The infection was going to do me in soon. I had somewhat made peace with that fact lately. Yes, I would be dead, but at least I would have achieved our dream, but now I had nothing. I would die alone and in shame, failing utterly to honor our work and goal. The thief had probably run off to get his "report" published. The thought alone made me furious. He would get all the credit, and I would die here alone like a fool. I did my best to cling to that anger. It was better than the feeling of pressing tears. Crying was going to do me no good besides, I did not need to be more pathetic. Being stranded in a traitor's apartment was terrible enough. I had to do something. There were too many places he could go to get published, and I had no way to check them all on my own. I was going to need help if I was going to catch him, but I had no allies in this city. The only person I ever got close to was him. Loneliness crept up on me the same dreadful feeling that had drowned me after I lost Garrick. I took a deep breath ignoring the pain and forced myself to get my emotions under control.

What would Nathan's plan be? To publish the papers and then go brag to his family. There was too little information for me to track him down on my own, but the ministry would surely be able to do it. The stupidity of it all was evident to me, but they were my best bet. I could tip them off about the thief with an anonymous letter. It was by no means a solid plan, but as a dying man, I had nothing to lose. The people from the ministry would be able to track him down, and I should be able to follow them. A bit messy as an idea worse in practice, but at least I would get some justice no matter what. Nathan would not get away with his stunt unpunished. Even then, I felt little joy in my plan as I went through a drawer, getting a pen and a piece of paper ready. This whole thing was awful. Why could the man not just have talked to me? We could have figured something. No compromise would have hurt as much as this.  

Nathan

I had to stop looking back at the apartment. There was no time for regrets now. And Astor would never have been happy with any compromise anyway I assured myself. This plan was for the better, and it would be even better if I got the hell away. The story and report I had was pure gold; it would not be hard finding a place willing to publish one or both of them. Still, maybe I should find a different city to publish in since the ministry would be looking for me here and in the area at least at some point. I was not arrogant enough to think I could get away with stealing from the ministry without at least some issues. But it would be worth it, and when the news was published, then they would be able to do very little. The plan was to travel out of the country to make it harder for legal means to be taken against me. With my few recourses, I had settled on taking a train to France, more specifically, Paris. It was a charming big, and noisy city that made it easy to disappear, and the scientific scene in the town was also prominent enough to be worth sharing the report with them.

As much as I should have felt joy now having all the means to make it big and finally gather the respect of my family, I still could not help but feel a bit sick. I had not felt like this after stealing from the ministry at all. If anything, I had felt pretty amazing. It was Astor the pale overserious man who would not leave my mind. I bought a newspaper hoping it would keep my thoughts away from him, but then I thought of yesterday and the delivery boy. I sighed. He was alright. I mean, yes, he was sick, and he just lost some vital research, but he would be okay. No, I knew he was not going to be alright, and trying to convince myself otherwise was not helping. I cast a few glances at a liquor store as I passed it but decided against getting anything. I had little money, and I better not waste what I have left on alcohol when I am not even sure I have enough for a train ticket to France. Was Astor going to be able to get help? His coughing was scary. Then again, how would they help when they had no research on his sickness? I shook my head, not now. There was no use for these thoughts. Focus on the goal get a train ticket get to France publish the research and then okay maybe a slight change in plans. I would write a letter to Astor when I had fixed things in France if nothing else to make sure he had not died on me. I could always visit my family later, as long as Astor was okay.