Legacy

A letter

Astor

After I had made my agreement with mister Marston, we had elected to move to a more secure location. Of course, I could not just disappear, so we staged a little escape for me. I cannot say I felt much remorse when Marston asked me to rough him up a bit to make it look authentic. Currently, we were staying in the man's house. It was a prominent place for one man with enough space for two people living there never to cross paths. It was curious, but since it was a personal matter, I decided not to ask.

"We need to get our hands on the report if we are going to work on a cure. You told me it was in Nathan's possession?" Marston asked.

I sipped my tea before nodding in response.

"Do you have any idea of where he might be hiding?" he continued.

I thought the question over a bit. It was doubtful Nathan would be with his family, and as far as I knew, the man did not seem to have a lot of friends. Logically speaking, where would he be hiding? If he wanted to publish the research, he would need to be near a bigger city, but that would be dangerous here in England as the ministry would be looking here first. A better choice would be to leave the country. There were a few nearby choices, the best one probably being something like France. Independent but close enough to arrive in a few hours. The issue then was that France was a big country with more than one big city. Even if Nathan had taken a direct option like the train, there was no reason why he would pick one big town over another. Going on a wild goose chase in France on a maybe deduction was not helpful. It would require time they did not have not to mention the ministry would most likely find him first anyway. I groaned. Why did he have to leave like that anyway? This whole situation was so pointless. You would both have been way better off if he had just stayed. I collected myself before I went too far down that train of thought. Stressing over the past was not going to help anything now. "He most likely went to France, but that is just a guess. In truth, I have no idea." I admitted.

"That makes sense. Though I highly doubt we are going to find him before the ministry does," Marston sighed. A sentiment we both shared: "We cannot do much about that. I agree, but we do have our sample to work with, so maybe we should focus on that," I suggested. The man reached over to pour some more whiskey giving a tired reply: "I guess, but that is going to take a long time." Time we did not have since we had no idea for how long the government kept people contained before putting them down. Still, for lack of better options, we got to work. I recited all the research I remembered. At first, it was not much, but as I got into the swing of things, it slowly started creeping back. The work was steady, and for a while, Marston was hopeful it would not take too long despite my warnings that scientific research took time, then a new thing threw a wrench into our plans, more specifically a letter.

"I went past Nathan's apartment today," Marston informed me. I nodded, keeping my focus on the notes in front of me. Maybe if I had paid more attention, I would have noticed his tone was off: "And I found something addressed to a letter to you." I gave a small sound of agreement. Then I took a step back in surprise when the man threw something down on my notes. The letter looked soaked but otherwise relatively new. It was, as Marston said, addressed to me. I was stunned. Why would Nathan send a message to me? It had to be him; he was the only one knowing I had even lived in his apartment. I squinted my eyes just looking at Nathan's horrendous handwriting. Numbly I accepted the letter-opener Marston handed me. Carefully I opened the letter scared it might just be a fever dream. "So what is he writing to you," Marston asked impatiently. I shook my head, focusing on the message. I read it once then twice then one more time feeling more confused and frustrated after each read. "He wants to meet," I replied, feeling conflicted. "Meet?" Marston sounded confused. I could not do much to help that. "Yes, he wants to meet in two days at his apartment," I clarified. "That is convenient, is it not?" the man pointed out. I had to agree this whole thing felt wrong, but I had no idea what the course was. "It is, but on the other hand, it could just be luck. Still, I suggest we carefully approach this. It might be a trap," I concluded. Marston nodded in agreement. That letter was cursed. Whatever had breathed it into existence was nothing good. That did not stop me from reading it again and again while carelessly burning my tongue on more tea. My senses had been more dulled recently; it was odd. Not that my dull senses were terrible. I could still pick up on things Marston seemed unaware of, but they were not as debilitating. That should be a good thing, but the issue was I did not know the reason behind it. I hoped this meeting would turn out alright and that Nathan had finally come to his senses. It was just hard to have faith in that line of thinking with how things had been lately. I stole some whiskey mixing it with my tea; the combination was an abomination, but I needed it. My nerves were getting the better of me. It would not do with pulling more all-nighters before the meeting. I had to be prepared, not half asleep.