Read Online 44: Book Three by Jools Sinclair - Free Book Online

I could remember was the black, the nothingness.
    “It was just dark and—”
    “And what?”
    “I remember being scared. Real scared. Scared like I’d never been before in my life. It was like I was in a void in the center of the earth. A dark vacuum. It was awful.”
    “Good,” he said. “That helps, Abby. Please go on.”
    “There’s nothing else,” I said. “It’s just like I said. I woke up.”
    He shook his head.
    “But there’s got to be something more you remember,” he said. “It’s critical to the research.”
    “I guess I can think more about it, “I said. “See if anything comes back.”
    He nodded.
    “Good,” he said. “Now, I know that you had some physical difficulty in that year afterwards. Memory issues. Coordination problems and trouble walking and running. I was glad to see those improve over time. But I am sorry that you won’t ever be able to see colors again.”
    I stared at him.
    “The color blindness is the one regrettable side effect of my serum. There really is no way around it. Two of the vital compounds that I’ve used cause that condition, so it can’t be helped. Still, all in all, it’s a pretty good deal. Your life for impaired vision. I think you would agree that life without color is better than no life at all.”
    I felt sick inside. I didn’t know if what he was saying was true or not. Kate and Dr. Mortimer had convinced me that Nathaniel had been lying about the entire thing, that he hadn’t even been at the hospital that night. But now I wondered.
    I was quiet for a moment, listening to the rain while dark thoughts churned in my mind.
    Maybe Nathaniel was telling the truth.
    As he walked over to the window, I finished the soda and stood up. I was ready to go back upstairs. I needed to get away from him and think things through with a clear head.
    He turned around and looked at me. The smug smile was gone, replaced by something else. As I stared at him, watching that bright energy buzz around him, he looked away suddenly as if embarrassed.
    “Good night, Abby,” he said, clearing his throat. “We’ll pick up tomorrow night at the same place. And I’d be most appreciative if you could try to remember more about that time period we discussed.”
    I left, trying to hold it together as I flew up the stairs back to the bedroom, until I could close the door behind me.
     
    ***
     
    I called out for Jesse. I wanted to talk to him, to ask him if anything Nathaniel had been telling me was true.
    If I was alive because of the serum.
    I was certain that Dr. Mortimer was the one who had brought me back to life. But now, I wasn’t so sure. Now, I was wondering if some of what Nathaniel was saying was true.
    For the first time in a long time, I was seriously considering the possibility that I really was the product of some freakish experiment. And as much as I tried, I couldn’t chase the thought away.
    That it could have been Nathaniel who had saved me.
     

 
    CHAPTER 14
     
    I called out to Jesse a few more times. He might know about whether it was Nathaniel who had saved me. But he didn’t show up.
    I walked over to the window and looked out at the lights of the island.
    It had been a long day, and an even longer evening. I pulled out The Lady from Shanghai with Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth and put it into the player, turning the sound down low. I was always struck by how handsome he was in his younger years.
    I crawled under the soft down comforter, trying to release my mind from the turbulent thoughts building inside me, but it was impossible to keep them at bay.
    I fell asleep for a little while, but I woke up again just after midnight. I couldn’t stop thinking about Nathaniel. About not being able to see colors. About the serum.
    I walked over to the window and that’s when I saw it.
    The moon.
    The moon was out and the sky was clear. The wind had died down and there was no fog.
    The storm had passed.
    I put in another movie while I collected