The Change of the World

Chapter 8: Progress

            "Man, my life's gotten weird."

            I said this as I laid back on a couch and stared at the ceiling. A lot of things have happened, and now I'm here at the hospital with my mom and the most famous person in school. It's weird how things change so quickly.

            As I was thinking to myself, someone tapped on my shoulder, "Hey, are you sure you're okay?" I looked to the person who just sat down to my right and said, "Yea, just thinking about some things." I looked at the papers in front of me on a table. Since our visit to JJ's has been delayed, Sarah had public records of Sullivan Nathers's family brought to the hospital for us to look at. However, it was a scary and disappointing sight. I closed my eyes and sighed, "I didn't think we should've interviewed anyone from his family, but I also didn't think the entire bloodline would be either dead or missing."

            The paper on file showed that every member of Sullivan Nather's family, going to the first cousin, was either dead or missing. "Do you know everyone's circumstances?" Sarah shook her head, "It's mostly unknown. With the older people or the ones with health problems, it says that the reason was related to age or health problems." I looked at the death date for each person, "Sullivan died first, but after that, there was a new death one week apart." Sarah titled her head, "Isn't that weird?" I nodded, "Yea. If they wanted to silence him, they would've killed just him or killed his family before him. This almost looks like.." Since I had gotten quiet, Sarah spoke up, "Um... Ethan?" I snapped out of my thought, "Ah.. sorry. This is weird, though. I think I have an idea about why this happened, but we'll talk more in a second."

            After I finished I put the papers in my bag and turned up the TV. A couple of seconds later, there was a knock on the door. Sarah got up to open it, and a nurse came in. The nurse smiled, "Hi, sorry. I'm just here to check on your mom and see if you two need anything." I smiled back, "Thank you. I think all we need is two blankets." The nurse replied as she checked on my mom, "Alright, I'll bring those here after I finish." Sarah and I sat on the couch and watched the TV while the nurse worked on my mom. After she finished, the nurse spoke to us, "She's doing alright now. We just need her to sleep. I'll be right back to bring you two blankets, but after that, I won't be back for an hour. If you need anything, though, please push this button." She pointed towards a button on the wall. I thanked her and waited for her to come back before talking about our paper.

            After the nurse brought us two blankets, I pulled out the papers from my bag. I set the family history to the side, "That's enough of that." I grabbed the following document from the table and looked it over. "Ah, so this is the obituary." Sarah nodded, "Yea, but it's also weird. It says that the guy died in an accident but never mentioned what type of accident." I rubbed my chin, "That's true. I know you probably had other people look for more information. Did you find anything else out?" Sarah thought for a second, then answered, "Not really. All I heard was that it was a bloody and gruesome scene."

            I felt something tingle inside of me. I heard Hino say the same thing, which would be weird unless they used the same source. I decided to ask Sarah, "Do you know who told you that, and if they're trustworthy?" Sarah looked surprised, "Of course, I know who they are, and yes, they are trustworthy." I looked up at the ceiling, "Next time you can talk to Hino, check your sources. Hino told me the same thing, which is weird unless you two are using the same person or the same source." Sarah looked confused, "What if our sources say the same thing? Why would it be weird that the sources say the same thing if that's what happened?" I closed my eyes, "You could call it a gut feeling, or you could call it weird reasoning, but if I were in the governments' shoes, I wouldn't bother leaving a trace of the person. No body was found that we know. However, if a lot of blood was found, that could explain the cause of death being unknown because there's evidence of a death happening. But in the same boat, then it wouldn't make sense that the government made the murder go that way. If they're trying to silence someone, why would they try to make a point by making a bloody scene." Sarah looked lost in thought, so I continued, "I also have another reason, but I want to talk to Hino about it first to hear her thoughts."