Knowledge+Power=Death

Chapter Eight: Cherry Jello

Coby Smith woke up in a hospital bed. When he woke up, he didn't remember what had happened the day before. He couldn't even remember why he was in the hospital bed in the first place. He was beginning to get all tangled up in his thoughts before an old, nurse with tons of wrinkles came in and interrupted his thoughts.

   "Oh my goodness! Hello there! You are finally awake!" The old nurse said in her sweet grandma voice. (You know the kind of voice that grandma's have that's really sweet and soft? Well, that's what her voice sounded like.)

   Noticing that Coby looked very confused, the old nurse tried to make him happy by saying, "You are very handsome, even when you are sitting in a hospital bed! You must be married! Are you?"

   After she said that, he remembered why he was sitting in a hospital bed. He also remembered what had happened the day before. With a sigh, he replied, "No, not anymore..." Then he trailed off into his thoughts.

   Of course she asked him, "Oh dear! What happened?"

   A tear came to his eye. That was one of the few subjects that he did not want to talk about at that moment, "Well, most think that she died in an accident doing her job as a scientist, but I have proof that that is not true at all." Then, he wiped a few tears from his eyes.

   "Oh my goodness! Let me get you a tissue!" The little old nurse said and hurried off to the nearest supply closet to get a fresh box of tissues for Coby.

   Coby tried to stop her by saying, "Oh no please! You don't have to-" but she was already gone.

   The little old nurse came running back in with a fresh new box of tissues. Then, she wiped the remains of his tears with a tissue, which was pretty awkward for Coby, "There we go! You are good as new. I'm sorry that I made you cry, I didn't mean too."

   Then, she looked as if she was on the brink of tears, "Oh no! You didn't make me cry, it's just um... allergies! Yeah! Allergies! That Dang pollen!" Then, he chuckled a little at his stupid excuse.

   "Oh good! Anyway, I need to go check on another patient, I will be right back Mr...." She checked the clipboard on the end of his hospital bed, "Mr. Coby Smith! I love that name by the way!" And with that, she left the room and hurried to the next room.

When the little old nurse came back in, before she could say anything, he thanked her for being so nice to him. He told her about how he'd been under a lot of stress lately and that she had brightened his day. When he said that, he meant it. She could tell that he meant it, and that made her smile and thank him for saying all of those nice things.

When they finished thanking each other for nice things, Coby asked the nurse, "So like, what happened to me? Did I just faint, or what?"

"Ah! I never thought you'd ask! What happened was, you fainted, for what ever reason, and when you fell, you hit your head really hard. You didn't wake up or stop bleeding, so a friend of yours brought you in. He told me to tell you that he would take care of your cat." The nurse replied with a smile.

"Oh, how pleasant! That must explain the stitches on my forehead." Coby said with a small laugh.

"Oh yes! Once you arrived here, the doctors realized that the cut on your forehead was very, very bad. So you had to be immediately rushed into surgery!"

"Okay, that will probably be a little costly..."

"Oh, indeed. Sadly, surgeries can cost up hundreds of thousands of dollars! But thankfully the surgery didn't take very long, and it wasn't that urgent. So, the bill will only be about a couple thousand at the most."

"Great, I mean, the cost isn't that great, but it's better than what it could have been!"

"True, true!"

"Anyway, would you like some jello? We have many flavors! We have strawberry, cherry, green apple, and orange!" The nurse asked him kindly.

"Umm... why not? I'll take the cherry please."

"Okay, I will be right back with you." The nurse replied as she left the room.

During the time she was gone, he got to thinking a lot. He thought about his wife. He thought about how thankful he was to have Robert take him to the hospital. He thought about his cat. He thought about how his cat would sadly never get that small whipped cream treat that he had promised his cat he would get for his cat. He thought about the Science Lab of California. Then, he thought about the blue Post-It Note that he had found at the Lab. The blue Post-It Note! Were was it?!?! Did he lose it? Did he drop it when he fainted? Did the police take it?

   He started to freak out, because he needed that blue Post-It Note. If he didn't have it, how would he prove to people that his wife's death was not an accident? How would he be able to prove those police men wrong? He needed that Post-It Note, and he needed it back. Right when he was about to jump out of his hospital bed, and run out the door, the little old nurse walked in.

   "Oh! Hello Mr. Coby Smith! You look frazzled! Is something the matter?" The nurse asked.

   "Yes! Something is in fact the matter! I lost the one piece of proof that I had to prove that my wife's death was not an accident! I lost my sacred blue Post-It Note! I lost it!" Coby said feeling like a failure.

   "Oh! No need to be worried!" That's when she whispered something to him while she was handing him the jiggling jello, "The Jello has the key! I repeat, the Jello has the key!" Then she left the room and Coby never say her again.

   At that point, Coby was very confused. Knowing that "the Jello had the key," made him very anxious and stressed out all at the same time. When Coby gets stressed, he eats a lot. So, he ate his cherry Jello. When he finished eating the Jello, he couldn't find any "keys" anywhere in the Jello, so he got even more confused. That's when he felt something that felt like tape being peeled off the bottom of the plate that held the Jello.

   He looked under his plate. At first, he couldn't see anything, but that was because of the bad lighting. When he looked even closer, he could see something, like a piece of paper taped to the bottom of the plate. He slowly peeled off the tape with his heart beating very fast.

   "It couldn't be..." he said to himself.

   After he peeled of the tape, he took off the piece of paper that was sticking onto the plate, "It is!" He said.

   It was the blue Post-It Note! He read what it said: Kaitlin Keen's Death Was Not An Accident. He cheered to himself in joy. Then, he flipped the note over. There was something written on the back. In fancy handwriting, it read: There are many secrets in this world young Coby. Some of them you may figure out, but most you will not. I am a member of a secret organization that is designed to hate people, but I want to help you. You will never see me again, but never worry about me. I know a lot about you, but have no fear. Your secrets are safe with me.
Signed,
Cleopatra R.

Coby was left speechless. He was shocked. He was stunned. How had she gotten the note? How had she found him? Was he a target of some huge organization that he didn't know about? He was left with so many questions that he feared would never be answered.