Divagate

Chapter 25

Chapter 25
Lia
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Oh. My. God. He remembers! I can't believe he actually remembers! My leg begins to bounce out of pure excitement and happiness. He knows everything I've been saying is true. Holy shit this is incredible!

"You got to see them," Darwin props his head up against the window, staring at the car roof for a minute before turning to look at me. "Amy and Tyler. You're so lucky." He lets out a small laugh with a smirk. My leg stops bouncing.

"I don't know how 'lucky' I really am." I reply with a sad smile.

"What do you mean?" He arches an eyebrow.

"They didn't seem to remember me." I say quickly as I drop my eyes, trying my best to keep my composure. Darwin inhales,

"Oh."

"Amy mentioned that I reminded her of her own daughter, but that was it." There's a pause in the conversation.

Amy and Tyler never had kids, so we were the closest thing they had to a son and a daughter.

Both of us just sit there, knowing what's coming next but not wanting to truly acknowledge it. After a few minutes, Darwin finally addresses it,

"Did either of them say anything about another kid?" He asks hesitantly, seeming almost scared about the answer. I bite my lip. What if he flips out? No, I need to tell him the truth. I shake my head,

"No, I'm sorry." I look away out of fear he's going to explode. With each second that ticks by my anxiety grows. I sneak a glance at him, hoping to estimate when he's going to blow. All he's doing is staring at his hands in his lap. He blinks slowly, then nods,

"Probably for the best." A wave of sadness crashes into me. He doesn't want Amy and Tyler to know about all of the things he did. He doesn't want them to think he's the monster Myer Labs wants him to be. I'm sure they wouldn't, but there's still a chance they'd think both of us are.

This was a horrible idea. Here I was thinking giving Darwin his favorite Pop-Tart would make him happier. Boy was I wrong.

"Did they seem to be doing well?" Darwin questions, continuing to keep his head down.

"Yeah," I twist the empty Pop-Tart wrapper, creating a pocket of air inside. "Their lake house was pretty nice."

"That's good." Yeah. I wonder how they got it. I mean, they were financially stable when we lived with them, but not enough to afford a lake house like that. Huh.

It doesn't matter at the moment. What matters is that Darwin remembers and knows I was telling the truth.

Wait, he knows I wasn't lying about anything from the past, so he has to know I'm not lying about Charlotte, right? Yes, of course he believes me, what am I thinking? Unless...

"I'm so sorry for throwing this at you right away, but..." I trail off, the words getting caught in my throat.

Lia, don't do this right now. This is a lot for him to take in.

"Lia, you know you can talk to me." Darwin finally lifts his head, looking directly into my eyes.

He's right. We've been through so much together, so of course I can tell him anything. I take a deep breath,

"Do you believe me that Charlotte is working with Myer Labs?" He stills. I can practically see the gears turning in his head.

Please please please say yes. Don't let me down.

"I think so." What?! What kind of answer is that? Suddenly the whole mood in this truck has shifted.

"You think so?" I repeat. There's no way I heard him correctly.

"I think so." Darwin affirms. Blankly, I stare back at him. He's kidding. He has to be kidding.

"What makes you say that?" I implore. Darwin shrugs,

"I now understand that you were telling the truth about life before Myer Labs. However," he pauses, mulling over how he wants to phrase this.

"However?" I press. Holy fuck this anticipation is killing me!

"Some stuff Charlotte told me makes me a little skeptical." I continue to stare back at him, squinting my eyes slightly.

"Okay," I draw out the word as I process what Darwin said. "So what did she say?"

"Um, remember when you had that withdrawal and passed out?"

"Uh huh." Where is this going?

"Charlotte said other side effects might include hallucinations." My eyes widen and my mouth drops instantly.

"That bitch." I hiss. I squeeze the Pop-Tart wrapper so hard it pops. Darwin flinches, his hand flying to his waistband.

Charlotte knew I might find out about her being in cahoots with the Myer Labs dumbasses, so she lied to the others in the hopes that they'd pick her over me, because who's going to believe a mentally unstable lab experiment over an educated and charismatic doctor's assistant? To be honest, I probably wouldn't believe me, either.

"So," Darwin's voice quivers slightly as he tries to calm himself down. "You haven't hallucinated at all?"

"No, no of course not." I grit. I don't mean to be mad at him, but it sure appears like I am. "The closest I got to it was being all loopy from the uh, ki... laughing gas."

It still feels so shitty of me to have kissed both Darwin and Lincoln. What the fuck is wrong with me? From the backseat, Darwin sighs,

"I believe you." I freeze,

"Wait, really?" Thank God!

"Yeah, but I can't guarantee Lincoln and Siggy will."

He's got a point. We have to find a way to get them to be on our side and help keep us from getting caught. They aren't going to trust words alone. We need physical evidence.

"Charlotte's medical bag." I lean forward, a smile spreading across my face at the idea. "She had the 'knockout' inside, so she must be hiding other things in there, like her phone."

"Perfect. I bet Vince can help us get it." Darwin offers.

"No," In response, I receive a confused head tilt. "He knew about the 'knockout', so he has to know about Charlotte, too." Darwin throws me a downcast look, further enforcing his opinions about this. "I'm sorry, Darwin, but it's just too big of a risk."

"Nah, it's all good. I get it." He nods, running his finger along the seam on the leather seats. Suddenly he takes a breath, "So what's the plan?"

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Salut, tout le monde!

It's been a hot minute, hasn't it? I caught another bout of writer's block. Yay. I think I'm getting over it, though. I just have to keep writing and fix what I wrote after finishing the chapter.

I hope you all are doing well and had a wonderful time celebrating the holidays! On that note, happy 2022! Let's make this year a great one!

Thanks for reading chapter 25!💕