Remember More

Chapter 03

John turned away. He wandered over to the French doors to the back of the property, the ones that the couch was facing. The doors were of the floor to ceiling variety and they made the old man in the wheelchair appear that much smaller. It was a clear night. The stars were out. "I wanted to do this face to face. I wanted…well…I wanted to make sure that you knew exactly what to do once...um...once I'm gone for good."

He chuckled. "What? You planning on going some place?"

"You know perfectly well what I mean." John spoke without turning around.

"And suppose I do. So what? I've known what to do for years now. You've always been well prepared. You've had that will made out decades ago and you update it every year." He crossed his arms over his chest.

John turned around to face him.

Jonas smirked. "And I know who to call. I know Jerry. I've known him all my life. You're not going to tell me that you dragged me all the way back from the other end of the world just to tell me a bunch of things I already know! There's something else, isn't there? What aren't you telling me? What are you hiding this time?"

John scowled at his son. "Sit down."

"I prefer to..."

"Sit down!" John jabbed his finger at the couch.

Jonas scoffed. He shook his head but in the end, he sat himself down into the couch.

John dipped his head down to stare at the paneled, hardwood floor. "This is about your brother..."

Jonas tossed his head back and laughed. "Well, this is a surprise! Isn’t he the one we're never supposed to talk about?"

John's head snapped up. "Will you turn off the flippant attitude for just one second so I can..."

"My own brother…" Jonas began raising his voice. "…my own flesh and blood who..."

"...you're always like this..." John rolled in closer.

"...but no! We can’t talk about him..."

"...you never listen..."

"...who dies in a freak lab fire..."

"...there was no fire!"

Jonas stopped. He turned to stare at his father.

The echoes from the men’s shouting died down.

Jonas eased in closer. "What?"

"There was no fire. That was…” John sighed. “…it was just the story we told them...and you."

Jonas sat up in the couch. "Then my brother didn't die in a lab accident?"

"Well...it was an accident…just no fire." John sat back in his wheelchair. He deflated a little and looked less stiff. Lifting his hand, John pointed over to the liquor cabinet by the wall. Jonas got up and poured his father a drink. Then one for himself as well.

After Jonas sat back down on the couch and placed the drinks on the coffee table in front of them, John coughed into his hand and adjusted himself in his chair.

And then he told him. He told him everything. About the lab, the experiments, the mice. And what happened to Rob and eventually what happened after he ran away from the hospital and back into the lab. And everything he said too.

Altogether, it took him about five minutes to unravel the whole tale. The longest five minutes of his life.

~~~

"So, you're saying he was poisoned?" Jonas was holding his liquor in his hand, twirling the glass around. He never did take a drink.

"It was an accident."