The Matinbury Estate

Chapter Four: TeMpUs

I looked towards the guest bedroom one last time. Headache. Still ticking down the seconds until my hesitation would kill me. It was something about this wing of the house that chilled me to my core. I was filled with regret for coming here again. I hated this place. I stepped into my bedroom and looked towards my cartoonish and childish bed. I walked over cautiously and sat down next to the box that remained in its place. The letter remained opened, sitting out on the covers. Perhaps it was fear that kept me from sharing this truth with you. Fear. Isa was afraid to share this with me. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

I looked to the box and undid the latch. It clicked open and I lifted the lid to look inside the box that Isa wanted me to see years ago. Inside was a small vial. I could see that it was filled with a green liquid that shone mysteriously. It was somehow luminescent and dark at the same time. I pondered what it was. It couldn't be component X. Kassidy was already using it. It had to be something else. I picked up the vial and saw that another envelope was underneath it. I picked it up and ripped it open. A long letter. I saw the handwriting looked desperate and quick.

When I saw what it said I knew that this changed everything.

Dear Little Julia,

Sweet little Julia. I wish that I could fully apologize to you for the gravity of the situation I placed on you. All of your life, I have told you countless lies. I have covered the truth from your innocent, curious and kind eyes, knowing that the longer you didn't know the more it would hurt you. I have done terrible things, Julia. Now that you're leaving for college, it is wrong for me to throw you in with me. But I have no choice but to do it. If I don't, innocent people will die. Please do this one thing for me and you will save them all.

You likely remember the day that I got into that car accident. When I learned that I would never walk again I knew that there would be problems. There were. We were researching a biological vaccine called component X that enhanced muscular growth. The intention was to create a super soldier in a government program assigned to assassinating a notorious murderer in San Francisco. We succeeded in the creation of component X. It would work as intended but would kill the host only three minutes after inoculation. After this realization, the government lost a lot of interest in our project.

They cut off our funding and Me and Herman knew that the money for the project would have to come out of our pockets. We sold all of our stock and many things on the property. Now we were broke and I lost my ability to walk. The treatments, wheelchair and updating our house to make it accessible to me was too costly. We were at risk of going bankrupt, Julia.

This pressured me to do something that I should never of done. I wish I could go back in time but what's done is done. I am trapped in the decision I made. Herman doesn't know about it. He couldn't know. A month after the accident, I received a call from an anonymous number. A man was on the other end. I couldn't recognize his voice. He offered money, Julia. A lot of money. He was connected to the police and he offered to siphon funds to me in exchange for a virus. I created the AQV. He requested something lethal that could be used in its dormant phase as a sedative. I was scared and he offered me so much money that I couldn't refuse.

I know more about him now. He is a serial killer and I supplied him with the ultimate weapon. It wasn't a contagious virus but it could be made to be spread through air itself if you knew how. I gave a serial killer a weapon that could potentially kill everyone exposed. The guilt that has remained with me is unbearable. But now I am paying for it. I just wished that you didn't have to pay with me, little Julia.

Kassidy took interest in component X while I was working on the AQV. She spent more time in the basement lab and she eventually discovered something. I have a secret lab in the basement behind one of the cabinets. We would use this during our classified government protected projects. But she discovered me developing the AQV. She saw that I was working to disguise components involved in the virus's creation. She was craftier than me and knew immediately what I was doing.