The Virus-Part 2

July 27, 1972

“Violet are you almost done writing out the recipe to the poison?”

“Yes Matthew it’s a leaf from the Virus, ground up crystal from Mount Tamsri, and splash of water Lypso Creek.”

“Good now hide it for now I’ll mail you the coordinates soon.” Matthew Buris replied.

April 3, 2024          Present Day         (Sorta) 

“Your parents are the reason we all live in despair.” The man said.

“What do you mean?” I asked tears rolling down my cheek, knowing that the man was going to blame me and Vicky for something our parents did. 

“Long ago back in 1967 your parents did a horrible thing. They took a common house plant and then turned it into a type of virus that 90 years later would go off and spread as a way to try to wipe out humanity.” The man explained.

“But why would they do that?” Vicky asked in horror.

“Know one knows.” The man told.

“You can call me Jack.” Jack said.

“Well, hello Jack.” I said.

“Hello.” He replied.

I turned around in the distance to see the world around me of 30 years in the future.

“Hey, Jack, can I tell you something, like how we got here.” I asked.

“Um-sure I guess.” He stuttered.

“Vicky found out that our parents were talking about something shady and overheard them talking about some sort of bomb that was going to go off in 60 years. She also saw some coordinates so we decided to follow these coordinates. The coordinates lead us to this giant oak tree with a hole just small enough so that me and Vicky could fit through so we fell through this whole thing for like 2 hours then we landed in the abandoned warehouse and I had to kick down a door and now I'm half traumatized.” I say as if I'm out of breath. 

“Yeah” Vicky said with a sigh.

“If only there was a poison that could kill off these plants” Jack sighed.

“Actually there is.” Vicky replied.

“What really you could save the world this way Vicky what is it?” Jack replied with a look of hope in his eyes.

“ Well when they were talking they also mentioned a second pair of coordinates which I also wrote down.” Vicky said while showing me and Jack the piece of paper with the coordinates on it.

“It might be the poison!” Vicky half shouted.

“Good thinking.” The man Jack said. 

Jack was tall and around the age of 20 or so. He had dark brown hair that was shaggy and untidy like he hadn't had a haircut in a while. He had stone grey eyes that had hurt in them. 

After an hour or so of driving we met up with the coordinates. There we took a small garden shovel and dug for an 1 and a half till we saw a small wooden box that was covered with dirt and was grimmy from age. Vicky then blew it off and opened it. There inside stood a small, yellow, tarnished piece of paper that had a list on it. The ink on the page bleed threw the backings of the paper and was black and crisp. There on the bottom of the page was a small signature one I had seen many times whether it was a check or signing my suspension card. It hurt knowing I was cleaning up my mother's mess. I could never forgive her. Not now. Not ever. Yet seeing this signature of the women I now hated made me burst into tears. 

“Meghan what’s wrong?” Jack asked.

“Nothing, it's just my mother’s signature.” I said wiping my tears off my face with my sleeve.

“Oh,” Jack replied, not sure whether to comfort me or to stay away like he knew how to do.

“The paper reads a leaf from the virus, a ground up crystal from Mount Tamsri, and a splash of water from lypso.” Vicky said in confusion.

“Well let’s start from the beginning.” Jack said.

“A leaf from the virus should be easy.” Jack said as he pulled a leaf from the plant next to him.

Vicky then proceeded to pull out a pen from her pocket and cross off the leaf from the virus.

“Done!” Vicky said with excitement.

“Ok next, is a ground up crystal from Mount Tamsri.” I say.

“Where even is that?” Vicky asks.

“Up there.” Jack says as he points to a giant snow peaked mountain. 

“We need to go to my house. I have a bunch of old books that my Great Grandfather gave to me a while back before he died. I'm sure there will be something about the crystals and where to find them in some of the books. So then me, Jack, and Vicky packed up the wooden box with the list and the leaf tucked securely inside of it, the shovels and gear of such sort. Walked back to Jack’s car doing the best we could to avoid the Virus plant. We got to the car 10 minutes later we put the shovels and gear in the trunk, and we put our backpacks and the wooden box with the leaf and the list in the back. I sat up front with Jack while Vicky sat in the back with the gear. We drove for about 2 hours with a beautiful scenic drive to Jack’s house. Doing my best to ignore the Virus my mother had created. The woods were filled with a light snow that was leftover from March. The snow twinkled in the sunlight that soon would be the snow's killer.

We drove for a long time. Most of the drive was Vicky asking all these questions to Jack about her father and how long the Virus has been around. I sat there quiet as I could be looking out the window that was now fogging up due to my breath. We continued driving until Vicky asked a question that I was actually interested in. “So what town is this?”

“This is Riverside.” Jack says.

“It’s where I live too.” He finishes.

“Cool, that's where me and Meghan are from too.” Vicky reptiles.

We turn some more corners. On streets I’ve driven on before. Too many memories. My head begins to hurt. 

“Ok this is my house.” Jack says as he pulls into the driveway.

“Wait, this is my house.” I say in astonishment.