Cumberland (Not A Dream Book 1) (4 page)

The graduation ended and I stood out in the hall. Many students had passed me in a rush to get home. I noticed Carolyn in outside talking to a bunch of men wearing black suits and Bluetooth earpieces. I looked closer and seen her look back at me. I saw her mouth, “
Bye,”
as she decided to come in.

              She walked up to me and asked, “Do you still plan to go to Cumberland?”

              I nodded and response and before she walked off, she stated, “Don’t get hurt,” with a raspy sound in her voice and a smile painted in her face. Olivia approached me and said, “Visiting hours is almost over, you need to go see your grandpa and show him your diploma.”

              “You’re right,” I agreed while I rubbed my forehead and yawned.

              “Getting old on me?” Olivia joked. I shrugged my shoulders and answered, “No, but someone we know is,” I answered while climbing in her truck.

              We were a couple of blocks away, and Olivia was texting on her phone. I told her shaking, “Please do not text while driving.”

              She laughed, “We will be fine.”

              I used a stern voice, “We will wreck.”

              “Oh, please!” she begged.

              “Haven’t you ever heard of Murphy’s Law?”

              “Yeah, I know. But have you ever heard of three quarter ton American-made steel truck with a lift kit and forty-two inch rims?”

              I giggled at her pompous attitude of her truck, “You are pretty sure of this truck, aren’t you?”

              She answered, “Yeah, this truck can handle anything.”

              She continued to look at me when we hit something in the road. I remembered seeing a glimpse of dark hair and then nothing. We raced out of the truck to see what she ran over and we didn’t find anything. We looked up to see if it were a bird, and all we seen was Mason standing by her tail gate. I was about to ask if he was okay, then he disappeared too quickly.

              “Did you just see that?” I asked Olivia, tugging on her sleeve. I looked up at her when she did not instantly respond, and saw her nodding in what seemed to be obvious shock.

              “We better go see your grandpa, and Mason better fix my dent,” she demanded.

              We quickly arrived at the retirement home and were taken into his room promptly. We entered slowly and he greeted us with, “Ahhh, Milly! How was graduation?”

              I pulled out my diploma and showed him my achievement. I noticed him hooked up to more machines than he was in the hospital. I said, “Graduation was fine, what is wrong?” I asked pointing at the machines.

              He coughed heavily while wheezing, and answered, “Just promise me something.”

              I leaned in closer and said, “Yes, anything.”

              “Read the book. Find my map. It will take you the safest route to arrive at Cumberland, no matter what happens to me,” he coughed more.

              “What are you saying?” I asked quietly.

              “You know exactly what I am saying,” he explained while staring me in the eyes.

              I didn’t want to leave him, not this sick. He is my world. I looked at Olivia, but the sadness caught my eyes and reflected onto hers. She turned away to cover the red in her face. He put his hand on mine as my hand rested on his chest.

              “I don’t want you to die,” I pleaded.

              “Death is just a new start,” he said with a smile.

              He began to whisper, and Olivia turned to walk closer to us, “
Milly, there is something you need to know.
”

              I matched his octave, “
What is it?
”

              He began to cough violently, and his heart monitor started to signal distress. The nurses rushed in and demanded we go. I yelled out, “Grandpa!” while still holding his hand. He told the nurses to wait one minute. They listened.

              “
Milly, your parents are not dead. They never died. They are in Cumberland.
”

              His hand slipped from mine as his monitor flat lined. I whispered, “
I love you.
”

              The nurses covered him, from head to toe, with a white sheet. The nurses looked at me and said, “I am sorry for your loss, but you must go now.” I nodded in agreement.

              I made it outside, even though my sight became blurred with tears. I paced back and forth at the front entrance, and folded my arms across my chest. The sun shown bright on my skin, but mind became gloomy with dark clouds. I could feel my face tighten in disparity.

              I felt a hand grab my shoulder.  Out of instinct, I grabbed the arm and threw the person without realizing who it was. Then, all of a sudden, I saw Olivia fly up and then she landed in a crouching position. “Oh my gosh! I am sorry, I didn’t know it was you,” I immediately apologized.

              “It is fine, it’s a good thing we were both trained for such activities,” she laughed.

              Despite her whimsical laughter, that would normally make me smile, my eyes became heavy with the warmth of sobbing Waterfalls. Olivia was quick to comfort me, “Milly, everything will be fine. We need to honor your grandpa’s wish. If he is telling the truth about your parents, we need to save them now. I will be by your side no matter what.”

              I hugged her tighter, and told her, “Thank you.”

              “But, we need to find the map first. Do you have any idea where it might be?” Olivia asked.

              “I think it might be in my fathers’ storage shed. He gave me the key to hold onto. Carolyn didn’t have a clue about it.”

              “Maybe there is a reason for that,” she stated.

              I lifted the key up, which was placed on my key chain and grinned, “Well, there is only one way to find out.”

              “See that cheered you up,” she grinned back.

              “Anything to help my dear old grandpa makes me happy.”

              The storage shed was number thirty-four. The numbers of each shed, in each row, were labeled on the doors with white paint. I remember my father bringing me here, but he would never let me in. He always told me, “When the time was right, you will see what it beholds.”

              Those words always made me ponder why. But I never questioned him. I trusted he knew what was best. But if he was so into Carolyn, it made me wonder why he neglected to inform her of such thing. It is just a storage shed,
isn’t it
?

              I opened it up and seen inside piles of papers and stacks of boxes. I looked at Olivia and she said, “Well, we got our work cut out for ourselves.”

              We began our search, without any luck. A couple hours have passed, and all the boxes were unpacked, and unorganized. I looked around to see if we missed anything. I noticed a poster on the back wall. I walked over there and turned my head to Olivia who was sitting cross-legged on the floor, “I don’t remember him having this poster before.”

              “Take it down, and see if it is the map.”

              I did so, carefully, and didn’t see how it could ever resemble a map. I flipped it to see the back of it and noticed a folded up piece of parchment paper. I took it off and unfolded to see a page that seemed to be ripped from a book. I asked Olivia, “Can you hand me my grandpa’s book please?”

              She quickly handed me the book. I looked through it quickly, and I found a slot where a page used to be and placed the ripped out page in the spot where the book had a page missing.  It fit perfectly. I flipped the page, as if it was still intact with the book, and I noticed the map was on the side I had not seen yet.

              “We need to find Mason,” I demanded.

              She looked at me, with her phone in her hand, “Already ahead of you.”

              She continued to talk on the phone, “Mason, it is me and Olivia, we need to talk….” She paused. “I got your phone number from friendsconnect.com; it was on your profile…” She paused again. “Great, meet you there.”

              The phone clicked to signal a disconnection, and I asked, “What did he say?”

              “He said, ‘
I need to talk to you guys’
.”

              “Odd. Where?” I asked.

              “The park,” she answered.

              “That is just down the road,” I pointed.

              We left the storage shed, and then looked down the road and seen him already there at the park bench. We approached him in haste, and he said instantly, “I know you know something about Cumberland. I need you to let me go with you.”

              I asked, “How did you know about that?”

              He answered, “My father is there. The man that raised me is not my true father.”

              “How do you know?” Olivia intervened.

              “I am too different. The man claiming to be my father is nothing like me…” he looked around, and continued, “He ages.”

              “And you don’t?” Olivia asked.

              “No.”

              “Then, who is he?” I asked.

              “He is a copy of a human,” he answered quietly.

              “A clone?” I was baffled.

              “Sent from the CIA, to cover up something.”

              “How do you know?”

              “I took DNA samples of him while he slept, and had a buddy of mine’s dad, who works for a forensics lab uptown. He said he has never seen this type of DNA strain before, in person, only in science journals of studies that would perfect human cloning.”

              “We need to go, now,” Olivia stated.

              “Why?” I asked her.

              “I think we are being watched,” she said.

              I looked around and seen a few men in black hide behind trees. I nodded, and Mason motioned us to follow. He took us to his house and we will lay the map down to pin where we go. He already had three survival bags packed and ready to go.

He took us into a darkened room with pictures of men from all generations surrounding the walls. Each man seemed to be a frozen sculpture painted on a canvas. Mason approached me, “The last one is my real dad.”

              “Oh, that is decorative,” I complimented. Olivia added, “Yeah sure is.”

              She paused and asked in a rude tone, “How did you find out, that the man that raised you is not your dad, again?”

              He sighed, “The man who tested his
blood
was Mr. Stone. He is the lead DNA analyst of the country. I am sure you have heard of him.”

              I instantly said, “I have heard of him.”

              Olivia added, “Yeah, he sounds familiar. Why did you say blood like that?”

              “Mr. Stone explained that in order to successfully make a clone, you need a liquefied onyx stone mixed with a person’s DNA. Liquid onyx can only be naturally made by a planet. You inject that mixture into a spare body,” he sighed. “Obviously that is not my blood.”

              Olivia smirked, “Duh! Our blood is red, not black.”

              Mason snapped back, “My blood is purple.”

              Olivia stated, “That is the color of a vampires’ blood only.”

              I stared aimlessly at him, and I could see Olivia’s face matched my surprised expression. I decided to change the subject, “Where did, whoever did this, find the liquid onyx?”

              “The CIA, to answer who, found it in Cumberland. The place used to be a type of safe haven for magical creatures to venture. There was once a man, by the name of Finley Porter, who stumbled upon the liquid onyx Waterfall. He was out tagging the creatures, to keep track of them, and noticed they were cloning themselves unknowingly. He probably heard of the legend of liquid onyx. Have you?” he looked at me.

              I nodded, “Yeah, my grandpa told me once. He said the Waterfall was white like snow, and shined like diamonds. Once it can in contact with blood, it will forever turn black, but if directly injected into an actual human, they will die, or turn into a gargoyle.”

              Mason said, “Exactly what happened to Finley Porter. He died trying to become a gargoyle. Then his wife, Carolyn, your step mother, discovered it only works if you are a vampire. She realized she had to find someone that could never die. Of course, the obvious answer is vampires.”

              I watched Olivia pace back and forth, so I asked her in a concerning tone, “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

              She looked at me and quickly turned to Mason, “You’re lying. Vampires don’t age. But, somehow you are.”

              He laughed awkwardly, “What fairy tales do you live in? Vampires stop aging at twenty-five years of age.”

              “My grandpa said that they never age. He had hunted them for years. I always thought he was making up stories,” Olivia stated. She put her hand to her forehead while looking down. It was obvious that she was in deep thought. Then she added, “He was killed
your
kind. I cannot trust you.”

              I stepped in, “Please, that was the past. And we are here
now
. I trust Mason, and you, Olivia.”

              She looked at Mason and nodded, “I’m sorry. You are right.”

              Mason put his hand on Olivia’s shoulder, “I won’t hurt you. I promise.”

              Olivia smiled at him and said, “Sure.”

              I stood there patiently, waiting for them to stop making the tension so severe in the room. Their gaze finally broke, and so did the tension. I did not know what to expect between the two of them. But, from the looks of it, I doubt it could be good. 

              A car door slam broke the silence. Olivia and I stared at Mason. He was looking out of the window, so we joined him. I looked out of the window and saw his clone dad get out of car, and then Carolyn pulled in behind him.

              Mason whispered, “
Stay here, both of you.
”

              He walked out of the room. Olivia and I looked outside of the window blind again. We were able to hear Carolyn speak.

              Carolyn said, “I gave you a life, now I have to take it away. I already killed one person, who tried to take your DNA sample public.”

              The clone worriedly asked, “What? I didn’t-.” and then before he could finish his sentence Carolyn pulled out a knife and cut off his head.

              The liquid onyx poured out of his body. The men, from my graduation, came out of the black jeep and picked up the dead clone body remains. They threw it in the back. Carolyn looked around and hopped in after the men and drove off.

              Mason reentered the room, with his phone in his hand. He regrettably said, “It is true. Mr. Stone died.”

              Olivia leaned back against the window and said, “I will try to help you. But only when I help Milly first.”

              “I will help you Mason,” I bravely stated.  I felt chills up my spine when Mason grabbed my hand. He kissed it and said, “Thank you.”

              I could feel my face turn red. His skin was cold, but felt nice against my nervous fever. I pulled my hand away slowly, and grinned slightly. The map was still in my bag, so I turned around to retrieve it. I unfolded the paper and laid it down on the desk.

              Olivia looked as if a light bulb just went off above her head and said, “Hang on, let me call my dad. He may be able to help.”

              “How?” I questioned.

              “He used to work for the CIA before he became a principle,” she answered before placing the phone up to her ear. She turned around and then a few seconds later I heard the echo of his voicemail.

              “I can’t get ahold of him,” she sadly explained.

              Mason told her, “If he has any ties to Cumberland, then he may already be gone.”

              “He can’t be gone!” She yelped.

              We stood in silence until another car door slam caught our attention. Olivia ran to the window and grinned, “I told you! He is here!”

              She ran outside, and then Mason and I trailed behind her. We walked outside and her Mr. Jack Hall said, “I can help you.”

              “How did you know we needed help?” she asked.

              He laughed, “You know where I used to work. Therefore, I keep a tracking device on your phone and truck that can also transmit audio.”

              Olivia’s eyes bulged wide, and her face turned deep red, “Oh-.”

              He interrupted her by saying, “Yeah… At least you know how to be safe with a guy.” He looked down and away as her face was in obvious shock and embarrassment.

              He walked in the house and asks, “What is the plan?”

              I answered, “Well, we were just about to look at the map to plan our next move.”

              “Where is the map?” he asked.

              “In here,” Mason waved his hand towards the room as he walked through the doorway.

              All of us surrounded the table, as Mason shut the curtains and turned on his desk lamp. Jack pointed at the printed name of the town,
Loch Springs
. He moved his finger down a few centimeters and said, “We are here.”

              He moved his finger diagonally up the map and explained, “We need to go here to enter Cumberland. It is where the secret passage is.”

              I asked, “Why is there a secret passage?”

              He answered, “It has been forgotten, until now. It was how the creatures of Cumberland got inside.”

              “Why don’t the creatures just leave the same way?” I pondered.

              He sighed, “By now, they are caged in. They cannot escape. Besides, once you enter, the only way out is through Cumberland. The exit, however, is where the CIA Testing Facility is. They test the creatures, and run experiments on them.”

              Mason grabbed the map and demanded, “Let’s go. I have only three survival bags,” he looked at Jack, and then continued, “I packed one for myself, one for Milly, and one for Olivia. Sorry Jack. Night is near. It is perfect time for a stroll.”

              Olivia shrugged her shoulders and shyly announced with a grin, “Here we go!”

              We drove, for what seemed forever, to an open glad beyond the trees. We exited Olivia’s truck, and walked towards a stump. Jack kicked it and it popped open. He said, “Let’s go!” as he jumped down inside it.

              We all followed one by one. Mason looked at me as I paused and he said, “Come on. It is safe.”

              I watched him enter. As he went down, he yelled, “It is like a wooden slide!”

              I shrugged my shoulders and jumped in last.