Page 12 of The Beachside Cafe 5
When the doors finally opened, he ran out and looked to his right. The door to the room he’d gone in was still standing open.
He darted down the hallway to the open door and went in, taking the same route through the internal office space until he came into the experiment room. Jaymee was rummaging around in a cabinet. When she turned abruptly to see it was him who entered the room, his heart went up into his throat.
She had red rings around her eyes, which normally would indicate she’d been crying but in this case, there was another cause. Her hair was matted to her head and she was sweating profusely. He could see pain in her eyes and could only hope it wasn’t too much.
“Cameron…” she said breathlessly. “I’m glad you’re here. Help me. Help me find anachromatisium. It’s the only thing that will make this go away. I’m going to burn from the inside out if I don’t find it. I think… this is like spontaneous combustion but… they’re trying to recreate it on their own.”
Cameron felt a little sick to his stomach. He wanted to ask how she knew it but when he glanced around the room, he got a gist of what had happened since he left. There was a large book sitting open on one of the counters. The bottle that Cameron assumed was used to hold the liquid Amanda had put into Jaymee was sitting next to it.
He ran to the open book and scanned it, flipping through a few pages. He returned it to the page Jaymee had it open to and ran his eyes down over the graphics and informational data until he came to one word written in red. Anachromatisium.
He’d never heard of it.
A crash of bottles behind him made him spin around. Jaymee was sweeping her arm through one of the cabinets, crying out in despair.
“It’s not here! It’s not here! Cameron! Oh, Cameron!”
Cameron ran to her side and wrapped his arms around her, despite the fact that she was soaking wet. “We’re going to find it, Jaymee. Don’t give up! Don’t give up! You look over there. I’ll take this refrigerator.”
He pushed her gently toward the counter he was referring to and went straight to the refrigerator, which he could see through the front glass was filled with bottles. The labels showed they were all different. He would have to look through each one till he found the one he was looking for. At least the long name wouldn’t be easy to forget or mistake for a different one.
He was searching through the last two rows on the top shelf when his eyes spotted a bottle with the long name written across the front in block letters. He snatched it and turned while saying, “I found it, Jaymee! I found…”
He stopped when he saw that Jaymee had slumped to the ground. His heart jumped in his chest and he ran to her. He knelt beside her and touched her neck. She was still alive, her pulse weak.
He ran to the tray beside the chair she’d been strapped to and grabbed an unused needle. He ripped the packaging open with his teeth and, with shaking hands, drew some of the liquid from the small jar into the needle.
“Come back to me, Jaymee,” he said, grabbing her arm to give her the injection. “Come back to me safe and sound so you can be my wife and we can grow old together.”
He slid the needle neatly into the inside crook of her arm, choosing an obvious vein.
“Come back to me.”
NINE
It took the rest of the day for Jaymee to recover from the poisoning. She was getting restless by the next morning and came down to breakfast to see she had company. Cheyenne and Alex were there, sitting at the island in the middle of the kitchen on tall bar stools with Cameron.
They all looked up and cheered when she entered the room, greeting her with pleasant hellos. Cameron got up and came to give her a hug.
“I’m so glad you’re okay, Jaymee,” he said. He pulled away from her and held her at arm’s length. He bent slightly at the waist so he was looking directly in her eyes. “You do know who I am, right? You know where you are? What’s the day, month and year?” He held up three fingers. “How many fingers am I holding up? What is two plus two?”
Jaymee laughed, putting one hand against her forehead. “That is way too many questions all at once. I might be a little damaged by the poison.”
“You weren’t damaged at all, my girl,” Cameron said with a laugh, pulling her back into a warm hug. She enjoyed it thoroughly, closing her eyes and pushing herself against him.
After a moment, he released her and with a quick peck on the lips, they joined Cheyenne and Alex at the table.
“So how are you feeling, Mom?” Cheyenne questioned her mother, peering closely at her as if she expected to see some injuries.
“I feel fine.”
“Did you really think you were going to spontaneously combust?” Alex asked. “Because that’s a theory I’ve been working on for a long time and I’ve always wondered how it felt beforehand. If people start to feel a little hot and it builds or if they just go up in flames.”
Jaymee raised her eyebrows at him. “I’m surprised you’re wondering about something like that. You’re a scientist.”
Alex gave her a blank look. “If there’s a more interesting scientific study to be performed than investigating spontaneous combustion, I can’t think of what it could be.”
Jaymee nodded. “Well, that’s true, yes.”
