Chapter Four
Axel
I think all the legal documents scare me far more than they do Everest. He was a mess for weeks after we left the coordinate house, and yet he seems all too eager to jump into Blightridge.
I mean, I get it. I know why. He’s a fiend for the high, the same way that I am.
We’ve been friends since we were toddlers, and it’s something that’s always been a part of who we are, of our relationship.
We’ve never tried hard drugs, but if we ever did, we’d be instant addicts.
We’re always searching for that next… thing.
Everest has another side to him, though.
A side that worries me. There’s a void in him that I don’t know how to fix, and it’s almost like a third wheel that neither of us can confront.
There’s this emptiness inside of him, a darkness that seeps into every aspect of his life and transforms him into someone unrecognizable.
It’s always there, but sometimes it’s a lot more prominent.
He’s already pretty quiet, but when things get bad, he gets lost in his own head a lot.
He’s more anxious and irritable. He never wants to go anywhere or do anything. He isn’t him.
I’m worried about how it will affect him while we’re there.
I’ve never left him to deal with it alone, but I wish I knew how to actually help him.
I’m not a doctor, though, and every time he talks to them about it, they just throw more medications at him.
None of them help. Some just make it worse.
He ended up in the hospital last time and swore he wasn’t going to take pills anymore.
I feel like he’s been a lot happier since then, but that’s the problem. His illness isn’t always visible.
I’m pacing around Everest’s coffee table in the middle of his living room while he lounges lazily on his couch like he doesn’t have a worry in the world.
He literally grabbed a pen as soon as we walked through his front door.
I had to physically wrestle it away from him so that he wouldn’t immediately sign the damn papers before we could even discuss all the shit the lawyer just spewed at us. I understand being excited, but damn.
“It’s a lot of money, Axel. My house will be paid off.” He argues with a shrug.
“I get that, Ev. I promise, I do. Medical testing, though? What the fuck does that even mean?”
“That’s just legal jargon to cover their bases. If something happens to us and they need to do blood work or give us medications, and they didn’t have us sign that, we’d be in a world of hurt. Especially if we were unconscious or something, you know?”
“Yeah, and what if it isn’t just for covering their bases? What if they actually do medical tests on us?”
“Like what, Axel? Check our thyroid levels and get our blood type? Test us for transferable viruses and diseases before allowing us around hundreds, maybe even thousands, of people that they’re responsible for? Hell, I’d be very surprised if they don’t do that.”
Dammit. He’s definitely got a point there.
“Okay… Yeah… That actually makes a lot of sense. What about the psychologist thing? Why would we need to meet with a shrink?”
“Really, Axel? Where has your brain gone? This is exactly why,” he says as gestures to me. “People tend to lose their minds under pressure. They have to make sure that we aren’t going mentally insane from living in a prison. Especially since we don’t belong there.”
I scrub my hands down my face before plopping down on the couch beside him. It’s obvious that he’s thinking more clearly than I am, because for the last hour I’ve rambled off question after question, and he’s had very reasonable and valid answers for all of them.
“Alright. Fine.” I concede as I run my hands through my hair nervously.
“Great!” He says with excitement as he leans forward and grabs the pens, tossing one over to me. “Mortgage free life, here I come.”
We were back in the lawyer’s office as soon as they opened, at eight in the morning sharp, to drop off our contracts.
He simply said, ‘they’ll be in contact with you later today’ and dismissed us.
We made our way into the office, thirty minutes late thanks to Everest insisting on us stopping to get coffee on the way, but our boss doesn’t even seem to mind.
In fact, we haven’t even seen him. I’ve been in Everest’s office since we got here two hours ago, because it’s not like I can open a project right now.
If I’m about to be gone for three months there isn’t any sense in starting something new.
Fortunately for us, we weren’t in the middle of anything when they finally decided to reply to Everest.
This whole situation is strange. The fact that the coordinate house gave me the same feeling when we first started researching it should concern me, but instead, I just feel kind of… eager. Worried, but excited. Realistically, who else will ever get to do something like this? It’s insane.
We’re insane.
“What are we supposed to do now?” I ask as I lean against the wall in his office.
“I guess we’re getting paid to wait around on them to answer, because we can’t really do anything else.” He says as he spins a pen around on his desk.
I let out a deep breath as I run my hand through my hair. I absolutely hate waiting. This is going to be a really fucking long day.
His office door abruptly flings open, bouncing off the wall, and in strolls our boss like he’s on some kind of a mission.
The guy is probably in his mid-sixties, and with a belly that rivals every Santa Claus depiction I’ve ever seen, but somehow, he still manages to have more pep in his step than I have on my best days.
He’s staring down at papers in his hand as he blindly walks toward Everest’s desk.
He seems to be oblivious to my presence altogether, which is totally fine by me.
My eyes shoot over to Ev, because we’re just hanging out in his office, not doing shit, and our boss is still completely clueless about our plans.
Maybe this is a good time to talk to him about our plans?
Everest must read my mind, because he just shakes his head discreetly. Not yet.
Gotcha. Probably a good idea to wait until we hear back from them, so that we have a few more details.
“Impressive work, boys.” He says as he shuffles through the papers in his hands.
I tilt my head in confusion as I watch him.
I was pretty sure that he hadn’t even noticed that I was here, but maybe he pays more attention than we give him credit for.
“Your dedication is obvious, and I want you to know that I’m very proud of the two of you.
This is a golden opportunity if I’ve ever seen one. ”
Everest and I just look at one another, completely lost. Our last article was… mediocre. At best. A small find compared to the coordinate house, and while he praised us for that project, he seems to be laying it on really thick right now.
“Sorry sir… what exactly are you referring to?” I ask as I push myself off the wall behind him. He blatantly ignores my question.
“Ah. Here we are,” he says as he hands a paper to Everest and then turns around to hand me the next sheet. “These are the travel itineraries.”
“Travel… itineraries?” I mumble as I look down at the paper in my hand.
He leans over Ev’s desk and points to the top line.
“I spoke to Ollivander. Great guy. Super organized. He’s having a man named Thorne pick the two of you up from Everest’s house at…
” He scans the paper in Everest’s hand. “Eight in the morning. This is the vehicle make and model he’ll be arriving in.
He made it very clear that Thorne does not appreciate tardiness, so do be on time, please. We want to make a good impression.”
My eyes cut up to Everest, who is looking back at me with what appears to be the same level of shock that I’m currently feeling. Ollivander? He already spoke to Ollivander? We haven’t even spoken to him directly except through a couple of curt emails.
He shuffles through the papers again and hands us each another sheet.
“They need you to fill this out with your bank account information and get it over to the attorney’s office right away.
They’ll be sending your compensation as soon as Thorne picks you up.
I assumed that they would pay you both after the three months were over, but Ollivander said that Maven does not like unallocated funds swimming about. Pretty smart, honest—“
“Who is Maven?” Everest interjects.
For the first time since he entered, he actually acknowledges something we’ve said. He looks up from the papers with a bit of confusion on his face. “The owner of Blightridge, of course. Who else?”
“So… you’re fine with us being gone for three months?” I ask apprehensively.
“Fine?” An obnoxious booming laugh escapes from him as he looks back at me.
“Boys, I am more than fine. I’m ecstatic.
This is the best damn idea I’ve ever heard.
Not to mention the compensation they’re giving during your absence.
When I said you two found a goldmine, I meant it. Literally and figuratively.”
Well, alrighty then. I guess that takes away some of my worries.
I was concerned that he wouldn’t like the idea of us being gone for so long, and we’d end up without a job when we returned.
We would both have paid off houses afterwards, so we could literally work at a fast-food restaurant for the rest of our lives and be fine, but the principal still remained.
Knowing that our boss is happy about this little project is actually a huge relief.
“Eight in the morning, boys. You have the rest of the day off to pack and get that paperwork over to the lawyer. Three months is a long time, you’ve got lots of things to get ready.
Chop, chop.” He declares as he turns around and heads back to his own office with the same noticeable liveliness to his stride.
“What. The. Fuck. Just. Happened?” Everest asks as he stares down at the papers in his hands.
“I don’t really know, but it seems like we have a lot to do…” I pause to look up at the clock on the wall. “And not a lot of time to do it.”