Exposing The Truth Behind The Blast - Short Story

The year was 2053, three whole years after the blast that ended the world as we knew it. Before the blast, our small town Arcadia was simplistic and without flaw, but afterwards, it was a completely different place. Destroyed. Left in shambles. Right after the explosion, an investigation was given the green light to figure out exactly what happened that night. The group of scientists who caused the blast were all punished except for one. The leader. He made it out without a scratch. The others however were given a sentence so long that no one would dare do worse than them. The only thing that was even a possibility to saving our little town was order. The government wanted to make sure another blast never happened, at least in our lifetime.

“Oberon, I swear if you don’t get out of bed this second, you will be late for your testing!” Screamed my little sister Rem, as a result of the fact that I am her ride to school this morning and for some reason she wants me to be there early. I finally decide to get up and get ready as fast as possible. When we finally pull up to the school, I realize that something in the air does not feel right. The more I go into school, the more I hear why there is something in the air.

“Did you hear that the leader of that group of scientist got away with no punishments” Said a random male who I later overheard his name is Espieron Midstones. Who are they talking about?

“My dad explained that to me when I asked him about it. Turns out he is even related to… Oberon West and Rem West…” Whispers a brown haired female I recognized as Rhea Oobleck. “He has the same last name and everything..” I raised my eyebrow at the new information. Who could have been crazy enough in my family to control and lead the blast? The only person who even had a hint of crazy DNA was my dad’s brother.. Uncle Rheyes. I knew he was a scientist but never thought that he was apart of the blast, much less the leader who had no punishments for his actions. I brush off the thoughts of my uncle and go on with the rest of my day.

“My dad has information against the leader at my house. I really want to understand why this guy did not get charged for something he was clearly a part of.” I overheard Rhea say to my little sister Rem. I walk over to the two of them, standing beside Rem.

“Hey, could I come over and understand also? You are not the only curious one here!!” I exclaimed not even realizing my own intentions with what I just said. I did not quite understand that I choose to look into my uncle’s records because I wanted to expose him.

“I will have to see with my dad if you can. Hold up for a second so I can text him and see.” She responds as she pulls out her phone, texting her father it seems. In less than a minute, she seemed to have gotten a response from her father who said yes. I bid a goodbye to Rem as she walks to our bus and I walk with Rhea to her house to figure out about my uncle. I want to know more than what I see when he comes over during the holidays. I want to know the truth behind that smirk of his that always creeps me out.

“Here is the information I was talking about at school.” She says as she hands me this thick portfolio of paperwork. I open it to find a small black and white photo of him with a small beard that seems to be dated to the investigation era - 2051. The whole town seemed to be swallowed whole by the investigation for weeks on end because it was the biggest thing to ever happen to our little town. I look more into the file to notice more of a note kind of thing that said stuff like: “Nothing happened today” and “I feel like this nuclear bomb is set to explode but I have zero idea and I am worried for our little town”. It looks like it was handwritten by either my uncle or one of his coworkers. I think it was him because who else would log the events before the blast so meticulously if they were not completely in charge of what was happening? The further I dig into the information, the more I see him being ultimately guilty. Especially with these notes as evidence. Evidence that the government needs to see.

“Hey can I borrow these so I can look more into them?” I ask Rhea. At first she seems to be completely hesitant to even let me see anymore of them but she ends up deciding to let me borrow them until next week. I thank her for letting me borrow the paperwork that I can use against my uncle and leave without a sound.

The next morning, I am up before the sun even decided to rise figuring out and understanding all of the notes and paperwork in this folder. Many of the notes were hard to understand because of the fact that they were equations I have never seen before. I have decided to ultimately go to the government this morning. As I am walking towards the main building, I get this pain in my stomach that is almost to the point where I clutch my stomach feeling as if I am going to faint. I however push through the pain, making it to the door. When I finally walk through the door, I feel better than ever like everything was washed away from me. All of the pain I have just felt, gone, like it never even made an impact on me. I go to the front desk and smile at the sweet lady.

“What do you want kiddo?” She asks very rudely. My smile fades.

“I am here to talk to a government official regarding the..” I whisper going closer to her so she can hear me, “blast…” She looks at me with the biggest eyes and does not believe me until I show her the paperwork I borrowed from Rhea yesterday.

“Room 124.” She whispers back to me, pointing in the direction of the room it seems. I follow her hand and soon find the room. Room 124. I walk through the door to see two chairs and table with two way glass surrounding it. I walk in and sit in one of the chairs right when a government official bust through the door more than excitedly. I look up scared. What did I get myself into? Another one comes up behind him but he is a lot more serious. I put the paperwork on the table and the serious one tenses up like he knows of its existence already.

“Hello young man, we have heard that you know some stuff about the blast.” Says the excited one, looking around as if someone is listening to our conversation. I push the paperwork forward.

“This is everything you ever need to know about the leader.” I sigh coming off as serious, “He did not deserve to not be punished and here is your evidence to do just what the original people could not with the case.”

“What are you trying to imply kid?” The serious one questions as the excited one starts going through the paperwork just as excitedly as he arrived not that long ago.

“ I want him to get what he truly deserves..” I look at my lap realizing that I am letting the government convict my uncle.

“Where did you get this anyway?” The excited one exclaims. He must live for this kind of stuff…

“That doesn’t matter.” I say getting up and leaving the room. The year was 2053, the year I figured out the real truth behind the blast..