Chapter Twenty-Seven

Ripple

The following morning, Kimberly was awake before anyone else in the apartment, which was a rare occurrence. Silently, she slipped out of the bedroom and entered the living room, casting a glance over at Altessa, who was sleeping silently upon the couch. Her thick hair was sprawled across her pale face, giving her a slightly secretive, all together mournful, appearance. Kimberly wished that she could go back and change everything, make it so that Altessa was asleep at home with her family instead of curled up on their couch like a refugee.

Kimberly put on a pot of coffee and glanced out the window as she waited for it to brew; it had rained all night and the weather had finally tapered off, leaving everything wet and the sky cloudy. It was the perfect atmosphere for the way she was feeling at the moment, as though it was easier to feel upset and depressed when the sun wasn't shining.

If only there was some way of figuring out how to beat the Design; we've tried everything all ready, no one has the answers. Kimberly mused, sitting down at the kitchen table and resting her chin in the palm of her hand. They had tried everything...or had they?

When they had first went to ask the mortician for help, he had seemed almost reluctant to tell them anything, filling their heads with information they basically all ready knew. What if there was something Bludworth didn't tell them the first time around; was there something he was hiding?

Kimberly stood up quickly, her chair screeching behind her; she turned the coffee pot off and hurried into the bedroom to get dressed, eager to get out of the apartment before anyone else woke up. She needed to visit the mortician alone and she doubted that Thomas or Altessa wouldn't let her do such a thing. Something told her that Bludworth would be more open to answer her questions if she came to visit him alone and Kimberly was so desperate at the moment that she would try anything.

On an afterthought, Kimberly scribbled down a message for Thomas and Altessa before walking out the apartment door, shutting it gently so she didn't wake up the teenager. She bypassed Thomas' SUV in the parking lot and decided instead to walk the short distance to the house where her father lived and borrow his rickety old Mustang. Kimberly also wanted to speak with him, in case something happened and she didn't make it back to the apartment; it was a morbid way to think, but there was no way of knowing who was next.

Kimberly just hoped that by the time she returned from visiting the mortician that it wasn't too late.

* * *

Kimberly navigated the twisty roads leading toward the funeral home with ease, though she had only made the journey twice before. She, however, was careful to drive the speed limit, use all the appropriate hand and vehicle signals and keep her eyes upon for any Signs that might arise.

Though the hour wasn't incredibly early, the roads were almost completely free of other vehicles, which made Kimberly's trip all the easier. When she neared the funeral home, she was slowed by a funeral procession, headed by a black hearse and cars full of weeping, red-eyed relatives. The sight of the procession chilled her to the bone and she pulled her father's car onto the shoulder of the road just so she would be farther away from the hearse and its passenger; Kimberly didn't want to think about the unlikely passenger in the car and prayed that she wouldn't be in a hearse for a long while.

Drawing a deep breath, Kimberly continued down the road once more, feeling as though she was the flank in the morbid parade that snaked along. Thankfully, the hearse led its followers down a side road, leaving her to travel alone once again, though her trip was nearly over.

When the funeral home finally come into view, Kimberly was surprised to see Bludworth standing out on the well manicured lawn, staring down the road at something that she couldn't see. He didn't look her way as she pulled into the gravel path, parking her car and hoping out; Kimberly steeled herself as she headed toward the mortician. The dew that had yet to dry off the ground sparkled in the sun, giving the landscape a surreal feeling.

Kimberly hadn't had a chance to speak before Bludworth turned to her, an eerie smile upon his face. "It's bizarre to think that, while some or mourning the death of a loved one, somewhere someone else is celebrating life." He remarked, still staring down the road that seemed to lead nowhere.

The brunette pursed her lips and shrugged her shoulders. "The cycle of life, I guess." She mumbled, not stopping to think about how ironic the words sounded coming from her.

Bludworth turned to face her, the eerie smile gone. "Then why are you trying to hard to break the cycle. I can give you the answers you came here for but I'm going to tell you there's no way to fully cheat to Death." He explained, face serene and oddly blank as he studied her worried features.

"There has to be some way, any way! I'm only twenty-two years old, it can't be my time to die." Kimberly retorted, regretting the words the insist they flew from her mouth. Shane and Morgan, Altessa's friends, had been even younger then she, yet they had died. Did she really think that she deserved to live before she wasn't even into her thirties yet? What had she ever done that was so spectacular?

Bludworth didn't seem too pleased by her remark either and said, "The body they were carrying in the hearse that slowed you down on your way here was carrying a seven year old boy. He drowned in the swimming pool when no one was looking; was it his time to die? He was younger then you, Kimberly; there are many deaths of people much younger then you." He seemed to speaking to her as one would reprimand a child the first time it had done something wrong.

Kimberly frowned at his words, feeling oddly put in her place and stared at her feet, which were wet with dew. The mortician had a point, one that she couldn't dispute no matter how hard she thought. "It's not fair." Kimberly couldn't of anything else to say and feeling stupid for the words that she did say.

Silently, Bludworth stared at her for a moment, figuring there was no need for him to state the obvious; life wasn't fair, everyone knew that. "But you always knew there was no way to cheat Death, you came here searching for a way to delay it. You're afraid of dying, Kimberly, which is why you're here." He stated the words as a matter of fact, one that she couldn't deny.

"Everyone's afraid to die." Kimberly remarked, looking up at the unnerving man once more, who met her gaze steadily.

Bludworth shrugged slightly, as though he was considering the fact, recognizing it without accepting it. "Not everyone, not your strange friend Altessa. Which is another reason you came here, isn't it, about Altessa." He wasn't asking a question, he knew good and well all of Kimberly's intentions.

Kimberly wanted to disagree with the man's statement but found that she couldn't; Altessa had never seemed frightened, or upset, about the possibility that she could die at any given moment. She always seemed more concerned for the other survivors then for herself, seeming to think that her death would solve a whole slew of problems.

So, instead, Kimberly said, "Just what exactly do you know about Altessa? And how do you know so much about everything?" She figured that at least one of her questions would go unanswered; Bludworth reminded her of a magician, never giving away his secrets.

"There are some questions that never get answered. The fact that your friend Altessa is alive at all could be one of them." Bludworth began but Kimberly's worried impatient cut him off.

"I already know that she was supposed to die last year when she got shot by a thief; you were there when she told us, remember?" Kimberly snapped, knowing that she didn't have enough time to put up with information they all ready knew. Bludworth always seemed to be stepping around the really important questions.

Bludworth sighed, impatient as well, though for a different reason. "Altessa Adams should never have even made it that far into her lifetime; she never should have been born at all. During her second pregnancy, Altessa's mother fell down a flight of stairs while helping her young son walk down them and she had to be rushed to the hospital in hopes of saving her unborn child. What no one knew, of course, was that Altessa was dead all ready, that is, until they arrived at the hospital and Amanda was given a stat cesarean section. Altessa should have been dead, and, logically she was, but modern medicine intervened on her account, being the first thing to mess with Death's Design." The man explained, much to Kimberly's surprise.

"But, if they were able to save Altessa, then she was meant to survive. How does that fit in with everything?" Kimberly questioned, unable to believe the callousness in which Bludworth talked about the teenager.

"Remember the dog attack you suffered when you were little? The dog began to Altessa, it was her birthday present that year and some family friends were watching it for the Adams family the day it attacked you. If Altessa had never been born, the dog would never have attacked you and you would have never been on the Design in the first place.

"Same with Alex Browning; when he was ten, he and his mother were in New York city and so were Altessa and her father. They were sightseeing as a treat for Altessa's birthday when they got in a car accident that almost killed Alex. No Altessa, no car accident." Bludworth elaborated.

Kimberly sighed, running her fingers through her hair, staring down at the ground once again. Altessa was the reason why they were on the Design in the first place; Clear had said that by getting off Flight 180 the survivors had changed the lives of everyone they had come into contact with. The same went for Altessa, by being alive, she had signed the premature Death warrants of two strangers because she was coming into contact with things and events that never should have happened.

"So you can see that Altessa started one of the biggest ripples of them all; her death would sort the ripple out for the time being, given you the chance to live the life you covet so dearly." Bludworth added, raising an eyebrow as he spoke.

Kimberly looked up at him once again, slightly horrified. "I can't just let Altessa die, even if it would save Thomas and I." She stated, hating herself for even considering such a thing for a brief second. The selfish part of her wanted to act upon what she had learned, wanted to grab hold of the prefect and long life she was being promised but there was no way she could do such a thing.

"I was just answering your questions, Kimberly, don't forget that. Not everything in life is what you want to hear." Bludworth remarked, looking as though he had no qualms about telling her any of information he had given her.

For a moment longer, Kimberly stared at her before turning around and heading back to her car without another word; she had learned all she needed to know, there was no reason to stick around. Bludworth remained silent as well, only speaking once Kimberly was in her hair, pulling onto the main road.

"Drive safely." He advised with a devilish smile, enough to cause the brunette to shudder.

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Thanks to the lovely Dharke, I now have over eighty reviews! I never thought I'd be so lucky to even get past double digits, let alone almost to triple ones; but you lovely readers (I'm not quite a hippy, Dharke) have changed my mind about all of that. I hope that everyone likes these last few chapters, I'm working hard to get them up as soon as possible. To finish this story, I'm going to take a break from my other F.D. stories until the last three chapters of this story are written. So, please review and enjoy and I'll have the next chapters up as soon as possible.