The Year I Stopped Being His novel Chapter 281

"You're out of your mind!"

Garrison's composure finally shattered. The anger he had suppressed for far too long began to seep through the cracks. "The 719 Research Station was permanently sealed because of a radioactive waste leak. The entire reservoir is a contamination zone. Did you not know that? You had her dive into that water just to fetch a pen—did you have any idea it could kill her?!"

"Did you... did you even tell her the water was toxic?!" Garrison's voice trembled.

"The leak was in the storage area, not the lab," Rosemary argued, her tone bizarrely clinical, as if debating an academic paper. "I calculated the risks. The primary waste components were Strontium-90 and Cesium-137. The storage tanks were nearly four thousand feet upstream from the reservoir. After the leak, the contaminants mostly settled into the sediment. Even though the reservoir's flow was poor, years of dilution and natural decay should have lowered the radioactive concentration—"

"You're a scientist!"

Garrison lunged a step forward, a raging fire burning in his eyes. He couldn't believe his own mother was saying this.

"You know perfectly well the half-life of Strontium-90 is twenty-eight years! Cesium-137 is thirty years! How long has it been since you evacuated? Barely twenty years! It hasn't even been one full half-life cycle, and you're talking to me about decay?!"

The living room plunged into a suffocating silence. The old grandfather clock on the wall struck the hour, chiming four times in a long, hollow echo.

Rosemary was momentarily stunned by his fury, sitting frozen on the sofa. After a moment, she opened her mouth to speak, but his father shot her a silencing glare.

"Garrison... your mother acted recklessly," his father intervened, trying to diffuse the tension. "Don't be so angry. I'll apologize on her behalf..."

"When did this happen?" Garrison ignored him, keeping his focus locked on Rosemary.

"I... I don't remember. It's been a few years..."

"I asked you—when?!"

"When... when she went into the water, I was worried," she stammered. "Since the water was risky, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to explain it to you if something happened to her. So, I made her wear an underwater camera, clipped right next to her headlamp. It transmitted a live feed to my receiver on the shore. I told her that if anything went wrong, I'd be able to see it and get help."

"You were 'worried'." A chilling, humorless laugh crept into Garrison's voice. "You knew the water was contaminated with radiation, and you still made her go down there. Then you claim you were worried, so you strapped a camera to her? You recorded the entire process of her diving into a nuclear-waste-filled reservoir to fish out your damn pen?"

Rosemary didn't answer; her silence was damning enough.

"Send me the video," Garrison demanded.

"Garrison—"

"Send it."