Tobias and I were enjoying a quiet day at the local library. Tobias wanted to get some reading done for an upcoming test and also start preparations for our college entrance exams. While I came here to do some research on DeLark and look a bit more into his family's history.
The DeLark name was well known. They practically built this city. They had wealth, industries and assets that could not be scoffed at. I had severely downplayed just how powerful and wealthy the family was. With history that dated back more than a hundred years, I was sure to find some clues by investigating them.
I spent a decent amount of time picking history book and financial analytics to gain a deeper insight into the families current situation.
Unsurprisingly, the DeLark family was extremely private. So private that spotting any of its members in your lifetime was like spotting a unicorn. It was such a rare experience, I wondered why no one had written an article detailing his sighting at our school.
Again that was the reason everyone was so shocked when Jonathan turned up at the school. Anyone sporting the DeLark surname was much too high profile to attend a school like ours. The family might have been of some assistance when founding the school but it still made little sense to send it's scion there.
At first people speculated that Jonathan was an illegitimate child or he was not loved by his family. They inferred that he must be going through some sort of punishment to be made attend the school and interact with people far below his class and social standings. Everyone was prepared to be scorned or looked down upon by him. It made the most logical sense.
DeLark proved all the assumptions wrong. He was cordial, he was friendly, he made conversation with everyone. The boy treated everyone with respect. His humility and welcoming smile brought people to ease, everyone except me. He was normal in every sense of the word.
The repercussions of his actions were notable. Notably, all the other prideful students that had a modicum of wealth to their name were shamed. Bullying and segregation also became wildly unpopular in their circles. If the most wealthy person in the school could be humble, and down to earth then what gave you the audacity to treat people like dirt when neither you nor your entire ancestry couldn't equate to a fraction of his wealth.
This point was further pronounced by the friends Jonathan made. At first all the rich and bratty students approached him. All of them hoping to get in his good graces and build connections that would benefit them in the future. It did not go as planned, Jonathan was quirky and only befriended good people.
It was easy to forget who he was at times. From the clothes he wore, to the things he owned. Nothing screamed excessive amounts of wealth. If you passed him on the road, you would assume he was the average Joe. He was far from it, so far.
I flipped through the books on the desk at a meager pace. I did not want to alarm Mr Milton, the man would explode if he saw me speedily flipping through pages. I did not want to get kicked out, offending him any further would do me no good.
Tobias sat opposite me totally engrossed in his books. He picked up three different biology textbooks, the subject he struggled the most with. Hopefully one of them would be understandable.
The book I was reading gave a detailed run down of the corporate background and estimated investments that the company owned. Denum Larkeyn had shares in multiple businesses and controlled a substantial amount of their competitors funding.
Denum Larkeyn, Inc. The name told a tale of power, upper echelons and corporate might. It was at the peak of capitalist America, it stood high with few worthy rivals. The company was founded in the year 1894. And the man that started it all, Humphrey Y. DeLark. He was it's original pioneer.
He started his first factory in this town. The factory was no more but it's history lived on.
I skipped through the corporate jargon and zeroed in on the important details. I took note of key dates in the companies history and the names of key personalities in it's history.
The cooperation was among the top institutional investors in major corporations, giving them significant voting power and influence on corporate decisions. Most of their recent investments were technology driven, with a vast portfolio in all major oil and drilling operations.
At the end of the day it was hard to get a proper estimate on just how many assets they owned. The company's information was well guarded and it's investors were elusive. Asset valuations and market capitalision estimates put the companies net worth at over 7.4 trillion USD.
I took a pause, the profound amount of money gave me a hard time picturing. Of course not all of it was owned by the DeLark family, there were multiple investors and shareholders. But even then, thinking of the sheer volume of wealth sitting in their coffers made my head spin.
That begged the question. What the hell was a DeLark doing here, in this school, in this town!!!? I sighed deeply and buried my head in the book. That was clearly a world that I could not comprehend. And it was one I would not have the privilege of understanding, not in this lifetime.
Mr Milton was giving me the stink eyes, I wondered why— I did my best to appreciate the literature in front of me. That man needed more hobbies, perhaps condemning was one of them. Tobias was knee deep in his textbooks. He had been very focused this week, the news we received on Tuesday was a strong contributor.
On that windy Tuesday, when everyone had gathered at the cafeteria for some lunch the principal and an assembly of staff had paid us a visit. The whole hall turned ghost-quiet, some jittered in their seats filled with panic. They didn't come to instill discipline bloke most assumed. Their eyes were downcast, their spirits drained. They had come to break the bad news. They had come to make us share in their sorrow.
"Goodday students," The principal took a long pause. He took his time scanning the hall meeting eyes with as many that didn't avoid his gaze. "I come bearing horrible tidings. A few days back at the annual wilderness excursion an unfortunate series of events took place.
Mr Johan Fixx a distinguished teacher, a friend and a mentor to us all suffered debilitating injuries. As of now he is currently in a coma and has shown very little brain activity. After consulting with the physicians, we do not know when he will regain consciousness."
Silence, a discomforting quiet. The crowd of students took thier time processing the somber information. There was a loud gasp somewhere in the crowd. I saw Tobias' face fall and felt his pulse quicken. After the initial shock wore off the principal was hammered by a beeline of questions.
He did his best to explain the situation. "We aren't completely sure what happened. The doctor thinks he sustained a traumatic head injury when he fell down." He was breathless from all the hounding inquiries.
To little suprise someone burst into manic histeria. She was the same student that was a prime advocate for his search and was at the forefront of the endeavour. Her friends did their best to calm her down, she was eager to jump out her seat and make her way to hospital. Her behaviour made me want to know the story behind it.
It made no sense to me. I made sure to look him over, I didn't detect any irregularities apart from a few bruises. I was not a doctor and my knowledge on human medicine might be limited but my deductive abilities made up for that. It was very strange, could a fall down that slope cause that much brain damage.
Something was very strange here, but there was nothing I could do about it. Perhaps I was paying it too much mind. There were no absolutes. With something as fragile as the human anatomy, exceptions and rare cases were to be expected. I would not mind looking through the actual medical report and x-rays and CT scans. Maybe there was something my veil missed, though I found that highly unlikely.
Bringing myself back to present day I took one last cursory through the journals. As I flipped the pages I happened on a very interesting photo. It was one of the only documented photo of another DeLark I had seen.
The man posed for the photo bore a stark resemblance to Jonathan. He wore a fashionable well tailored suit and a well fitted hat. His face was sporting an immaculate full beard and he gazed at the camera with confidence and poise.
He looked a lot like Jonathan, they had similar dark eyes and the same sharp nose. That in itself was not an issue, in fact it just proved that Jonathan was a legitimate member of his family—not that he wasn't. The only irregularity was that the picture was taken over 86 years ago.
Could genes possibly be that strong. Again maybe I was putting too much though into it. I couldn't blame him for resembling his grand, possibly great grand father. Still it was an interesting discovery.