Last Light Falling by J. E. Plemons Read Free Book Online Page A

the floor out of frustration. I toss the half-folded letter at Gabe’s head, but it misses and slowly floats down to the side of his fish tank. All I can do isstand there in silence, mesmerized by the fish, until I notice a purplish glow emitting from the back of the letter.
    I slowly walk over to the tank to take a closer look at the letter and observe a startling discovery. There is writing on the letter, glowing from the black light on Gabe’s fish tank. As if this was the discovery of the year, Gabe swiftly removes the black light from the tank and brings it closer to the letter. As I unfold the paper, we expose a hidden message.
    Gabe reads the message aloud, “I need your help. Use the key to unlock the basement. Father Joseph will guide you both for further instructions. Love you both … Finnegan.”

CHAPTER 4
    The anxiety I’ve just recently developed is assisting my stomach in depositing my dinner. Before I lose my meal, I sit and calm myself, swallowing every few seconds to keep the food down. Gabe is rendered speechless, and we both just sit in silence for a few moments. We haven’t spoken to or heard from Finnegan since he was last deployed six years ago. I just assumed he was dead when we were living with our Aunt Angela, because he never once wrote to her, yet the government never gave us any indication that he was dead either. It all seemed too strange at the time, but the death of my parents overcame any delusions I had of his whereabouts.
    This changes everything now. Whatever I considered doing with that key earlier has been completely withdrawn. I slowly pick it up off the floor and feel a sense of hope. I’m suddenly embarrassed that I ridiculed Gabe’s ambitious effort to find the coordinates of the place. But he’s right, and I know now what we must do.
    We spend the next hour devising a plan on how we are going to get to the abandoned building without anyone knowing. We both agree that skipping class on the first day is not an option, so we are forced to persuade Myra and Daniel that we will be coming home late because of an after-school program that Gabe and I are interested in. To keep them less suspicious, we will wait until the end of the week to let them know. I’ve never had to lie to Myra and Daniel, nor have I ever wanted to deceive them, but this is something I know they wouldn’t understand.
    Because the country has been on high alert recently, there will be an unusual amount of federal officers surrounding the school. Less than two weeks ago, a few anti-government groups formed a small militia and tried to take out a federal facility near the Capitol. The revolt failed miserably and all were shot to death except the leader, who was brutally beaten and sentenced to a public hanging that was nationally televised. We’ll have to have a very keen eye if we are to sneak into the building. Trespassing is punishable by jail time. It’s ridiculous what our country has turned into, and since there is no longer state government or staterights, the federal government’s regulations have depleted our basic freedoms and ideals.
    Not only does the government regulate the amount of fuel we consume, but they also influence our eating habits by rewarding credit points to those who purchase food from federally aided food companies.
    Because of the arrogance of our leaders, oil supplies from other nations have been completely shut off, the United Nations has been abandoned, and Israel is no longer our ally. Israel, the one nation that our country could not afford to lose its support, is now independently struggling with war against the Muslim nations.
    Since the fall of the Dome on the Rock, the surrounding regions have stopped waging war against Israel out of Holy terror. Four years ago, two misguided missiles fired from border adversaries, slamming into the Dome on the Rock, and leaving it in complete ruins, as along with the peace keeping between the Jews and Muslims. Many felt that God was