Seeing Black by Sidney Halston Read Free Book Online Page B

hearing’s not
as good as it used to be. Most food tastes bland nowadays, and
well, I cannot see the future any longer. For the last twenty years
or so, it’s been diminishing, and now, I can’t see anything.
My psychic abilities are gone, completely. I can’t even visualize
unintentionally.”
    “Unintentionally?”
    “Yeah, the way you see the future. It just
blindsides you, and you see something that normally occurs a
moment, a day, or a year later.”
    “And that’s not how you see, or, excuse me, saw the future?”
    “Nope. I learned to control it years ago. Through
practice, we’ve been able to do what’s called psychic remote
viewing or PRV for short.”
    “We?”
    “Josef and I.”
    “Who’s Josef? You mentioned him before.”
    “My half-brother, your uncle. You’ll meet him soon.
I warn you now that people tend to find him intimidating. He is
rather quiet and serious, an introvert, really.”
    “Shit.” She gasped and put a hand over her mouth.
“Excuse me. I didn’t mean to curse. It’s just that I went to having
absolutely no real family to having a father and an uncle.”
    “Well, I warn you now he’s not the lovable quirky
uncle you’re probably expecting.”
    “Duly noted. I won’t dote on him when we meet.” She
laughed and rolled her eyes before continuing, “May I ask you
something that may seem peculiar?” Jill didn’t even wait for a
response. “I feel weird even saying it, but will you please not read my mind or my feelings or whatever it is that you can do? I think you’re telling me the truth, but just in
case, I had to say that. If we’re going to get to know one another,
I want to have a level playing field, and you getting into my head
is uncomfortable.”
    “I am telling you the truth. I cannot read minds. I
never have been able to—not even yours—but you should know that
you’re pretty much an open book. Since I’m able to feel your
emotions, you make yourself so readable. You think I’m reading your
mind, but I’m not. I can’t.”
    “Thank you for being honest about your abilities.
You could’ve lied, and I would’ve never known.”
    “I would never lie to you. A lie told often enough
becomes the truth.”
    “I’ve heard that before.” Jill took a moment to
think where she’d heard that before. “It’s Stalin, right?” she
asked.
    “Close. Vladimir Lenin.”
    Jill took a moment to process. Helen’s little quips
and sayings were always perfect and optimistic, and often times,
Helen used them to teach her something important about life. Those
sayings had stayed with her through the years and always brought a
smile to her face. They were sweet and cute and usually apropos to
whatever situation she was going through at the moment. Vladimir
Lenin wasn’t sweet or cute. Did her father just use the 1920s
Soviet Revolutionist dictator to teach her his first little
father-daughter life lesson about lying?
    “My aunt used to tell me little sayings all the
time. I’ve always wondered if she and my mother shared that. Can
you tell me a little about her? About my mother?” she asked,
skimming right over the inappropriate Leninism.
    “Your mother was always quoting something or
someone. A lot of the things I say come from her. She used to say
things like that all the time. She was a Finance major but was
getting her Masters in English. It made no sense to me, but that
was your mother, a conundrum. If you ever hear me quote someone,
know that I learned it from your mother. Even all these years
later, I remember her sayings. They always came out of nowhere. But
before we get to your mother, I want to know how you feel about me?
Your friends are worried. Why is that?”
    She wasn’t sure how much information she should give
him. He could still be dangerous. She kept the existence of the
journals to herself for the time being. She wasn’t ready to lay all
her cards on the table just yet. That meant she couldn’t tell him
about the criminal record she