The Lurking Man by Keith Rommel Read Free Book Online Page B

your life. But the big event you speak of didn’t define you. It only managed to exacerbate your personality flaws and push you further into addiction. Your actions have cost the people closest to you great emotional torment. You deserve nothing less.”
    Those words remained out there undisputed and they seeped into the wet snow at her feet. She wanted to pick them up and throw them back at him, but she couldn’t. She had nothing to say.
    â€œI can’t do this anymore,” she said. She wanted to drop to the floor and curl into the fetal position. Maybe she would find some respite from Sariel’s reproachful gaze and his gritty, frightening voice. And most of all, she wanted to escape the scrutiny of the light and the unforgiving elements that continued to work on her fortitude.
    â€œOh, but you must,” he said. “Even though there is only pain left for you.”
    â€œI just want to escape this madness.”
    â€œThis madness is your life.”
    She rubbed her eyes and nodded her head in acceptance.
    â€œIt’s ironic how you spent most of your life trying to forget who you were, and now, here you are, desperate for the smallest hint of your past.”
    Her inability to remember anything beyond what she was shown was like being an animal chained to a wall and starved for many days: She stands ready at the sound of her master’s approach, tail wagging and saliva building in anticipation of the coming meal. But when the bowl of food is placed down, it is positioned just out of reach and she struggles for it. The chain is thick and strong; it pulls tightly and is unforgiving.  
    â€œDamn,” she said, and wanted to scream.
    The bowl of food was the answers of her past and the chain was the light that bound her. And the master?
    She shuddered.
    â€œGet a chair,” he said. “I want you to position it at the edge of the light and have a seat.”
    Cailean did as instructed, and when she sat, something within the darkness flickered and revealed Sariel in a strange way. Black on black with a slice of dull gray between the two exposed his form in much greater detail. And what she saw was undeniably tragic and yet somehow beautiful.
    Unable to comprehend what stood before her, she looked at something that resembled a man. It was constructed of dark light and was tall and thin. He had a severe hunch to his back and crooked limbs. A tremble throughout his entire body was obvious and generated a quiet rattle she hadn’t noticed until now. A wheeze accompanied each labored breath, and with it, absolute peace touched her delicately and consumed her completely.
    In an instant, all the burdensome wonder of who she was and what horrendous things she might have done no longer existed.
    â€œDo you feel that?” he said.
    Unable to speak a word, she nodded.
    â€œThat is what I have to offer the dead. Do you wish to know that peace?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œThen tell me, what do you see standing before you?”
    â€œThe image of a man,” she said and studied what she saw. “You are very tall and skinny and you’re . . .”
    Her bliss was torn away as quick as it came and was replaced by a profound sadness she couldn’t understand.
    â€œI’m what?” Sariel said.
    She struggled to speak the words. “You’re crippled.”
    â€œYour inflection suggests you’re disgusted by my condition.”
    â€œNo,” she said, certain about it. “I’m just overwhelmed with sadness for some reason. I find it terrible that your service to the dead has caused you this.”
    â€œI have traveled an enormous, never-ending road. The daunting, interminable task that started so long ago has ravaged my body and I have grown tired.”
    â€œI’m so sorry,” she said and shielded her eyes from the overhead light with her hands to try to see his face but the glare was insistent and blocked out any of the fine