Always Darkest Read Free Page A

several stitches to the wound at the base of her skull telling her the scarring would be minimal.   After Willa had finished bandaging her she left Willa alone and went up the stairs returning a few moments later with a clean dress that she helped Tori to get changed into.
    “Go sit down at the table and I will make some tea for you child.   This will take away some of your pain.” Willa said.
    “Yes ma’am.”
    Willa went over and lit the gas burner on the stove to start the tea kettle. In just a few minutes she brought over a steaming cup for Tori and one for herself.   “Now tell me, what happened to you?”
    Tori sipped from her glass and the warm liquid did seem to be making at least her physical pain seem a little distant even though it tasted bitter.
    “I wasn’t raped.” Tori blurted out.   “He tried but I waited till he had himself exposed and I kicked him in nuts and ran away. I fell and…”    Tori began to cry again.
    Willa reached across and grabbed Tori’s hand in her own.   “There, there child, let it out.   You were smart to kick him in the nuggets.   I only wish I had him here in my cottage, I’d cut his nuts off for you.   I would.”   Tori began to snicker a little despite herself .   It was something about the way the old woman said it.   Willa seemed happy to be making her feel better and continued, “I’d even make a dandy pair of ear rings out of them for you.   Man could do a thing like that though probably has such tiny ones.”   Willa made a show of putting her thumb and finger close together and squinting through the space.   Then she put it up to her ear. “No body would be able to see them from more than two feet a way though.”
    Tori lost it then.   She laughed so loud she sounded a little bit hysterical.   She thought she was dying only last night and here she was sitting and laughing with some old woman at a rustic looking kitchen table.
    After several minutes Tori finally caught her breath.   “I need to call my sister.   Do you have a phone I might be able to use?”
    “A phone?” Willa asked.
    “I need to call my sister and let her know what happened and I need to call the police and make a report.   I appreciate all that you have done for me, but I really need to let my sister know what happened.”
    “I think I know what you a talking about.”   Willa said looking up towards the ceiling.   “I found one of them phones in my garden last year.   It doesn’t do anything and I don’t see how you could call anyone on it, but I’d be happy to show it to you.”
    “You mean you don’t get reception out here?”   Tori asked wondering what in the world this old lady was talking about.
    Willa ignored her question. “Where are you from Tori?”
    “I am from Mercy, Kentucky .   Where am I?”
    “Well you are in Black Rock and I think it is a long way from where you came from.”
    “Black Rock?” Tori asked.
    “Yes, it is what we call this village. I have an idea, wait right here,” Willa said. Then she returned again with a box that she sat down on the table.   The box contained a cell phone, several lighters, a flashlight, three books, many store catalogs and a gun.
    She gestured to Tori, “These are some items that I have found in my yard.   You see things just kind of show up here.   They have been ever since I was a little girl. A lot more in the last fifty years or so, it just happens.   We are supposed to turn in most of the things to the mayor, but what the mayor don’t know don’t hurt him.”
    Tori looked a little confused as she picked up the cell phone.   It was obviously not charged.   She picked up the flashlight and it wouldn’t come on either.  
    Willa continued, “There are several theories as to why and how these things show up.   Some people think there are space ships up in the sky above the when they dump their trash it lands here. Others think they are gifts from the Creator himself.   Me, I think