Michael Read Free Page B

there were plenty. He could sense it all, and it was like walking into the overpowering stench of a field of dead. He could see with his mind’s eye innumerable historical instances of this very type of thing, and it swept over him and drove him to his knees. He couldn’t help gagging; it was so real.
    All the decisions he’d made—whether with good intentions or bad—were tallied up before his eyes and it was like that old Hebrew legend: Mene. Mene. Tekel. Upharsin. And he could hear what it meant; that he had been weighed in the scales and found wanting. And perhaps a lesser person— what am I, a man or a boy? —would have crumbled into tears, but Michael Alexander didn’t. He simply stood to his feet, numb. Overwhelmed. He looked out on the lake below, the mountains in the distance. He stood now just past the boulders near the edge of the cliff.
    “Michael?” The voice was right behind him.
    He spun, instinct driving him instantly into his fighting stance, fists up in the guard.
    “What are you doing here?” It was Kim.
    He let out a breath and relaxed, forcing his arms down to his sides. “Looking for you.”
    Kim’s face showed flashes of unbridled rage. “Murderer,” she breathed, her eyes flashing.
    Michael’s eyes widened in comprehension. “No…no, that’s not true—”
    “How can you say that?” her eyes filled with tears, her fists clenched at her side.
    “Kim, I mean—”
    “Shut up! Just shut your mouth!” She wiped at her eyes. “You killed my best friend!”
    “Kim—”
    “Traitor! Bastard! Murderer!”
    Michael grimaced. I guess this is where it starts.
    She stalked closer to him and looked up at his face. “I want to kill you!” She was pointing her finger at his chest. “I should push you off this cliff. You don’t deserve to live. You are a…” She stuttered—face flushed.
    “Kim, listen to me. Airel is alive.”
    Her jaw dropped. Then she stepped back from him, shock spreading across her face. “Liar!” she hissed. “I don’t believe you!”
    “Kim, trust me. I am all those things you said I am. I have to live the rest of my life knowing what I did to her. But I’m telling you the truth—she’s alive.”
    Kim looked like she was dizzy, and her eyes darted around as if a torrent of different emotions were pouring through her.
    “Kim. Can I take you to her? Let me take you to her.”
    She eyed him warily. “Why should I trust you?”
    He shrugged, harrumphing. “I’ve got no reason for you to trust me, Kim. None at all. Like I said, you were right. I am a traitor and a murderer. And I am a…a bastard. You don’t know how right you are about that. Are you going to follow me back to the house or not?”
    “How ‘bout not,” she said, crossing her arms and cupping her elbows with her hands.
    I can see how this is going. “Tell you what. Why don’t you head back, now that we’ve found each other, and see for yourself. I’ll wait here for a bit and let you two have some time. You probably need it. I’ll probably see you in the kitchen by the time I get back. I bet she’ll need something to eat anyway.”
    She sniffed at him. “Whatever.”
    “That’s our Kim.” She’s probably going to make me regret saying that.
    Kim turned and sprinted into the woods like a cat.
    “It’ll be dark soon,” he called after her. “Better hurry.” He had decided to take his time getting back, coming dark or no. Maybe try to see if El would answer a question or two…

    Before Michael could articulate a single question in his mind, watching Kim scurry off, he felt something new within him, a kind of draw to light and warmth. It was magnetic, and as he opened his heart and mind to it, he was surprised at how the light seared his mind, how the warmth burned him, it felt good to be truly honest about all that he was.
    But what he was was ugly.
    Then he could see what was happening. It was El. He’s here, somehow, right now, he thought panicking, and, completely