by Sasha Pruett
Chapter Twenty
he knoweth what is in the darkness.
Daniel 2:22
All Wendy could think about was Frank Marshall’s dead body lying in the middle of the street, torn to pieces and twitching in the pouring rain. Flashes of blood and flesh penetrated her mind. Nothing seemed to ease her mental anguish, so she immersed herself into her work, desperate to drown the nightmarish images that haunted her mind.
Their dinner, once coveted, sat uneaten; Wendy and Aaron Kinsington now sat quietly in their living room, unable speak about it, unable to forget. It was nearly midnight, but sleep was impossible, work was inevitable. “It’s impossible,” Wendy had mumbled the words to herself, but the uneasy quiet that had settled in the Kinsington home since the news of Frank Marshall’s demise left the tiniest sounds plainly audible and understandable.
“What’s impossible Hun?”
“Huh?”
“What’s impossible?”
“Oh, was that out loud?”
“Unless I’ve suddenly been given the ability to read minds... yes.”
“I see you still haven’t lost your so called sense of humor.”
“So sue me, it’s my defense mechanism. Now what’s impossible?”
“This is.”
“Oh I see, and what exactly is ‘this’? I seemed to have lost my mind reading ability?” His playfulness masked his true feelings of unease and sorrow for the man he had gone through school with. He was aware he was suppressing his emotions, but something inside told him that the worst was yet to come and now was not the time to reflect on his friend’s horrible end. The killer was still at large lingering in the shadows.
“The book, remember when I told you that this thing is part journal and part... well, spell book, for lack of a better term?”
“Rings an eerie bell.”
“All right smarty; anyway as I was saying, you know how this guy Saul, thought he could curse people?”
“How could I forget the humanitarian of yesteryear? The man must have been certifiable. I sure wouldn’t want him as my neighbor.”
“Maybe, maybe not.”
“What do you mean ‘maybe not’? I know you’re interested in people, but a... what’s a nice word, person... like that next door would make me pack up and move out of the state.”
“I didn’t mean that, I agree with you there. I meant about his sanity, thinking he had the power to curse people.”
“Oh that, what about it?”
“Well according to this; he did it.”