Free The Lurking Man by Keith Rommel Page B

look at you.”
    She walked straight ahead and looked at the black smear. The way it moved and swirled played tricks on her eyes and she looked at her feet to escape the confusion. She rubbed her eyes with balled fists and wanted to cry about so many things.
    An extended finger with a long, knotty fingernail pierced the bright and settled underneath her chin. With the split tip of the nail coming to rest on her chin, he encouraged her focus up. And when she lifted her gaze, his wrinkled, hairless face with a displeased grimace descended upon her. His fleshy earlobes dangled past his chin and his bleached, blank eyes were impossible to understand. White cracked lips parted ever so slightly as he spoke.
    â€œOh yes,” he said, his teeth were discolored and broken and his breath was like a waft of stale air that escaped a sealed tomb. “It is still there and hidden deep, I can see it. It doesn’t want to come out, but it will, and it knows it has to. It has made you hollow and it is a big part of the reason why you are here.”
    Paralyzed by his touch, all she could do was listen and watch.
    â€œDo not fear what you see looking at you right now, because what dwells within you is surely uglier than I.”
    Sariel curled his finger into his hand and pulled it into the shadow. He shook his head and withdrew his face. A sudden prevailing push of air howled ominously.
    Cailean stumbled backwards and felt the sting his touch had left behind. She rubbed her chin. The feeling turned to a burn and started a slow crawl up her face. It moved past her lips and into her cheeks and nose.
    â€œWhat did you do to me?”
    It began to snow again, violently.
    She continued to swipe at the sensation that now moved around her eyes and traced her hairline. Her fingers tried to brush away the feeling but her touch discovered a lump on the center of her forehead.
    â€œWhat is this? Did this happen when you pushed me to the ground?”
    She explored the sensitive, swollen area. Long and thin, it stretched almost the entire length of her forehead.
    â€œYou arrived here with that,” he said. “I am merely making obvious what you need to know next.”
    She wondered how she could continue on with this insanity.
    â€œI want you to stop toying with me!” she said, and lashed out against the darkness, intending to reach into the black and pull Sariel into the light. But it bit back like the jolt from an electrical outlet and it sent her down to the floor. She hit the back of her head, and the explosive pain invited the darkness inside her mind.

Chapter 9
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    MAKING AMENDS
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    The past.
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    Cailean’s eyelids felt like lead weights. She gagged hard and tried to combat the dizziness. The room she occupied was dark and silent and she didn’t know what had awoken her.
    She sat up fast, retched, and the taste of cheap wine and stomach acids filled her mouth. She swallowed it and made a face of displeasure. The time of day remained unannounced by a blinking digital clock on the nightstand.
    The constant pulse of pain that occupied the inside of her head grew stronger with her emerging awareness, and her limbs trembled in response. She carefully positioned herself on the edge of the bed, placed her feet on the floor, and grabbed the sheets on either side of her hips. The room continued to undulate.
    A deep, rolling pain that started in the pit of her stomach and crawled up her esophagus carried wine and undigested food. It flew out of her mouth with a violent heave. The thick, brown liquid and small chunks of solids splashed on the floor between her feet and splattered the nightstand, bed skirt, walls, and the pillow she had tossed off of the bed before she passed out. The strong, overpowering stench of stomach acids forced her to pinch her nose and breathe out of her mouth. Her belly wrenched with a second wave of pain and she vomited again.
    She wiped her mouth and stood.