Free The Somnibus: Book I - Finding the Mark (A Paranormal Thriller) by Craig McGray Page A

green.
    I brought my palm closer to my face and noticed
web-like lines radiating from the outer edges. Soon, the glow dissipated.
First, the lines became shorter, and then the oblong shape in the center
shrunk. Seconds later, only a dark emerald pinpoint remained in the center of
my palm. It glowed for an instant before disappearing into the pinkish skin of
my palm.
    I’d had enough excitement for the day and decided
to go to bed and face the next day with fresh eyes and mind.

-Chapter 19-
     
    T he next morning, I sat at the table going through
the pictures in the box from the bank. I lined them up in chronological order,
and by the date stamps on the pictures I determined
that some time around 1964 Mort had stopped aging. As I shuffled through the
pictures, the hand-written pages from the briefcase caught my eye. A tear slid
down my cheek when I saw the date at the top one of the crumpled pages.
     
    November 21, 2011
     
    Tonight is the worst night of my life. I have no one
to talk to, so I’m writing this down in order keep some sort of sanity about
me.
    Alice and Jon are gone. They died tonight in a
horrible car crash on their way home, when Jon lost control over the car. Alice
told me Mallen had been visiting her in her sleep again. Alice forced him away,
and he began to harass Jon as a result. Mallen has bridged Jon several times
over the last few weeks and he is the reason Jon lost control. I told Mallen to
leave them alone, but he just doesn’t know when to quit.
    Alice had been trying to contact me the entire
night, but I went searching for Mallen and missed her attempts. When I couldn’t
find Mallen, I feared the worst, and I bridged to Alice just in time to see it
happen. I entered Alice and Jon looked over to me with that wicked grin and
those colorless eyes. He jerked the car from left to right until it finally
spun out of control. Mallen laughed while the car twisted and turned its way
upside down. Jon flew from the car while Alice remained trapped. Jon’s body was torn in half and he had no chance at survival. I watched
through Alice’s eyes as Mallen released himself.
    Alice remained trapped in the wreckage. We tried
everything to break free, but we couldn’t. I stayed with Alice until her soul
was gone, and her mind shut down, forcing me from her.
    I will never forget the pain and anguish she
endured in those final moments. I felt every bit of it. Her thoughts were full
of her son who sat just out of reach, unable to help, watching the entire event
unfold.
    I made a promise to Alice that I would take care
of Michael should anything happen to her and Jon. I will keep that promise
through my dying day.
    I find myself guilt ridden with the situation. I
should have stopped it.
     
    I sat back in the chair with tears streaming down
my face; taking some solace in the fact that mom
hadn’t died alone. Mort had been with her, and he did everything he could to
free her.
    My poor father, I imagined his last thoughts. I’d
watched as he tried to put himself back together, literally. Hopefully his suffering had been short. 
    I read over the note several more times, and part
of it stood out to me. He said he’d watched as Mallen left my father’s body. I
thought I had seen my father’s soul leaving his body, but it’d been Mallen.
    My skin burned with rage over the death of my
parents. Losing them was bad enough, but learning that they were murdered tore
the wound open and rubbed salt into it. The anger dried my tears as I seethed
over the letter.
    I went upstairs and again studied the blotch in my
carpet. Mort had told me there was only one way to kill Mallen, and the process
would reduce them both to a stain in the carpet. Mort was clearly there, but
why didn’t I see Mallen? I’d seen his outline when he escaped through the
ceiling, but this time there was no trace of him in the aftermath.
    I had to know if Mallen was gone for good. I owed
it to my parents and to Mort to make sure. I went downstairs,