Free Courageous: Afterlife Book Four by Willow Rose Page B

you to look at. Find it and open the folder."
    Abhik sighed. "Okay. As you wish. But don't come and tell me I didn't warn ..." Abhik paused as he opened the pages and started flickering through my last year. Then he lifted his head and stared at me with wide open eyes.
    "Thought you might find it interesting," I said.
    "But ... But they're .... they're all empty?"
     
     
     

C HAPTER 15
    A BHIK STARED AT the many pages in disbelief, as if he kept staring long enough he would realize that his eyes were in fact deceiving him.
    "How is this possible?" he asked without looking up at me.
    "I don't know. It's not just the last year that is missing. I have bookmarked all the places that are black. If you go back a little you'll see that there are several of them."
    Abhik found a couple more and stared at them. Then he looked up at me. "What do you make of this?" he asked. "What do you think happened to those pages?"
    "That's what I wanted you to help me find out."
    Abhik looked down at the pages again then shook his head. "I don't know if I'm the right person for this. Have you shown it to Mick?"
    "Yes," I said and sat next to Abhik on the bed. "I showed him when I got the book on graduation day. He said he wanted to help me find it, but we haven't spoken about it since. Every time I bring it up he tells me we'll look into it later. There has been a lot with the wedding and all, so I haven't mentioned it in a long time. I will do it today, if he is in a better mood when he gets back. But I could use more help, if you have the time for it, and if you're up for it. Mick is busy since he still works in the kitchen and I have to rest for at least a couple of days more."
    Abhik looked at the pages and flipped a couple of black ones. "A lot is missing," he said.
    "I made a list of all the dates," I said and pulled out a piece of paper from the back of the book. I handed it to Abhik.
    "As you can see it begins when I'm five and after that it is quite often. A lot of days in a row. Then there is a break and almost a year passes, but then several days are missing and then six months passes before a day is missing again and then six months again and a day is missing. It continues like that until I'm fifteen. After that it becomes much more often. Three months before I turn sixteen that's when it all goes blank. Everything is gone completely."
    Abhik nodded and studied the dates closer.
    "But that's not the only thing," I continued. "I have been going through my memories so many times and have noticed that every now and then there are minor black holes in it. Like if it was a real book and entire words or sentences and even paragraphs had been taken out and destroyed the meaning of it so it doesn't make sense anymore."
    "I don't think I understand," Abhik said.
    "It's almost everywhere," I said and opened a page that wasn't black. "Like here, I'm sitting on a swing. I'm seven years old and thinking about something, but it doesn't make sense. It's like something has been taken out of it."
    "Isn't that just the disrupted thoughts of a seven-year old?" Abhik asked.
    "I thought so too, but as you see on the next page the rest of the thoughts are perfect enough. Here I'm thinking about some friend called Grace in school and that makes perfect sense."
    "So what do you think is missing in the other scene?" Abhik asked and flipped the page back to me on the swing.
    I stared at my childhood picture. "If only I knew. It's like someone censured it, as if there is something in here that I am not supposed to know about now."
    Abhik nodded. "I hear what you're saying. Maybe you should talk to Salathiel about it. Maybe there is a reason for it? Maybe they censured it to protect you from something? I can't believe you haven't told anyone yet. Why haven't you already spoken to him about it?"
    "Well, I don't know. I guess I thought he had more important things to do. Mick told me the Angels were very busy in the summer and they were gone from the school most