XV - Henry
Henry
stared out at the foggy darkness through the small patch of clear glass,
clutched his papers tightly to his chest and rubbed his jaw. It was going to bruise. He heard Paige's worried tones and half
turned towards her.
"What's
wrong now?"
"It's
Charlie, he's disappeared." Paige
let her gaze flicker back down the empty corridor. "I... I should go look for him. Are you okay waiting here?
We don't want to get lost."
He
nodded and watched her slip out into the corridor, a shadow beneath the
inconstant lights, breaking into a run, then vanishing around a corner. He sighed, walked over to one of the beds
and sat down, set his papers on his knees and began to read.
They
were old. Some were very old indeed,
sealed between thin sheets of plastic but crumbling where the edges poked
out. Others were less centuried,
written only decades ago, rather than generations. He fingered through them carefully reminding himself of images
and words long forgotten.
When
he'd picked them up in the apartment it had seemed very important he take them
with him. They had been sitting in that
chest in his study for a long, long time and then suddenly they had seemed
relevant. Now he sat staring at them,
unsure why he had really brought them. Do
I really believe it's a coincidence?
He
had fought so adamantly against the irrational so far. He had shouted and directed and demanded but
with those papers in front of him it was all starting to look a lot like
denial.
They
all said I was in denial.
But
he didn't want to give in. He didn't
want to admit that any of it might be true.
How could he, after all these years, after all the things he had said
and done, after a retirement that had been comfortable in spite of all the
nagging little doubts - How could I?
He
flicked his way back to the first page and skimmed across it, focusing on the
image of the moebius loop cross and the symbols and writing that surrounded it.
The
sect of St. Margaret of Devara...
Folklore? Myth? History?
He
closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
No. I'm not backing down now. This is nonsense.
No comments:
Post a Comment