Tales of the Fallen Book I: Awakenings Read Online Free PDF Page B

with a sigh.
    Mal heard White’s voice as if it were in the distance. And he snapped out of his memories and locked eyes with White. “Oh yeah? How so?”
    “If you will allow me, I can show you what happened that night.”
    “You want in my head don’t you?”
    White shook his head. “Not at all. I invite you into my memories and the memories of those who work with me.”
    “Yeah, but still, what happens to my body while we take a trip down your memory lane? Don’t really want to wake up naked on the side of the road with a twenty taped to my forehead and my asshole bleeding.”
    White frowned. “You are a crude man, Mr. Branch.”
    Mal shrugged. “Yeah, well, you know… No momma raising me and all that. No manners…”
    “No excuses…”
    Mal shrugged again. “Oh…so I’m not allowed to play the no-mommy card like every other pathetic fucker in the world? That doesn’t seem fair.”
    “Would you like to see your mother, Mr. Branch?”
    “Uh,” Mal was stunned by the offer. He started to say something smart-ass, but instead stumbled on his words. He eventually got something out. “You knew my mother?”
    “Knew?” White shook his head. “No. But I was… aware of her. Just as Gregory keeps an eye on everything I do, I keep a keen eye trained on him at all times.”
    Mal mulled it over for a few seconds. “So you promise me no hanky-panky while we do this?”
    “My word that nothing will happen to you. I am simply not allowed to harm you.”
    “Why is it I believe you?”
    White just stared at him.
    “Okay. Let’s do this then, “ Mal relented.
    White’s eyes turned gold again and Mal felt a slight rustling of the air around him. A moment later he was standing in an alley in a shitty part of town. Shitty, and familiar. He looked out of the alley entrance at the scene unfolding across the street. Mal didn’t want to admit it, but he knew what he was seeing. A skinny little rat of a guy was stumbling up to a mountain of a man—a huge man with long, golden hair. And Mal knew instantly that he had been played because there was no doubt just who the guy was…Desmond.
    The scene continued to play out and it wasn’t exactly what Mal remembered. His old, drunk self was a disaster on two feet. He approached the huge man in a barely controlled lurch. Mal could hear his old crackling voice break through the silent air—the words slurred and almost incomprehensible. But Mal knew what his ghost was saying. And he cringed. Then he watched the blur that was Desmond slide behind the old Mal and hit him upside the head with the bottle. Then Mal watched as Desmond lit a match and dropped it onto the bloody, crumpled pile on the ground. And even though he couldn’t feel the flames, a long suppressed memory resurfaced and Mal felt sick.
    That sick feeling grew more intense as he saw another figure suddenly appear out of the shadows and come up next to Desmond. Mal watched as Gregory looked down upon the burning body. He waved his hand and the flames disappeared. Mal saw Gregory say something to Desmond before the giant removed his coat and laid it on top of Mal’s charred body. Desmond picked up what was left of Mal, cradling it like a baby, and walked off into the shadows behind Gregory.
    Another sensation of wind swirling around him and Mal quickly found himself standing in dark shadows once again. Only this time it was in an even shittier place than where he had just relived being burned to death. The smell hit him first: garbage, shit, piss, rotting flesh, disease and despair. The stench attacked his senses, sending his stomach into convulsions. He struggled to not vomit and eventually won.
    Mal’s eyes began to adjust to the dim light. Sounds rose up around him. But one sound quickly drowned out all others. Like someone turning the knob up slowly on a radio, the scream built to a crescendo. Mal winced and focused on where the sound had come from. And there on the ground, naked from the waist down, lay