The Lover's Parable Through A Seven World Journey Read Online Free PDF Page B

expression of determination, he picked it up, placed it against his chest and brought it over to her, setting it upon her lap.
    “Go ahead. Open it,” the old man gestured with his hands, as if he were the one opening the ebony colored package.
    The top of the box slid off with ease. Inside, wrapped within a thin, white paper, Sofia found a peculiar knife with a blade that folded into its own handle, a brass compass, a monocular instrument and a black leather notebook.
    Lifting the book out of the box first and fanning through all the pages, the familiar aroma of fresh air and green trees filled the air. The leather of the book was worn and limp from, what appeared to be, extensive use. Upon closer examination it was some type of homemade, field manual. There were drawings of edible plants, maps for locating water sources, shelter designs and other relevant items for such a book as this. But, what caught Sofia’s eye as the strangest wonder was a sketching that spanned the entire last page and onto a piece of matching paper glued to the inside of the back cover. It was a bird’s eye view of Labor City, but it was scaled to about one centimeter. Surrounding it was an extensive, hand-drawn, topographical map of a single landmass upon, what had to have been, their tiny planet: the hills, the mountains, the streams and rivers. There were places noted with question marks. Some were drawn with skulls and crossbones surrounded by square perimeters made up of Xs done up in red ink. A thin, black line, which apparently represented The Highway, extended northeasterly out of Labor. It was long and winding, continuing for quite a relative distance before heading due east and finally terminating at a picture of some type of flying apparatus that was surrounded by more red Xs.
    To the west of Labor, nearly equidistant to the city as the image of the flying machine was to the northeast, there was drawn another rather peculiar object, a sketch of another flying machine. But this one was different. It was broken in half and entangled among the trees. It had the words food and shelter scribbled next to it in large print, bold and underlined.
    Sofia placed her finger on the picture of the northeasterly compound. “What’s this?” she asked.
    With lowering brows, Mr. Sanders began to take on a more serious demeanor.
    “That’s a place I do not want either of you to ever go near… ever! Do you understand me? It’s…”
    A sudden crash, accompanied by the creaking of the opening of a door outside, caused him to stop mid-sentence. Quickly, but silently, Mr. Sanders made his way to the front door, placing his ear heavy against it. Holding out his arm with a hushing sound towards Sofia, she realized that she had made a rustling of the wrapping paper that was held in her hand beneath the leather book. Ceasing her activity, she would only move at his command.



Chapter Four
    The warmth of the blood smeared across John’s forearm as he wiped the oozing liquid from his mouth. He did not want to open his eyes… he did not want to look again into the stinging glare of the Monster standing before him. The throbbing of his temples caused the tears to trickle down his cheeks, tinged in crimson as they passed through the cuts and abrasions that painted his face. Winded and panting, a nauseated feeling engulfed his stomach as the saltiness of the tears ended their journeys, filtering through his lips and onto his swollen tongue.
    John had found himself in similar positions to this in the past, but something more sinister was bearing down on him this time. Beatings were not an uncommon event. Not for him or for any child of Labor, for that matter. The linoleum floor, cool and lonely, a familiar site from the perspective of which he now existed, was just another reminder of the wastefulness of life within the Corral. But, the pounding of his head, coupled with the reeling of his mind, was much worse than he had ever experienced. He felt as if Death