Touching Darkness Read Online Free PDF Page A

anyone? You told me once that you’d rather be in the middle of a forest tracking down bones, or 150 feet down in the ocean looking for shipwrecks than to be around other people.”
    â€œI think it’s just the way I am, Mom.”
    He wasn’t going to tell her that maybe it was because she kept telling him and Jennessy, his sister, not to love too deeply, because when you lost, and you would, it would hurtso much more. He and Jennessy had become self-sufficient children, used to spending lots of time alone, and he wasn’t sure either could change that.
    Jennessy. She was an Offspring, too.
    â€œDid you have the fire nightmare?”
    â€œI haven’t had one of those in years.” This was the only kind of lie he could abide, one that kept her from being afraid. When he died, his distance would make his loss a little easier to bear.
    Even before he knew what a funeral was, he’d always gone from the horror of the fire to the service. His mother and sister lost in grief, his casket. Other people crying. His sister was about the age she was now. So was his mother.
    It wasn’t just a nightmare that tore through his dreams on a regular basis, and in particular, on his birthday. He knew it would come true. Just as it did for his father.
    â€œAre you fibbing?” she asked. “Trying not to get me worried?”
    â€œWouldn’t I remember the nightmare if I had it?” Evasive. “Dad had them all the time, right?”
    His were nightmares of being shot, of someone coming into the building he was in and shooting at everyone in the vicinity.
    â€œAbout once a month. When you started getting recurring nightmares about burning…”
    â€œBut I’m not.” He remembered her reaction when he’d had the nightmare the first several times. She’d held him in stiff arms, and screamed, “Stop having those nightmares. Your daddy had them, and they came true! I couldn’t stand losing you, so stop them!”
    He couldn’t stop them, but he did stop telling her about them. “How is your eye?” he asked, partly to change the subject.
    â€œCataract surgery is set for just over two weeks from now. Doc says it’s no big deal. I’ll wear a patch for a week, and it’ll be over. My friend Velma is going to take me to thedoctor, and Jennessy is coming back for the week and take care of me.”
    She was having eye surgery. He shuddered, and dark tension coiled inside him. At the funeral, his mother wore an eye patch. He was going to die in three weeks.
    Lilah’s voice sounded strained, devoid of the chipper tone she’d had earlier. “Are you still afraid of fire?”
    â€œNot much.” Another lie. It had gotten worse. Even candles, bonfires, fireplaces…they clogged his throat with the memory of choking on smoke. He couldn’t even watch the news when they were reporting fires.
    â€œHave you heard from Jenn yet? I have no idea where she even is.”
    He walked to the French doors. “Probably taking photos in Africa or slogging across the Amazon.” He rarely heard from her, though if she was near a phone, she always called him on his birthday. What should he tell her about this Offspring business? Nothing yet, but he would find out if anyone had tried contacting her. “Mom, can I ask you something about Dad?”
    â€œOf course. Do you find yourself thinking about him on your birthday?” The wistfulness in her voice was much better than the grief that once saturated it.
    â€œSometimes. You said I got my skill at locating things from him. Was he always good at that?”
    â€œFor as long as I knew him. We never had lost keys or anything else when he was around.”
    He leaned against the mullioned glass, watching the fog float through the channels in the maze like lost ghosts. The hedges, trimmed into neat walls, were probably fifteen feet tall. He wondered if his dad felt complete when