By C.L. Harmon
Let the fun continue.! This is the 74th installment of a continuing fictional story. Before each new segment, the last paragraph from the prior edition will be shown in quotations.
“Death frees us from this world, but it does not free those from that world. They are already dead and Porter’s release will take a much greater sacrifice than death. It will take the truth!”
By C.L. Harmon
I didn’t understand what Father Blaine meant by that, but he refused to elaborate and told me it was time for me to go home. He was tired he said and that without rest he would not be much more help to me today. I was so excited as I drove back home. I so desperately wanted to tehort Storyll Letters and Samantha what had happened that I could barely contain my thoughts to the inside of my head. I was actually speaking out loud as to what I was going to say to them. Even for a moment, I had forgotten that Sam wasn’t speaking to me anymore.
I arrived back home at around six and my mother was setting the dinner table. I could smell the aroma of fried chicken from the kitchen and it smelt good. I realized I had not eaten all day and had skipped lunch at school to go see Father Blaine. My mother acknowledged my arrival and greeted me with her usual, “hi honey” greeting. She told me to wash up for dinner and then immediately followed that with, “oh Sam called you. She would like you to call her back.”
“Sam called? What did she want?” I was excited again and did not even give my mother a chance to respond. “Um, mom I gotta go! I am not that hungry anyway. Will you keep me a plate warm and I will eat when I get back.” The question floated behind me on the breeze of my speedy departure out the door.as I began sprinting toward Sam’s house only to stop a few doors down and catch my breath. I regained my composure as I made my way to her front porch. She and her mother were sitting on the front porch swing and I had not noticed them in the evening dusk. They were chuckling about something and I felt awkward as I realized they saw me preparing to knock on the screen door.
“Good Evening Blake.” I responded ‘likewise’ to Sam and her mother who smiled at each other before her mother stepped off the swing. “I will leave you two talk while I prepare dinner. Remember Sam, dishes are your tonight.” Sam nodded and then placed her hand where her mother had been sitting, inviting me to sit down.
“Didn’t your mother tell you to call me?”
“Well…um. I mean she…well she tried. I didn’t really stay home long enough to call you after she told me.” Sam smiled the sweetest and cutest grin I had ever seen and then reached over and took my hand.
“I wasn’t sure you would call. I know my abrupt end to, well you know, must have been surprising for you.”
“No it’s okay Sam. I understand that this whole thing with Weathers was getting weird and I don’t blame you. I wish I could walk away too.”
“But you can’t Blake. And I shouldn’t have either. You can’t go anywhere because this is your home and its where the people you love call home. I realized while I was away that you don’t abandon people when they need you. Especially those you care about. I was wrong to leave you to fight this alone.” She leaned in and kissed me as she had done on those steps a few weeks earlier. Only this time she didn’t get up and leave. “So, tell me everything! What has been happening with our mysterious evil man since I left?” Her tone was jubilant and vibrant and all of that excitement I experienced during the car ride back from Silver Springs boiled out of me as I began telling her everything that happened.