Read Online Scarleton Series I : Before the Cult by Sandy Masia - Free Book Online

Why life?”
    He paused,
snorted and looked away. “Once you realize you are an eagle among
penguins you can’t help but fly.”
    I knew what he
meant, only then we were penguins among eagles.
    “The truth
is…there is no life before the crop, now we are slaves to finding
it…because there is nothing else that matters really. And that
makes us deathlings . I have never lived until the day I set
out for my quest. I am still dead now, but the only time we get to
live is when we get there. Find what grows there!”
    “Am I the only deathling you have ever met since?”
    “No, there is
one more.”
    Before I could
ask he answered. “He will meet us here. This is where we sleeping
tonight. He went collecting some wood. We had been hunting the
priest for some time now. We thought in a few hours we would catch
him and get the answers. We saw him at the town at first but he was
uncooperative, thought being here he would have no choice. We knew
he comes here to pray every now and then.” He paused. “But we have
our ways.”
    “Do have
sleeping bags?” He knew what the sentence implied.
    “Nah, we going
to our house tomorrow. It is just this night.” He shrugged.
    “What have you
learned about the fields?”
    He shook his
head wearily. “Let’s just wait for Macxermillio, okay?”
     
3
     
    I watched the
flames as Macxermillio and Macfearson discussed something a few
feet from the light. Macxermillio had not said much when he came.
He added wood to the fire, offered me pie out of courtesy. He
appeared very cautious and calculating. There was shrewd malice to
him even though I had not witnessed it, a man like him carries his
deeds with him like a smoker carries the smell of tobacco.
Macfearson abided by him, following his orders without a sigh or
question. Every now and then Macxermillio gave me a suspicious
look, like he could see in my soul or I smelled like dog shit.
    I could hear
them talking in whispers but could not make out what they are
saying at all, not much of it anyway. When that was the case I
tried to use their tones to discern their attitude or conflict, if
there was any.
    “So what
happened to him?” I heard Macxermillio ask, speaking a lot more
loudly but still not easy to make out.
    “He didn’t
cooperate.”
    “He saw you do
it?”
    “Yeah, the
whole thing.”
    “Are you sure
that…” Then I couldn’t make out the rest.
    “Not
really.”
    “What does he
know?”
    I saw
Macfearson shake his head from the periphery. “Didn’t say. But he
wants you to tell him.”
    Silence fell, I
felt Macxermillio’s cold gaze on the back of my head.
    “Okay then,”
said Macxermillio, striding to the fire. He sat cross-legged across
from me. Macfearson joined next to him.
    He studied me
for a moment, for an uncomfortably long time. “Tell me what did you
see when that man died?” Macxermillio’s voice was detached and
distant, not what I had expected. I thought he would be
interrogative and fierce.
    I glanced at
Macfearson who signalled my cue. “ Um… was like he was realizing
something he had forgotten. Like he forgot to update his will or
take out the garbage so his wife won’t be pissed. Just the
expression on his face. Like when a women gasps and they put their
hands on their mouth…they always seem to widen their eyes like
that. It was like he saw something… something and it’s too late to
do anything about it. I don’t think it was fear. It was all
serene.” I shrugged and shook my head, looking down at my lap. Felt
like I was getting an orgasm, it was just that release of tingling
sensations wriggling through me.
    “How’d you
feel?”
    “Like cuming in
his face,” I wept, there was a convulsion of shameful emotions
surging in me. Ones I never knew I had and did not want to have,
but at the same time it felt homey and right. It was truth that
slipped through my lips, strange and unlike me at first but the
truest thing I had come to learn about myself. Saying this was as
good as