Maelstrom by Richard Paolinelli

Author:Richard Paolinelli
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tuscany Bay Books
Published: 2014-04-12T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 13

This is death, he thought as he fell deeper and deeper into the darkness.

No angels heralding his approach to gold-gilded gates and an afterlife filled with floating among tufted clouds. The upside at least was that he was not plummeting toward lakes of lava-hot fires and the shrieks of tormented souls doomed to an eternity of suffering.

Then again, he considered, what could serve as a worse version of eternal damnation than a never-ending fall into an empty void?

He was still trying to find an answer to that question when his fall came to an abrupt end. To his great surprise, he didn’t feel any pain when he slammed into what felt like solid rock. Still unable to see anything in the darkness, he felt the surface below him and found it to be cold, smooth and very flat, almost like a marble countertop. Reaching out as far as he could stretch he could not find any edges to the surface.

Carefully, he levered himself up on his feet. He now had a sense of up and down and left and right, but there was nothing he could see that would give him a reference point to work with.

Should he just stand here and wait or try to walk forward? Once walking, could he keep his bearings enough not to wind up walking in circles? For that matter, where was he? Had he in fact died and was this the vaunted afterlife? Or had he somehow succeeded in linking his mind with Alexis’ and was now trapped in the same comatose state she was in?

Worse yet, if he was trapped within her mind, how much actual time was passing while he tried to find her? Was the sense of time in this place, wherever “this” was, actually real seconds and minutes ticking by? How long did he have in this place until Andras sent someone after the two of them?

The questions were frustrating and the lack of answers even more so. Finally he resorted to form when given a choice of action or no action. He would take action every time.

He started to take a step forward when he was startled by a voice from behind.

“You won’t find her that way.”

Steve spun around toward the voice and was finally able to use his eyes. Standing before him, carrying a small candle in one hand, was blonde-haired little girl in a full-length nightgown. Her other hand clutched a well-worn teddy bear tightly to her chest. She couldn’t be any older than six.

The candlelight provided just enough luminance that they could see each other, but not enough to penetrate the void beyond. As Steve knelt down to the little girl’s eye level, and noticed a familiar shade of blue looking back at him, he realized that this was a much younger version of Alexis Tivoli.

This realization meant he wasn’t dead after all, but he had succeeded in linking their minds together through their respective bands. But it did not mean he was out of the woods yet.

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