The Necromancer by Tom Lewis

Author:Tom Lewis [Lewis, Tom]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2021-10-20T00:00:00+00:00

Natalie barely paid attention as the funeral Mass droned on. The priest rambled on about this and that; about Nathan being in a better place and smiling down on them; about heavenly banquets, and so on. Natalie had no doubt it was the same spiel he gave at last weekend’s funerals; and the weekend before that. Just whip out the sermon book, insert the new dearly deceased’s name, and everything was good to go. No need to learn anything about the dearly deceased corpse’s life; everyone already knew that stuff. Just make the mourners feel good, then move on to the next corpse.

The priest was the same one who came to her house the day she found out about Nathan’s death, so she hated him already. The Army guy was probably there too, the one who thought she should be proud her brother got his face shot off. She hoped his car crashed.

‘I am the resurrection and the life...’ the priest droned on from his pre-packaged sermon. So much for originality; this was assembly line funerals at their best. You supply the body, and we supply everything else.

If You’re the resurrection and the life, then why is my fucking brother dead?

As the sermon dragged on, and Natalie’s bitterness and resentment boiled, she began feeling a tightening in her chest. It started as a slight wheeze, like asthma, and grew steadily worse.

By the time the homily ended, and the priest returned behind the altar to resume the Mass, Natalie could barely breathe. She undid the top button on her shirt, but that didn’t help any. She even looked at her parents across the aisle, thinking maybe they could help.

‘Why are you looking at them, Natalie? They can’t help you.’

The Girl was right.

‘Get out now, Natalie. Get out of the church if you want to breathe.’

Natalie did. Lurching to her feet, she shuffled down the aisle toward the exit at the back of the church, paying no attention to the stares from everyone as she passed by. She just had to get out of there.

Hannah watched Natalie shuffle past, and it didn’t seem like Natalie even noticed her. Her eyes were fixed on the back doors like they would disappear if she blinked.

Hannah started to follow her, but her dad touched her arm.

“I think she needs to be alone, honey,” her dad said.

Hannah took another look back at Natalie as she neared the back doors. Everyone was watching her, and Hannah felt bad. She sighed and sat back in her seat. Hopefully, her dad was right.

Natalie shuffled out the door and into the bright noonday sun. Instantly her lungs opened, and she sucked in deep gulps of air. She could breathe again. She looked back at the church and sneered — it was that place, and the stupid priest’s endless babbling, that almost suffocated her. And now, out here in the open, away from all the ‘thou shalt not’s’ and resurrection talk, she could breathe.

She squinted against the glare, barely able to

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