Walk the Darkness Down by John Boden

Author:John Boden [Boden, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: supernatural, weird fiction
Publisher: Crossroad Press
Published: 2019-05-07T00:00:00+00:00

JONES

23.

Jones sat at the table. Bob Ford lay dead in his bed. Kellianne stood by his side and looked down at him with puffy and swollen eyes. “He was a good man.”

“Such a good man, one of the best I have known.” Jones concurred. He studied her face, her darker skin like his. Her brown eyes. She was indeed beautiful. She adjusted the sleeve of the shirt she wore. “Never a bigger heart have I known. He took me as I was and never questioned a thing. His path was one of love and caring and he did that for me. Walked that with me.” Her lips quivered slightly. “And you?”

“Yes, He did.” Jones stood and fingered the brim of the hat in his hands. He looked at the serene face of his friend in the bed. Then into the eyes of the woman he had loved. “I stopped for a night’s rest and maybe some food. The man welcomed me into his home and allowed me to stay a while longer. He talked and he listened. And he spoke of many things, nature, ours and the world’s. He spoke of love and life. Many times about love, and almost always tied it to you.” Jones smiled, and it was a warm fire. “He loved you.” He held out a hand and she took it, squeezed it once and dropped it.

“I know.” She walked over to the table and picked up some bread and began tearing off ragged pieces and laying them on her husband’s face. She did the same with the tomatoes and greens that were idle in the basket on the floor. He walked to the door and grabbed the crate of apples and pears and joined her in laying them around and on Ford’s body. She looked at him and smiled.

“You know what we’re doing?” she asked.

“I believe I do. The food will absorb his sins, the darkness that was in him. Is in everyone. Though I feel that the amount will be small. This allows him to go on pure and free.”

“In other cultures, a person is hired to eat the food, and this removes the sin from existence. We will share this duty, you and I.”

“I’ll do it myself. I’ve never been one to feel full.” Jones laughed, and it was a profane gesture. Hollow.

Kellianne looked at him and nodded. A shiver rolled through her. “The sun is starting to droop. I will be going soon. I won’t be back.” She felt her chest hitch as her sobs tried their best to escape her. “You were good to my Ford. You were good to me. You’re a good man, Jones. You take anything you need from here and be on your way. Be careful out there. Tenacious is the darkness all around this place these days.”

“I will and I know. Seems to be the way of things these days, doesn’t it?”

“I have passed so much pain and destruction to get here. Nearly every town has been murdered in its sleep.

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