Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 67263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 336(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 336(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
I muttered it. “Great Eagle come through.”
“Ask the Great Eagle to save you.”
I sighed. “Please Great Eagle come save me. Fly down and. . .bat your wings and shit.”
“Talk more.”
“Come on, Great Eagle! Come on now.” Anger boiled in me. “This water is nasty as fuck. I don’t know why you would do this shit to me. I like eagles!”
Timur gave me a deranged smile. “Speak more, Maxwell. Tell the Great Eagle about your problems. Tell her about the ache.”
“Fill this fucking ache!” I stared up at the light. “It’s not right. I didn’t do anything. Why do I feel this way? Guilty and sad a lot. In pain like I was the victim when I wasn't. Nothing happened to me, but I feel like I carry shit too. And it isn't right to Em. The focus should be on her, but why do I have to be the one to. . .”
“Go ahead, Maxwell.”
My throat went dry. “Why do I have to suffer for my father’s sins.”
“There’s more. Say it.”
I shivered. “I’m good right there. We can. . .end it.”
“Say more.”
I blew out air. “I don’t know. . .”
“You weren’t born with that ache.”
“I wasn’t.”
“It came to you because of him.” Timur pointed at me. "Your father and what he did, put that ache there."
My eyes burned with tears. “Come on, man. I don't want to talk about this. Let’s do the baptism part.”
“Your father put that ache there.”
I backed up. "Sure."
“Say that.”
I sighed. “He did."
"Really say it."
I swallowed. "My father put this ache inside of me.”
“How did he do that?”
“He just did.”
“How?”
“How do you know that I have an ache?”
Timur touched the side of his head with his bloody finger. “The Great Eagle tells me many things.”
I frowned.
“Em can’t fill the ache.”
I stepped back. “What did you say?”
“But, the Great Eagle can.”
“H-how do you know about Em?”
“The Great Eagle.” Timur looked up at the sky.
I turned my view up too.
“Tell the Great Eagle to fill the ache.”
It was sad and fucked up, but. . .I kept staring at the ceiling and for the first time in a long time. . .I hoped this would work.
“Great Eagle.” I closed my eyes. “Fill this ache. Fill me please. I’m not. . .like other men. I can tell. Something is missing within me. I should probably fix it, but I'm scared. I wish I were a better man.”
Timur spoke close to me, “Say more.”
Trembling, I opened my eyes.
Timur stood right in front of me. “Your father did it. He hurt Em. You didn’t do it.”
“But. . .I could have stopped it.”
“Could you?”
“Maybe. I was a fucking idiot. I didn't understand what was going on. But. . .I could have told someone. I could have. . .Everybody died because I was silent and scared to tell on Dad.”
“The Great Eagle says no.”
I shivered. “For real?”
Timur nodded. “The Great Eagle says it wasn’t your fault.”
I looked back up at the ceiling and let out a long breath. “But. . .I knew. . .something was wrong within me. I could have. . .told somebody.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It does, man.” My eyes watered. I turned my view to him. “So many died because I stayed silent.”
“And they’re right here, watching you now, Maxwell.”
I closed my eyes and shook my head. “No. I don't want them looking at me. Not like this. That would be too embarrassing.”
“They’re here and they want you to give yourself over to the Great Eagle. Em took you this far, but the Great Eagle will take you further.”
I opened my eyes. “W-where?”
“Anywhere you want to go. Do you sense the ache filling?”
Lost, I looked down at my chest. “Maybe. . .”
“Those sins are your father’s sins. Not yours. Release them.”
A tear left my eye.
Timur raised his hands. Blood dripped down his arms. “Are you ready for salvation?”
“Yes. I’m ready.”
“Hold your hands against your chest and trust me.”
Raising my hands a little, I slowly breathed in and out. Then, I placed them against my chest.
Timur got to my side, putting his back to the brown door. “Turn so that I can slowly place you into the water.”
My head grew dizzy. "Alright."
Maybe there wasn’t anything in this bloody water, but I really felt like salvation was coming my way.
And I would embrace it.
I turned to the side.
Timur began to chant, his words in some other language. I didn’t know if I should have been afraid, but I wasn’t.
When Timur put his hand against my back, a cool sensation poured down over me.
“Close your eyes, Maxwell.”
I did.
“Let yourself fall back.” Timur placed his other hand on my handcuffed wrists. “The Great Eagle and I will keep you from drowning.”
I followed his direction, ready for true salvation. My heart pounded in my chest.
I fell back. My body hit the warm slim and I sank down through the surface, until the bloody mixture enveloped my body and covered my face. I held my breath.