Hour Of Darkness

CH 11 - "To Tell The Truth"

...Before...

JONATHON

“He can feel, Uncle Lee.” Johnny said. “Father doesn't think he can, but he does.”

Uncle Lee crouched before him. “I know, Johnny.”

“He feels her.” Johnny told him. “He cried out her name, in his mind.”

“Do you know who she is?” Uncle Lee asked. “How does he know her?”

Johnny shrugged. “I don't know. But he feels her every day.”

Rising slowly to his feet, Uncle Lee sat on the bed next to Johnny and touched his shoulder. “Johnny, you can't tell Victor about the girl. Or about any of this.”

“But why?” Johnny asked. “If father knew they could feel, then he would stop hurting them. If he knew.”

“He knows, Johnny.” Uncle Lee said softly, sadly. “And he doesn't care. He is the one who can't feel.”

Johnny looked down at his hands in his lap.

Uncle Lee wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him closer in a fatherly hug. “I'm sorry, Johnny.” He whispered. “But you have to remember what I said before, you can't let Victor know what you can do. If he finds out, he'll hurt you too. Like he does the others. And you can never – never – tell him about the girl.”

Johnny raised his head. Tears filled his eyes. “But why, Uncle Lee?”

The older man looked down at him. Deep sadness filled his eyes and strained his face. “Because Victor would kill her.”

11...To Tell The Truth...

Where the hell did he start? The beginning? He wasn't even certain where the beginning was. How did he explain Alec to her? Who he was? How he came to be what he was?

“Just tell me.” Clarice said quietly. She still sat next to him and could surely feel the tension tightening his body. “You don't have to sugar coat it. I've seen enough so far that you don't need to coddle me. Just tell it like it is.”

The fear and anxiety in her pressed at his mind, but she was being honest when she said to tell it like it is. She was tired of being afraid. And tired of not knowing why her life had suddenly become a living nightmare.

Jonathon released a slow sigh. This was it. The moment of truth. He couldn't put it off any longer. But he couldn't just blurt it out. It was too...unbelievable. And he had to prepare her for that.

“What I'm about to tell you.” He said slowly, quietly, his eyes straight ahead. “You're not going to believe it at first. You won't be able to.” He swallowed tightly. “But I need you to know right now, before I begin, that I would never lie to you. And if you can believe me on that...then you will eventually be able to believe the rest.” He gripped the steering wheel tighter. “But at first...you won't.” He looked at her. “You'll think I'm crazy.”

He returned his eyes to the road and drove along for a few minutes in silence. Clarice didn't push him. She could clearly sense he needed time to put his words together so they would make as much sense as possible. Even though he knew that nothing concerning their situation made any sense at all.

“Do you know where your mom went to college?” Jonathon asked slowly.

Clarice thought for a moment. “In Texas, I think.” She said. “Somewhere near Fort Worth. In a small college town, Stephen...something. I think.”