Chapter 18 17 YEARS AGO (DRAWINGS)

Arkael had intended only a fleeting moment of respite. A brief surrender to the throbbing in his temples before departing. But as his eyelids drifted shut, the present dissolved. And he was plunged back into the stark reality of his eight-year-old self.

The day his life had begun its descent into a personal hell.

"Huhuhu..." His mother, Merida, was a portrait of inconsolable grief. Her sobs wracked her small frame after the arrival of the stranger.

The man who owned the truck that had been ominously parked in their driveway earlier. The man whose words he overheard in hushed tones had snagged on Arkael's young mind: "...she was declared dead on arrival."

That stark phrase was the only coherent piece of the conversation his young mind had registered before a loud rumble from his stomach had interrupted his eavesdropping from the shadows. The words held no real meaning for him then, and he dismissed them as adult nonsense.

Yet, the scene unfolding before him was unsettling. Arkael watche