Finding Darkness

Chapter 6 Terror

The next morning, Tamar awoke with a start. She flung herself to her feet; her startled eyes trying to dart in every direction at once. Then she remembered where she was and relaxed, but didn't feel any better.

"Are you okay?" Malachi asked, bringing his head up from a book he's been reading.

A man, reading? He's stranger than I thought. Tamar thought as she walked over to stand beside him.

"What's that?" She nodded towards the book in his lap. He was sitting cross-legged, with the book laying across his legs.

"This is a Bible. It was my grandfathers. This book is now well over three hundred years old." He held it up to her. "It's an antique now, like me."

"A Bible? Wow, I've never seen one before. No ones read them for over a hundred and fifty years. What's it about?" Tamar stopped, realizing her innate curiosity had gotten the better of her.

"Tamar, don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm glad you're interested.

Like a playful kitten, Tamar sat next to him, looking into the pages.

"Do you know that there is a passage in here that speaks of a woman by your name?" He asked her while flipping through the old pages with the deliberation of someone holding something of immense value.

"Here we go, Second Samuel 13. It's a tale of rape and vengeance, not a pretty tale, but the rapist got what was coming to him."

"What happened?" Tamar's curiosity had her trying to look past Malachi's arm as much as she could.

Malachi marveled at the change that had come over the young woman who sat beside him.

"Tamar's half brother Amnon tricked Tamar and then raped her. When Tamar's full brother Absalom heard about it, he avenged his sister by having his servants kill Amnon because king David did nothing." He turned to her. "It's a sad story, but you do have a lovely name."

"Why do you read a book filled with fables and myths?"

"Because they are not myths or fables. Everything in this book took place just as it was written." He thumped his chest with a finger. "My God gave the inspiration for every word written here. I have seen with my own eyes lives transformed, hearts healed, and darkness dispelled."

"You're nuttier than a fruitcake, you know that?"

"You're not the first to think that. I doubt you'll be the last."

Tamar sat next to him for a long time, deep in thought. How could this man, dressed all in black, study a book that was written over two thousand years ago? Her mind had a hard time wrapping itself around a man she couldn't read at a glance. She was so used to being able to know what any man was thinking the instant she saw them. Malachi, on the other hand, was so closed off as to be unreadable. He kept himself locked away from her, which just made her want to know more. At the same time, she wanted nothing to do with him. He was nothing more than a means to an end. He'd keep her away from harm until she was far enough away from the city to get back to what she did best, being by herself.

"Where are we going?" Tamar asked for what seemed like the hundredth time.

"We are heading north."

"You already told me that. But we're too close to the water. I can smell it." She shook her head in disgust.

"What about it, it's just water? I'm keeping it on our right to make sure of what direction we're going."

"Don't you have a map in your head or something?"