The Time Stone Read Online Free

know but I got to
find out…somehow.”

CHAPTER 6
    Miles away from the downtown area
where the mayhem of the crime scene continued, the daylight was
bright over the city’s residential district. The sun shone overhead
and the day was relaxed and quiet. The people of the city had
wandered about their daily routines in the urban center but far
from the chaos of the museum there was silence in the residential
district. The routine pedestrian population was gone, the people
either out at work or tucked in their homes dismissed from the
streets as they went off to their places of business or learning
not knowing what had happened at the museum the night
before.
    Chronix Bay has had its share of
poverty and homelessness. Amongst those aware of the decay of this
society, were the lonely and impoverished individuals who sulked
about aimlessly. One of those wanderers, lost in his own world, was
James Timewalker, a young man in his late thirties. He strode down
Main Street.
    James was often alone. He was
accustomed to many hardships during his life of failure and noted
each moment as he passed by the old high school, now an ominous
fortress in its after- hours appearance. It appeared empty,
lonesome, epitomized of utter want as he passed by looking up at
it. At this time of the year, it was vacant with not a soul in
sight. He remembered his life as a student thinking that he always
aspired for success and had failed to achieve it, whether as a
student or as a business man or as anything he ever wanted to be.
He grimaced as he thought of his failures in school, one of many in
his life. His eyes were dark and lonesome; somber and saddened. His
cracked olive skin bore signs of a wrinkle showing pain that comes
with age and he had a permanent frown on his face as he wandered
without a companion, without an opportunity, without a hope, and
without a prayer. He felt his dreams were an endless blur of images
forever forsaken in the long expanse of time. He often wondered
what the point of going on in life was when everything seemed to
equate to nothing no matter what he did. He had no worldly
possessions but the clothes on his back: a pair of faded denim
jeans, torn sneakers and a loose fitting burgundy shirt with his
sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Unlike the others that had
wandered throughout the city, he embraced the hot and humid air,
muggy like thick pudding, and, so he feared, a shallow precursor of
things to come. He had a heavy unkempt beard and a thick odor, not
having had a shave, bath, or warm meal in weeks. His personal
hygiene and his dreams had vanished long ago into the realm of
oblivion. He walked across the intersection of Main Street and
Avenue X as he had done hundreds of thousands of times before since
he was in grade school and now being thirty-five years old,
homeless and destitute, sad and lonesome. As clouds began to gather
and the rain began to suddenly pour down hard, he walked forward
with a sense of indignation and humility. He felt an acceptance of
his current state of affairs and how glory and hope might never
return to his world or to his heart.
    After a moment, the rainstorm had
passed and James walked forward down towards the blocks surrounding
the pier and the Sea of Hope, the body of water that bordered the
small community where he grew up and still lived. His clothes were
drenched from getting caught in the midst of the downpour. He did
not know where he was headed for the moment nor did he know where
he was headed for in life. He looked past the small body of water
towards the shining downtown center with its tall buildings. He
hoped and prayed this one of many trips to the Sea of Hope would
yield some benefit but he felt he knew better.
    He turned and saw in the distance a
silhouette of a woman and as he strained his eyes, decaying with
age, he saw her approaching suddenly. He thought she looked
familiar. His mind quickly conjured up the past image of a face he
hadn’t laid eyes on in ages, a young