Wax and Wane

I was away from Tumbledown managing my own affairs for the next few days. Life does go on and you can only miss so many days away from the office before your customers begin to worry. The longer I stayed away from Tumbledown, the more surreal the events seemed and eventually they took on a dream-like quality. I had managed to convince myself that it was all a hallucination and made up my mind to auction off the entire estate without ever visiting it again. Even the link with Lurk had faded away into a barely noticeable thread. In fact, the memory of Lurk was something that my mind skirted around completely.

I was fortunate enough to run my own business, small as it was. My partner Paul had managed nicely enough while I was away, but I could see his relief when I returned. Paul was not a people person, he worked much better with computers. I wasn't much of a people person either, but compared to me, Paul was severely handicapped by his shyness.

The weeks passed in a blur; there were computers to fix, networks to manage, and of course, clients to talk with. I never spoke of what happened at Tumbledown, in fact, when Paul asked I evaded his questions. He must have taken my reticence as a sign that I was still upset over Edgar's passing, because he didn't press for many details and seemed happy to swing back into routine.

As the month of July progressed, I couldn't shake the image of the full moon out of my head. No matter where I looked, I saw the blasted thing, hanging over the horizon like some double exposure in my brain. A sense of urgency was building and I felt a compelling desire to leave my offices and return to Tumbledown. I paced restlessly, until the eve of the 17th when the presence of lurk exploded in my mind, frantic with urgency.

I had to return to tumbledown and carry out Edgar's wishes.