The Three Faces Of Buddha

Chapter 4

Evan was ready to lecture his best buddy and his young bro about the merits of keeping cool heads and letting bygones be bygones. However the open stares that came from the guys snapped the last bit of patience he had left.

"What's wrong with you two? Can't I have a quiet moment? It's like fireworks every time you two talk. And now you're staring at me like I'm the loon!"

So intent on blasting his words into deaf ears, Evan did not notice Kalina squirming from his grasp. The blank expressions on Kevin's and Joshua's faces made his mind boil. That tension stiffened his arm and pinched his poor sweet Kalina. As he relaxed his grip, her smile filled him with relief. At least she wasn't mad at him.

Kalina's eyes shifted slightly and widened. Evan turned his head around.

A dark figure stood some distance from them. Quiet and immobile, the statue resembled a man holding out his arms and walking towards them.

Kevin walked past Evan.

With all the drama of a man without sight wading through a perfect darkness with only his arms to guide him past invisible obstacles, the posture gave the illusion of movement. Clearly frozen and immobile as only a statue could be, the kids watched, unaware of the shallow sips of air they each took, as they waited for the statue to speed up and reach them.

Joshua was the first to break the silence. He stood the farthest away from the figure and had to crane his neck to look through three teens, all of who were taller than him. In so doing, his neck craning turned into side stepping. A loud smack echoed as he side stepped into a waist high stalagmite.

"What the," Joshua snarled.

"Hush." Hands from the others warned him to be silent.

They approached the shadowy figure slowly. As they drew closer, the stranger's features grew more visible.

What appeared to be a dark shadow shrouding a creepy looking caricature of a man monster, turned out to be a creamy brown complexion of ordinary healthy human skin, running taut against the muscular limbs of a loin clothed man in his middle age. His eyes were round but only half open and looking slightly downward.

The closer they approached, the clearer the details. But oddly, the man stayed out of reach.

Unnerved by his recent experience of the unreachable wall, Evan's hand dipped into a pocket. Pulling out a coin, he tossed it at the figure and blinked. The quarter vanished into the darkness soundlessly.

"That was weird," Kevin said.

Evan looked at Kevin. Of them all, Kevin stood closest to the stranger.

"What's weird?" Evan asked.

"I thought I saw something pass through the man." Kevin let out a sigh. "This place is so dark. I think I'm starting to see things."

Evan pulled another coin from his pocket. "Here," he said as held out the penny for his friend. "Toss it at him."

Kevin's right arm elbowed back. He threw a classic high powered overhand throw. The penny zipped from his hand and soundlessly disappeared into the shadowy figure.

"Did you see that?" Kevin stared at Evan. "How did you know that that would happen?"

"Evan!" Joshua called out.

Still the farthest from the book, the others snapped their heads at his voice.

"Look what I found. It looks big. Help me get it."

Above Joshua's head, emerging from the dark impenetrable starless sky was a stalactite. Joshua jumped up and down, unable to reach whatever it was he so eager to grasp.

"Help me get it down," he pleaded.

Evan returned his gaze to the figure and let out a "Hey, where did it go?" when his eyes could not locate the mysterious statue.

"Uh, this doesn't look good," Kevin said. "He's gone and so are my stuff."

Evan glanced at his friend. Kevin still had his backpack and as far as he could tell, it was all his change that got thrown at the mysterious figure.

Kalina asked Kevin, "What did you lose?"

Kevin's brow furrowed. "I don't know. Why did I say that? I feel ... odd. Like a feeling of loss just hit me."