Darkness. Part 41

His room on the third floor.

He'd been asleep.

And before that, he'd been crying.

Crying, because he'd felt homesick, missing his mother and father, and even his little brother, who he didn't even really like.

He'd cried himself to sleep, wondering if everyone was going to tease him the next morning, because he'd burst into tears in the dining-room, and run out, and up the stairs, slamming his door and not letting anyone in all evening.

Then, sometime in the night, he'd awakened, and heard something.

Heard what?

Timmy couldn't remember.

He concentrated harder, and a memory-so fleeting it was barely there at all-stirred.

A rattling sound, like the old elevator that went from the first floor all the way up to the fourth floor.

Then-nothing!

Until he'd awakened in the shadows.

Awakened, to find that there was still nothing.

Once more, he tried to reach out, but his body refused to respond, refused, even, to acknowledge the commands his mind issued.

Paralyzed!

His entire body was paralyzed!

Now the panic which had been entangling him in its grasp gripped him with an irresistible force, and he screamed out.

Screamed out-silently.

He tried to scream again, when out of the shadows, lights began to s.h.i.+ne. Brilliant lights, in a spectrum of colors he'd never beheld before in his life.

Sounds, too, burst forth out of the silence that had surrounded him from the moment of his awakening, a cacophony of achromatic chords, layered over with the screeches and cries of the d.a.m.ned souls of h.e.l.l.

The sound built, along with the blazing lights, until Timmy Evans was certain that if it didn't stop, his eyes would burn away, and his eardrums would burst.

Crying out once more, he tried to turn his mind away from the sights and sounds that a.s.saulted him, to turn inward, and bury himself among the numbers that still streamed through the far reaches of his consciousness.

But it was too late.

He couldn't find the numbers, couldn't make sense of the gibberish he found where only a few short seconds ago the order of mathematics had been.

Then, as the sensory attack built to a crescendo, Timmy Evans knew what was happening to him.

Just as he realized what was happening, the last moment came.

The lights struck once more, with an intensity that tore through his brain, and the howling cacophony shattered his weakening mind.

In a blaze of light, accompanied by the roaring symphony of a thousand freight trains, Timmy Evans died.

Died, without ever remembering exactly what had happened to him.

Died, without understanding how, or why.

Died, when he was only eleven years old.

Died, in a manner so horrible no one would ever be told about it....

By John Saul:

SUFFER THE CHILDREN.

PUNISH THE SINNERS.

CRY FOR THE STRANGERS.

COMES THE BLIND FURY.

WHEN THE WIND BLOWS.

THE G.o.d PROJECT.

NATHANIEL.

BRAINCHILD.

h.e.l.lFIRE.

THE UNWANTED.

THE UNLOVED.

CREATURE.

SECOND CHILD.

SLEEPWALK.

DARKNESS.

SHADOWS.

GUARDIAN.

THE HOMING.

BLACK LIGHTNING.

THE BLACKSTONE CHRONICLES:.

Part 1-AN EYE FOR AN EYE: THE DOLLPart 2-TWIST OF FATE: THE LOCKETPart 3-ASHES TO ASHES: THE DRAGON'S FLAMEPart 4-IN THE SHADOW OF EVIL: THE HANDKERCHIEFPart 5-DAY OF RECKONING: THE STEREOSCOPEPart 6-ASYLUM

THE PRESENCE.

THE RIGHT HAND OF EVIL.

NIGHTSHADE.

THE MANHATTAN HUNT CLUB.

MIDNIGHT VOICES.

BLACK CREEK CROSSING.

PERFECT NIGHTMARE.

IN THE DARK OF THE NIGHT.