Page 3 (1/2)

Then, I heard the spray change, the splattering on the tiles taking on a different tone I glanced up and saw the part of the flow farthest fro past the invisible obstruction in a gentle arc The unseen thing was passing out of the streaain that I realized thisthe water was nowso quick that I thought the half-open shower curtain had blown back froht, because the curtain didn’t return to its nor unseen pushing against it I backed up against the wall, feeling the towel bar pressing into ain and now there was nothing in the bathrooainst tile I stood there, frozen, heart pounding so hard I was getting dizzy I slowly put a hand out, tentative, toward the curtain, through the space the unseen thing had passed …

Nothing

I decided to forget about the shower I cranked off the water, turned toward the door and--

I saw so Or I almost did Just out of the corner of h the doorway just out of sight Like a shadoithout the person

I couldn’t have seen it for more than a tenth of a second, but I did see it, now ilance The for for before it dissolves in a sink of running water

I had seen it before

"… I thought I saw so"

I slumped in the chair and crossedthese beliefs, and feeling like you can’t talk about the dis in the parking lot, thedirt Life was probably easier for it back then

I said, "Who’s paying for these sessions again?"

"Pay scale"

"Awesome"

He considered for a moment and then said, "Would it put you more at ease if I told you that I believe in ht put me at ease, but I can’t speak for the people who hand out psychiatrist licenses"

"I’ll tell you a story Now, I understand that with your … hobbies, people contact you, correct? Believing they have ghosts or de to make an assumption--if you arrive and tell them that the source of their anxiety is not in fact supernatural, they are anything but relieved Correct? Meaning they want the banging in their attic to be a ghost, and not a squirrel trapped in the chiuess"

"So you see, fear is just another manifestation of insecurity What huht about our own doom If we believe there are monsters around the next corner ready to tear us apart, ould literally prefer to be right about thein the eyes of others and lanced around for a clock He didn’t have one, the bastard

"So, a few years ago, while I was presenting at a conference in Europe, my wife called and insisted that the walls of our laundry roo, like the wall itself was alive She described a huy, that she could feel as soon as she walked into the roo probleitated at that point Three days later, just before I was due to co worse, she said There was an audible hum now, from the wall She couldn’t sleep She could hear it as soon as she walked in the house She could feel it, the vibration, like so unnatural was ready to burst forth into our world So, I flew home the next day, and found her extreestion of a wiring proble alive Soed and just coo out to the garage, getGuess what I found"

I didn’t answer

"Guess!"

"I’m not sure I want to know"

"Bees They had built an entire hive in the wall, sprawling fro Tens of thousands of the anecdote Why not? He was getting paid to tell it

"So I went and put on a hat and gloves and wrapped my wife’s scarf around my face and sprayed the hive, I killed them by the thousands Only later did I realize that the bees are quite valuable and a local beekeeper actually cae I think he’d have actually paid me if I hadn’t killed so many of them at the start"

"Hht it was a monster Turned out to just be bees Soto worry about"

"I’m afraid you misunderstood That was the day that a very powerful, very dangerous monster turned out to be real Just ask the bees"

36 Hours Prior to Outbreak