Page 48 (1/2)

He held it in his hand while he stood and waited Seconds fell around hi tree Inside his chest he felt soe His heart dropped fro to a lower place A darker place And there, he knew, it would remain

The world itself had become darker

I’ll try not to coainst his forehead and closed his eyes

"God," he whispered, "please …" Others who had died recently had stayed dead Most had come back, but not all of the The world aking up, unheeding of what had happened Benny stared at the closed s and wondered how nature could be so stupid, so cruel How could the day just go on as if nothing had happened? So one There had been a stopping of hiround on

Tears burned in Benny’s eyes

I’ll try not to come back

I’ll try

The sheet lay undisturbed Slowly, slowly Benny sank to his knees Holding the sliver in his right hand, he reached out with his left and took the edge of the sheet between his fingers His tears burned like ice on his cheeks

"I’m sorry," he said in a voice that was almost not there

He pulled back the sheet Tohtly parted Benny sed and tightened his grip on the sliver Any second now

He’ll coue is never going to end He knew that what he had to do was going to end him Not Tom … it would end Benny He looked into the future and saw that horrible moment and knew that only darkness waited for hiain, and he bent and kissed Tom’s forehead "I love you, Tom I wish I’d said that more"

Benny turned Tom onto his side to expose the soft spot at the base of the skull The sweet spot, Tom called it He cradled Tom’s head in his lap

I’ll try not to co the sliver

Waiting for horror

-2-

FIVE MINUTES LATER BENNY IMURA UNBARRED THE DOOR AND STEPPED out into the ht He still held the sliver in his hand Nix took a step toward him and stopped Benny was so pale, his eyes ri stepped forward, but Lilah stopped hi his hand

"Benny?" Nix whispered

Benny raised his eyes to hers They et and haunted

"Benny?" she asked again

Benny licked his dry lips "Tom said that he would try not to come back"

Nix came closer, touched his face "I know, but …"

He shook his head, and Nix fell silent

Chong went quickly past hi Lilah with him They entered the shed and were in there for alht, both of the softly, "what does it mean?"

"What happened?" asked Nix

Lilah had her knife in her hand, and she slowly slid it into its sheath "Toht and slowly lifted the hand that held the sliver The others looked at it, ers and let it fall The sliver struck the flagstones with a leaht, the blade smooth and polished

And totally unmarked

"My brother kept his word," Benny said

-3-

MORGIE MITCHELL WALKED THROUGH THE SUN-DAPPLED STREETS OF Mountainside, hands deep in his pockets, shoulders slumped, head down He barely noticed the other people He was sunburned fro hole, but beneath the red there was a paleness that hostly and insubstantial to the people who passed him on the street He seldoaze et and dark and filled with shadows

"How you doing there, Morgie?" asked Captain Strunk, but Morgie walked past him without comment He headed out of the e surrounded by a rail fence and lush bushes Morgie stopped at the garden gate and looked into the yard The grass orn down to the dirt in places where Toh hundreds of hours of drills ooden swords and practice knives He leaned on the fence rail and closed his eyes The runts of effort were as clear as if he could hear theate and walked up the garden path and around to the front porch He sighed, ie knew that if he knocked there would be no one ho … and Nix … they were all gone Far away, and with every second they were going farther Gone forever

Knocking on the door was stupid It was a futile act, and he knew it

He knocked anyway

The house was small, but he could hear the three knuckle raps echo off the wooden walls

No one answered

Morgie turned around and leaned his back against the door He slowly slid down to the floor Larks sang in the trees and dragonflies chased each other through the grass Morgie Mitchell bent forward as if caving in over physical pain He laced his fingers over the back of his head and sat there as the world turned and turned His lips ht have been I’m sorry, but there was no one there to hear him

-4-

They buried Tom in the field and built a cairn of rocks over hi them Most of them prayed, some of them just wept Benny endured it all, and Nix was at his side