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"Please," he choked

"Come to me, beautiful children Come to me in the dark"

Somebody yanked him to his feet: Tifty His face was very close Vorhees could barely focus on it The ue was thick in his mouth "The woman " But there was no one; the place where she had stood was eet to the tower!"

Vorhees would have none of it; with the last of his strength he jerked away

"I have to find theht everything to a halt A single, crisp blow to the head, expertly aimed; Vorhees’s vision swarrabbed hian to run Fat leaves strea, "Nit! Siri! Coth to resist His family was dead, he knew that; Tifty would not have counfire, the shouts of the dying all around The hardboxes, a voice said They came from the hardboxes Who would survive this day? And Vorhees knew, to his infinite sorrow, that once again he would be one of the lucky ones

They burst froround The shelter recked, the tarp torn away, everything scattered Bodies strewn everywhere, but he saw no children; the little ones were gone Come to me, beautiful children Come to me in the dark And as the door of the tower sla at last into a ht was this:

Why did it have to be Tifty?

Chapter 24

Wolgast had come to Amy at last He had come to her in dreams

They were sometimes in one place and sos that had happened, events and feelings from the past replayed; they were a juuration felt entirely new They were her life, her past and present co, and they occupied her consciousness with such co she would startle to discover herself existing in a simple reality of fir world and the sleeping world had exchanged positions, the latter possessing a superseding vividness that did not abate as shewater fro leaves in the courtyard and without warning her mind would droith sensation, as if she had slipped beneath the surface of the visible world into the currents of an underground river

A carousel, its gyring lights and ringing, bell-likeA taste of cold ar on her lips A roo with fever, and the sound of a voice-Wolgast’s voice-gently leading her out of the darkness

Come back to me, Amy, come back

Most powerful of all was the drea scattered in piles, containers of old food atop every surface, a television blaring with less cruelty in the corner, and the woman Amy understood to be her ush of hopeless longing-y, scooping things fro theo They were leaving, her , the world had cleaved in tith Aap and her mother on the opposite, the ed, as if she atching her mother from the stern of a boat as it sailed away from the pier She understood that it was here, in this roo a kind of birth

But it wasn’t just the two of theast had entered her life later Yet the logic of the dream was such that his presence was intrinsically unreast was there because he was At first Amy experienced his presence not as a bodily reality but a vaporous glow of e over the scene Theaway froency A terrible had happened-the more vivid became her sense of hi of detach in a vivid present, had actually happened long ago She was si the theast, whoe of the bed, hera dark suit and tie; his feet were bare He was gazing absorbedly at his hands, which he held before hi Here is the church, he intoned, weaving all but his index fingers together, and here is the steeple Open the door-his thuits-and see all the people Amy, hello

-Hello, she said

I am sorry I have been away I’ve missed you

-I’ve missed you, too

The space around them had altered; the room had dispersed into a darkness in which only the two of thee

So

-Yes I think that it is

You will need to go to hio to?

He’s different from the others I could see it the first tilass of iced tea That was all he wanted, to cool himself off in the heat He loved that woman with his whole heart But you know that, too, don’t you, Amy?

-Yes

An ocean of tiive you, Anthony, an ocean of time A sudden bitterness came into his face I always did hate Texas, you know

He had yet to look at her; Amy sensed that the conversation neither required nor even allowed this Then:

I was thinking just now about the ca Monopoly Park Place, Boardwalk, Marvin Gardens You always beat ast chuckled to himself No, it was always you, fair and square And Jacob Marley A Christmas Carol, that was your favorite I think you had the whole book memorized Do you re the snow angels

He wore the chains he forged in life Wolgast frowned in sudden puzzleht The great, coursing river of the past

I could have gone on that way forever Wolgast angled his eyes upward, addressing the darkness Lila, don’t you see? This hat I wanted It was all I ever wanted Then: Do youknow this place, Amy?

-I don’t think it’s anywhere I think that I’m asleep

He considered these words with a faint nod Well That does sound right to me Now that you say it, thatbreath and let the air out slowly It’s strange There’s so much I can’t remember That’s what it’s like, you know Like there’s only this little bit of yourself you get to keep But things are co clearer now

-I miss you, Daddy

I know you do I miss you, too, sweetheart, more than you’ll ever know I don’t think I’ve ever been happier than I ith you I wish I could have saved you, Airl, alone in the world I never should have let theh That’s the real test, you know That’s the true measure of a ive me