Page 15 (1/2)

Whoosh

She could see nothing but bars of pale, pale light against part of the black ceiling, where the e of the blind slats She desperately wantedpathetic whihly despised herself for her weakness that she was finally able to shatter her paralysis Gasping, she sat up Clawed at the back of her neck, trying to tear off the oily, frigid, wors over the edge of the bed Fumbled for the laht

Whoosh

She sprang off the bed Felt the back of her head again Her neck

Between her shoulderblades Nothing Nothing there Yet she felt it

Whoosh

She was over the edge of hysteria and unable to return,queer little animal sounds of fear and desperation Out of the corner of her eye, she saw

Glistening The entire wall bulged toward her, as if it were ainsistently It throbbed repulsively, like an enoruts of a prehistoric behenantly aniet out Fast The Ene Had followed her

Out of the drea The Ene Brass security chain Rattled it free

Door

Jerked it open Soer than she was, so beyond human experience, si and jittering, a tangled s and antennae and serpentine coils and roachlike s and claws, a thousand nighth the door, seized her, pain exploding from her sides where its talons tore at her, and she screah the open door A soft, su and gasping for breath, looking out in astonishment at the concrete promenade of the reenery swayed sensuously under the caress of the tropical zephyr The surface of the swi facets, refracting the pool-bottohts, so it seemed as if there was not a body of water in the middle of the courtyard but a hole filled with a pirate’s treasure of polished sapphires

The creature that had attacked her was gone as if it had never existed

It had not scuttled away or scurried up soer felt the icy, squir tendril on the back of her neck or inside her skull

A couple of other guests had co the proate her scream

Holly stepped back from the threshold She did not want to attract their attention now

She glanced over her shoulder The wall behind the bed was only a wall again

The clock built into the nightstand showed 5:08 AM

She eased the door shut, and suddenly she had to lean against it, because all the strength went out of her legs

Instead of being relieved that the strange ordeal had ended, she was shattered She hugged herself and shivered so hard, her teeth chattered She began to cry softly, not from fear of the experience, concern for her: current safety, or concern about her sanity, but fro been totally violated Briefly but for too long, she had been helplessly, victimized, enslaved by terror, controlled by an entity beyond her understanding She’d been psychologically raped So needful had overpowered her, forced its way into her, denying her free will; though gone now, it had left traces of itself within her, a residue that stained her ly

But it had not been a dreaht world

Just a dreaet control of yourself, she thought, struggling to regain her equanihtless place, then you dreaht, then in your drea and ran for the door But you were only sleepwalking, you were still asleep when you pulled the door open, still asleep when you saw the boogeyman an screamed, which hen you finally woke up for real, screamed yourself awake

She wanted to believe that explanation, but it was too pat to be credible

No nightmare she’d ever known had been that elaborate in its texture and detail Besides, she never sleepwalked

So for her Maybe not the insect-reptile spider thing in the doorway Maybe that was only an ihten her But soh to this world from

From where? It didn’t ot her

No That was ridiculous Tabloid stuff Even the National Enquirer didn’t publish trash that trashy any more I WAS MIND-RAPED BY A BEAST FROM BEYOND Crap like that was three steps below SINGER ADMITS BEING SPACE ALIEN, two steps belOw JESUS SPEAKS TO NUN FROM INSIDE A MICROWAVE, and even a full step below ELVIS HAD BRAIN TRANSPLANTED, LIVES NOW AS ROSEANNE BARR

The hts, the cal with the experience was easier if she could believe that it was all a product of her overactive iination, which had been unreasonably stimulated by the admittedly fantastic Ironheart case

Finally she was able to stand on her oithout leaning on the door

She relocked the deadbolt, reengaged the security chain

As she stepped away fro pain in her left side It wasn’t serious, but it made her wince, and she realized that a siht side as well

She took hold of her T-shirt to lift it and look at herself and discovered that the fabric was slashed Three places on the left side