Read Online 1 The Bank of the River by Michael Richan - Free Book Online Page A

think of this whole thing.
    Steven
closed his eyes and let sleep come. If he could even get half of a night
straight through, he’d take it.
    -
    It was the
kind of nightmare you tried to force yourself out of. In a pool of water,
daylight receding. Falling, trying to hold your breath, but eventually having
to let it in, water rushing into your lungs. Light beginning to condense. He
knew it was a dream while it was happening, and he willed himself to wake up. As
he opened his eyes, the ceiling above him was unfamiliar, but he oriented
himself within moments. His mouth felt dry; he’d been drooling on the pillow,
and it was soaked. He flipped it over, but now he was waking up. So much for
sleeping straight through, he thought. He decided to make his way to the
kitchen for some water. The layout of the house came back to him quickly. He
glanced at the door to his father’s room – it was closed. He made his way to
the kitchen, found a glass, filled it, and downed it. Sat it down quietly. He
walked back to the guest room, hoping to fall asleep quickly, when he noticed
the door to Roy’s room was now ajar.
    The same
dread and heavy air filled the hallway as he made his way down to his father’s
room. He pushed the door open.
    In a way, it
didn’t surprise him. He’d taken Roy’s opinion that they were safe here at face
value. But as soon as he saw it, he knew it had been a bad assumption. In the
middle of the room stood the shadow, its eyes gleaming, focused intently on
Roy. Like before, Roy was rigid and shaking. This time Steven didn’t try to
rouse Roy – he already knew what it was doing to him. He approached the shadow,
raising his voice. “Goddamn it, leave him alone!” he shouted.
    As he neared
the shadow he had a sensation of a cold, icy knife slicing through his skin. The
pain was incredible, and he jumped back. In his peripheral vision he saw Roy
soften and still, and he knew the shadow had released him. Its eyes turned to
center on Steven. He stared it down, neither of them moving. He noticed Roy
waking, taking in the scene in the middle of the room. Roy arose and approached
the shadow too. Steven felt he should not lose eye contact with the shadow – as
long as he didn’t, he felt the shadow didn’t know about Roy’s movement, it
remained focused on him. Steven was expecting an attack, for it to turn on him
the way it had on Roy, but it didn’t move, it didn’t seem to want anything of
him. It was just watching him. He noticed Roy behind it. Roy was lowering his
head, as though he was praying. Going into a trance? Steven thought. The
eyes in the shadow slowly closed, and the ambient light in the room began to
appear inside it. Within moments, it was gone. Roy raised his head.
    “So much for
being safe here,” Steven said.
    “Yeah,” Roy
replied. “I think I have really misjudged this thing.” He was rubbing his arms,
obviously in pain once again.
    “How did you
make it go away?” Steven asked.
    “I willed
it. It was easy,” Roy said. “You could try the next time you see it.”
    “I don’t
think it would work,” Steven said.
    “It might,”
Roy said. “You just close your eyes, concentrate, and mentally say, ‘go away.’”
    “Really?
That’s all?” Steven asked.
    “Yes,”
replied Roy, “and you have the advantage of being awake when this thing is
attacking me. I’m asleep, I can’t do it. It knows that.”
    “Is that
what it’s doing?” Steven asked. “Attacking you?”
    “You felt it
last night. What did it feel like to you?”
    “Yes, I
would call it an attack. It felt like I was being raped. Not physically, but
mentally. It was taking something from me.”
    “Next time
defend yourself,” Roy replied. “You might be surprised at what you’re able to
do.”
    “Do you
think it will come back?” Steven asked.
    “Why not?”
Roy replied. “I was wrong about it not following us here. For whatever reason
it wants us, it’ll just wait until we’re asleep and