The Shore (Excerpt)
© 2007 by Robert Dunbar
All Rights Reserved.
Her hair shone softly. She groaned, huddled on the floor, her back pushed hard against the far wall. At sight of the boy, her eyes squeezed shut, rolling wildly beneath the lids, and she thrashed her body from side to side with a soft rustle, like the sounds made by a sleeping child. Her elbow struck the wall. Somehow she’d gotten her hands around in front of her, though heavy nylon cord still bound them. A strip of adhesive tape still covered her mouth.
“I’m back.” He pushed into the closet and knelt beside her, shoving a woman’s coat out of the way. She began to choke. Above them, hangers jangled.
“I told you I was gonna come back.” Slowly, he reached for the tape, but she jerked her head with a moan. “You always get nervous.” Falling to her side, she drummed her feet against the floor.
Gently, his fingers stroked her throat. “Don’t worry.” The flesh felt moist and hot, and he could feel the rapid pulse.
Her eyes became glittering slits.
“I’m home now. See?”
As tears coursed down her cheeks, she tried to roll her face away.
“Don’t be like that. You know I won’t never do nothing to hurt you.” He stroked the long tresses, savoring the pale softness. “It’ll be all right. You know I love you.” He stared hard at her face, knowing that in the sealed cavern of her mouth, she screamed. “I do. You know I do.” He slid down next to her, and his thin arms slipped around her waist. “Don’t be afraid. You got to trust me. Everything I do is for you.”
She trembled convulsively.
“Were you trying to get this off, or what? Good thing I come home when I did.” The caressing flutter of his touch strayed to the tape on her lips, then he stroked the ropes. “Don’t look at me like that. You know why I got to do this – it’s ‘cause you don’t believe me. You’d try to run away if I left you untied. You know you would. And they’d get you. I know you don’t believe me, but they’re out there. Hunting us. I mean it. That’s why we got to hide.” His fingers sifted through her hair again. “Or else you’d yell till they found us. Yes, you would. And they’d kill us. Please try to understand. Why can’t you believe me? You and me might be the only real people left in the whole town. All the rest are monsters.”
Comment by SLIM on 26 January 2007:
I could get into that.