Darkroom by Graham Masterton Read Free Book Online Page A

scooped up his ball and gripped it between his knees. Jim turned back to face the class, dusting his hands. ‘The power of the written word,’ he told them. ‘“Thoughts that breathe, and words that burn.”’
    â€˜Is it true?’ asked Pinky Perdido in her squeaky little voice. ‘Bobby and Sara – they’re dead?’
    Jim nodded. ‘They died together sometime last night at the beach house belonging to Bobby’s parents. I’m very sorry. I never had the chance to get to know them, but Dr Ehrlichman tells me that they were very well liked, both of them.’
    â€˜What happened?’ asked Freddy Price, and it was obvious that he was worried. ‘They didn’t OD or nothing, did they?’
    â€˜So far as we can tell, their deaths were not directly caused by drugs or alcohol. There was a very fierce fire. The police don’t yet know how it started, but they didn’t stand a chance. They were probably overcome by fumes before the flames got to them.’
    â€˜Oh, man,’ said Philip Genio. He was thin and Latin-looking, with a high shiny pompadour and a pale-pink silk shirt. ‘I was messing around with Bobby only last night.’
    â€˜Sara was my best friend,’ wept Sue-Marie, with mascara running down her cheeks. ‘We’ve been best friends ever since grade school. I couldn’t understand why she didn’t text me this morning, when she didn’t show up.’
    Jim cleared his throat. ‘I’m sorry I had to bring you such bad news. You can all leave college early today. I guess you don’t feel like remedial English, just at the moment.’
    â€˜They weren’t
trapped
, were they?’ asked Sally Broxman breathlessly.
    â€˜I don’t think so,’ said Jim. ‘It looked as if it happened very quickly.’
    â€˜You
saw
them?’
    Jim nodded. ‘The police wanted me to visit the scene of the fire, just in case I could shed some light on what happened. But … I don’t know. I couldn’t really tell them anything very helpful.’
    â€˜Was it really gross?’ asked Randy Bullock. ‘I mean, were they all, like, roasted and everything?’
    Jim shook his head.
    â€˜Did they look peaceful?’ asked Sue-Marie. ‘They didn’t suffer, did they?’
    Jim thought of Bobby and Sara’s skulls, staring into each other’s sightless sockets. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘I guess you could say they looked peaceful.’
    For a long moment, nobody spoke, but nobody stood up to leave, either. Sue-Marie mewed quietly into her handkerchief, like a lost kitten, and there was a chorus of emotional sniffs from most of the other students. David Robinson had his eyes tightly closed, and his hands pressed together, and he was rapidly mumbling in prayer.
    Jim said, ‘It’s always a terrible shock when somebody dies so young, and so suddenly. You ask yourself, don’t you, what kind of a world can this be, when people with so much promise can have their lives snuffed out, just like that. This is what we were talking about this morning, wasn’t it? Time. Bobby and Sara had the greatest gift of all taken away from them. Time to grow up, time to fall in love, time to enjoy all the pleasures this life has to offer. For Bobby and Sara, time has stopped forever, while all the rest of us go rushing on – minute by minute, day by day, week by week, and every second that passes leaves them further and further behind.’
    He went to the chalkboard again, and underneath BOBBY TUBBS AND SARA MILLER ARE DEAD, he wrote: So WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
    â€˜Since none of you seem to feel like leaving early, and this
is
a writing class, I suggest that we try some creative therapy. Try to express what you feel about Bobby and Sara on paper. You can write anything you like – an essay, a poem, a song lyric, if you want to.’ He tapped the chalkboard with his ruler.