The Dark: A Collection (Point Horror) by Linda Cargill Read Free Book Online Page A

Fellini!

    Chapter 5
    "Hey, Bianca, get a
life!" Harry frowned. "Who do you think I am — some sleaze from
a back alley jumping you? You're at the Island Theater."
    Bianca's mind had
snapped. She'd seen the Black Widow going berserk on the screen.
The audience had turned into a bunch of vicious beasts. She had run
for her life, slammed into poor Harry Fellini, and mistaken him for
the killer of her nightmares.
    "Sorry I was a
little rough. Didn't want to let you run out of the theater like
that." He explained. "You were far gone."
    "I did this to
you?" She touched his torn, white shirt.
    "It wasn't an
encounter with a baboon from the zoo!" Harry brushed himself off.
    Bianca's trembling
hands fumbled with the buttons on his shirt. But she was too clumsy,
getting them buttoned askew. His cap lay on the floor on top of a
pile of dirty popcorn. She snatched it up and handed it to Harry,
hanging her head.
    "I'll — I'll
pay for the damage. It won't happen again. Oh, I shouldn't have
come here tonight! It's been one, big, long disaster."
    "If you can't go
to a movie without acting like that, you're in bad shape. Come and
sit down."
    Harry drew her into a
room behind the refreshments stand, away from prying eyes. It didn't
look like anything special, just an employees' lounge. There was a
small refrigerator in the corner, an old, beat-up, used model that
had seen better days. An urn of hot water for tea and a coffee-maker,
along with a basket of sugar packets, tea bags and a carton of
half-used cream, sat on a table.
    He showed her to a
sofa shoved back up against the wall. The stuffing was coming out of
holes everywhere. It was comfortable enough, though, especially after
what she'd been through.
    He poured black
coffee into two Styrofoam cups and stirred sugar and cream into both
with a stick. He plopped down next to her and handed her a steaming
cup.
    "Don't worry. The
boss's upstairs, smooching it up with the ticket taker 'cause he
knows it's closing time. Got a regular bachelor pad up there — a
bar, stereo system, bed and everything. Keeps that bar well stocked.
Won't be bothering us anytime soon."
    Harry glanced at his
wristwatch, a cheap model with a fake leather band. It was midnight.
    What could Harry
possibly have to say? Bianca felt humiliated enough. She'd made
such a spectacle of herself that she had better stay at home on
Saturday nights. She wouldn't be able to face anybody in school on
Monday. They would point. "There's that dumb Bianca Winters.
She's so frightened of the dark that she's lost her mind. Doesn't
even remember where she is."
    Then there was that
warning from the killer to wonder about. Had her brain invented him
because the lights had gone out in the bathroom? She'd have to talk
to Doc. He would know how to interpret it.
    Bianca couldn't
meet Harry's eyes. "I — I don't know what came over me back
there."
    Bianca wanted to call
a taxi to get home. She could bury her head under her pillow and
never have to look anyone in the eye. Maybe she should drop out of
school. She didn't have to graduate in June with her classmates.
She could go to night school — where nobody knew her — to earn
her diploma.
    "Hey, don't keep
apologizing! Don't you have any pride left?"
    Doc never talked to
Bianca like that! He would pat her hand, insist that she would do
better the next time, after they'd discussed matters. He would
assure her that she was acting normally for someone who had been
through such a horrible trauma.
    "Drink that coffee.
Believe me, kid, you need it. It hits the spot on a night like this."
    Bianca took a big sip
of coffee and burned her mouth. The coffee jolted her as he had
promised.
    "You've got to
take down that sign that says: Hit me, I'm an asshole!" Harry
advised. "You could say I'm an expert. I wore a sign like that
three years ago right after Mike got thrown into the slammer for
holding up a bank. Couldn't look anybody in the eye. Went around
staring at the floor."
    He took a sip of