1 The Bank of the River Read Online Free PDF Page B

it might move within the room and he lose track of it, which would
be much worse. The longer he stared at it, the more he began to feel or sense
the presence in the room and the more frightened he became.
    Then he
became aware in his peripheral vision of something to the left. He let his gaze
shift away from the face, and there, in the other corner of the room, another
face. Just as dim and pale. This one was a little higher and the features
looked like a girl. He looked back to the right and the first face was still
there, lifeless and cold, not moving. But they were definitely staring right at
him. They looked like death masks with open eyes, floating in the air.
    When the next
face appeared at the foot of his bed, he involuntarily pulled up his legs,
horrified. It was just above the height of the bed, not more than three feet
off the ground. It was a different face than the others, rounder and smaller,
and it stared directly at him with the same lifeless intensity. Now he felt
cornered, under attack.
    When the
fourth face appeared next to the nightstand, he’d had enough. He reached for
the light on the nightstand, and switched it on.
    All of the
faces were gone.
    Of course
they’re gone , he
thought. Ghosts don’t like light.
    He scanned the
room for something that might explain the faces – something he’d changed
recently? The curtain on the window was shut tight – no moonlight came in.
Reflections from the clock light perhaps? Then why did they appear one after
the other?
    And it
blinked, he thought. It definitely blinked.
    Shaken, he
got out of bed, threw on a robe, and quietly walked to the guest room. His
father was still snoring. There was no way I could have shown him that, Steven thought, and they’re gone now anyway . He decided to let him
sleep. Perhaps the knocking would return, like it had every night around three.
He’d be able to rouse his dad for that, when it came.
    A cold
breeze hit his left arm, and Steven turned to look down the dim hallway. There,
at the end of it, a shadow against the wall. There was enough ambient light in
the house to easily walk around between rooms if you knew the layout, and
shadows were everywhere, just like they are in every house at night. This
shadow, however, had the shape of a man, about Steven’s height, with a slightly
distended head. Steven froze with the same reaction as the faces, again afraid
that someone was in the house. If it’s just a shadow, it won’t move, he
thought. Let’s just watch it until I’m sure...
    He remained
frozen, staring at the shadow, trying not to blink, afraid he might miss a
movement. It seemed motionless, and the longer Steven stared at it the more
convinced he became that it must be caused by something innocent, something else
he wasn’t registering. He remained frozen, continuing to stare. It had been at
least a minute, no movement. That was long enough, wasn’t it? He would walk
down to the end of the hall and see what was creating the shadow, and be done
with it. It hadn’t moved, so it must be benign.
    Then things
shifted a tiny amount. Almost imperceptible. It looked like the shadow was
coming apart, holes growing in it. Two slits in the head that slowly enlarged.
After a few seconds they stopped growing. Steven knew what they were even before
the pupils appeared – eyes.
    Steven
grabbed the door handle to Roy’s room. “Roy, wake up.” He walked into the room
and shook his father. He grabbed his shoulders to practically lift him out of
bed.
    Roy stumbled
as Steven led him out the door, and pointed to the end of the hall. “Look,” he
whispered.
    Roy rubbed
his head, trying to wake up. It took him a moment to focus, but then he saw it.
    “Shit,” Roy
said.
    “Can you
believe that?” Steven whispered.
    Both of them
observed the pupils in the eyes at the end of the hall shift to look at Roy.
    “Shit!” Roy
said again.
    Then the
shadow began to move down the hall towards them. The eyes remained fixed on
Roy. As