Out Are the Lights Read Online Free PDF Page A

you?'
        The woman turns toward the stairway. 'The bedroom's probably up there.'
        She follows him up the stairs. As they climb, she suddenly jerks his swimming trunks. They drop from his pale buttocks.
        'Don't!' He clutches them. 'Want me to trip?'
        'Then don't be so damned handsome.'
        'Sorry, Mary.' He pulls up his trunks, and continues to climb.
        'Nice ass.'
        'Thank you.'
        'Cracked, though.'
        At the end of the upstairs hallway, she pushes open a door. 'Voila!'
        He hurries to join her.
        'Now this isn't so shabby, is it?'
        'It's all right,' he says.
        Leaving her sandals on the carpet, she says, 'Ain't so shabby at all,' and leaps onto the bed. She walks on the mattress, hands on hips, turning to look at the room. 'I think this'll do just fine, don't you?'
        The man grins.
        Mary falls backwards, bouncing slightly as she hits the mattress. With a seductive smile, she opens her blouse.
        The man steps toward her.
        Out of the blouse, she rolls over and unties the back of her bikini.
        The man bends over her. He strokes her back. He kisses her between the shoulder blades.
        
***
        
        In the cellar, black gummy wax drips from the hands of the statue. The candles are nearly spent. Their flames waver and stretch, as if struggling not to die.
        The rat crouches beside the coffin, nibbling a bit of raw meat.
        Fingers curl around the edge of the coffin lid, lift it. and slide it aside.
        The rat pauses at the sound of scraping wood.
        A hand snatches it from the ground. It squeals as Schreck, sitting upright in the coffin, raises it toward his pallid face.
        'The blood is the life,' he whispers.
        He bites off the rat's head, and spits it out. He raises the rat above him like a wine bottle, the blood splashing his face, spilling into his wide mouth, running in dark rivulets down his cheeks and chin.
        
***
        
        In the dark bedroom, Mary lies awake beside the sleeping man.
        
***
        
        The wooden steps of the cellar stairway groan as Schreck slowly climbs. At the top, he pushes open a door. His hand leaves a bloody print on the wood.
        
***
        
        Mary climbs from bed, and steps silently across the carpet to a window. She stares out.
        
***
        
        Schreck climbs the main stairway. When he reaches the top, he looks up the long, dimly lit hall.
        
***
        
        Mary crosses the bedroom. She pauses in the doorway, and glances to her right.
        
***
        
        Schreck, seeing her, slips through a door. For a moment, he watches her. She is naked. She skips and twirls, dancing down the hallway, waving her arms overhead.
        Schreck silently closes the door. Leaning against it, he stares at the ceiling and runs his tongue over his dry lips. He moans.
        
***
        
        Mary stops. She gazes at the door. Quickly, she puts on her blouse and fastens it. She reaches for the knob, then jerks her hand away and runs. She runs up the long, dim hall, bare legs flying, the tail of her blouse flapping above her buttocks.
        She lunges through the bedroom door. 'Hey! Hey!'
        'What?'
        The light comes on. The man sits up, shading his eyes against the brightness. 'What're you doing?'
        'Let's get out of here.'
        'I thought…'
        'I heard something.'
        'What'd you hear?' he asks, pulling on his trunks.
        'Sounded like a moan.'
        'Jesus!'
        'Could've been my imagination, Arthur.'
        'But what if it wasn't?'
        As he rushes toward the door, Mary retrieves her bikini from the mussed bed. She steps into the shorts, and stuffs the top into her handbag.
        'Where'd you hear it?'
        The end of the hall. By the stairs.'
        'Christ, that means