The Awakening Evil Read Online Free PDF Page B

agonizing for him.
    â€œDon’t try to talk,” Dr. Pierce ordered him.
    â€œYou were frightened,” Thomas insisted.
    â€œYes, Thomas, I was frightened. But it was more than that. I was paralyzed. And don’t say another word. I beg you.”
    â€œIt is only natural,” Thomas went on, ignoring her command to be silent. “Everyone feels foolish and freezes in an emergency.”
    Sarah knew that wasn’t what happened. She had been unable to move a single muscle. She couldn’t even open her lips to scream.
    â€œYou could have been killed,” she said softly. “And I was powerless to help you.” Sarah shook her head, tears welling up in her eyes.
    Sarah stared down at Thomas. Ointment coated his face. Linen bandages covered his entire body. He had been in terrible pain when Dr. Pierce put them on.
    â€œDo not worry,” Dr. Pierce told her, closing up his medical kit. “These burns look bad, but they will heal. I promise you. Thomas will do just fine. He just needs to rest. Make sure he has few visitors.”
    â€œI will make sure,” Sarah promised.
    â€œSuch bad luck,” Dr. Pierce said, shaking his head. “The one day that well turns hot.”
    Bad luck? Sarah thought wildly. Something unnatural had happened at the mill. Something evil. How could the doctor dismiss it as bad luck?
    Dr. Pierce must have noted the expression on her face, for he continued. “The well is driven by volcanic pressure. From time to time steaming water comes up through the well.” He shook his head again. “Such bad luck!”
    Sarah felt herself flushing red with embarrassment. So there was a simple explanation for today’s disaster, after all.
    At least for the boiling water.
    She knew if she told the doctor that she had been paralyzed, he would agree with Thomas. He would tell her that she was simply frightened.
    But that couldn’t possibly be true. Could it?
    I was more frightened than I have ever been, Sarah thought.
    â€œI will be back to check on our patient tomorrow,” Dr. Pierce said.
    She thanked the doctor and saw him to the door. Then she hurried back up the stairs and returned to Thomas’s bedside.
    She vowed to herself that she would stay up all night, keeping watch over her sick husband.
    The scene at the mill replayed in her mind again and again. The steam, the boiling water, Thomas screaming for help.
    And whenever she closed her eyes, she could feel that awful sensation of being trapped inside her own skin. Unable to move a muscle.
    A terrible wracking cough from Thomas pulled her out of her thoughts.
    It was a horrible cough that sounded as if it came from deep in his lungs.
    He turned, moaned softly, but kept sleeping.
    She could see sweat wetting the bandages on his chest. And when she gently felt his forehead in the darkness, he felt as if he were on fire, as if she had reached her hand inside a furnace.
    Thomas’s coughing continued through the night.
    The horrible coughs seemed to echo in Sarah’s mind.
    Taking her all the way back to her childhood.
    When she was seven, her mother had passed on after a terrible bout of—
    She stood, covering her mouth in horror as Thomas coughed yet again.
    Sarah ran from the room, shouting for the maid.
    She had one of the servants get word to Dr. Pierce to return at once.
    He arrived an hour later. The sun was just beginning to rise.
    It took him only a few minutes of examination before he confirmed her worst fears.
    Pneumonia. Thomas had pneumonia.
    He looked so pale, almost as white as the pillowcase beneath his head. His eyes had dark shadows beneath them.
    â€œNow, don’t look at me like that,” Dr. Pierce told Sarah. He gave a forced chuckle. “Pneumonia is not so terrible an illness for a strong, healthy young man like your husband. Obviously, it would be better if this had not happened. But my prediction hasn’t changed. Your husband will be