The Dark: A Collection (Point Horror) Read Online Free PDF

down inside and felt around
for her pack of Juicy Fruit gum. She fumbled with the wrapper and
popped a stick of gum inside her mouth. The burst of flavor gave her
a shot of adrenaline. Doc had advised her to carry candy or gum in
her purse. He said it was a good source of sudden energy as well as
something to calm her nerves.
    She turned on the
water full force. She made sure it was nice and cool, none of that
lukewarm stuff. It was late May. In the late spring in coastal
Georgia it was pretty hot and humid with temperatures in the
nineties. The water in taps turned tepid. It took for ever to get it
cool. Tonight Bianca was willing to wait. Anything so she didn't
have to go back into the darkened theater!
    Bianca took her time
washing her face thoroughly and splashing it with the tap water to
rinse it off. Then she turned off the water and dried her face very
hard on the brown paper towels. She rubbed her skin raw and red.
    The rubbing woke her
up, invigorated her. It was something she did when she was feeling
low. Doc had suggested it. She supposed ideas like that were why he
was so brilliant and why everybody on the island called him just
"Doc", though Ernie McCollough was his real name.
    She powdered herself
with her compact and smeared blusher on to her cheeks. She applied
her mascara and eyeshadow. She put on a new coat of cherry lipstick.
Bianca felt human again. To make sure of it, she sprayed rose cologne
behind her ears and combed her hair vigorously.
    She got out two
little turquoise earrings that she'd found in the bottom of her
purse and fastened them to her earlobes. Doc had given them to her
for her last birthday. They made her feel like a new girl.
    Doc had promised
she'd have all the boys on the island on her doorstep if she got
out more and gave herself a chance. She smiled at the memory of his
words, knowing that he must have been exaggerating to make her feel
more confident. Her hair was plain brown. Her eyes, too. But it was
nice the way her eyelashes curled upward. Doc had said so. Then lots
of girls must have eyelashes like that and maybe a whole lot nicer
— that nurse, for instance.
    She felt a sharp
pang. She hadn't liked it when Doc had told her that she ought to
start dating other guys. She'd protested that she needed only him.
He'd insisted that the doctors at Brunswick Memorial Hospital had
noticed them together around the island at restaurants and beaches,
and had commented unfavorably about it. They'd lectured Doc that if
he expected to complete his residency and become a psychiatrist, he
had to act more professional and keep more of a distance from his
patients. It wasn't supposed to be too ethical to get stuck on
them.
    Mostly their
relationship was rather one-sided. Doc advised. She obeyed. She
didn't resent that. Doc was smart, so much smarter than she was. It
seemed only natural.
    If he wanted her to
see other guys, she'd do it. She'd do anything for Doc. She
didn't want to ruin his medical career. She wanted him to get a
chance to help others the way he had helped her. Still she had to
confess that she lived only for those moments that Doc forgot about
his professional duties and stole a kiss or two.
    Bianca pulled her
T-shirt tight against her body. She put her hands on her waist,
turning from one side to the other examining her figure in the
mirror. Pretty average in every way. Not much in the bust line. Not
much in the hips. She could wear boys' pants, she was so straight
up and down.
    She closed her eyes
and wrapped her arms around herself. She remembered what it had been
like those times when she'd been scared and nervous and had gone to
Doc's carrel in the medical school library next to the hospital.
She'd gone to find him, as he'd told her to do if she needed
help.
    Once he'd kissed
her right then and there. He'd taken her back into the stacks where
it was dark and nobody ever came. He'd kissed her again and again.
She'd felt so good after that afternoon that she'd forgotten to
be