The Dark Corner Read Online Free PDF Page A

do.”
    â€œOK,” Cindy said, puzzled by their rude attitudes. “We can go to town. Where do you want to go?”
    â€œWe need food,” Watch said. “We need meat.”
    â€œDo you want to go to Harry’s Hamburgers?” Cindy asked.
    â€œYeah, let’s go get Harry!” Adam squealed.
    â€œLet’s go eat Harry!” Sally yelled.
    â€œEat his meat!” Watch joined in.
    Cindy forced a smile. “You guys must be real hungry.”
    *   *   *
    At Harry’s, Cindy’s friends continued behaving oddly. They ordered two hamburgers each, nothing else, not even drinks. Then they stopped Harry before he began to cook the food.
    â€œWe like our meat rare,” Adam said.
    â€œWe like it raw,” Sally added, as she grabbed oneof the uncooked hamburgers and stuffed it in her mouth. In four huge bites she had devoured the whole thing. Cindy stared in amazement. Sally didn’t chew at all. She was eating as if she were an animal. Cindy sat down at one of the tables and shook her head.
    â€œWhat happened to you guys on the other side of the Secret Path?” she asked.
    They all grinned. “We had fun,” Adam said. “That’s all. Don’t you believe us?”
    â€œNo, I don’t,” Cindy said. “Something happened to you over there. Tell me what it was.”
    â€œWhat if we don’t want to tell you?” Sally asked in a deadly tone.
    â€œI don’t know,” Cindy said nervously. “I’ll do something. I’ll talk to Bum.”
    Watch came and sat beside Cindy. He put a hand on her shoulder. When he spoke a big bite of uncooked hamburger showed in his mouth.
    â€œYou had better not talk about us,” he said. “We get mad when people do that. We get very mad and then we do things.”
    Cindy stared at him as if struck. “What do you mean? What kind of things?”
    Watch leaned closer. “Horrible things,” he said softly.
    Cindy’s mouth quivered. “Watch,” she said. “What’s wrong with you. You never talk this way.”
    â€œHe’s talking just fine,” Sally said as she sat on the other side of Cindy. She put a hand on Cindy’s bare leg, and Cindy felt as if she were being touched by a lizard. Sally was staring at her with strangely bloodshot eyes. Cindy wanted to look away but found she couldn’t. For a moment it seemed that only Sally’s eyes existed, eyes that didn’t really belong to her friend at all. The pupils of Sally’s eyes were windows that opened onto a place of fire and pain. They bore into Cindy’s brain, and Sally leaned over and whispered in her ear. Cindy noticed then how cold her breath was, and how it stank of something Cindy could not identify.
    Out the corner of her eye Cindy watched Adam approach Harry, who had come around the counter. He was curious about what they were up to. Harry didn’t make it all the way around the counter. There was a swift movement and then Harry sat down. Or maybe he fell over, Cindy could not be sure. Suddenly she was unsure of most things. She heard Sally speak in her brain more than in her ear.
    â€œWe are normal,” Sally whispered. “We are the way we have always been. You are not to talk toanyone about us. If you do talk about us, you will feel pain. We will make you feel pain.”
    â€œYes,” Cindy whispered back as if from far away. A portion of her knew that her friends—if they were her friends—were trying to hypnotize her. But she lacked the will to resist. She did manage to turn her head away from Sally. But she just ended up staring into Adam’s eyes, which were now directly in front of hers. His eyes were more frightening than Sally’s, if that was possible. They seemed to burn with hateful red flames. He leaned close as she struggled to close her eyes.
    â€œYou have no power to resist us,” he said in a cruel voice.