Whispers From The Dark Read Online Free PDF Page A

door.
    After a moment the child was joined by another voice, then another and another.  Men and women, young and old, some that hardly sounded human with their low gravely voices; all joined together and formed a bloodcurdling choir so hellish it made his ears hurt.
    The moment he was within reach, Bill grabbed the doorknob frantically, flinging the door open and whirling around to make his escape and--
    There was nothing outside.
    Nothing at all.  The singing behind him stopped and silence reigned supreme yet again as Bill stood at his doorway staring out into what had once been his driveway.
    His front porch was still there, extending eight or nine feet out from the door before reaching the point where the steps should be.
    But the steps were gone.  Along with everything else.
    It was as if outer space had devoured all the stars and planets and was working on finishing off the Earth. Where the world had been was now only a void colder and blacker and emptier than he could have ever imagined anything could be. 
    And it was growing.  The front porch was merging with the darkness, the void washing over it like some hellish liquid.
    He slammed the door shut, tripping over his own feet and falling backwards into the living room, a horrendous flash of pain cutting through his brain as the back of his head connected with the edge of the coffee table .
    Rolling to his stomach, Bill tried to rise and run but only made it to his knees before collapsing again.  Nausea engulfed him and his vision narrowed as he felt the warm stream of blood ooze from his head and coat his neck.
    Laughter erupted from somewhere in the house as he turned to look behind him, watching in horror as the entire front wall of his home was swallowed up by the blackness.  It was approaching him quickly now, but he knew that even if he was able to stand it would be pointless to run.
    Slowly, he rolled himself over to his back and stared up at his ceiling just in time to watch it disappear into the void.  He felt a cold unlike any that nature could muster consume his legs.
    As the black swept over him, Bill smiled with the realization that it really wasn’t so bad after all, once you were in it.
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
    THERE’S A PRIZE IN THE BOX!
     
    The cereal box was moving.  It was a slight twitching accompanied by the sound of the cereal shifting around inside.  Liz had noticed it as she returned from the fridge and now stood staring, clutching the milk jug with white knuckles.  The smiling tiger on the front of the cereal package suddenly didn’t seem as friendly as he always had. 
    Beside her, Pookie sat with his head cocked to one side whimpering. The miniature dachshund was as enthralled with the cereal as Liz.
    She was frozen to the floor, trying to tell herself that she was imagining the movement. There was no way something could have gotten into the box: she’d just bought it yesterday and hadn’t opened it yet.  Nothing could have climbed inside--
    --unless it did it at the factory.
    That thought instantly excited her, helping calm her fear.  That possibility meant money.  Lots of it, in fact.  Her sister had told her about a woman who had taken a sip from a can of soda and ended up with a dead cockroach in her mouth.  The roach had brought the woman a tidy sum in an out of court settlement.
    And that was just for a dead bug.  Whatever was in the cereal certainly wasn’t
    dead, and was certainly larger than a cockroach.  That had to mean more cash, didn’t it?
      Liz was snapped out of her dreams of easy money as the box of cereal lurched forward and fell down flat, the unopened top of it pointing towards her like the barrel of a gun.  It was shaking harder now, rattling around on the table as something even stranger happened.  The box was swelling up like a balloon.
    And now Liz could hear crunching.
    Chewing. 
    Something was eating the cereal.
    The top of the box ripped open as the box swelled in size again and