Bag of Bones   ::   Кинг Стивен

If the dock had picked that moment to take a hard buck beneath her, Ki would have spilled off the side. She regained some precarious balance instead, although I thought I saw her bare feet slide a little on the slick boards. “Go away, white nana, I don’t want you! Go… go take a nap, you look tired!”

Ki didn’t see me; all her attention was fixed on the white nana. The white nana didn’t see me, either. I dropped to my belly and squirmed under the tree, pulling myself along with my clawed hands. Thunder rolled across the lake like a big mahogany ball, the sound echoing off the mountains. When I got to my knees again, I saw that Rogette was advancing slowly toward the shore end of the dock. For every step she took forward, Kyra took a shaky, dangerous step backward. Rogette was holding her good hand out, though for a moment I thought this one had begun to bleed as well. The stuff running through her bunchy fingers was too dark for blood, however, and when she began to talk, speaking in a hideous coaxing voice that made my skin crawl, I realized it was melting chocolate.

“Let’s play the game, Ki-bird,” Rogette cooed. “Do you want to start?”

She took a step. Ki took a compensatory step backward, tottered, caught her balance. My heart stopped, then resumed racing. I closed the distance between myself and the woman as rapidly as I could, but I didn’t run; I didn’t want her to know a thing until she woke up. If she woke up. I didn’t care if she did or not. Hell, if I could fracture the back of George Footman’s skull with a hammer, I could certainly put a hurt on this horror. As I walked, I laced my hands together into one large fist.

“No? Don’t want to start? Too shy?” Rogette spoke in a sugary Romper Room voice that made me want to grind my teeth together. “All right, 17l start. Happy! What rhymes with happy, Ki-bird? Pappy… and nappy… you were taking a nappy, weren’t you, when I came and woke you up. And lappy. . would you want to come and sit on my lappy, Ki-bird? We’ll feed each other chocolate, just like we used to… I’ll tell you a new knock-knock joke…”

Another step. She had come to the edge of the dock. If she’d thought of it, she could simply have thrown rocks at Kyra as she had at me, thrown until she connected with one and knocked Ki into the lake. But I don’t think she got even close to such a notion. Once crazy goes past a certain point, you’re on a turnpike with no exit ramps. Rogette had other plans for Kyra.

“Come on, Ki-Ki, play the game with white nana.” She held out the chocolate again, gooey Hershey’s Kisses dripping through crumpled foil.

Kyra’s eyes shifted, and at last she saw me.