Now Playing: The Darkness
Episode Three concluded
with:
The
gambler walked over to his desk and stared at the cards as if trying to discern
his future. “Things have not gone well for the Monahans. Any of us. There are
some things you need to see. I have an extra horse. We’ll ride out tomorrow; it’s
too dark now. You can spend the night here.”
Bart liked this subdued Jesse
Monahan a lot more than he did the caustic man who had greeted him at the door.
McRae spoke in a soft, whimsical voice. “Thanks for putting me
up. Guess you got plenty of empty rooms.”
“Not really,” a sad expression
crossed Monahan’s face. “I sleep right here. The second floor had to be closed.
It needs repair work that I can’t afford. Just take the stairway up to the
third floor. You can sleep in Uncle Adrian’s old room.”
Episode Four
The room was large, but the August
heat pressed in giving Bart a claustrophobic feeling. As he lit the kerosene
lamp beside the bed, he looked about for particles of Adrian Monahan’s head.
McRae
cursed himself in a low whisper. Jesse had no doubt been indulging in some very
dark humor. That was before the letter had completely changed the gambler’s
mood. Where would this ride they were going to take tomorrow lead to?
Bart sat on
the bed, took off his boots and lay back. Believing sleep was far away, he
leaned over and removed a Bible from his valise. He began to read the story of King Saul’s
visit to the Witch of Endor, where the king was confronted by a spirit who told
him he would die the next day…
The vision
of a horrifying old crone dressed in rags filled the room. She was cackling as
she performed strange ritualistic movements with her hands. Footsteps suddenly
sounded in the distance.
“He’s coming!”
The witch declared. “The ghost is coming!”
Bart awoke
with a start. The Bible lay on his lap where he had dropped it when he fell
asleep. With relief, McRae saw that there was no witch in the room.
His relief
was short lived. The witch had only been a dream, but the footsteps were real
and they were moving down the hallway toward his room.
Silence
suddenly seemed to fill the entire house. McRae remained in the bed, his back
pressing against the headboard. He wished for a gun. But could a gun really
help him now?
The bedroom
door opened slowly and Bart immediately recognized the man that stepped inside.
It was Adrian Monahan.
A trickle
of red ran down the middle of Adrian ’s
head as if dividing it in two.“Help me!” Monahan shouted. “Justice! I won’t rest until I
get justice!”
McRae
grabbed his boots and hastily put them on. He was leaving this place and
leaving fast. He tossed his Bible back into the valise, closed it up and
stepped quickly toward the bedroom door.
It was
locked.
“Let me out
of here!” He began pounding furiously on the door.
Bart
suddenly stopped. He dropped the valise, made both of his hands into fists and
took a deep breath. “I need to think,” he whispered to himself. “Think calmly.”
A loud
scream filled the house. McRae froze, not moving a muscle until a second scream
sounded.
Tomorrow: Episode
Five of The Darkness