01 The Black Pumpkin by Dean Koontz

Author:Dean Koontz [Koontz, Dean]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Horror
Published: 2011-07-30T04:40:35+00:00

Naked, terrified of being humiliated in front of the maid, Tommy scrambled to his feet, grabbed his pants, tried to run and pull up his jeans at the same

time, stumbled, fell, and sprang up again. "Maria, can you come here, please?" Frank asked, barely able to get the words out between gales of laughter. Gasping, whimpering, Tommy somehow reached his room and got out of sight before Maria appeared. For a while he leaned against the closed door, holding up his jeans with both hands, shivering. 3 WITH THEIR PARENTS OFF

AT A CAMPAIGN APPEARANCE, TOMMY AND Frank ate dinner together, after heating up a casserole that Maria had left in the refrigerator. Ordinarily, dinner

with Frank was an ordeal, but this time it proved to be uneventful. As he ate, Frank was engrossed in a magazine that reported on the latest horror movies, with heavy emphasis on slice-and-dice films and with lots of color photographs of mutilated and blood-soaked bodies; he seemed oblivious of Tommy. Later, when Frank was in the bathroom preparing for bed, Tommy sneaked into his older brother's room and stood at the desk, studying the jack-o'-lantern. The wicked mouth glowed. The narrow pupils were alive with fire. The scent of roses

filled the room, but underlying that odor was another more subtle and less

appealing fragrance that he could not quite identify. Tommy was aware of a malevolent presence - something even worse than the malevolence that he could always sense in Frank's room. A cold current raced through his blood.

Suddenly he was certain that the potential murderous power of the black

pumpkin was enhanced by the candle within it. Somehow, the presence of light inside its shell was dangerous, a triggering factor. Tommy did not know how he knew this, but he was convinced that if he was to have the slightest chance of surviving the coming night, he must extinguish the flame. He grasped the

gnarled stem and removed the lid from the top of the jack-o'-lantern's skull.

Light did not merely rise from inside the pumpkin but seemed to be flung at

him, hot on his face, stinging his eyes. He blew out the flame. The

jack-o'-lantern went dark. Immediately, Tommy felt better. He put the

lid in place. As he let go of the stem, the candle refit spontaneously.

Stunned, he jumped back. Light shone from the carved eyes, the nose, the

mouth. "No," he said softly. He removed the lid and blew out the candle once more. A moment of darkness within the pumpkin. Then, before his eyes, the flame reappeared. Reluctantly, issuing a thin involuntary sound of

distress, Tommy reached into the jack-o'-lantern to snuff the stubborn candle with his thumb and finger. He was convinced that the pumpkin shell would

suddenly snap shut around his wrist, severing his hand, leaving him with a

bloody stump. Or perhaps it would hold him fast while swiftly dissolving the flesh from his fingers and then release him with an arm that terminated in a skeletal hand. Driven toward the brink of hysteria by these fears, he

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