Happy Nightmares! Thriller Omnibus by May Susan

Author:May, Susan [May, Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Happy Nightmares
Published: 2016-08-13T00:00:00+00:00

11

“W ake up, Bobby. It’s, it’s … terrible, God, terrible news.”

He felt breath on his cheek and a hand rocking his shoulder. The words only half-entered his mind. They entwined inside his dream, and for a second he saw Em hovering above the ground, wearing a boy’s blue baseball cap, a satchel over her shoulder, and waving a newspaper.

“Shouldn’t you say, ‘Read all about it’?” he asked the dream Em. She continued to float there, tears streaming down her face, repeating his name. “Bobby. Bobby. Bobby.”

Even though the dream Em’s words confused him—he couldn’t understand why she kept calling his name even though he answered her—what he did recognize was the anguish in her voice.

Last night, when he’d slipped into the warm bed next to her, after his encounter with the black thing, she’d been fast asleep, snoring away with those cute little clicks that always lulled him to sleep. He’d wanted to wake her and tell her about the black thing, but he was too afraid she’d think him crazy. No, this must be his secret.

Around five—which was the last time he checked the clock—he must have dozed off.

Sleep did not want to release him, but the dream Em’s tone compelled him into consciousness, pulling him from the crying paperboy Em.

He opened his eyes and instantly knew something was very wrong. Em’s face was a sickly ash-gray, her eyes red and raw. As she spoke, her lips quivered. Her words came in disjointed sentences he struggled to understand.

“Twenty-two trapped. They can’t get to them. The mine. I can’t. Stop. Shaking. Jimmy, oh, my God, Jimmy … may be dead. Oh no—”

The mention of his brother-in-law’s name acted like an adrenaline shot, snapping him awake. He threw back the covers and pulled Em down to sit on the edge of the bed next to him. She half fell, as though all the energy had instantly drained from her body. He threw his arm around her shoulders and pushed her hair back from her face. Her chin rested on her chest, bobbing up and down as she sobbed in hefty gasps.

“Who Em? Get to who?”

Between heaves, she could barely speak the words. “Them. The miners. Bobby, Jimmy is down there. They’ve just rung me.”

Jimmy was Em’s younger brother. As far as brother-in-laws go, he was an all right guy, quick to lend a hand and not bad company on the couch during football season. At least he brought his own beer.

Having been in the mines since he was sixteen, Jimmy, now in his thirties, managed one of the three around-the-clock shift teams, working in the main shaft. Since they’d found a particularly prosperous seam five years back—apparently one of the richest finds in the history of the company—they’d mined it non-stop.

The digging crew jobs were not for the fainthearted; the deposit lay a thousand feet under the surface. If you could handle the claustrophobia and the mind-games that came with working at that depth, after a few years the pay was a life changer.

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