Pin by Andrew Neiderman

Author:Andrew Neiderman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pocket Books

Chapter 11

I WATTED ONE HOUR AFTER I HEARD URSULA GET INTO BED to go to sleep. Then I took the tape recorder, just as we had planned, and I turned on my intercom. Over and over Pin’s voice began to play through the speakers. I watched the door between Ursula’s room and mine. I waited for her light to go on. I felt some pangs of regret doing it. I readily admit that, but taunting her with Pin’s voice was part of both her punishment and her treatment. We had to win her back completely. There was no other way. I just used father’s old standby expression—“The pain is the price we pay for recovery.” His voice went on.

“Ursula, Ursula, come down, I need you. I want to talk to you. Ursula, Ursula, come down. Please, Ursula, come down. Ursula, Ursula, come down, I need you. Please.”

It ran through twice and still there was no reaction from her. It worried me, but I kept it up. I can’t fail now, I thought. Pin’s waiting downstairs. He’s been waiting all night. Again, we’ll play it again and again. I began to sweat a little in anticipation. Finally, I grew impatient with the machine. It was as if no voice were coming over it. Maybe something went wrong when I played the tape recorder into the intercom, I thought. Then, in the best disguised voice I could manage, I spoke through the intercom, saying the exact things Pin had recorded. I did that for only a little while when the light went on in Ursula’s room.

I waited, lying back in my bed, closing my eyes, and pretending to be fast asleep. The door opened slowly. I opened my eyes slightly. She stood there peering in at me. She was dressed in her nightgown and holding her hands to her chest. She stood waiting for the longest time. I think she wanted to be sure I was asleep. Then she closed the door and went back to bed, satisfied, probably, that she had dreamt the whole thing. I smiled to myself and reached for the intercom again.

“Ursula, Ursula, come down, I need you. I want to talk to you. Ursula, Ursula, come down. Please, Ursula, come down. Ursula, Ursula, come down, I need you. Please.”

Her light went on again. I shut off the intercom and took the same position. She opened the door abruptly, as if she had hoped to catch me at something. But there I was, lying back in bed, my eyes closed, my breathing regular. She stood there so long this time that I had to act as if she woke me up. I turned with feigned surprise.

“What? What is it? What’s the matter? What the hell’s the matter?” She continued to just stand there looking in at me. “Jesus, you scared the shit out of me, Ursula. What’s the matter, damnit?”

“Didn’t you hear anything?”

“What?”

“A … a voice, someone’s voice?”

“I was in a deep sleep. Shit, I was having a nice dream and I was in a deep sleep.

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