A Collection of True Evils by Napier Barry

Author:Napier, Barry [Napier, Barry]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2012-12-29T04:30:00+00:00

***

Night took it’s time in claiming the world. Alex sat in his apartment after the paramedics had pronounced his landlord dead of severe cardiac arrest and waited for midnight to approach. He wondered if Theo was feeling this same anxiousness or if his insistence on meeting right away was due to Theo also experiencing some sort of weirdness since opening A Collection of True Evils. As he sat and waited, Alex feared that the itch would come again and that he would find more words written on his body. He had already killed a bird and a human being with the power that came with those ghost-phrases, so what else would he be capable of?

The thought bothered him horribly. He tidied up his coffee table, checked his e-mail and watched some TV to help pass the time. He eventually found himself working on his speech for the horror convention and it was this work that seemed to speed the clock along.

He left his house at 11:15 although the library was only a twenty minute trip from his house. He drove down darkened blocks, thinking of the bird, his landlord and the phrases he had spoken that had somehow ended their lives. It was baffling and even a bit ridiculous, but there was no denying that it was really happening. He thought about Agatha Redden and wondered what sort of hex she had placed on the inscriptions within the book. He also found himself thinking about Harold Nesmith, the author of A Collection of True Evils, and what sorts of dark talents he might have acquired in writing down such cursed material.

Driving through the night as midnight approached, Alex truly felt afraid for the first time since discovering the phrase on his arm that morning. To somehow have found himself entwined in the horrors that Harold Nesmith had researched and written about made him feel cold and defenseless. Several times on the way to the library, Alex thought that he could feel itching sensations all over his body but these ended up being nothing more than tricks of his scrambling mind.

He arrived at the library fifteen minutes early and saw no sign of Theo. Alex circled the block twice, driving slowly and wondering exactly what they had gotten themselves into. As he made the circle around the block the second time, he saw that Theo had finally arrived. Usually, the first to arrive would retrieve the key and unlock the basement door but Theo remained in his car, electing to not wander into the darkness alone.

Alex parked his car behind Theo’s and the two of them met on the sidewalk in front of the library. It seemed almost forbidden to be here again, less than twenty-four hours after cracking open A Collection of True Evils, creeping through the night like ghouls hiding from the inevitable dawn.

As they came together on the sidewalk, Alex noticed that Theo was walking with his back arched at an awkward angle. Theo tried to nod and grin at him, but it was obvious that he was in pain.

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