The Coffin (Nightmare Hall) by Diane Hoh

Author:Diane Hoh [Hoh, Diane]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781480421967
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 2013-08-13T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

THE CUCKOO CLOCK ONLY struck once while Tanner was crouched on the floor of The Booth, but it felt to her as if she’d been in there forever. By the time he let her out, she was thoroughly subdued. All the fight had been drained out of her by her struggle inside that awful box. The struggle was twofold: first, to breathe properly in spite of the lack of air, and second, to hang on to her sanity. The second was by far the more difficult of the two.

The skylight above her had gone dark. Either night had fallen or the weather had become more severe. Tanner didn’t really care. What difference did it make what was going on outside? She wasn’t a part of it.

Maybe she never would be again.

“I’m going to let you out,” Sigmund warned as he held the door to the booth open, “but if you break or even bend one of the rules, you’ll be back in The Booth so fast, you’ll see stars.”

“I don’t even know what the rules are,” Tanner muttered sullenly. Taking deep breaths of air, she moved quickly away from him to take a seat on the couch. Her feet hurt when she walked, and she knew she should look at them, maybe wash them off in the tiny sink in the lavatory. For now, all she wanted to do was breathe.

He took a seat opposite her, in the leather chair. Crossed his legs, just like her father did.

“No more throwing stuff at the windows,” he said. “I’m not cleaning up any more of your messes.”

Of course he’d figured out how the lamp and candy dish had been broken. He wasn’t stupid. Just crazy.

“I’m hungry,” Tanner complained in that same, truculent voice. “I haven’t had anything to eat since yesterday at noon. Is that how you intend to get your stupid satisfaction, by starving me to death?”

“I’m not going to starve you. I’ll get you a sandwich.” He stood up. The ugly mask looked down at her sternly. “I don’t have to lock you in The Booth while I’m gone, do I?”

She shook her head. “No. I don’t have the energy to do anything brave.” That was the truth.

Nodding, he left. The key turned in the lock a moment later.

Tanner let her head rest against the back of the couch. She felt like she’d been swimming through tar. So weak, so tired. How was she going to fight him?

Her eyes went to the screens high on the walls. Nothing out front, just the gray mist of rain, still falling steadily. She could hear it tap-tapping against the skylight, a rhythm as steady as the ticking of a clock. Her eyes went to the screen monitoring the backyard, and there she saw movement.

Tanner sat up. A figure, darting in and out among the bushes and trees, there, behind the gazebo!

She rubbed her eyes. Maybe she’d imagined it. Maybe she wanted so desperately to believe that someone had come to rescue her that she was having hallucinations.

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