The Loon by Michaelbrent Collings

Author:Michaelbrent Collings
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Tags: monster, survival-horror, Horror, zombie, Koontz, asylum, Thriller
Publisher: Michaelbrent Collings
Published: 2010-09-06T23:00:00+00:00

OFFICIAL

Mitchell O'Hallan felt the lights go out as much as he saw them. He was the largest person on staff – by far – and the largest person in The Loon, but he was also desperately afraid of the dark. Had been ever since his mother had locked him in a closet when he was a kid for stealing brown sugar. He knew he shouldn't have done it, shouldn't have stuck his hands in the bag and felt the delicious stuff crumple as he crushed doughy clods of the stuff between his already-massive fingers and then shoved the sweet grit into his mouth. But it was just too tempting. And when his mother threw open the door to the pantry and saw him there, he was neither surprised nor concerned. Whatever was coming, it had been worth it.

Or so he thought.

But it must have been one of Mother's bad days, for without a word she took Mitchell and threw him into the coat closet, leaving him there for several hours. He had been quiet at first, then panic had set in and he had attempted to get out. She had put something heavy in front of the door, though, and Mitchell was stuck. Stuck and at her mercy...the mercy of a woman who was generally a good and caring person but who occasionally did not even know her own children's names.

So now whenever he was in the dark, he could feel it. Heavy, like the coats that had rested on his shoulders like wraiths ready to eat his soul on that day so long ago. The dark was real to Mitchell, and it was not a friend.

Still, he had managed if not to conquer his fear over the years then at least to control it. He no longer wet himself when the dark came. And now, as though to prove to himself that he could still function in the nightmarish world of black in which he found himself, he said in as calm a voice as he could muster, "It's official."

Near him, the woman and her daughter gasped as the lights went out. "What's going on?" said the woman. She sounded on the verge of panic.

"Don't worry," said Paul. Mitchell knew Paul was a good man; knew that if the woman had needed or wanted it, Paul would have held out a hand for her to hold.

Sometimes it stank being the size of a small whale. No one ever offered to hold Mitchell's hand.

"It'll just take a second," Paul continued, "and then the generator should kick in."

Mitchell hated that Paul had used the word "should" instead of "will." "Should" implied that the generator might not kick in.

And what would happen then?

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