Do Not Enter, Part 5
Rose’s momentum smashed her full-face into it and the force bucked her head back, stars whirling in her vision, a nasty, coppery bite spattering in her mouth and nasal cavities. She slumped heavy and limp to the foot of the door. In a moment, she blinked back the water in her eyes and reached for the door handle.
There wasn’t one.
She heard the wails, the cries, the screams, grown to a cacophony behind her, and tried to worm her fingers into the cracks between the door and jamb. They seemed fused together. She couldn’t identify the seams in the dim light.
She screamed again, but it was a wasted, desiccated sound, the sound of a dried, shriveled corpse as her voice gave out. She kicked the door, beat it with her fists, banged as hard as she could and screamed until the moaning, chilling sounds from the passage became louder than her cries.
Her hands pulsed pain with every heartbeat. Rose collapsed at the foot of the great, solid door.
She choked back a sob.
In the shifting, changing light of the passageway ahead of her, she saw a shadow. A head, stretching long as it approached in the winding stairwell, the bony shoulders and long, skeletal fingers, tipped with crooked claws.
She shook her head. The flickering light played havoc with her vision, but there was a shadow on the wall, growing larger with each passing second. She stood up, pressed her back to the warm door.
Another stream of burning hot furnace air plastered her to the wall, and she cried out as her skin screamed in pain. She glanced down and watched as blisters formed on her exposed arms and hands. She shook in agony, and cried out again.
The shadow blocked the light from the passage now.
The din from the crying voices assaulted her, the heat scorched her, and Rose felt panic rise to choke her. She shrank against the wall and door, and cowered.
The screams wavered, rose and fell as individual voices, but united they were an unbroken river of horror.
Over them she heard the flutter of leathery wings as the shadow on the wall rounded the corner.
~End~
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Hey DarcKnyt,
I saw your comment about my novel, The Unearthed, over on http://www.ebookguru.com. Just wanted to let you know that if you go to Ruth Schaller’s blog, http://www.ruthiesbookreviews.blogspot.com/, and read the interview of me she posted, you could win a free copy of book.
I love your blog! Keep writing. I hope you start the query process soon for Ghost Hunters.
-Brian
http://www.lyricalpress.com/the_unearthed
Brian, thank you so much, and PLEASE forgive me for the delay in my response! For some reason, you ended up in SPAM, and I didn’t get to checking it until tonight (May 23, 2009). I am so sorry! I’ll check out your page, though your offer is probably long past, and I’ll certainly try to keep writing. And, please — call me Dane.
Thank you, God bless, and once more, I’m sorry for being so tardy with my response. God bless!
Loved it bubba! Really well written. I read it over on dA and added it but had to come here and reread it and comment! I loved it!
Thanks, DZ! I really appreciate that, and I’m glad you liked it! Thanks for spending the time to read it — TWICE, no less! I’m honored!