The Dark: A Collection (Point Horror) (7 page)

Harry toyed with her
hair, brushing back the strands that had fallen into her face. He
rubbed noses. He acted as if he was attracted to her as she was to
him, as if he needed her as she needed him. No one else made her feel
half so good — not even Doc.

He aimed for her lips
and awkwardly hit her nose. She didn't mind. She stopped blushing
and held up her lips for him to kiss. He kissed her tentatively, then
again as if he couldn't get enough. He pulled her against his
chest. He kissed her as if he never wanted to let go.

She felt shy at
first. She'd never kissed a guy except Doc. That had been
different. Even at intimate moments Doc would instruct her. His touch
had felt clinical and detached. It was the doctor and the teacher in
him, that and the fact that he was older and more experienced.

Harry, on the other
hand, liked whatever she did naturally. She got up her courage and
slipped her arms around his back. It felt good to draw him down to
her and kiss him back slowly at first, then with increasing fervor.

Soon she didn't
know where her lips ended and Harry's began. She was pressed so
close against him that she didn't know if it was his heart pounding
against her chest or her own. She thought, I never knew it could be
like this — not to be all alone and scared.

As she kissed him she
whispered all the things she had started to remember about that night
two years ago. She confessed everything from the time that Mrs.
Ingersoll thought she heard someone prowling around out in the bushes
to the time that she, Bianca, had run screaming murder down the
street. He kept on whispering as he kissed her that she was a true
heroine. She shouldn't doubt herself.

"All right you
geek, what's the big idea!" A voice growled.

Bianca gasped. She
hastily straightened out her T-shirt and brushed off her jeans. She
reached up under the back of her T-shirt to pull down her bra.

Rick stood in the
doorway, his chest heaving up and down. His fair complexion flushed
bright red. His blue eyes blazed. His legs were slightly apart, his
knees flexed and ready to spring to the attack. Rick fingered
something as if he couldn't wait to use it. It looked sharp and
glinted silver in the dim light of the lounge.

A knife!

Chapter 6

Bianca had assumed
that the movie had finished long ago and that Rick Roscoe had gone
home. She could tell by the sounds from the lobby that the movie was
letting out now. Kids were streaming out the front door, laughing and
shouting.

Marianna followed
Rick into the room. She leaned against the wall. To judge by her
malicious look, she had everything to do with Rick knowing where to
find Bianca. Bianca would bet her life on it!

"When a girl goes
to the movies with me, I expect her to leave with me!" Rick
thundered.

Bianca had never
imagined that he would act like this. All during the movie he had
pretty much ignored her. Why should he suddenly show an interest now?

Harry leaped up from
the sofa and stepped in front of Bianca. "Leave Bianca alone. If
you're going to pick on anybody, pick on me."

"Do you go around
picking up other guy's dates? Is that how you get your kicks?
You're going end up in jail like your brother real soon."

"You don't give a
shit about Bianca. I care about her."

Bianca stood behind
Harry. It was nice to hear Harry say that.

"You're wasting
your time with a girl like that. Too rich and stuck up. You can't
trust her. That's why I came to you as soon as I saw what was going
on," Marianna broke in. "It was all too obvious that Bianca and
Harry were having a fit of smoochies in the back lounge."

Marianna's CLOSED
sign had been up. Bianca had had no idea that the other girl had been
spying on her.

Rick lunged at Harry
with his knife. Harry stepped out of the way just in time, pulling
Bianca with him.

Rick taunted him.
"Are you afraid to fight, Fellini? Are you going to hide behind
Bianca?"

"There seems to be
no limit to your stupidity, Roscoe. I just prefer to keep my head."

Harry exchanged looks
with Bianca. Some secret, silent communication passed between them.
This was what Harry meant by refusing to let the kids get his goat.
She was amazed. She could never act like that. She wouldn't have
the nerve.

"You're just a
coward!" Rick spat.

Harry stood stock
still.

"You're afraid to
fight me. You know you're going to lose."

Harry bit his lip. He
didn't move.

"Maybe you're
brain dead." Rick laughed cruelly. "Did Mike throw you against
the wall one too many times when you were little?"

Harry clenched his
fists. Still he didn't move one inch toward Rick.

"Maybe he needs a
real woman to give him hair on his chest instead of that little ninny
cringing against the wall." Marianna threw her hips back and forth
as she crossed the room to Harry's side. "Bianca's made him as
chicken as she is." She gave Harry a taunting kiss on the cheek,
then cackled with glee.

Harry stepped away
from Marianna. He didn't give in to the temptation to say something
back.

"Wait until I tell
the theater manager about you." Marianna's poisonous, violet eyes
glowed with venom. "You know he doesn't allow employees to mess
around on the job. He'll fire you on the spot, Fellini."

Bianca's spine
tingled. She sensed a presence in the doorway and turned. There were
the thick bifocals that made him look smarter than anybody else. He
was wearing a collared white dress shirt, starched at that. She'd
forgotten that Doc could afford to wear dress shirts whenever he
wanted. The McColloughs had money like the Shipleys. Besides, Doc was
a rather formal kind of guy.

"Doc!" Bianca
raced over to him.

Doc caught her by the
shoulders and drew her aside. "You seemed a little bit overwrought
in the movie theater tonight." He frowned, looking concerned.
"Overwrought" was Doc's kind of term. He used big, fifty-cent
words like that.

"I'm OK now, I
guess." She looked shyly down at the carpet and then back up into
his eyes. She wanted to tell him about her memory of that night two
years ago and how it was returning. This clearly wasn't the time or
the place.

"Do you want to
tell me all about it?" It was more of a statement than a question,
taking for granted her compliance. "I'll give you a lift home. We
can talk in the car. Susan won't mind." Doc didn't bother to
glance at his date.

The nurse with the
shapely legs emerged from the lobby. She was wearing a sundress with
stockings. She leaned against the door frame and gave Doc a faint
smile, slipping her stockinged foot out of her heel and rubbing it up
and down her calf. Any woman Doc went out with must be used to this
kind of thing. After all, doctors were on duty all the time. Doc took
his cases very seriously.

"I — I can't go
now." Bianca excused herself.

Bianca looked at
Harry. She couldn't desert him in a pinch, not after he'd been so
nice. If she left, that would only make Rick angrier. He would punch
Harry out since he couldn't get his hands on Doc.

"You have a new
commitment in the romance department?" Doc looked Harry up and down
as if he were examining him clinically under a microscope.

Bianca flushed to the
roots of her brown hair. She wanted Doc to be the first to know. It
wasn't anything like what she felt for him. Nothing else could ever
be. Maybe now Doc would be proud of her. He'd told her that she had
to go out and find herself a boyfriend. She'd been successful.

"Are you sure about
this boy?" Doc sounded doubtful.

Bianca hung on Doc's
every look and word as she nodded.

Doc frowned. "Maybe
I advised you to go out on your own too soon. It's my fault, not
yours, of course. I misjudged how far along you were in your
recovery. Going out with one of the Fellini boys. . . Frankly, I
don't think it shows good judgment."

Bianca tottered on
her feet. She didn't know how she was going to live with that
condemnation. She never felt good unless Doc approved of her choices.
It had been that way for two years.

"You'd better
come with me." Doc took Bianca's arm and started to guide her out
of the room. "The police can deal with these low-life scum. I just
summoned them on my cell phone."

Bianca had never
resisted Doc before. She stopped and gaped at him with a silent plea.

"Bianca, what's
wrong?" Doc caressed her cheek. "You don't look well, my dear.
You're so pale and—"

"I'm — I'm
sorry you don't approve of Harry. But — but he was so nice to me.
You told me I should find friends. He's had problems like me. I
think you'd like him if — if you'd give him a chance."

It was hard to
express herself in Doc's presence. He was so intimidating. She
never, but NEVER, dared to argue with him.

"Bianca." Doc
shook his head. "You don't have the presence of mind to make such
important decisions all by yourself. You're in a nervous state, too
easily deceived by cons like the Fellini brothers. You've got to
trust me. Harry's not right for you. He's not right at all."
Doc patted her on the shoulder.

Harry had gotten in
trouble because of her. Bianca would never forgive herself if she
deserted him now.

"I'm — I'm
sorry." She looked down at the floor. She couldn't meet Doc's
eyes. "I have to stay a little while longer. Please!"

Harry grabbed her.
"Who are you, anyway? Leave Bianca alone. She's been picked on
enough tonight."

Harry and Doc glared
at each other, each taking the other's measure.

"I'll have you
know that I'm an intern at the Brunswick Memorial Hospital and
Bianca's official outpatient medical adviser." Doc impaled Harry
with his frosty stare.

"Yeah, well we're
doing fine, thank you. We don't need you sticking your nose in our
business. Shove off!" Harry stood up to Doc.

Bianca's mouth fell
open. No one ever told Doc to shove off! She wanted to drop through
the floor.

"Bianca, are you
coming?" Doc turned his steely gaze on her. "I can't stand here
all night." He got out his gold pocket watch and glanced at it. He
was always so busy.

Bianca couldn't
meet his eyes.

"Very well, Bianca.
This is more serious than I thought. I'll have to call your other
doctors. I'll be in touch as soon as we arrive at a diagnosis. In
the meantime, you can deal with the police by yourself. It won't be
very pleasant, I promise you. But if you insist!"

Doc started to walk
off with that firm, rapid step, but then he stopped in his tracks. He
turned. He spoke in a different tone, his words going through her
like a knife. "I wouldn't have thought that you'd forget so
easily, Bianca, that I want the best for you."

Bianca burst into
tears. She tried to rush after Doc. Harry grabbed her around the
waist. For a while she tried to fight him off. Then he let her cry on
his shoulder while he stroked her hair.

Doc was angry. She
could feel it in the pit of her stomach. She could sense it in the
way her hands shook. How was she going to live with herself?

Rick lunged at Harry
with his knife while he was still comforting Bianca. Bianca fell back
with a scream. Harry kicked the blade out of Rick's hands.

Marianna cheered Rick
on. "Slug the bastard!" Marianna called. "Show him what for!"
She was turning red in the face as she shouted. She would do anything
to get back at Bianca.

Rick didn't take
time to look for his knife. He knocked Harry to the ground and leaped
on top of him. He started punching Harry around the face.

Harry pushed Rick
off. Rick scrambled to his feet as Harry gave him another shove. Rick
went hurtling back against the wall with a crash. The impact knocked
some pictures down and shattered their glass.

Marianna let out a
bloodcurdling shriek. She went racing out of the room. She was soon
back with the manager in tow, bellowing, "Break it up!" He was a
big, burly man with a beer belly sticking out of a Hawaiian shirt,
wiping the ticket taker's lipstick off his face. He tucked his
shirt in around his waist. He reeked of cheap perfume as he inserted
himself between the two boys, forcing them to fall back.

"Harry attacked
Rick. I saw it with my own eyes," Marianna insisted.

"She's lying!"
Bianca burst out as she ran to Harry.

"No, she's not,"
Rick panted, standing shoulder to shoulder beside Marianna. Both eyed
Bianca maliciously. "He's a vicious beast!" Rick stared at
Harry.

"All right,
Fellini, you're fired!" the manager barked, still wiping his face
with his handkerchief. "I had second thoughts about hiring the
brother of a convict. Bad blood runs in families. I'll mail you
your wages. I want the uniform back, though. No stealing things to
get even. Is that clear?"

Bianca gaped at
Harry, wondering what he would do.

Harry bit down on his
lip. Then he hurled his usher's cap at the manager, making the
fatso catch it.

"After all the
goings-on I saw in your theater, I was going to quit after tonight
anyway," Harry stated flatly.

"That smart-ass,
tongue is going to get you nothing but trouble, Fellini." The
manager scowled at Harry. "It'll earn you jail time just like
your brother, Mike. I was about to call the police. Here they come
anyway." He glanced over his shoulder. "I don't know what
goings-on you're talking about. But I bet you're involved in
them."

Harry looked as if he
wanted to say something back, but he kept his mouth firmly shut.

They were soon
surrounded by policemen in uniform. The manager did all the talking,
feeding them Marianna's version of the story. Marianna and Rick
kept on vigorously nodding.

"Do you have
anything to say for yourself, Fellini?" the police chief asked
Harry.