Chapter 3 Chapter 2 Nightmare

one That night, Ted had a nightmare.He woke up with tears in his eyes and shaking like a puppy in a storm.In the dream, he was with George Stark, only George was a real estate agent and not a writer, and he was always standing behind Tad because he was just a voice and a shadow. two Before Ted wrote his second George Stark novel, Oxford Blues, he wrote an author introduction for Darwin, in which he said Stark drove "a dilapidated 1967 GMC convertible small truck".But in the dream they were in a black Toronado, and Tad knew he had made a mistake when he said the delivery pickup.This is Stark's car.This jet-propelled funeral vehicle.

The back of the Toronado was turned up, and it didn't look like a real estate agent's car at all, but it looked like a third-rate robber's car.Stark took him to see a house for some reason, and as they walked towards the house together, Tad looked back and saw only the car, he thought he would see Stark, fear like icicles Like piercing his heart.But Stark happened to be on the other side of him (although Tad had no idea how he'd shifted there so quickly and silently), and all he saw was the car, a steel poisonous spider, gleaming in the sunlight.A piece of paper taped to the raised bumper read: Noble bastard.On both sides of the word there are skulls and two crossed bones.

It was Tad's own house that Stark had shown him--not his winter house in Ludlow, not far from the university, but his summer cottage in Castle Rock.The north bay of Castle Rock Lake was just behind the house, and Ted could faintly hear the waves crashing on the shore.A small lawn behind the driveway has a sign that says: FOR SALE. Pretty house, right?Stark whispered behind him.His voice was hoarse and kind, like a tomcat licking its tongue. This is my house, Ted replied. you are wrong.The owner of this house is dead.He killed his wife and children, then committed suicide.He pulls the trigger.With a bang, everything is over.This is determined by his character.You don't have to look hard to find this out.You can say it is clear at a glance.

Is this fun?He wanted to ask—it seemed important to show Stark that he wasn't afraid of him.The reason this is very important is that he is terrified.But before he could say it, a big, wrinkle-free hand stretched out from behind his shoulder, shaking a bunch of keys in front of him. No - not shaking.If that was the case, he would have spoken and even pushed the key aside to show that he was not afraid of the fearsome man who was always standing behind him.However, the hand was pushing the key towards his face.Ted had to grab them to keep from hitting him on the nose. He put one of the keys in the lock of the front door, a smooth oak door with a handle and a brass knocker like a small bird, and the key turned smoothly, which was strange because it Not a house key at all, but a typewriter key mounted on top of a long steel rod.The rest of the keys on the ring were skeleton keys, the kind a thief would carry.

He grabbed the doorknob and twisted it.As he did so, the iron-wrapped wooden door began to shrink and wither, and at the same time there was a continuous explosion like firecrackers.Sunlight streams through the new crack in the door.Dust rose.With a crisp sound, a decorative iron block fell from the door and landed heavily on the steps at Ted's feet. He went in. He didn't want to go in; he wanted to stand in the doorway and argue with Stark.Not only that!He was going to protest to him and ask him why on earth he did it, because going into a house was even scarier than Stark himself.But it was a dream, a nightmare, and the nature of nightmares is uncontrollable.It's like being on a roller coaster where at any moment you can be thrown from the top into a brick wall and die like a flyswatter.

The faded strips of carpet were gone, making the familiar corridors strange, even hostile... In the dream, it seemed such an insignificant thing that he thought of it often afterwards, perhaps because it was a real fear —Fears beyond dreams.How is it possible to feel safe in life if the absence of something as small as a hallway rug can cause such intense feelings of isolation, loss, sadness, and fear? He didn't like the echoes of his steps on the hardwood floor, not only because they confirmed what the villain behind him said - the house was uninhabited and uncomfortably empty; he didn't like echoes, but because his own steps heard Looking very confused and very unfortunate.

He wanted to turn around and leave, but he couldn't.Because Stark is right behind him, he knows that Stark is now holding Alex Massin's pearl-encrusted razor, with which his mistress cut up the dog at the end of "Macin's Way" Mongrel face. If he turned his back, George Stark would have cut him with a knife. The house may be empty, but all the furniture is there except for the rug (the orange-red rug in the living room is gone).At one end of the living room, a vase stands on a small pine table, from where you can walk directly into the bedroom with its high-ceilinged windows facing the lake, and you can also turn right into the kitchen.Tad touched the vase and it immediately exploded into shards and acrid ceramic powder.The water flowed out, and the six roses that bloomed in the bottle withered and turned gray-black, and then fell into the smelly mud on the table.He touched the table.There was a crackling sound from the wood, and the table split into two, slowly falling onto the bare wooden floor.

How did you make my house like this?he yelled to those behind him...but didn't turn around.He didn't have to turn around to prove the existence of the razor that Noni Griffiths had cut Marcin's cheek bloody with bone and one eye dangling out of its socket before , Massin himself cut the noses of his "opponents" with it. I didn't do anything, Stark said, and Tad knew he was smiling without looking, it was in his voice.You did it, bastard. They go into the kitchen. Thad felt for the stove, which cracked in two with a low jingle like a bell stuffed with dirt.Heating coils pinged and splashed in all directions, and a ridiculous screw cap whizzed by in the gust of wind.From the black hole in the middle of the furnace a poisonous stench was blowing, and he peered into it and saw a turkey.It's rotting and stinks.The black liquid, mixed with unknown pieces of meat, slowly flowed out of the turkey's hollow.

Here we call it crap, Stark commented after him. What do you mean?Where did you say, here? Underswell, there's no train here, Tad.Stark said calmly. He said something else, but Ted didn't catch it.Liz's purse was on the floor and Ted tripped.He scrambled to keep from falling over the kitchen table, which began to crumble to pieces and ended up in a pile of sawdust.A shiny nail twisted back into the corner with a metallic clang. stop now!Ted yelled.I want to wake up!I hate breaking things! You've always been clumsy, you bastard, Stark said.He spoke as if Tad had many brothers and sisters, each of whom carried the utmost elegance.

I'm not meant to be clumsy, Tad told him anxiously, almost whining.I'm not doomed to be clumsy.I'm not meant to break things.When I'm careful, everything is fine. Yes - but unfortunately you have been careless, Stark said calmly.They went into the back hall. Here is Liz, sitting in the corner by the door, her feet in a figure-six, one shoe on and the other off.She was wearing nylon stockings, and Ted could see that one of them was slipping.She bowed her head, her light-blond hair covering her face.He didn't want to look at her face.Like he knew they were there without looking at Razor or Stark's razor-like grin.He didn't need to look at Liz's face to know that she was not asleep or unconscious, but dead.

Turn on the light and you'll see better, Stark said with a smile in the tone of talking to a friend.His hand appeared on Tad's shoulder, pointing at the lamp Tad had placed himself.They were electric lights, of course, and they looked real: two windproof kerosene lamps mounted on a wooden spindle, controlled by a dimmer switch on the wall. I do not want to see! He tried to sound determined and confident, but he began to feel restless.He could hear the tremor in his voice, which meant he was about to cry.It didn't seem to matter what he said, for he had reached for the round switch on the wall.When he touched it, blue electric sparks erupted from between his fingers, thick as jelly rather than light.The switch's ivory round handle turned black, blasting off walls and flying across the room like a miniature flying saucer.It smashed through the small window on the other side, and disappeared into the sunlight, which took on an eerie green like green hair on copper. The electric windscreen kerosene lamps were unnaturally bright, the spindles began to turn, winding up the chains that held them in place, and the shadows of the whole house danced wildly.Two lamp shades shattered one after the other, and the glass sprinkled Ted all over. He jumped forward without thinking, grabbed the sitting wife, and tried to rescue her before the chain broke and the heavy wooden spindle fell on her.This impulse was so strong that he was desperate, even though he knew she was dead, it didn't matter, even if Stark uprooted the Empire State Building and threw it on her, it didn't matter.It had nothing to do with her anyway, and never again. His two arms passed through her armpit, embracing her, her body leaned forward, her head was thrown back, the skin on her face was covered with cracks, like the surface of a Ming Dynasty porcelain vase.The dull eyes suddenly exploded, and the poisonous green juice sprayed on his face, which was hot and disgusting.Her mouth was open, and teeth rained out of it, hitting his cheek and forehead, and he could feel their smoothness and hardness.Half-clotted blood spurted from between her bumpy gums.Her tongue rolled out of her mouth and fell straight down to her skirt like a bloody snake. Tad started screaming—in a dream, not in reality, thank goodness, or he would have freaked out Liz. I'm not done with you, you bastard, George Stark whispered behind him.There was no smile in his voice, it was as cold as the water of Castle Rock Lake in November.remember.You don't want to get rid of me because when you get rid of me... three Tad woke up with a jerk, his face wet, and the pillow, which he had been clutching convulsively, against his face.It might be sweat, it might be tears. "...you got rid of the best thing." He finished the sentence to the pillow, and then lay there with his knees curled up to his chest, shivering in fits and starts. "Ted?" Liz said vaguely in her dream, "how are the twins?" "Fine," he tried to stay calm, "I'm... fine. Go to sleep." "Yeah, everything..." She said a few words, but he didn't catch them, just as he didn't catch what Stark said after he told Ted Underswell that there was no train. Tad lay on the wet sheets, slowly let go of his pillow, wiped his face with his bare arms, and waited for the dream to leave him, the shock to leave him.They did leave him, but surprisingly slowly.He tried not to wake Liz. He stared into the darkness, not wanting to understand the dream, just waiting for it to go.After a long time, Wendy next door woke up and started crying that it was time for a diaper change.Of course, William then wakes up and thinks he needs a diaper change too (although when Ted changes his diapers, they are very dry). Liz woke up immediately, and walked into the nursery as if sleepwalking.Ted goes in with her, he's wide awake, and this time he's thankful for the twins because they need a diaper change in the middle of the night.He changed it for William, and Liz changed it for Wendy, and neither of them talked much.They went back to bed, and Ted was delighted to find that he was falling asleep again.He thought he might not be able to sleep at night.When he first woke up, the image of Liz's exploded body still vivid and visible, he thought he would never sleep again. In the morning it goes away, as dreams do. It was the last thought he had before falling asleep that night, but when he awoke the next morning he remembered all the episodes of the dream (although only the echo of his lost and lonely footsteps in the bare hallway moved him), he It didn't disappear with the passage of time, like ordinary dreams. It was a very rare dream that he stuck in his memory like a real time event.That typewriter key, that unwrinkled palm, that cold, monotonous voice of George Stark, which came from behind him, telling him that he had nothing to do with him, that when you got rid of this noble bastard, you were Best thing in getting rid of.