1997-06-15 - Memory Dream: The Monster at the End of This Book

Summer vacation in Gray Harbor, in the late 90s. It's clear and hot outside, and there's been a punishing heat streak, so even kids who are normally all outdoors all the time have found their way to more interior pursuits. Which means, for some kids - the library! It's got the background hum of a busy library. The 'kids area' is full to bursting, and for some reason or another, that doesn't suit either Anne or Enzo. Maybe there's a schoolyard nemesis in there! Maybe it's just that the librarian is reading a KIDDIE book, and nine and ten year olds are definitely too old for THAT.

Either way, they find themselves - together or separate - to one of the quieter aisles of the library. The shelves here have fantasy, science fiction, and (for some reason) books on local history by local authors. It's an odd mix, that suggests the librarian really needs to take some classes on organization. But it's cool and dim, and there's an empty reading table with actual COMFY chairs.

Almost empty. There's a book on the table. It's not terribly thick, coffee-table-book sized, and has a real leather binding, which has been embossed with shiny ink in the shape of a cave, and two children, hands linked, about to walk inside.

Even at nine years old, the sections on local history were far more appealing to Anne than anything in the KIDDIE section. Thus it wasn't completely unusual for Anne to haunt these halls; it was a safe space, a comforting sort. She wears her hair in a bouncy pony tail (with a scrunchy that has a DASIY on it) and is in a denim skirt that's overly pleated and also somehow overalls, with big brassy buttons and an ugly purple sweater underneath. Hey, it's still the 90s, fashion was pretty ridiculous. But she's here in the shelves, pulling out books and putting them back in alphabetical order, and whispering to Enzo since she dragged him up here earlier.

"I don't think the librarian knows how to do her job," she hisses to him with a frown, blue eyes darting over to the book on the table. It makes her frown. "She didn't even put that one away."

Vincenzo Addington has only just recently decided that 'Enzo' is a better name than his actual name and has spent the better part of the last week angrily correcting fellow children as well as adults. After leaving the children's section in a giant huff (one that underlines just how miserable his teenage years are going to be), Enzo finds himself coasting through the books, holding up a small mountain of them in his arms. He likes to read, even if Patrick makes fun of him and he thinks he's cool so he hides it while desperately trying to impress him. It probably took zero effort for Anne to drag him to this part of the library. Though he doesn't understand why they're working. "Anne, come on. Lets do something else. This suck."

There's a sound that shouldn't be here. Enzo can only faintly hear it, just a faint, odd hissing, like a dead radio station. But Anne can hear it a little bit better - and even tell where it's coming from! The book is making it! And it's not hissing, it's...tide. It's the sound of the sea, and with it, the faintest, faintest sound of a seaside carnival.

"I'm almost done with this shelf! What's there to do anyway? It's sooooo hot outside," Anne rolls her eyes at Enzo. Even at nine, she's practically an eye rolling expert - she gets to roll her eyes a lot at the Addington boys. Especially Patrick, who she wants to hit with a book. It looks like she was about to suggest that they go get ice cream and throw things at Patrick, when her head cocks to the side. "Do you hear that?" she whispers to Enzo, frowning, but she shoves the book in hand back onto the shelf and walks straight for the book on the table. "Someone's making noises. This is a library."

Enzo screws up is face when he hears the sound, "Is that a spider? I hate spiders, Anne. Lets get out of here. We can go swimming." Yes, because as we all know, spiders make audible hissing noises from many feet away. "We can- aw, man. Do we really have to? You remember what Mrs. McKinstry said about you playing librarian again. She was mad, you yelled at like, her husband." Still, he follows after her. Because what else is he going to do?

The book on the table remains...bookish. But it is DEFINITELY making that sound. Maybe it's a hollow book! And someone put a walkman or something in it playing static. Who can say? People do weird things in Gray Harbor.

Oh, but...there's also some water pooling around the leather. Was someone drinking in the library? Spilling water on BOOKS??

"It's not a spider, ohmygod, spiders don't sound like the ocean, I bet someone has a walkman in here and they're listening to that weird meditation music or something," Anne rolls her eyes at Enzo, huffing as she heads for the book. "And I didn't yell at him. I just told him that he can't keep writing in the books because they aren't HIS and what grown-up makes notes on romance novels anyway!? WHAT WAS HE MAKING NOTES ABOUT?!" Okay, so it's probably pretty clear that she yelled at this man. "SHH!" she was the one yelling, but she looks to Enzo and shushes him. At least her tiny rage is self-contained in the tightening of her fists as she comes up onto the book, darting a look around to see who the SUSPECT is that's making all this NOISE, and never mind that she totally raised her voice earlier. Rabble rabble. But there's no one around, and the book is wet, and she has to suck in a breath and almost go blue else she might explode. "There's no drinking in the library!"

"I can think of a couple of things he was making notes on," Enzo comments INNOCENTLY. Enzo is the kid that other kids learn shit from that their parents don't want them to know, damn him. He's prepared to educate Anne on romance novels when she shhhhes him and he sighs dramatically and puts his books down on the table. "It's summer! Do you want them to go outside and drink? And get heat exhaustion and die?" He picks the book up and shakes it. "See, it's not that bad." Is it?

Oh, god, Enzo WHAT HATH THY WROUGHT?? The book, the book...

Well, okay. It's not that bad. Water goes splattering over the kids, the table, and a few other books on the far shelf, but the book itself seems fine. Must be that leather binding - maybe it's sealed against moisture? But what's weird is that it's oddly warm and light in Enzo's hands - maybe it IS hollow, because it doesn't seem heavy or substantial enough to be filled with pages, especially at its size. And it's still making that 'ocean wave' sound, even though there was no rattling of anything inside there.

"You're not supposed to shake the books! Ohmygod Enzo put it down!" Anne flails as Enzo picks up the book, and she grabs the top of it to try and yank it out of his hands. And this is how Anne starts a tug-of-war over this weird book that's making noises and FEELS WARM, but right now she just needs to protect it.

"It's WET. I'm making it better! I'm fixing it! Stop trying to take it from me! You're rude!" Enzo isn't mature enough to not engage in a tug of war over some weird, light, warm, sound making book. He doesn't need to protect it, he just wants to be the one to win.

They each tug at the book, trying to get control over it. If it weren't sturdy and leatherbound, this would probably end in embarrassing library fines and a torn book. But instead, as they each give an exceptionally SHARP tug, their fingers slip on the water, and the book goes flying up and out of their hands. It flops to the floor, spine first, and lays open on a beautifully illustrated page. Actually, it looks painted right there on the page, not even printed.

The painting shows a girl with a bouncy pony tail and a daisy scrunchy turned away from the reader, pointing towards a cave in the distance and reaching out for her companion. He's about the same age, and looking back at the reader with a worried expression. This enables it to be easily seen that it's Enzo!

The words on the other page from the painting said: Are you sure about this?

"You're not making it better, you're making it worse!" Anne's got a grip that won't quit, even if Enzo's (debatably) stronger than her. "You're rud*ER*," she wittily responds. "Now gimmie the book! We gotta wipe it off or the pages will get MOLDY and RUINED! Where is all this water even COMING FROM!?" She gives one more tug before slippery fingers launch the book into the air, and she looks with wide eyes as it flips about and lands spine first on the floor. "Now look what you've done," she mutters, frowning sternly at Enzo. STERNLY!

But when she goes to pick the book up off from the ground, the image on the page stops her in her tracks. She blinks, blue eyes going from book Enzo to real Enzo and back down again, a shaky finger pointed at the page. "Uuuhh.. Enzo... that's not us, right? That can't be us."

Enzo struggles for the book! He wants this, even if he doesn't really want it. What is he going to do with this weird book? Well, read it maybe. Or just shake it some more. Instead it goes flying into the air and he complains, "Look what YOU did," he counters, eloquently. Then it lands and the pages flip open, he leans over and stares at the pages. "It better not be us! Because that looks like you and you want to go into a scary cave, no!"

When Anne points her finger at the page, it's like she's turned on a switch - the paint starts to glow, faintly. The sound of the ocean is louder now, and it's in surround sound, enveloping them. Then Enzo leans down over the pages, and that light flares brighter. So bright that it momentarily blinds the kids.

And when that light clears, they're standing on a rocky beach, with the surf rolling in to their left and the sun beating down with all its midsummer heat. The beach stretches on for miles, with no sign of beachgoers, houses, or people of any sort. Or, for that matter, trees. The only shade is - and this will not come as a surprise - an open mouthed cave a bit down the beach, fixed in a cliff side.

There's still a book at their feet, though. A leatherbound book. Except instead of the two children at the mouth of a cave, this one has a cover embossed with four eyes in dark red ink.

There was way more to this argument, but the sudden glowy light from the book transfixes Anne. "Enzo..." she starts, and then nothing else is left, because she's leaning over the book too and the light is blinding. "Whaaaaa--" she squeals with fright and tries to stumble back, but only finds herself landing flat on her denim-skirted bum on.. a bunch of rocks? And that sort of hurts, so she makes complainy noises until her eyes adjust and she sees exactly where she is.

"Okay, so this is why you're not supposed to drink the water from the water fountain, I told you the rust looked bad!" she shouts at Enzo, hopping to her feet and dusting off her pleated skirt. "Where the heck are we and what the HECK is that?!" she points accusingly at the book. "I'm not touching it, YOU touch it," she shoves Enzo at the book.

"AHHHHHHHHHH-" Enzo just starts screaming and screams all the way until they're no longer in the library and are standing on the beach instead. Before he can even react to that, Anne is shoving the book into his hands. He looks down at it and sees four eyes in dark red ink on the cover. Nope. All the nope. "I TOLD YOU IT WAS SPIDERS, ANNE! BUT DID YOU LISTEN? NO! AND NOW WE'RE ON SPIDER BEACH!" He takes the book with its two sets of eyes and heaves it toward the ocean.

The book sails off, pages fluttering. There's one brief glimpse of a page as it flaps open. It says, BEWARE OF THE-- and then the book is gone! It falls into the tide, and is sucked out of sight. All that salt water on those fine pages! Even if someone was to jump in after it, that is definitely an ex-book.

"THERE AREN'T ANY SPIDERS ON THIS BEACH! JUST ROCKS AND DUMMIES AND ONE REALLY SMART GIRL AND OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!" The book goes sailing and falls into the tide, and Anne just looks on with utter disbelief. "Great," her shoulders sag. "Now it's ruined for sure." RIP, book. But Anne's nine and her attention span is brief, even for books, so that's why she turns on her heel and starts marching for the cave.

"I'm going to the cave 'cuz it's HOT and you lost our BOOK and we're probably just having a BAD DREAM 'cuz your grandma probably put DREAM POISON in the lemonade that she let Patrick make us and UGH! BOYS SUCK!" She throws up her hands and keeps going.

"WHERE'S THE SMART GIRL? I DON'T SEE ONE!" Enzo hollers back in a fit of frustration. He stamps his feet and makes a very angry noise before shaking his fists ineffectually. "If you didn't want the book in the ocean, you shouldn't have given it to me," he says with a fake indifference. "Good. Go by yourself. I hope you cook in there like a LOBSTER."

That's right. Enzo is going to stay right here.

For like a minute.

Maybe two.

He looks gradually more and more uncomfortable until he finally breaks out into a trot and runs after her, "ANNNNE WAIT, LET ME CATCH UP!"

The ocean will appreciate the reading material. Maybe some fish will learn to spell, so that's really a positive thing. Right? Either way, the sea and sky look on impassively as Anne strides to the cave, and Enzo follows after her at a trot. He catches up just as they reach the interior. It's dark and cool in the entrance, and there are stones - like actual paving stones - leading further in. And...is that a glimmer of light somewhere inside? Maybe it's only a short tunnel to whatever's on the other side of the cliff?

"WELL THEN YOU NEED GLASSES!" Anne shouts back to Enzo and then throws her hands up, refusing to look behind her where his stupid boy self is standing on this stupid rocky beach and is probably going to DIE OF HEAT EXHAUSTION. But she doesn't walk particularly fast - she'd never admit it, but she was probably going to turn back around and drag him along with her if Enzo hadn't come running for her. "Hmph," she folds her arms over her chest, rolls her eyes, and keeps walking.

"It's not that scary," she says of the cave finally when they get there, peering at the entrance. "And it's cool and we're going to die if we stand on the beach in the heat and look! There's a light! I bet there's a village on the other end. Or NARNIA!" Oh, how exciting! Suddenly invigorated by possibilities, she skips right along the paving stones, shouting as she gets into the cave: "HELLO?! Are there any lions or fauns or anything in here? No witches please!"

"THEY MAKE ME LOOK LIKE A NERD-" Enzo unnecessarily shouts when they get inside of the cave. Then he stops. "You're definitely wrong. People got into Narnia through like wardrobes and paintings and it was not scary at all. That book had a creepy picture on it, we are probably going to die," he insists to her. This is a trend. Again, it doesn't stop him from walking after her but he looks distinctly unimpressed with this world they're in and he's like to be back in the library soon THANKS.

When Anne calls out into the cave, there's silence, but for the echo of her voice. Nothing answers back, although both children can hear something inside, like dripping water. Drip. Drip. Drip. It sounds like it's falling into a pond or pool or some sort. But Enzo? Enzo can SEE something in the darkness - it looks like the walls are carved. It's hard to make out by sight what they intend to convey, because it gets very dark, but the carvings are raised from the stone and probably go fairly far inside.

"We're not going to die. You can't die in dreams. I mean, I don't know how you're here in my dream? But I know we can't die," duh Enzo. Anne's rolling her eyes, but Enzo can't see because it's DARK IN HERE, something which Anne notices. "It's dark in here," she murmurs, reaching out blindly to try and put her hand on the wall. And put her other hand on Enzo. 'Cuz safety is important. "We should go towards the light." Good thing her name's not Carol Anne.

"People definitely die in dreams, Anne. Patrick told me that we had a cousin that had a nightmare about drowning and then when he woke up, he was drowning and he died." How exactly would Patrick know any of this? Unclear. But whatever, Enzo believes it, okay? "There's a bunch of carvings on the walls. Don't you see them?" he asks, walking toward one of the walls of the cave and running his hands along it. Because touching everything is a good idea.

Once the kids put their hands on the wall, they can feel the carvings unfolding under their fingers. For Enzo, the carvings tell a story - here's the figures of little people, and here's something strange behind them, hard to 'see', but it seems to be following the people. As his fingers move on, they can see here's the strange thing again, it's like a cloud with spidery legs emerging from it, and two of those legs have a hold of a little person, who has its arms thrown up in surprise or despair. Further in, there are fewer people, but there are little tiny squiggle carvings, and Enzo has sensitive fingers because oh wow, some of them are arms and legs, just without the body attached.

Anne, on the other hand (har har) sticks her hand on the wall, and it slips through a crevice in the rock, sinking into something...warm. And squishy. And GRABBY. A musclely, wet thing, like a giant, slimy tongue winds around her hand and begins slurping on it, trying to pull her deeper and deeper into the rock!

"How would Patrick even know that? If he was already dead, he wouldn't be able to tell Patrick what he was dreaming about when he died! DUH!" Anne puffs out a sigh, like it's so unfortunate that Enzo's a gullible idiot, even if she asks: "But did your cousin really drown to death in his sleep?" And there's probably more commentary, but as she slides her hand along the wall to keep track of where they're going, it slips. "Oof. Ewww," her hand goes squish and her nose crinkles up "There's something weird and squishy on the wa-- AHHHH!" she gets tugged towards the cave side, screaming as she goes. "ENZO! ENZO!" at least she's got her other hand on his arm, and she sinks her nails into his skin. "HELP! SOMETHING'S GOT ME!"

"He just knows. He knows stuff. He's smart." Ah, hero worship. Even if that hero is a fifteen year old kid. "I'm pretty sure one of them did." But Enzo is a little distraced, he's feeling the story in the carvings. He's soaking in all of the details that Anne isn't because she's shoving her hand into a crevice. And gradually, he's growing more upset. "Oh, god. God. GOD. The spider thing is real, there's leg- parts of the bodies-" he's hyperventilating. He has no chill at all. He goes right to panic. When Anne starts screaming, he starts screaming. He grabs her around the waist tries to YANK her away from the thing that's grabbing her.

Om. Nom. Nom. Someone's HUNGRY. The crevice in the wall gapes open wider, wide enough that it's just about Anne-sized in fact. That big, slurpy tongue gives a huge yank, and Anne is ripped right out of his arms despite his best ten-year-old efforts, and BLOOP, there she goes! Pulled down, down down a slimy, dark hole towards...somewhere interesting, no doubt. The hole gapes open for a moment - a brave little boy might follow her by jumping inside! Or maybe that dark cave path leads somewhere there might be help? Or, well, there's the mouth to the cave, and he never wanted to come in here ANYWAY. Maybe this is justice!

Before all the screaming and the weird tongue action, Anne has a point to make: "He is not smart! He's stupid and DUMB and he thinks he's cute but he's NOT!" Which is what every nine year old girl would say about the fifteen year old pretty boy that she might have a crush on but absolutely doesn't because BOYS SUCK. Anyway, that point made, she's screaming now, scratching at Enzo the best she can and attempting to drag her feet into the ground. "Enzo ENZO HELP ME! IM GONNA DIE I DONT WANNA DIE ENZO PLEEEEEEEEEAAAA--" but then she's sucked through the wall.

"NOOOOO, nonononononono." Enzo's face is white as a sheet (if anyone could see his face in the dark) and he basically dances in place after she's ripped from his arms. It's a panicked dance. Does he run away, does he dive into the scary tunnel? "ANNE! ANNE! SHOUT IF YOU CAN HEAR ME!" he screams after her as she goes. And then he makes a decision that's apparently going to mirror future decisions he makes in his life and he dives into the hole. Damn it, Anne. There better not be dolls down there.

Falling down holes does seem to be rather a trend, here. But in Enzo goes, sliding head first down the slippery, fleshy tunnel, where he can just pick up Anne's feet ahead of him. And her screams. Those travel REALLY WELL. It's a relatively straight tunnel, until Enzo falls onto a soft, bouncy sort of floor. Anne? Well, Anne is actually danging in the air by her arm just above him. It's a large, circular room, lit by four, glowing red eyes in a strange, dark cloud at one end. More of those tongues dangle from spider like legs that stick out of the cloud. Several of them start making questing little wriggles towards Enzo. The raspy sound of something breathing is wet and thick, like the tide, and the ground under Enzo's feet heaves with each breath.

"Mmmm," something says, although no mouth can be seen. "It has been so long since I have been sent tribute. And two fine, tasty children! It will be a good day!" A gurgling laugh.

Poor Enzo, he will probably be terrified of squishy, slippery flesh tunnels for years after this. Totally traumatized.

Anne's screaming as she goes down the tunnel. Anne's continuing to scream as Enzo falls out onto the floor and Anne's dangling by her arm. The screams pitch louder as the tongues appear and a voice starts laughing at them. "I WANT TO WAKE UP NOW!!" she shouts at nothing, pushing herself off so that she can fall onto the ground beside Enzo. "PLEASE LET US WAKE UP! I DO NOT VOLUNTEER AS A TRIBUTE!!" It's years before Hunger Games becomes a thing. The author clearly stole from Anne.

But in her panic, she's going to scramble around looking for some kind of weapon. There's gotta be SOMETHING she can beat the tongues off with.

"Ohgodohgod we're in a stomach, we're inside- oh god. We're going to die." The tongues start trying to touch Enzo and he starts furiously slapping at them. "Stop trying to touch me! I'm not food, you huge creep!" he screams and starts trying to stumble across the moving floor, looking green around the gills. "Anne, I'm coming! I'm going to get you down, I'm sorry I threw the book! My cousin didn't really drown! Don't die! DO NOT EAT US!"

Well, Anne is dangling from one arm in the air, which makes looking for weapons a bit hard. All she really has is what she brought with her. Which, suddenly, she remembers includes a book mark she was given on the last day of school by one of her favorite teachers. It's a fancy bookmark, made of thin metal, and topped with an embossed picture of City Hall. It's not a great weapon, undermost circumstances, but it does come to a surprisingly sharp point, and it's not like tongues aren't pretty sensitive...

Meanwhile, Enzo is proving that by slapping at the tongues. Each slap makes a tongue recoil, although it gets slime on his hands, and there are ALWAYS MORE. Above them, that voice sounds a little disgruntled. "It is an honor to be tribute, little morsel. Loud little morsels. I was going to linger, but you're giving me a headache." With that, Anne is being swung towards that dark cloud, and those four eyes glow with greater anticipation.

Anne doesn't want to use her bookmark. It is fancy and it was a gift by her FAVORITE TEACHER and there's got to be SOMETHING! She uses her other hand to smack at whatever is holding onto her arm, she kicks her feet frantically, and she shouts down at Enzo: "WE CAN'T DIE UNLESS WE WANT TO DIE! YOU CAN'T DIE IN YOUR DREAMS UNLESS YOU WANT TO DIE!" Because dreams used to have logic. But then she's swinging towards the dark cloud and the four glowing eyes and she's wailing again, grabbing the bookmark out of her pocket and brandishing it like a sword. "EAT METAL, BITCH!" it's not the best line, but she doesn't have a lot to work with. She thrusts upward with every intention of burrowing the point into the squishy part of the tongue.

"No! NO!" Look, Enzo doesn't know what to do here. Slapping the little tongues isn't going to work forever. He throws himself onto the weird rubbery creepy floor and starts whacking at the floor repeatedly with his ten year old fists. And then he just starts spouting total lies to the entity, "DON'T EAT HER! SHE'S POISON! SHE DRINKS POISON ALL THE TIME! YOU'LL DIE OKAY! AND SHE GAVE ME SOME TOO! YOU'LL DIE IF YOU EAT US!"

"That's not true, you know," the Thing in the Cloud tells Anne, conversationally. "You can die anywhere. At any time. Like...right now." There's the suggestion of a toothy grin in the voice, and she swings closer and closer to that darkness. Anne thrusts the bookmark upwards, and the sharp metal catches on the squishy tongue, sliding through the slime to pink the meat. The tongue twitches! It doesn't let her go, sadly, and without more time to saw at the the tongue, it probably wouldn't be enough...except that Enzo has a fine career as a bullshitter ahead of him. Something in his voice rings sincere to the Thing. At least sincere enough for it to pause, with Anne so close to the cloud that she can feel the cold, damp tendrils of it touching her skin. The eyes seem to look down and past her. "Poison. What sort of poison?"

"What do you know?! You don't know anything, you're just a thing in a CLOUD!" Anne shouts stubbornly up to said Thing in the Cloud, only to start screaming again when she swings towards the darkness. She stab-stab-stabs frantically with the bookmark but it doesn't let her go, but she's not going to give up hope just yet. She's panting from the effort, but Enzo's bullshittery is working - she just has to help weave the story. "Uh.. Deadly poison!" Wide eyes dart down to the surface to where Enzo is, searching for him. "His grandmother makes it! Margaret, Margaret ADDINGTON!" Like somehow throwing out names will make her seem more important. "She mixes it in our lemonade so that when THINGS IN CLOUDS try to EAT US, they'll DIE first!"

Um. Enzo stops punching this thing in the diaphragm long enough to glance up at Anne when there's the faintest glimmer of a chance they might be able to talk their way out of this. If ever there was a time to a pair of reasonably smart children, this was it! Yeah, that's it. It's is grandma's poison. "Yes! My grandma mixes poison into our drinks so that nasty things won't eat us! It's true! We just drank some before we left! You should DEFINITELY not test this! When in doubt, THROW IT OUT! THROW US OUT BACK INTO THE LIBRARY!"

"Margaret Addington?" The Thing in the Cloud sounds out the name, sounding hushed and intimidated. Then it laughs. "Never heard of it." And yet. AND YET. The children sound convinced, and that small loud one on the ground seems particularly well-informed. Have humans started offering poison tribute? It drops Anne onto the 'floor' of the chamber. Its great legs start rearranging itself, and the children spot a small, dark hole that's revealed when one of the legs shifts. "I suppose I should just...kill you, then. Can't have poison wandering about. I just won't eat you."

All of the legs raise, and their ends are awfully sharp, pointed straight at the kids.

"Never heard of her?! But she's the meanest, nastiest thing in the UNIVERSE!" Anne was really trying here, especially since she's kinda sorta telling the truth. She keeps flailing about, which makes getting suddenly dropped to the floor a lot harder than it should be considering the squish, limbs all askew as she struggles to right herself. She spies the hole, and then the sharp legs, her eyes bulging out of her head. "SHE ALSO FEEDS US BOMBS!" she smacks Enzo in the arm and cocks her head to the hole, already starting to scoot that away. "IF YOU EAT US, WE'LL EXPLODE!"

"THAT'S MY GRANDMA!!!" Enzo screams at Anne. This is really not the time, but damnit, you don't go in on a boy's grandma like that. "If you stab us to death, we're just going to leak poison ALL of your... insides! Is it really worth the trouble???" he asks the monster, scotting along to the hole so that he can dive down another dark horrible place with Anne.

The children run, and scamper away towards that little hole, that faint hope of escape. Their banter goes unanswered - as of now, the Thing has made its decision, and there is only the need to finish it.

To finish THEM.

The spider legs come down with swiftness. And the kids? The kids almost make it. Anne makes it all the way to the hole, and she's about to dive in, when a leg pierces her through the leg, all the way through the meat, grazing the bone, and pinning her to the ground. Blood flows, the pain shoots up her spine like lightning. And Enzo? Two legs take him, one glancing off his ribs, tearing through flesh and exposing bone, and the other? The other stabs him through the shoulder, keeping him from wriggling away.

And now the Thing speaks again, as the cold, black mist flows over them. "I think I'll tear you apart, and wait to see if you poison my insides. Or explode. If you don't, then I'll eat you piece...by piece...by piece..." Another leg comes down on Anne's foot, and it begins to saw, almost delicately, through her ankle. Piece by piece, indeed.

The black mist covers them both, and after a terrible pain, there comes a terrible darkness.

And then there's screaming. Not from the kids, who are slow to regain consciousness, but from the poor little high school library intern who's been doing her summer job (badly) shelving books and comes around the corner to see two children who look like they've been in a knife fight, covered with blood on the floor of the Library.

The book, of course, is nowhere around. Because SOMEONE threw it in an ocean.

"Come on Enzo, come on!" Anne reaches for Enzo's hand, pulling him by the fingers as they make a run for it. "We just gotta get in the hole, we just gott--- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Something stabs her right through the leg and she falls hard on the ground, blood spraying everywhere. Then another to her foot, and she's crying and sobbing as the darkness closes in. "HELP! SOMEBODY HELP US! SOMEBODY HEEEEEEEEEEELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!" And then it's nothing. She's passed out. But damn if there isn't gossip for the next several weeks about how Enzo and Anne were playing occult games and HOLDING HANDS IN THE LIBRARY.

"YOU ARE NOT EATING ME YOU ARE STOP EATING STOP EATING ME STOOOOOP!" Enzo screams and then squeals as he's pinned to the floor and the unthinkable starts to happen. He's going to die. He's really going to die and he should have just run out of the cave but noooo he had to dive after Anne. And what's more, he'll learn absolutely nothing from this very valuable lesson. He wakes up in a bloody puddle in the library and promptly faints. Done.