[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.In a minute Curt would be back, would see what had happened, and would come on stage with a flashlight.Everything would be fine.Still, Evan was uncomfortable enough to pull his feet back from over the edge of the pit.He didn't like the idea of them dangling into darkness.But was it completely dark? Usually a theatre's darkness was like that of caves — total and unrelenting.You could not even see the deeper darkness of your hand in front of your face.But Evan thought that there was light coming from somewhere, and he called out."Hello?.Hello, is anyone there?"There was just enough light now to make out the great curves of the loge and balconies above.But where was it coming from?Then he became aware of a sound he had not heard in years, a dull drone, as of some giant hive filled with huge bees, punctuated by an occasional higher-pitched tone.When he realized what it was, his bowels turned to water.An audience.The murmur went on and on, its sound terrifying him with the knowledge that out there in the dark were people, people sitting and facing him, and only that blackness, once feared, was what kept their eyes from him.He wanted to get up, to run off the stage, but his legs refused to move, his arms would not push him erect.And then, from high up in the booth, the light started to grow, one light, bright as flame, blinding him as it must have blinded Tommy Werton before the curtain fell on him, but Evan would not step back, even if he had wanted to.He was incapable of motion.And now the sound, that doleful buzzing of the hive, diminished slowly into aflat silence, and he knew they were looking at him, at him alone, staring with theirthousand eyes, listening with their thousand ears, waiting for him to speak or scream.But he could not scream.Only a thin whistling sound escaped from his throat ashe struggled to take in the air that refused to enter his terror-filled lungs, the air thatwould not go to his screaming brain, the air whose absence brought a dark and blessed curtain down over Evan's consciousness, but not before the light began to grow on the audience as well, and he could see them, thousands of them, filling every seat in the vast theatre, from the first row not ten feet away up, up to the soaring reaches of the balcony where they became lost, coalesced into a single distant mass of flesh and clothes and eyes, for that was all there was to their faces — no mouths, noses, cheeks — only eyes, staring, waiting.And the horrible buzzing began again, and he wondered, just before he fell into the pit of their need, how can they speak without mouths?Scene 3Dan Munro, with three of his officers, had come to the Venetian Theatre to perform their search of the premises.When they entered the auditorium, they found the work lights on and Evan Hamilton lying unconscious on the floor of the stage.The officers, all of whom were trained in CPR, immediately went to work on the boy, while Munro ran to the backstage phone and called 911 for an ambulance, which arrived only five minutes later.The medics found Evan breathing, and correctly diagnosed his condition as a severe asthmatic attack accompanied by a state of shock.They lost no time in bundling him into the ambulance and transporting him to the Kirkland Medical Center.While the ambulance pulled away from the theatre, sirens screaming and lights ablaze, Dan Munro talked to Curt, who had returned with his lunch as the officers were laboring to keep Evan's breath flowing."I couldn't have been away for three minutes," he said."I don't know what the hell happened.He was fine when I left.And now.oh Christ.is he going to be okay?""I think so.Unless there's something else wrong they didn't spot," said Munro."You didn't see anybody in here?""No, no one." Curt gave a bitter laugh."There aren't that many of us left."~ * ~John Steinberg called the prison before Dennis's visit with Sid was over, and informed Ann about Evan's attack.When Dennis came out of the visiting area, she took his hand and told him that Evan had been taken to the medical center."John said not to worry.They think he'll be fine.""What was it?" Dennis asked, his face drawn."An asthma attack.Pretty bad.He said he was in shock too." They drove, neither one of them speaking, to the hospital.Dennis pulled the car up to the front entrance, and ran into the waiting area, where Curt and John were sitting."I want to see him.Now," Dennis said.Steinberg collared a nurse, and in another ten minutes Dennis was in Evan's room.The boy was breathing quickly and shallowly, his eyes closed, but his brows were pressing down in an uneven tempo, as though he was trying to block something from his mind's eye.Dennis pulled up a black plastic and metal chair and sat next to him, taking his moist and clammy hand in his own."Evan," he said softly."Evan."But the boy neither opened his eyes nor spoke.He only panted like a dog on a hot day, his eyes jerking convulsively behind their lids."Evan," Dennis said again, and continued to say the name, a litany, a prayer to bring his son back to him."Evan [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]