The Library of Dead Souls

Chapter Two

Mark Bromstein was shuddering with terror.

He saw the group of hooded men holding machetes in their hands.

"Get away from me".

"We want the book".

"I don't have it", he lied.

"Give it to the girl in the library".

"What girl".

"Candace Mills".

"What's the title?", he asked.

"The Library of Dead Souls-The Limited Edition".

"My father will kill me if I was caught with that book".

"Edward L. Myles has it".

"He's the owner".

"We know who he is. Now, get it for us".

"I don't think that the library is open".

"Tomorrow. Do what we ask, or else you'll suffer".

"I'll get it".

"Good, see that it's done. Good night!".

***

Mark gripped his blue sweater.

He shivered.

It's not fair, he thought.

He walked down the road.

The bright lamp lights glowed in the early darkness of the evening.

He saw a homeless man smoking a cigarette.

He grabbed a tattered hamburger out of the trash can.

And he ate it.

"Jesus!", Mark was about to vomit when he saw a girl reading 'Funland' by Richard Laymon.  When she saw how pale he was, she had a look of concern her face.

"Are you alright, Mark?", Bridget Connally asked.

"Yeah, society is going down hill, you know", she answered.

"Good book", he said.

"Yeah, it's about an amusement park, and horrible things happen. A horror classic by the master". She smiled at him.

"I haven't read it. I read 'The Funhouse' by Owen West".

"Dean Koontz".

"Oh, yeah. They put his name on the book cover and it sold a lot of copies. I saw the movie". He noticed that the rain was beginning to come down harder.

"So, where's your Mom?".

"She's working as a nurse at Lawrence Hospital. I was accosted by some hooded freaks who wanted me to have a book in the library".

"Hooded freaks. There's a lot of them in Lawrence since everyone was blaming the nuclear power plant because of the radiation leaks".

"That's crazy".

"Yeah, well, everything is crazy these days. Dad was in Abrohet Lake dealing with a mutant iguana issue".

"Mutant iguana. I bet the environmentalists are scared shit less".

"Yeah, well, now there's a book shop that is dangerous".

"Have you heard of Candace Mills?", Mark asked.