The Pale Man Rises

CHAPTER SEVENTY SIX

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She looked at the Sheriff angrily. "What do you want Sheriff, and why did you think it necessary to break in and frighten these dear elderly folks?" the woman asked. She knew there was something terribly wrong and she could see that those with the lawman were there for varying reasons. She recognized Jack Rankin from her experiences with his mean ornery father Norman and she wondered why the old man was not with these intruders for certainly he had something to do with this.

She had never seen this poor child who now clung to Jack as if he was her deliverance. Hildy had despised Jack from the moment her mother had introduced her to him, even more so after their marriage, but now she was glad that he was with her. Not that she expected any great heroic deeds from him, but more so because, if she could articulate it, like she, he too was a victim, sort of a perverse twist on the "Stockholm Syndrome". She was glad too that he was not like the Sheriff or how her mother had been, under the spell of the evil, awesome pale man who had brought them under his control. It was hard to believe. When he did that to Jack she didn't know what she would do.

The strange white man with streaming hair similar to her own filled the nurse with nauseating foreboding. His eyes were gone and it seemed that enormous yellow cataracts covered both of them giving the false impression that he had no eyes. They reminded her of someone who had died and their eyes had retracted at the moment of the cessation of life.

"Silence bitch!" The pale man cursed at her as he moved in front of those with him. He closed his eyes for only a moment and when he opened, them again, there was no more blank yellow in them. They were still amber, but with animal-like pupils, they were horrifying and yet beautiful beyond description.

He stared deeply at the woman whose name tag declared her to be Nurse Mary Latch. She was frozen there peering into those debilitating eyes. She could not break free of them as they came upon her.

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The old people were scared and shocked beyond belief. They made way for the pale monster as he came upon the nurse. They parted their ranks and moved up against the walls and stood stiffly watching with total astonishment the being's every move. And they were so afraid that some of them felt they would drop dead at any moment from the fear or that they would have a heart attack. Several of them gripped their chests as angina riveted their torsos.

The pale man had hypnotized Mary Latch they were sure. And soon he was just inches from her now blank face. And then he grasped the sides of her head and began to kiss her. But it was not a kiss of joy or love or even lust, it was a kiss of malice and destruction. The woman protested briefly bringing up her hands to try and fend it off, but it was useless and soon she dropped them to her side and succumbed to the deep kiss.

At last he released her and she almost fell backwards through the crowd of elders who had moved off of the walls to help her if they could. Her head was down and her hair was in disarray. Momentarily her face came up and the expression there startled the old people. "Mrs. Latch, Mrs. Latch are you alright?" A chorus of the elders asked her.

She peered about at the residents as if now they were all strangers to her. "Yes, yes my friends I am fine." She said and then she looked at the pale man who stood silent observing her. "Master what may we do to assist you?" she asked him. The old people could see signs of blood spill from her lips no doubt the result of the foul kiss the white beast had given her.

They were shivering now from the cold air that was flooding through the door the pale man had torn open. One of them dared mention this. The gray-haired Mrs. Latch turned to the old man with a look of absolute fury on her uncharacteristically unkind face. "Mr. Cooley please don't interrupt me!" she said gritting her teeth in an obviously threatening manner. Now she turned back to face the pale man and with a look of total submission she said. "Master please, please tell me what I can do for you?"