Read Online Dark Mountain by Richard Laymon - Free Book Online Page A

finished, there was silence. Everyone looked a bit stunned. Until he stood up, grinning, and bowed. Everyone clapped. Even Rose. Even Julie.
    “Terrific,” Karen told him. “That was great!”
    “Do you know some others?” Rose asked.
    “Maybe,” he said. “Maybe tomorrow night.”
    “Let’s tell stories,” Julie suggested. “Anybody know a really scary one?”
    “How about ‘The Hook’?” Nick asked.
    Rose wrinkled her nose. “That’s an old one.”
    “I could tell you something,” Karen said, “that happened to a friend of mine. It happened just a few years ago when she was camping with some friends—not very far from here.”
    Heather’s eyes widened. She looked frightened already. Flash leaned forward, took a burning stick from the fire, and lit a cigar. Benny turned to face Karen.
    “We don’t want to give the kids nightmares,” Scott told her, smiling.
    “I’d better not tell it.”
    “Come on,” Nick said.
    “Yeah,” Julie said. “You can’t quit now.”
    “Well…they were camping in the mountains not far from here. It was a cold night, with the wind howling and moaning through the trees. Sandy—that was her name—sat close to the campfire with her two friends, Audrey and Doreen. I would’ve been along, but I’d sprained my ankle a few days earlier and had to stay home. Lucky for me, as it turned out.”
    “Is this really a true story?” Benny asked.
    “Let her talk,” Julie said.
    Karen leaned closer to the fire. She felt its heat on her face, the cold on her back. “The three of them huddled close around the fire to keep the cold away. They sang and told ghost stories, none of them wanting to leave the fire’s cheery warmth. Slowly the flames dwindled. Sandy put on the last piece of firewood. Soon, that, too, was nearly gone. ‘Well,’ Sandy said, ‘why don’t we hit the sack?’ The others were against it, though. They’d frightened themselves so much with the ghost stories that the tent, off in the darkness, looked like a creepy shadow.
    “‘What if someone’s hiding inside?’ Doreen asked.
    “‘Oh, that’s ridiculous,’ Sandy said.”
    Karen glanced at Benny. He was staring, wide-eyed, at his tent across the clearing.
    “Well, they decided to stay up for a while longer. But the fire was nearly dead, only a few flickers still lapping around the charred remains of wood. If they were going to stay up till their jitters passed, they would have to replenish the supply of firewood. Since nobody wanted to go alone into the dark woods around the campsite, they decided to all go together.
    “But they had no flashlight. The flashlight was in the tent. ‘I’m not going in there,’ Doreen said.
    “‘Me either,’ Audrey said.
    “Sandy was frightened, too, by this time, but she told herself it was silly. So she volunteered to get the flashlight. She left Audrey and Doreen sitting by the fire, and crossed the dark clearing toward the tent. She crouched in front of it.Her heart was pounding like crazy, but she wasn’t about to let herself be scared off. Then she got an idea that made her grin. She almost laughed, but kept quiet and lifted the tent flap. Inside, it was as black as a cave. She almost lost her nerve, but took a deep breath and crawled in.
    “Suddenly, she screamed. She screamed again, a piercing shriek of terror so loud it made her ears hurt. ‘No!’ she cried out. ‘No! Please!
NO!
’ And then she let out a howl of horror and agony that made her own flesh crawl.”
    “What was it?” Benny whispered. “What got her?”
    “Not a thing,” Karen answered. “This was Sandy’s idea of a practical joke. Like lots of practical jokes, though, this one backfired. Once she was done screaming, she found the flashlight. She crawled out of the tent, all set to yuck it up about the great gag she’d pulled on her friends. But they were gone.”
    “She scared ’em off,” Nick said.
    “That’s what Sandy thought. She walked around the clearing,