The Pale King - Epilogue

Part 1

Thomas couldn’t move, his arms and legs were frozen by the fear that echoed and cascaded down his form. The whirlwind of darkness that erupted in the mausoleum stabbed cold tendrils into his heart causing his blood to freeze in terror. He saw the shimmering shadow in the corner, he saw the silent man, the Pale King, move from his chair in a twisted fashion. He saw them both attack James and he saw Reginald take and move the frail man’s body to the chair. Thomas slid forward into the room when all was quiet and heard Reginald say one more thing before the door to the mausoleum was closed.

                “I have found you and returned you to a new vessel, my second trial is completed. I will serve you, my Pale King.”

                Thomas waited for the two men to leave before emerging from the mausoleum himself. The light of day was oppressive to his eyes. They hadn’t adjusted from being in the dark for so long. The siren was still ringing inside the sanitarium the doors were still locked tight. By his estimate it was eight in the morning, the lockdown had been one for sixteen hours. They had broken two records that night. The longest lockdown, and he was sure it would be even longer until someone arrived to end it, and the bloodiest.

                He had to flee. There was nothing left for him in the sanitarium, yet he had nowhere to return to in the outside world. Fumbling through the long grass he found his way to the grave tenders shack and fell in. Before he decided to do anything, he needed to sleep. No decisions could be made without that. In the low light he found his way to the back room. In it sat an old writing desk and a small one man bed pushed against the wall. Thomas sat down hard on the feather mattress and felt as his weight shifted the innards. He felt in his pockets and retrieved his copy of Crime and Punishment and placed it on the desk. He noticed an open journal and shifted to read it. On it was hastily scribbled words.

                “I have found what I must do. I will lead it out of the graveyard to an abandoned house on the east side. It seems to be clung to me like a line to a ship. Where I go it follows though I can tell it does not like to leave the graves. There I will contain it and no more suffering will come by its hands. I must do this. It will not break me.”

“The east side? Where the silent man had been found? Oh my god.” Thomas sat and flipped to the beginning of the notebook and began to read.

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