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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lamprolign" data-source="post: 970691" data-attributes="member: 7860">021So shut that buckle and turn that key again Take me to a place they say the dreaming never ends Open wide drive that mystery road Walk through Eden's garden and then wander as you go End - your dreamworld is just about to end Fall - your dreamworld is just about to fall Your dreamworld will fall Dreamworld, - Midnight OilSuch a frail little thing, Laura thought, watching the child gulp down a greasy breakfast sandwich.  She guessed the little girl's age at six or seven, based on her stature.  Laura gently wiped a smudge of mayonnaise from a tan cheek.  "I'm full now."  The child pushed herself away from the table, a smile on her face."You certainly have a good appetite, young lady," Laura chuckled.  "You ate more than me!"Sarah graced her with a broader smile.  Laura resisted the urge to lean across the table and hug her like one of her own."Now, we'll have to go to the police station," Laura said.  "They can help us find your mother.""I miss my mommy."  Sarah's face sagged under the weight of a frown."It's all right.  I'm sure the police will be able to help."  Laura tried to convey a certainty she did not feel.  She knew there were all too few happy endings in real life.  Laura stood, offering an outstretched hand to the girl.   They exited the restaurant as if they were mother and daughter.****Slumped against a lamppost, a ragged figure watched the pair walk across the parking lot.  Laura pulled a set of keys out of her purse and pushed a button on the keychain.  The lights of a white Dodge Caravan only a few paces away blinked in response, and the doorlocks popped open obediently.  Low mumbling drifted from beneath the dingy scarf of the sinister figure watching the pair.****As Laura grasped the passenger door handle, a wave of vertigo swept over her.  The ground heaved beneath her feet.  She fell backwards, pulling the door open.  A burgundy sedan in the adjacent parking spot checked her fall.  She leaned heavily against it.  Panic rose in her throat.  Her stomach felt as if it were crowding out her heart and lungs.  Her breath came in ragged gasps.  ****Sarah froze as her new-found friend collapsed to the pavement.  A prickly chill snaked down her spine.   She turned to find malevolent green eyes staring at her from beneath a broad-brimmed hat.  The scarf beneath the eyes twitched as she stared at it, discordant mumbling escaped its concealing weave.****"I wish these visions were a little more useful!"  Hours of futile searching had left Gabe tired and frustrated. "Do you remember the traffic noise?  It seemed to be distant.""Yeah, but it also seemed to be late at night," Gabe replied.  "Rosemont gets pretty quiet after midnight, it's not like downtown."Gabe stood on the sidewalk alongside Balmoral Avenue looking at a cluster of self-storage facilities.   A likely spot.  Primarily a suburban community, Rosemont had very few industrial buildings.  Gabe shrugged his shoulders and walked toward the mini-warehouses.  Noise from passing traffic ebbed and flowed like the sound of crashing surf.  It receded from Gabe's awareness, subtly changing, becoming muffled and distorted.Gabe noted that his shadow had disappeared.  He twisted to look behind and saw the sun once more low on the eastern horizon.   As he turned back, he caught a glimpse of a child walking toward him... the child from the vision.  Then he saw something else.  A stooped, disheveled figure watched the child pass."That's her!"  Mary grabbed Gabe's arm. "Yeah."  Gabe's stomach knotted as the bedraggled figure slipped unobtrusively behind the child, following several yards behind.  "Someone else is after the kid."Gabe and Mary stood silently as the child walked away from them.  The rag-covered figure shuffled closer.  They could clearly see green eyes beneath the broad-brimmed hat.  As it came close it paused, seeming to look right at them.  Chill tendrils shot down Gabe's spine.  The image vanished in a shimmering transition.  The sun once again hung halfway to its apex."That thing!" Mary gasped in his head. "That was a ghoul! "Gabe spun on a heel, bolting in the direction the child had walked.  Cold air burned his throat and chest.  He didn't much care what that thing was.  The aura of malice washing over him in the vision still gripped his viscera in icy fingers.   A sense of urgency that had never come with a vision before propelled him on.  ****Discernable words coalesced from the mumbling.  "Come with me, Sarah.  My Master is waiting for you."Sarah recoiled, tripping over Laura's prostrate form."She cannot help you now, Sarah," the words rasped in a whisper.  "My Master can help you.  Come with me."Sarah sprawled across Laura's body.  She felt her labored breathing, and sensed that each step the hat-man took toward her made Laura's chest struggle harder for air.  The memory of the comforting hug, the feeling of relief that someone would take care of her, washed through Sarah's mind, followed by a torrent of fear, panic...  and anger.  She couldn't let her friend be hurt.  She had to do something.Sarah rolled off Laura and rose to face the hat-man.  Her hair began to coil about as something alive.  The ghoul stopped.  It sensed power far greater than its own flowing around the girl.  It stepped backward cautiously.  Sarah's hands clenched in small fists at her sides.  Her teeth ground in agitation.  She felt something happening, although she couldn't comprehend just what.****Mary gasped.  Gabe jolted to a halt.  It felt as if all the air had been sucked away to somewhere up ahead.  The earth beneath his feet tilted.  He staggered to one knee."It's her, " Mary gasped.  "What is she doing? "****Sarah took a step toward the ghoul, hair like a crackling halo of hundreds of whips.  "Go away!"A small orb of shimmering darkness popped into existence between Sarah and the ghoul.  "Cailech sgiath!"  The ghoul  frantically clapped its hands.  A cloudy disk appeared between it and the darkness.  Sarah wavered, confused by all this.  Fear crept through her.  She retreated a step, then heard Laura's wheezing breath.  Sarah stopped.  She still knew fear, but she was no longer afraid for herself.  The fear changed, no longer was it for herself, but for another."GO AWAY!"  Sarah screamed.The dark orb collapsed in upon itself.  It exploded in an incandescent wave, expanding in a blinding flash of light.  It tore through the hat-man's cloudy shield and body.  Cars flew into the air, children's toys before the terrible force.  The morning air was shattered by the boom of gasoline explosions and the shrill report of car alarms.****"<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />!"  Gabe wobbled to his feet after the flash of light passed.  He heard explosions and saw several plumes of smoke rising from the shopping center ahead. ****The girl stood rigid, awestruck by the devastation.  She didn't know how, but she knew she was responsible.Laura roused to the smell of burning rubber, then heard the blaring car alarms. Gingerly she pushed herself up and looked around.  The McDonald's parking lot looked like a bomb had detonated.  Her minivan sat a few yards away, upside down and burning. The car she remembered leaning on before passing out lay flipped on its side, flames licking around the fuel tank.  How had she survived that kind of explosion?  She heard a tiny whimper.  Sarah stood next to her, her face tear-streaked."What happened?""I'm sorry," Sarah's voice quavered.  "I didn't mean to...""Didn't mean to... to what?  What?"An inarticulate gasp escaped Sarah as she whirled, running across the parking lot, away from the smoldering wreckage."Wait!"  Laura cried out. "Don't run away!"The world whizzed about Laura's head when she tried to stand.   She gained her feet and staggered a few steps after the child before she tripped, skinning her hands and knees.  Her eyes widened in horror and her mouth opened in a silent scream when she caught sight of what had tripped her.  A severed leg lay surrounded by torn rags lay on the pavement. ****Gabe stared at the scene before him.  What in the hell are they going to make of this?   He heard sirens approaching from several directions.  Under normal circumstances he would have already started to investigate the scene.  That seemed like another life now.  Gabe saw a dark-haired woman sitting on the scorched pavement, holding her head in both hands.  As he approached he saw the dismembered leg lying beside her.  A few yards away, most of an arm was lodged in the broken grill of a Camry.  Gabe recognized the bits of tattered cloth clinging to the limbs.  "Sarah one, ghoul nothing. ""We'd better find her soon," Gabe stammered.  "Before something worse happens."© 2003 Austin Hale</blockquote>

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