Horror Stories from Horrified - Volume One (2)

then, I ask you, do you w ish to be a par t of our exclusive society, w her e the female
is not per mitted acr oss the thr eshold?? A low r ipple of laughter emitted fr om a tr io
to my left, w ho w er e clear ly eavesdr opping.
Whitlock smir ked, ?Would your good lady have appr oved??
Fr om his ver y tone, I could elicit that his view of w omen was, at best, scor nful.
?I have been the victim of a ter r ible tr agedy, sir. My w ife was taken fr om me by
the hand of a killer. Ther e can be no other w oman for me. I am a single man,
unattached until the day my time comes to join dear Emily again.?
My r evelation achieved pr ecisely the r esponse I had anticipated: not sympathetic,
but bland. The man didn?t car e at all about my loss.
His next w or ds, how ever , contr adicted his facial expr ession: ?I am impr essed by
your fr ankness, and mor e than a little intr igued by your sad tale.? He gestur ed to a
passing waiter , indicating for him to br ing tw o mor e dr inks. ?Come, Bainbr idge.
Our glasses ar e to be r echar ged - tell me the backgr ound to your ter r ible loss. How
did the death occur ??
Dr aw ing on the cigar again, his face became fleetingly masked in smoke, save for
the beady eyes. Time elapsed, as I ponder ed how to begin.
?Sir ?? The waiter placed another br andy beside Whitlock, then lifted my scotch
and water fr om his silver tr ay and set it on my ow n side table. The waiter depar ted,
and I sipped my dr ink, closing my eyes as it war med my gullet.
?Bainbr idge?? Whitlock ur ged me on, a hint of impatience in his voice.
?Ver y w ell, sir ,? I r esponded, star ing into the or nately-bor der ed fir eplace.
Tw isting, cr ackling flames, w elcome in the cold of this December night, dr ew me
back in time to the war mth of the mid-August evening that had become the w or st of
my life. The images began to for m in my mind?s-eye, and I commenced to r elate my
stor y to the hungr y ear s of Whitlock.
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