Horror Stories from Horrified - Volume One (2)

as the coach and four dr ew near er , that it was tr avelling at a r ate far fr om safe.
As w e tur ned to look, I saw that the hor ses foamed at the mouth, maybe due to the
ear ly evening heat and the demands of the dr iver ! The coach thundered on and
bounced madly on the cr acked ear th. Then, to my hor r or , I saw that the left-hand
w heel had become detached!?
There it was! The fear that I had been waiting to see, in his icy eyes!
?You ar e per spir ing, sir. Per haps w e sit too close to the fir e??
The eavesdr opper s mur mur ed to one another uneasily, as Whitlock mopped at his
br ow w ith a pocket-handker chief. I pr essed on, r elentless now that I felt close to the
goal?
?The w heel bow led for war d ? unstoppable, inescapable; such was its velocity.
Tr y as I desper ately did, I was unable to pull dear Emily fr om its path! She was
hopelessly cr ushed, along w ith ever y dr eam I held close to my hear t. The w heel
car eer ed onwar d until its jour ney was finally halted by a huge oak tr ee.?
Whitlock star ed at me now , his face ashen, his w or ds stilled, as sur ely as the
coach w heel on that fateful day.
?You know ,? I half-w hisper ed, ?I could have sw or n that, as the huge w heel hit the
oak, I hear d that tr ee scream!? The volume of my voice had incr eased, and I
became awar e that all other conver sation in the caver nous r oom had halted. The
stor m outside had r eached epic pr opor tions - mighty sw ipes of w ind r attled the
panes and sleet batter ed the glass.
Whitlock?s jaw hung slackly, gr im awar eness beginning to unhinge his mind. But I
hadn?t finished w ith him yet! I had to put the final punctuation mar k - the full STOP
- on his sanity. Befor e?
?I knelt by Emily?s poor br oken body, as the coach cr ashed to a stop. Thr ough
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