Horror Stories from Horrified - Volume One (2)

ver y keen to do so.? The ghost looked pained for a moment.
?You ar e the victim, (so many people ar e), of your ow n pr ejudice. Why should
the dead be as the living conceives us to be? We ar e as w e ar e, Denholm. In fact, w e
ar e as you w ill be. And as you ar e now , is not so ver y differ ent to how once w er e
w e. It takes effor t for us to be her e. In time you w ill r ealise the effor t it takes for
you to r emain in this w or ld of your s. For us, it takes effor t mer ely to be. Motivation
and effor t Denholm; good qualities in a w or kfor ce keen to be behind you.?
?But w hat do you want, Cyanquille? What can you want fr om me? Fr om this??
Denholm gestur ed ar ound him at the walls and the unfinished, unfur nished
building ar ound them.
He had not been thr eatened, he felt no fear. His dr eam now dr ove him on, eager
that per haps these most str ange appar itions may yet be allied to his cause.
The meeting that follow ed was not br ief. It was, how ever , ver y clear ly and
familiar ly a business meeting. Almost fr om the outset, Denholm gr asped the
oppor tunity offer ed and under stood the deal that was to be dr iven. A deal that ver y
clear ly might happily ser ve the ambitions of both himself the living, and those of
the dead.
Cyanquille invited sever al other s of his gr oup to join them. Intr oductions w er e
made w hich included the old manager of the casino, w ho had stayed to guar d the
mar ble and had been put to w hat had passed for a sw or d w hen the bandits came.
Ther e w er e bandits too in the gr oup and another w ho claimed to be a doctor.
The medic was full of shame, r egr et and diseases too easily tr ansfer able. He had
slipped away on the suicide balcony w hen money and self-r espect had been
fr itter ed too casually away. Each of them had a stor y, a passion, a r eason to want to
r emain at the casino. To find w hat for many might pass as a good life.
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