Horror Stories from Horrified - Volume One (2)

For give me. Yet you defy them too. In Japan, they talk of ?the hungr y ghosts?, in
this land they speak of the ?Pr eta Chum Ben?, spir its w ho always hunger , w ho have
an insatiability for something. It is har d not to see it in your eyes. How ever dead
they may be, Cyanquille, they ar e still full of year ning. So, despite my inadequate
w or ds, despite the labels, despite the unusual natur e of our business together...I ask
again, w ith r espect of our differ ing per spectives? What do you r eally want??
The dead moved r estlessly as Denholm pr obed Cyanquille?s motives. The elegant
Fr ench figur e str aightened the br ocade at the immaculate seams of his cuff and
flour ished a fine linen ker chief to affectedly daub his dr y lips. He moved close to
Denholm, his lifeless eyes for ming por tals to the dead, connecting dir ectly to the
hotelier.
?Look at us mor e closely, Denholm. We too have pr ide. For many of us, it was
this pr ide that w ent befor e a r ather ? might w e say, undignified fall.? He glanced
upwar d towar d the balcony to the r ight, in a small gestur e to emphasise his point.
?Per haps pr ide continues to be a w eakness. Yes, Mr Denholm, w e ar e hungr y
ghosts, not unlike the Pr eta Chum Ben. But w e have pr ide. Wor ds seem so
inadequate in descr ibing any of us. We ar e not, as w hat you w ould call ?the Junkilil?
ar e, for ever r avaging the foulest of things to satisfy a physical hunger. No, our
shameful cr aving is her e. We each of us gambled Denholm. Each of us her e. Not the
other s still below , w ho jumped for love or despair , or for those other dead all
ar ound us, unseen by you. We came back because that hunger to gamble was so
str ong. Now that your w or kfor ce has scar ed itself away, the opening of the casino is
thr eatened. We w ould so ver y much like mer ely to be ar ound gambling and the
cur ious taste of it, a taste w hich uniquely nour ishes each of us, r etur ned to you as
w e ar e her e.?
Denholm was finally convinced and came to an under standing w ith the dead.
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