| (From
Chapter One)
He felt the ground crumble under his right foot, and before he could pull back he was falling. The fishing pole flew from his hand as he grasped futilely for something to stop his
descent.
It was one of those moments when time just didn't act the way it was supposed to. Thoughts raced with icy clarity through Artie's mind in the brief second it took him to fall. In that strange suspended instant, he knew that he had come to an embankment over the lake and gone too far before he realized it, and now the lake was rushing up to embrace him. He felt a sharp stab of fear as his dreams for the whole summer was replaced by a new, uglier vision. If he was hurt, even slightly, they would not be allowed to come here ever again. Not only him, but every kid in town, and they would all know it was his fault and he would lose all of his friends and never be able to make it up to them. If he was hurt worse, all of that would happen, plus he would have to spend the whole summer in a cast, or even in the hospital. If he drowned they would use his death to justify all of their fears and he would be responsible for all future generations of kids being denied the pleasure of playing in the Woods. His ghost would join Elaine's in town mythology as twin specters of the doom that awaited any child who dared to enjoy the warm bright days of summer.
He slipped into the water almost soundlessly. The sudden cold shocked him into immobility. He lost all sense of direction as he tumbled and churned the once-still liquid. Water flooded his mouth as he expelled the last of his air and began to sink.
Slowly he began to regain control of his body. His arms and legs struck out, striving for purchase against the void. He felt himself moving in the dark, but whether up or down he could not tell.
Though he knew he had not opened his eyes, light suddenly appeared in front of him. Shafts of illumination, like those he had expected to see breaking through the leaves, created shimmering columns around him, casting the illusion of a beautiful underwater cathedral. He felt himself moving through the unnatural hallway between them, being drawn toward something large and
bright...
|
