1 The Bank of the River Read Free Page B

there, moving, but at first he couldn’t make it out. Nothing was distinct.
It was as though it was forming, coming together. After a few seconds it had
enough shape that Steven could see it was the head of an old man with his eyes
closed. There were deep wrinkles in the face, and wisps of the man’s hair drifted
above his head. It floated slowly, moving back and forth in a gentle way.
Steven was stunned at the image, almost mesmerized by it. He felt like an
animal being hypnotized before a kill.  
    It began to
move towards him. He noticed the man’s neck – it was roughly severed, ragged,
dripping blood, which fell onto Steven.  Trying to keep some distance from it, Steven
lowered his body back towards the water in the tub as the head approached him.
The image of the man kept shifting, like it was behind panes of old glass. When
it was about a foot away from his face, the eyes opened, revealing sockets
filled with blood that began to run down the man’s cheeks.
    Reflexes
caused Steven to throw his head backwards and he hit the back of his head
against the bottom of the tub. Water rushed in over his face and for a moment
he felt he was drowning. He could feel his heart beating out of his chest. He
reached out again to the sides of the tub, trying to grab hold, but his hands
were wet and slippery with the combination of water and blood. The image was
right above him now, just above the surface of the water. If he raised up, he’d
hit it with his head. He felt trapped. He hadn’t managed to suck in much air
before he went under, and he was feeling the need to breathe. He flailed his
arms against the side of the tub, reaching for the upper edge on the left side
to pull himself up. He flung his right arm over his torso to reach for the left
edge, and grabbing it, pulled with all of his might. He felt himself roll out
and slip onto the cold tile of the bathroom floor. There was a sharp pain in
his right knee when his leg crashed from the edge of the tub onto the floor. He
turned his body to look at the head, to see if it was still coming at him.
    It was gone.
    He quickly
inspected his body, looking for a cut or a gash. He felt the back of his head. There
was no blood, not coming from him, or in the water. The water in the tub was
crystal clear, just as it looked when he entered the room.
    Lying on the
floor, he grabbed a towel and wiped it over his face. He was breathing hard and
his body was shaking from the cold water. He closed his eyes, rolled onto his
back, and tried to take several deep breaths. He could hear the water draining
from the tub, as though he had just finished a bath. He felt his heartbeat slowly
return to a normal rhythm, and he felt the need to get up and dry off. But he
was terrified to open his eyes while looking up. He rolled onto his side,
knelt, and stood up, then opened them. The room looked normal, no water in the
tub, and everything in its place, except his ability to make sense of what had
just happened.

Chapter Four
     
     
     
    Steven
waited in the small office for the doctor to come back.  Thank god for
COBRA, he thought. After the event last night, Steven had stayed up trying
to understand it. The only rational explanation was a brain tumor or some
disorder that was causing him to hallucinate. The knocking, the footsteps, and now
the incident in the bathtub – they all had to be hallucinations. He had just
listened, hours before, to Debra’s story of how Ben had committed suicide. It
wasn’t a big leap to think his brain, if it was sick, had taken that story and
ran with it. And consistent with a brain tumor, the hallucinations were getting
worse. This explanation made sense and it was almost a relief. If having a
brain tumor can be considered a relief , he thought.
    The doctor
came into the room and shut the door behind him. “Listen Steven, the
neurological tests are all negative. I can’t say I see anything that would
indicate a tumor. We could do an MRI but I’m not sure that