but he did not try to kick out at Elizabeth. He fought silently, against a force that no longer made any sense to him. The cat slipped loose from his grip, and his arms closed on the empty space.
She propped the cat up once more, but was not able to make the head balance on the rotting shoulders. She watched it roll off, and let it lie where it came to rest, a no-longer-recognizable object in a soiled blue bonnet.
Then she began moving Jimmy Tyler. He didn’t resist; he didn’t realize that anything was happening to him. With nothing left to hold on to, he seemed to give up, and Elizabeth was able to prop him up, his vacant eyes staring blankly off through the flickering candlelight.
Elizabeth began talking, but her speech was incoherent. Her voice kept changing pitch, and it was as if she were two people, first one and then the other.
As she talked she began to grow angry. She demanded that the objects of her anger respond to her, and when they didn’t her rage only increased.
“Answer me,” she cried, and the voice was not her own. “I want to know why you did it! Why did you leave me here? It’s dark here, and it’s cold. It frightens me. Why do you want to frighten me? Why can’t I come out of here and be with everyone else?”
There was a silence, as she waited for an answer. But there was no answer.
“You’re all alike,” she hissed. “All of you. None of you have ever changed. You love her.” She kicked at the body of the cat, and it fell at the base of the cavern wall. “You always pay more attention to her. Why can’t you pay attention to me, too?”
And then she seemed to change again, and she stared down at the unconscious Jeff. “You’re where you want to be now, aren’t you? I wouldn’t help you that day, would I? So you put me down here, by myself. But I knew you’d come back. And you’ll stay with me this time. This time you’ll stay. You and all of them.”
Elizabeth snatched the knife from the ledge where it had long lain hidden and whirled to face the children. “You’ll all stay with me now!” she screamed.
She fell upon the body of Kathy Burton, hacking at it with the knife, chopping wildly, tearing at the flesh of the corpse. When it lay dismembered, she turned to Jimmy Tyler.
He screamed as the knife plunged into his stomach, then fell gurgling to the floor of the cavern as she drew it out again and stabbed at his throat. He wriggled beneath her, his body responding reflexively as the knife cut at him. Elizabeth lay on top of him, the knife flashing in the yellow light of the candles as she continued to slash at him. In her fury she did not hear the low moans that came from Jeff Stevens as he slowly regained consciousness.
He was trying to remember what had happened. He’d been in the dark, and somebody had pushed him. He’d been falling. In the cave. He was in the cave. But it wasn’t dark any more. Instead, there was a yellowish glow, as if candles were burning. And sounds. Strange, gurgling noises. He opened his eyes and tried to move his head.
He saw Elizabeth. His stomach heaved as he realized what she was doing. She was stabbing at something, but there was so much blood he couldn’t see what it was. He heaved himself to his hands and knees and looked again. It was a little boy. Elizabeth was stabbing a little boy.
“No!” he cried out. He tried to get to his feet, but he was too dizzy. He saw Elizabeth turn, and heard her speak.
“You!” she cried. “You made me do this, Daddy. You did it to me, and now I’ll do it to you. You’ll stay here with me, Daddy. You won’t leave me alone again.”
He knew then that she was insane, and he tried to protect himself, but there was nothing he could do. His mind, still numb from his fall, seemed incapable of deciding which muscles to move, and his arms and legs wouldn’t respond properly. Through hazy eyes he saw the knife flash out at him, but he felt nothing. He only saw the blood gush from his arm. Again he tried to move away, or raise his arm in defense, but he felt paralyzed. Terror welled up in