John Saul: Creature

But not yet.

Not until the darkest hour of the night, when the moon was low, and the people of the village were asleep.

Kelly wasn't certain what woke her. One moment she had been sound asleep, and the next wide awake, sitting up in bed, her senses tingling with anticipation.

Mark.

He was here, somewhere very close to her.

She slipped out of bed, crept to the window, and peered out into the blackness beyond.

The moon was low, almost ready to disappear behind the mountain ridges, and deep shadows lay across theHarrises ' backyard. Although she could see nothing, she could still sense that there was something outside in the night.

She backed away from the window, then slipped through the door of her room and let herself into Linda's room next door.

Linda, too, was wide awake.

"He's here," Kelly whispered. She moved across the room to Linda's window and moved the curtain aside. A moment later Linda, pulling a robe around her shoulders, joined her, and together they gazed out into the darkness that shrouded the house. It was as if a shadow had slipped over the fence-a presence so silent, so nearly formless that for a moment neither of them was sure she had seen it at all. And then, very suddenly, a face appeared at the window.

Though it was an ugly face, a twisted, grotesque mask that was barely human anymore, neither Linda nor Kelly flinched or turned away.

For it was Mark's face, and from beneath his lowering brows, it was Mark's own gentle eyes that looked out at them.

His hand came up and gently touched the windowpane, and Linda knew immediately what he wanted.

She unlocked the window and slid it silently upward.

For a long moment nothing happened at all, and then, his gnarled, misshapen fingers trembling, Mark reached out and touched Linda's cheek.

The fingers of his other hand gently brushed a lock of hair away from Kelly's brow.

He leaned forward and slipped his arms around them, pressing the two girls close to his chest.

A slight sound, almost like a sob, rose in his throat.

Then he released them and turned away, disappearing into the night as silently and as swiftly as he'd come.

Kelly and Linda stayed where they were for a long time, neither of them saying a word. Finally, Linda slid the window closed again and gently guided Kelly back to bed.

"Will he come back again?" Kelly asked as Linda tucked her in.

Linda bent down and kissed the little girl on the brow.

"Of course he will," she said. "He'll always come back, because he'll always love us."

Kelly gazed up at her, her brows knit into a worried frown. "But will we always love him?" she asked.

Linda was silent for a moment, then nodded.

"Why would we stop loving him?" she asked. "It doesn't matter what he looks like, or what's happened to him. He's still Mark, and inside he isn't any different than he ever was."

That night, for the first time since the funeral, both Linda Harris and Kelly Tanner slept soundly, undisturbed by dreams.

For on a hillside, far up in the mountains above the town, Mark Tanner sat alone, watching over them.