Two Lives

June 8, 1928

Today's lunch was canned peas and fried steak. Lavinia refused the half Hope offered her, because Wilbur had slaughtered a cow that day and told Lavinia to eat as much as she wanted.

Hope didn't know how he had made it back to this room. He remembered kneeling on the floor, wailing and sobbing. After the Transparent Monster had eaten its fill, it had touched his hands and legs in a placating gesture.

He remembered hearing Wilbur's hoofbeats. After the Transparent Monster stopped, Wilbur seemed less tense, but Hope had left before Wilbur discovered him.

He also remembered washing the tears from his face and putting on an anxious expression when Wilbur returned to the storage room, asking him what had happened.

"I chased that thing back," Wilbur said. "It's back on the second floor now, and it won't go out of control again for a while. I'm getting the tools ready to seal up that hole."

Wilbur pointed to the hammer and ladder in the storage room, then to the boards piled in another corner, indicating that those were what he needed.

He hesitated, a hint of embarrassment appearing on his face. "Also, I'm sorry to say that the Coreys—Paul's parents—are dead. The thing on the second floor ate them."

Hope fell silent for a few seconds. Wilbur thought he needed time to process the news, so he waited patiently.

But Hope was actually trying to hold back his emotions. He took a few deep breaths, stopping himself from dwelling on it again. "But our agreement was..."

"As long as you don't run away, we won't kill anyone from Dunwich. Don't worry, I remember," Wilbur said. "But believe me, this really was an accident. Nobody expected it to happen. It does me no good, either."

"So what now? Can you bring them back to life?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Hope." Wilbur shook his head and sighed. He didn't seem to be pretending. "This was my fault. I'll find some way to make it up to you... Paul may have to come back to arrange his parents' funeral. Do you want to attend?"

Not long after Wilbur left, Hope heard a cow bellow in pain. Wilbur was holding a knife, and a cow lay motionless on the ground.

At noon, Hope had fried steak. He didn't know much about the different cuts of beef, but Lavinia said it was the best meat on the cow. She refused Hope's offer to split his steak with her, saying she was already full.

That afternoon, Wilbur brought Hope his meal himself.

There were no canned peas with dinner this time, just fried beef and bread spread with butter.

Wilbur brought Common Herb Collection and gently set the book on the table in the middle of the room.

"How does the beef taste?" Wilbur asked.

"It's all right. A little too salty."

Wilbur nodded. "The other residents have already noticed that the Coreys are missing. Mr. Sawyer organized a search party. They didn't write to Paul Corey; they called his school directly so he could come back sooner."

"What will they find?"

"Nothing. Before Paul gets back, they'll announce that the Coreys are dead and conclude that they fell from the waterfall on Sentinel Hill and were swept away by the current. When Paul returns, the few relatives and neighbors he has here will help arrange the funeral. You can go see it then."

"Will Paul agree?"

"What difference does it make if he doesn't?"

"Will anyone come here looking for them?"

"Someone will certainly suspect that I or Grandfather did it, but they won't have any evidence," Wilbur said. "The thing upstairs caused a lot of trouble, but it still had some restraint. It only drooled around the Coreys' house and killed a few patches of grass. Nobody can prove anything based on that alone."

Wilbur patted Hope on the shoulder. "Besides, it's only two people. Even the local residents won't care. Their funeral won't be any grander than Old Williams's. Mr. Corey hasn't lived here for twenty years, and some old diehards still don't even consider him a Dunwich resident. Don't take it too hard."

Hope pulled away from Wilbur's hand. The gesture brought a flash of anger to the ugly goat's face. Wilbur stared straight at Hope, and Hope stared right back, refusing to yield.

The anger never flared. It quickly vanished from Wilbur's face, and he left.

Hope had told a little lie. The beef hadn't tasted good at all, and not just because it was too salty.

It was because... Hope felt that the Coreys had paid for this beef with their lives. The guilt made him want to throw up.

A little later, Wilbur and Lavinia carried Hope's bed over together.

Wilbur didn't mention the handcuffs again. He reinforced the storage room window with two boards, but didn't seal it completely. Then he nailed a wire above the inside of the window and hung a piece of cloth from it to serve as a makeshift curtain.

At last, Wilbur said, "From now on, whenever I open the door, I'll knock first, then count to five before coming in."

Hope knew this was the compensation he'd received. After all, it was only two lives.

After Wilbur left, Hope drew the curtain and lay down on the bed, alone in the room.

There was only a bedsheet between him and the bed frame. The hard wooden boards were horribly uncomfortable. They touched his body without the slightest cushioning, pressing through his flesh and making his bones ache.

Neither Wilbur nor Lavinia would disturb him again for now. He had finally gotten a quiet place and some time to himself, a chance to sort through his feelings and let his mind wander.

He realized that he was still a little sad. His tear ducts were itching to produce some fluid, eager to prove their usefulness.

He racked his brain trying to remember what the Coreys looked like, but all he could picture were two indistinct figures, a man and a woman, one tall and one short, with blank faces.

Only then did it occur to him that he'd known the Coreys for just a few minutes. They hadn't even had time to say much to each other.

He couldn't help wondering:

Were those two people really dead?

Had they become part of the Transparent Monster, just like Robert?

That couldn't be right. Mr. Corey had said Jenny was a good horse. She was wonderful. How could such a wonderful horse have stopped all of a sudden, how could she have disobeyed her master?

The Coreys must have already gotten away from here, right? Mr. Corey had survived the monster once. If he'd escaped once, he could escape again.

Jenny would carry them away from here. She'd run like a true champion racehorse, running and running until she reached a city, then out of Bay State and into North Oak State, where the Coreys could reunite with their son.

After all, they were two lives.