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“The two of them were drivin’ through the city on their
way to somewhere or other. I guess Jackie’s younger brother
had been asleep awhile, and didn’t even know they was goin’
through the place. But just when the car left the city, the
sleeping brother starts screamin’ like some kinda maniac. I
still remember exactly how Jackie described it. Said it was
like the screams was gettin’ further and further away, like
they was fallin’ way down into some big bottomless hole—
but the whole time, his brother hadn’t moved an inch from
where he was sleepin’ in the passenger’s seat. But that ain’t
even the scariest bit. Ya see, when the screamin’ disappeared,
like it finally fell too far away ta be heard anymore, Jackie’s
brother sits up, smiles, opens the door and jumps out into the
street.
“‘Course, Jackie slams the brakes and gets out to look for
his brother. At first, he doesn’t notice anything, just some
noise in the tree branches over his head, like somethin’
was moving higher into the tree. So then Jackie walks a bit
further down the road, lookin’ high and low for any sign
of his brother, when he sees what looks like a floatin’ man
breakin’ through the top of the woods, bobbing along in the
air, sound asleep. Well, Jackie realizes it’s his brother and
starts yellin’ at him to come back. Don’t ya know, his floatin’
brother just smiles and gives a little wave goodbye, and then
off he goes, up into the clouds over New Vic.”
It was stories like that one that had sent me to New
Victoria the first time. However, I’m one of the few men to
have slept in that dreadful city and awakened in the comfort
of their own body. Despite it all, I could not repress a
growing desire to revisit the place, and the living nightmares
that stood under the deathly light of darkest sleep, casting
their molten shadows.
The din of the storm had only grown since Mr. Grimes
and I had begun to speak, so I had almost failed to notice the
mechanical rumbling that was slowly growing beneath the
thunder, drawing closer. When the noise finally dawned on
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