Pet Sematary - Stephen King [93]
and change and she too would have to lie in bed, slowly but surely turning into a monster, her hands hooking into claws.
After a while she would begin screaming with the pain, as Zelda had done, and then she would start wetting the bed, and finally she would choke to death on her own tongue. It was Zeldas revenge.
No one could talk Rachel out of this belief-not her mother, her father, or Dr. Murray, who diagnosed a mild backsprain and then told Rachel brusquely (cruelly, some-Louis, for instance-would have said) to stop behaving so badly. She ought to remember that her sister had just died, Dr. Murray told her; her parents were prostrate with grief and this was not the time for Rachel to make a childish play for attention. Only the slowly abating pain had been able to convince her that she was neither the victim of Zeldas supernatural vengeance nor Gods just punishment of the wicked. For months (or so she told Louis; it had actually been years, eight of them) afterward she would awaken from nightmares in which her sister died over and over again, and in the dark Rachels hands would fly to her back to make sure it was all right. In the frightful aftermath of these dreams she often thought that the closet door would bang open and Zelda would lurch out, blue and twisted, her eyes rolled up to shiny whites, her black tongue puffing out through her lips, her hands hooked into claws to murder the murderer cowering in her bed with her hands jammed into the small of her back.
She had not attended Zeldas funeral or any funeral since.
If youd told me this before, Louis said, it would have explained a hell of a lot.
Lou, I couldnt, she said simply. She sounded very sleepy now. Since then Ive been I guess a little phobic on the subject.
Just a little phobic, Louis thought. Yeah, right.
I cant seem to help it. In my mind I know you're right, that death is perfectly natural-good, even-but what my mind knows and what happens inside me..
Yeah, he said.
That day I blew up at you, she said, I knew that Ellie was just crying over the idea a way of getting used to it but I couldnt help it. Im sorry, Louis.
No apology needed, he said, stroking her hair. But what the hell, I accept it anyway, if itll make you feel better.
She smiled. It does, you know. And I feel better. I feel as if I just sicked up something thats poisoned part of me for years.
Maybe you have.
Rachels eyes slipped closed and then opened again.
slowly. And dont blame it all on my father, Louis. Please. That was a terrible time for them. The bills-Zeldas bills-were sky-high. My dad had missed his chance to expand into the suburbs, and the sales in the downtown store were off. On top of that, my mother was half-crazy herself.
Well, it all worked out. It was as if Zeldas death was the signal for good times to come around again. There had been a recession, but then the money loosened up and Daddy got his loan, and since then hes never looked back. But thats why theyve always been possessive of me, I think. Its not just because Im the only one left-
Its guilt, Louis said.
Yes, I suppose. And you wont be mad at me if Im sick when they bury Norma?
No, honey, I wont be mad. He paused and then took her hand. May I take Ellie?
Her hand tightened in his. Oh, Louis, I dont know, she said. Shes so young-
Shes known where babies come from for a year or more, he reminded her again.
She was quiet for a long time, looking up at the ceiling and biting her lips. If you think its best, she said finally. If you think it wont wont hurt her.
Come over here, Rachel, he said, and that night they slept back-to-stomach in Louiss bed, and when she woke up trembling in the middle of the night, the Valium worn off, he soothed her with his hands and whispered in her ear that everything was okay, and she slept again.
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For man-and woman-is