The Regulators - Stephen King [135]
'It made me fall downstairs once,' she said. 'It was around Christmas, last year. All I did was tell him to stop shaking the packages under the tree. I thought it was Seth I was talking to, you see, that Tak was gone deep inside. Sleeping. Hibernating. Whatever it does. Then I saw his eyes were too dark, not Seth's eyes at all, but by then it was too late. I got out of my chair and walked up the stairs. I can't tell you what it's like, how horrible it is . . . like being a passenger in a car that's being driven by a maniac. I turned around at the top and then just . . . stepped off the landing. Like stepping off a diving board. I didn't break anything, because it cushioned the fall at the very last second. Or maybe it was Seth who did that. Either way, it was still a miracle I didn't break an arm or leg.'
'Or your neck,' Belinda said.
'Uh-huh, or my neck. All I'm trying to say was that, yes, I loved him — him — but I was terrified of it.'
'Seth was the carrot and Tak was the stick,' Johnny said.
'Right. And I had my place to go, too. When things got too crazy. Seth did help with that, I know he did. So the time just . . . passed. The way it does, maybe, for people who have cancer. You go on because there's no other choice. You get used to a certain level of pain and fear and you think that's where it's going to stop, where it must stop. I never knew it was planning this. You have to believe that. Most times I was able to shield my thoughts from it. It never occurred to me that Tak might have thoughts — plans — it was hiding from me. It waited . . . and then I suppose that bum showed up at the house while I was away . . . visiting with my friend, Jan . . . and then . . . '
She stopped, almost visibly catching hold of herself, settling herself down.
'This nightmare we're in is a combination of The Regulators, his favorite Western movie, and MotoKops 2200, his favorite cartoon show. One episode in particular, the one about the Force Corridor. I've seen it lots of times; Seth's got it on not just one but three of his compilation tapes. It's very, very scary for a cartoon show. Very intense. Seth was terrified of it — he wet the bed three nights in a row after seeing it for the first time — but he was also exhilarated by it. Mostly because of the way the show's continuing characters, both good and bad, band together in order to destroy the scary aliens hiding in the Force Corridor. These aliens are in cocoons Colonel Henry first mistakes for power-generators, and the part where they come bursting out and attack the MotoKops would scare just about anybody. Only I think that in this telling of 'The Force Corridor', the cocoons are our houses. And we . . . '
'We're the scary aliens,' Johnny said. He nodded. It all made horridly perfect sense. 'And I suppose what appeals most to both parts of him — or it — is the idea of forced co-operation. Get along, or else. Kids like the concept because it absolves them of judging functions, which most of them aren't very good at to begin with.'
Audrey was nodding, too. 'Yes, that sounds right. Like how the characters from The Regulators, both good and bad, have always gotten along with the MotoKops in Seth's sandbox play-fantasies. In his fantasies, even Sheriff Streeter and Jeb Murdock get along, although they're deadly enemies in the movie.'
'Is what's happening now still a play-fantasy to Seth?' Johnny asked. 'What do you think, Aud?'
'I can't really tell,' she said, 'because it's hard to know where Tak leaves off and Seth begins . . . you have to kind of feel for that point. I mean, on some level he probably knows better, the way a kid knows better than to believe in Santa Claus once he gets to be eight or nine . . . but we hate to give up some of those make-believes, don't we? There's a — ' She broke off for a moment. Her lower lip trembled, then firmed again. 'There's a sweetness to the best of them, something that helps get us over the rough spots. Tak has allowed Seth to play out his fantasies