Free Castle on the Edge by Douglas Strang Page A

oncoming movement.
    “Alex,” Mary shouted out frantically, “all the lights in the Castle are out. It’s so dark and I was trying to find you. I almost got lost.”
    “Mary, it sounds like you’re only about fifteen or so feet from me. I can’t see you because this light isn’t very strong and it doesn’t project out more than two feet; can you see it?”
    “Yes, I do see it.”
    “Keep walking slowly toward it. I’ll keep talking and remain stationary so you have a point of reference.
    Mary walked about another twelve feet or so and met me nose to nose. She could hardly breathe when she grabbed me and said, “Oh, Alex, I’ve never been so frightened in my life. All the lights in the Castle went out about ten minutes ago. Mrs. Dudley got some candles and while Miss. Hathaway was gathering everyone into the recreation room, I made my way out here to find you…oh, Alex. I…”
    “Try and calm down, Mary, let’s take it one step at a time. The lights must have gone out while I was in the watchman’s booth with Doctor Lederer. I was looking at the telephone receiver and the light suddenly went out; that was about ten minutes ago too.”
    “Why were you looking at the receiver, Alex?”
    “Because when I noticed that the box cord was cut, I looked at the phone itself. That was when I felt damp sticky moisture on the speaker part of the receiver; also, it had the smell of…actually, I’m not sure what it was.”
    As I shone my flashlight on Mary’s face, I could see she was very scared, as was I and I didn’t want to add fuel to the fear flames. I was trying to mentally reassure myself, that maybe the sticky substance was something other than blood. I rationalized there are many types of moistures in this world that are sticky besides blood, but in my heart of hearts I knew it was blood. Lord knows I’ve been around enough of it in my line of work.
    “You were going to say ‘ blood ,’ weren’t you, Alex?”
    “Well, yes, Mary. However, we couldn’t find the watchman…anywhere.”
    “Where is Doctor Lederer, Alex?”
    “Doctor Lederer is…Doctor Lederer. Where is Doctor Lederer?”
    “Oh, Alex.”
    Now, Mary and I started frantically looking around for Doctor Lederer with the aid of my small flashlight. He was nowhere to be found. I could tell the battery was getting weaker because the already limited lighting was growing dimmer.
    “Maybe he went back to the Castle, Alex.”
    “Possibly, but it’s very strange he would do that without telling me…not to mention the fact he didn’t have a flashlight on him…as far as I could tell anyway.”
    “But if he did, Alex, we would have seen a second light.”
    “Unless…maybe…he lost his bearings and went toward the cliff instead…while I was guiding you to me. Oh my God, I hate to think that.”
    “I don’t feel safe here, Alex; I think we should get back to the Castle before your light burns out.”
    “Yes, Mary, there’s really nothing we can do out here. When we get back to the Castle though, we had better gather everyone, and I mean everyone in the whole place, into the recreation room for safety. Of course we’ll clue in all the personnel and Mrs. Dudley and her husband; but I think we should try and come up with some other reason to tell the residents and guests why we’re doing what we’re doing.”
    “You’re right, Alex. And I hope we’ll find Doctor Lederer there as well.”
    “I hope so too, Mary, I hope so too.”
    Mary and I cautiously proceeded back to the Castle.
    The Discovery
    Mary and I combined our resolve to discretely inform Mrs. Dudley, her husband, and all the staff personnel of the dangerous predicament we were in, and that Doctor Lederer had disappeared too. We told the residents and guests the power simply went out and for safety concerns, it would be better if everyone would remain in the recreation room until we were able to get a handle on the situation. All the residents, except for Mister Strutmire,