JAMES
I hadn’t even chosen to go right or left when a searing pain sluiced through my chest and my feet turned right. Gasping, I clutched at my shirt while my feet shuffled forward. All thought left my mind. Only the overwhelming need to come remained, the ever-present pain that pressed me forward, forward, forward.
A gate blocked the alley - I fumbled with the latch and nearly cried when it finally gave way, and I could move forward again.
The mausoleum loomed over me like a bad dream, but it didn’t stop me. Didn’t stop my steps, didn’t stop the incessant chanting of come, come. The door swung open easily, as if the hinges had been recently oiled, yet spider webs clung to my hair and shoulders as I passed through the doorway.