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After talking with Carlos many times about what happened next, I found it incredible that his thoughts were more on Buck than what might be waiting for him to arrive at the resort. This is what he remembered.173Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVZWhzwlFPE
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Reaching his car, Carlos climbed inside and started the engine. He looked into the rearview mirror and screamed in sheer terror when he saw the faint image of a decayed corpse with gashes in its wrists sitting in the seat grinning at him.
He screamed again, spinning his head around at the same time, and was relieved when all he saw was empty space. "Oh, God!" he moaned as he jerked the gearshift into reverse and backed the car up the road. He knew the apparition was a warning, but his decision had already been made. He was going to that building to defeat the evil.
Carlos drove toward the resort. His palms felt clammy against the steering wheel. Fear of the unknown knotted and writhed in his stomach. His thoughts were of Buck and of all the things that had happened to this warm-hearted man since he'd taken ownership of the former high school. It seemed strange to Carlos that the faculty and students of Lone Star High had experienced their share of problems, but none so bizarre as these.
Thinking back, here remembered being with Buck on one particular occasion when a dirty wino approached them asking for some money to get a meal in his stomach. He remembered Buck reaching into his pocket and handing the vagrant a five-dollar bill. Carlos found this to be very surprising.
"What the hell did you do that for?" Carlos had asked. "Giving that bum five dollars? You know he's just gonna use that to buy himself some booze."
Buck's reply was that of a tender, caring man. "It doesn't matter what he does with the money, Carlos. It's the idea that a man asked for help and we didn't turn our backs on him. My father taught me to extend my hand to anyone who needs help. My dad fed many a railroad hobo when they passed his Amarillo store. What you do for another person will always be given back to you."
This was the first time Buck had shown his tender-heartedness to the handyman. Carlos had previously considered him "all business" until that day.
As Carlos continued driving towards the resort, he thought about the stress that Buck had endured due to the mold incident and other problems hampering the opening of the business. One particular incident stuck in his mind. One night, Buck was driving to a nightclub between Dallas and Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he was hired to sing that evening, when chest pains became so severe that he pulled into a gas station where an Emergency Medical Vehicle was being serviced. He had the paramedics examine him as he sat on the rear bumper of the ambulance. Fortunately, it was not a heart problem, just too much stress.
Because of all the things that had gone wrong, from the very first week Buck had taken possession of the building, he surely didn't need to hear about demons and devil spirits haunting his place. Since Buck didn't believe in ghosts, it was probably better that he didn't know what was about to take place.
As Carlos's thoughts drifted away, the car turned the last curve leading to the resort, the headlights shining directly at the massive building. He brought the car to a halt in front of the main entrance and looked up through the front windshield. He could have sworn that he saw a giant hulk of a monster. Its massive form loomed ominously in the darkness, with glowing red eyes that pierced through the shadows. Carlos could have sworn the creature was standing there as if it were daring him to come inside.
Stepping from the auto, Carlos paused and listened as the sound of crickets filled the still night air, and a bullfrog croaked in the woods near the river. The familiar lightning bugs flickered their tiny lights off and on, and hordes of flying insects resumed their nightly ritual of bombarding each other under the lights, as an occasional bat dove into the dogfight in search of its dinner. The dark and lonely place that he had named "Hell's Kitchen" seemed perfectly normal.173Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPSQetUQp5y
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