THERE’S ANOTHER KNOCK. It’s coming from inside room 6. And this time it’s more of a bang. Three of them, to be exact.
Bang, bang, bang.
And I can see the door rattling in its frame.
“If you’re in there, come out and show yourself!” I yell. Mrs. Rapaport isn’t here to encourage me this time. I just have to keep moving. One step, then another. The staircase is barely clinging to the side of the building, but I’m less afraid of its collapsing than I am of confronting whatever’s inside that motel room.
Bang, bang, bang.
The sound seems bigger, broader than it should be, as if a microphone is amplifying it. Each heavy knock echoes down the street.
“Don’t be such a fucking coward!” I scream. “Get out here and stop me if that’s what you’re going to do!”
In response, every remaining window of the Banshee Palace explodes outward. The entire building exhales in a violent shower of glass, and I feel the ground rumble beneath me. I stumble forward, almost falling over, covering my head with my arms as pointed shards come down around me like hail.
“You won’t stop me,” I say, not bothering to yell because I know it can hear me. “Nothing will ever stop me.” I continue moving for the staircase, my feet crushing glass now instead of bugs.
When I’m less than a foot from the bottom step, the door to room 6 opens.