I won't scream!

He sat at the window, totally awake now, totally aware that the police car he was seeing was as real as his left foot had once been.

Scream, you fool, scream!

He wanted to, but he could hear Annie's voice saying, Don't you dare scream. When he tried to scream his voice dried up and his mind was filled with pictures of the axe and the electric knife. He remembered the sounds: he remembered screaming then, but not to gain attention from anyone.

He tried again to open his mouth - and failed; he tried to raise his hands - and failed. A faint, low sound broke out from between his lips, and his hands moved lightly on the sides of the typewriter, but that was all he could do. Nothing which had happened in the past - except perhaps for the moment when he had realized that, although his left leg was moving, his foot stayed still - was as terrible as the hell of not being able to move. In real time it didn't last long - perhaps five seconds - but inside Paul Sheldon's head it seemed to go on for years.

He could escape! All he had to do was break the window and scream: Help me! Help me! Save me from Annie! Save me from the Dragon Lady! But at the same time another voice was screaming: I'll be good, Annie! I won't scream! I promise! Don't cut off any more of me! He knew he was frightened of her, but he hadn't realized until now the extent of his fear.

His mind told him that he was going to die anyway. As soon as he had finished the book she was going to kill him. So if he screamed, and it the policeman saw him, and if that made Annie kill him now, what was the difference? Perhaps two weeks of life. There's not much to lose, then, and a lot to win. So scream, Paul, scream! What's the matter with you? Are you already dead?

The policeman got out of the car. He was young - about twenty-three years old - and was wearing very dark glasses, which completely hid his eyes and reflected the light like a mirror. He paused, just twenty metres away from Paul's window, and adjusted his jacket.

Scream! Don't scream. Scream and you're dead. I'm not dead yet. I'M NOT DEAD YET! Scream, you coward!

Paul forced his lips open, sucked air into his lungs and closed his eyes. He had no idea what was going to come out of his mouth. Was anything going to come out?

'DRAGON!' Paul screamed. 'DRAGON LADY!'

Now his eyes opened wide. The policeman was looking towards the house. Paul could not see his eyes, but he seemed to have heard something.