Ultimate Supernatural Horror Box Set by F. Paul Wilson, Blake Crouch, Scott Nicholson, Jeff Strand, Jack Kilborn, J. A. Konrath, Iain Rob Wright, Jordan Crouch Page B

there thinking about how I’ve failed you.  I remember how Mom never put me down, but every so often I’d catch her watching me and there’d be this unreadable look in her eyes.  I didn’t know what she was thinking, but I have to assume I disgusted her.  And I know what you think, Dad—you’ve always been up front about that.  So I sit there in the dark thinking about the revulsion I sparked in the two most important people in my life.”  His voice fell to a whisper.  “And I feel like such a loser.”
    Arthur felt his throat tighten.  He had to help this boy.  He reached out and put a hand on Charlie’s arm.  Dear Lord, it was so thin .
    “You can’t be judged a loser until you’ve given up trying, Charlie.  And that’s why I brought you home.  I want you to try.”
    Charlie looked up at him again.  “Try what?”
    “To change.”
    He shook his head.  “That’s not possible.”
    “It is, Charlie,” he said, gently squeezing his arm.  “With God’s help and the right doctors, you can do it.”
    Charlie’s laugh rang hollow against the walls.  “I think God must have lots of concerns more pressing than my sexual orientation.  And really, Dad, if it’s the election you’re worried about, relax.  No one connects me with you.  And even if they did, it could actually work to your advantage.  We’re a pretty cohesive voting block now.  We proved that in the last election.”
    We ...Arthur shuddered at Charlie’s casual alignment of himself with the likes of Act Up and Queer Nation and the pathetic human mutants and aberrations that marched in those Gay Pride parades.  If getting elected depended on their votes, he’d rather not run.
    But public knowledge of Charlie’s homosexuality was only part of the real threat.
    “I won’t deny the election is important to me.  You know that.  There’s so much good I can do for this country if they’ll only let me.  I have plans.  I can make us great again.”  He didn’t just believe that—he knew it.  “But if I can’t help my own son back on the right path, how can I expect to do it for an entire nation?”
    “Dad—”
    “Give me a year, Charlie.  One year of prayer and therapy.  That’s all I ask.  You’re young.  One year out of the rest of your life is not too much for your father to ask, is it.  If there’s been no change by the end of that time, and if I see you’ve made a sincere effort, then I’ll accept your...the way you are and never bother you again about it.”
    Charlie was staring at him.  “Accept me?  I don’t think you can.”
    “If you can try, I can try.  One year.”  He thrust out his hand.  “What do you say?”
    “One year...that’s too long.”
    “ Half a year then.  Six months.  Please! ”
    Charlie hesitated and Arthur sent up a prayer: Please make him accept, Lord.  Between the two of us I know we can make him normal.
    Tentatively, Charlie reached out and grasped his father’s hand.
    “All right.  Six months.  As long as you understand that I’m not promising you results, just to give it the old college try.”
    Arthur blinked back the tears that surged into his eyes.  He pulled Charlie close and embraced him.
    “That’s all I ask, son.  That’s all a father can ask.”
    Thank You, Lord, he said in silent prayer.  I know this is going to work.  If I can teach my boy to pray, if he can learn as I have learned, if he can find for himself just one tenth of the peace I find in You, he will be saved. I trust in You, Lord, and I know that You will help me in this.
    But as he held his son, Arthur was alarmed at how frail he seemed.  He could feel the corduroy ridges of ribs through Charlie’s sweatshirt.  Weight loss, night sweats...Charlie couldn’t possibly have...
    No.  That was impossible.  God wouldn’t do that to him.  Arthur didn’t know if he could handle that.  Not after Olivia.  He was strong, but he had his limits.  He wasn’t cut out to be a