The younger children around Tom were clambering out of the train, practically knocking each other to the ground just to see the ocean. The older ones weren’t quite as excited, as they had been to the seaside before, but was safe to bet that Tom was the least eager to get off the train and into the sunshine. Because of this, he was the last to exit the train.
Stepping out into the open, Tom was immediately overwhelmed by the smell of salty sea air. He could hear, just a bit away, the pounding of waves and the laughter of the other orphans. Tom sighed, took a book out of his pocket, and sat down on an old tree stump ” well away from the ocean, the village and everyone else.
Once or twice Mrs. Cole gave him the most fleeting of glances, but she was too disoriented to tell him to interact with the others. Smiling, he began to read, happy that at least he could be alone. His brief happiness was interrupted, however, by two older children.
“Hey, you!” said the boy. Tom ignored him. “Tom!” Tom grit his teeth but did not look up.
“Tom Riddle!” shouted the girl. Again, he did not look up from his reading, but his anger was growing.
“TOM RIDDLE!” they shouted in unison. At that point Tom knew he could ignore their presence no longer.
“What?” he said sharply, finally looking up at them. The boy he recognised as Dennis Bishop, and the girl he knew to be Amy Benson.
“We just wanted to tell you that ”” Amy began in a quiet voice. She stopped, however, clearly afraid of Tom’s venomous look.
“That you’re normal,” said Dennis, smirking.
“That I’m WHAT?” said Tom, fighting to keep his voice level. He was furious.
“That you’re normal,” repeated Dennis in a way that was equivalent to explaining that one plus one equalled two. “You’re just as normal as I am.”
“Really, now?” Tom asked, getting to his feet. His book lay on the grass, forgotten. “And what makes you think that?”
“Nothing,” said Amy. For a moment Tom thought that she was defending him, but then she said, “We’re just going to call you normal because you hate it. Even though it’s true.”
“Even though what’s true, Amy?” said Tom, his voice dangerously soft. Amy paused for a moment, unsure whether Tom was trying to frighten her (if so, it was working) or if he knew he was beaten. In any case, she decided to continue.
“You think you’re not normal, that you’re” ” she paused for a moment, as if searching for the correct word ” “special. But the truth is, Tom, that you’re not special at all. You’re just as ordinary and normal as me and Dennis. And we thought you oughta know that.” She finished this small speech with the tiniest of nods and an approving look from Dennis.
Tom waited a moment. He knew he was special, but how could he show them that? How could he both share his powers and frighten them enough that they would never tell anyone about them?
“Well?” Dennis said. “What do you have to say to that, Riddle?”
“I say that you let me show you just how ” to use your word, Amy ” special I am. I found a cave earlier, and it should prove it.” He had a plan now, and he had seen a cave earlier on his observation of the cliff not too far away.
Dennis suddenly started laughing. Amy, however, stayed quiet. “A cave will show us? A cave, Riddle?”
“Well,” said Tom, “if you’re too scared to come, then ””
“We’ll come,” said Amy so quietly Tom just barely heard her.
Dennis stopped laughing and rounded on her. “What?”
“I said we’ll come,” she whispered.
“Then it’s settled,” said Tom. “Follow me.”
After they had taken a few steps, Dennis suddenly cried out, “Mrs. Cole!”
“What about her?” asked Amy.
“She’ll notice we’re gone! She won’t let us go!” said Dennis.
Looking into his eyes, Tom knew that in truth Dennis was terrified of being anywhere alone with Tom, he was only going along because he would not leave Amy alone with him; and was grateful for the excuse to abandon ship.
“She’s too drunk to notice,” hissed Tom. “Just look at her.”
Sure enough, as they all turned to look at Mrs. Cole they saw that she could no longer walk a straight line, but was instead zigzagging down the gravel street in pursuit of her hat, which the wind had taken for its own.
“A“alright then,” said Dennis. “Let’s just get this over with.”
After that statement, no one spoke for quite a while. The three children walked along the road, finally reaching the cliff; more like a sheer drop than anything else. Tom began to climb down it. Amy had turned bone white, but she began to climb. Dennis, however, paused.
“Are you coming or not, Dennis?” asked Tom.
“I“I’m c“coming,” he stuttered. Dennis was notoriously frightened of heights, and though he could see an opening in the rock not too far down, it took all of his willpower to slowly climb down the cliff.
Tom, on the other hand, was now concentrating on all three of them with all his might, willing them to not fall or stumble. To his delight, it seemed to be working.
They had been climbing for what seemed hours (but according to Tom’s watch was only thirty minutes) when the three orphans arrived at a fissure in the cliff.
“This is IT?” said Dennis angrily. “You made me climb down all the way down for THIS?” His face had begun to turn red, a sure danger sign.
“Of course this isn’t it,” sneered Tom. “Go inside.”
Dennis, however, refused to budge. Amy hung back at first, but under one glare from Tom, she quailed under his influence and stepped into the fissure.
“Tom?” asked Amy, her voice shaking. “Are we going to have to swim there?”
Tom looked from her down to the dark water swirling at her feet. “Yes, I think so. But it shouldn’t be far in.”
“O“okay,” Amy said, her voice nothing more than a whisper. Slowly she climbed into the crevice and began to swim into the unknown.
After a minute, Dennis joined her; then Tom jumped in, bringing up the rear. Soon they all climbed out into a dark tunnel, whose walls were slimy.
Tom looked around. Amy was coughing and sputtering; she had apparently swallowed some of the salty water. Dennis was hitting her on the back with a bloody hand (he had obviously cut himself on the rocks on the climb down), trying to help her.
“Thanks,” Amy finally coughed out.
“No problem,” Dennis said with a shrug.
By this time, however, Tom was examining the cave. Its walls were barely three feet apart, and he saw that it wasn’t really a cave he stood in, but an entranceway.
“Come on,” Tom said briskly. “It’s right through here.” He walked past the two others and into a large cave. After a moment, Amy and Dennis followed him.
“Tom… I’m impressed,” said Dennis. Tom raised an eyebrow, not believing for one second that Dennis was telling the truth. “I’m impressed that you’re so stupid that you thought this cave was going to prove how special you are.”
Tom looked unfazed. “It’s not the cave that’s special, you stupid boy,” he hissed, his voice a cold leer, “It’s me.”
Amy backed up against the cave wall, frightened by the blood-red gleam she had just seen in Tom’s normally dark brown eyes. But before she could cry out a warning, Dennis had fallen to the cave floor.
Tom simply stared at him, obviously concentrating hard. For a moment, Amy stared at Tom, willing him to let them go; but she was distracted by Dennis, who had begun to twitch.
Then Dennis began to scream as if in mortal agony, his yells bouncing off the cave walls. Tom was laughing maniacally as the boy was tortured at his feet.
“Stop it!” Amy cried out, in a voice much louder than her usual whisper, “Just stop it, Tom! You’ve proved it, you’re special, now let us go!” Her voice rang out clear and bell-like in the cave.
Dennis stopped thrashing around and yelling as Tom turned to face Amy, who was still staring, wide-eyed, at Dennis. He now lay twitching and sobbing on the rock floor of the cave.
Amy could not help but gasp as she looked away from Dennis and into Tom’s eyes. They had turned a vivid, crimson red, and she found that she could not look away as Tom stepped towards her.
“Sorry, Amy,” he said in a dangerous whisper, “I can’t do that.”
She then began to scream and flail just as Dennis had. After several minutes, Tom decided that she had had enough. He couldn’t kill her, after all. It would be much too hard to explain showing up with a shaken up Dennis and a dead Amy.
“Now listen up,” said Tom sharply. “Neither of you will ever tell what happened in this cave. You will say that we went exploring and nothing more. If you ever tell anyone about this, I’ll have to do this to you again. I’ll kill you if I have to,” he said, a twisted smile playing on his lips. His eyes still gleamed cat-like and red in the darkness. “Understand?”
“Y-yes,” said Dennis shakily as he tried to stand up.
“I“I underst-stand,” whispered Amy, who was sobbing hard.
“Good,” said Tom. “Now get up, we’ve been gone a while. Mrs. Cole might be looking for us.”
The children didn’t want to move, but they found themselves slowly getting up and following Tom as if hypnotised.
Later that night, Tom sat on the hard bed in the inn Mrs. Cole had found for the orphans to stay at, thinking. After they had returned, a more sober but still slightly punch-drunk Mrs. Cole had immediately told off Dennis for cutting his hands and Amy for not stringing together a coherent sentence. Tom had managed to slip by, undetected, and therefore avoided her lectures.
Now his thoughts were of how far he had come. He had made two more people fear him. Granted, they were only two children, but it was a start.
Smiling to himself, Tom thought of the sense of power their screams seemed to give him as he drifted into sleep; his eyes gleaming red in the darkness.