Chapter 6 As Clean as Snow

Marion went into her room and sat on the bed. 'Yes, it was a stupid idea to steal that money/ she thought. It was like a bad dream. Now, after talking to that strange," sweet young man, she was awake again. 'I'll take the money to the bank first thing on Monday morning,' she thought. 'Nobody will know what I've done. Everything will be all right.'

She stood up. She suddenly felt very strong and happy. She felt wonderful. 'After I have a shower, I'll feel perfect,' she thought. Til be as clean as snow.'

She took off her blouse, her skirt and shoes, and threw them onto the bed. She didn't realise that someone was watching her. There was a hole in the Avail between Marion's room and the one behind Norman's office. Norman was looking through the hole, watching Marion as she undressed.

Before going into the shower, Marion suddenly thought of something. She sat down at a small desk and wrote some numbers on a piece of paper. 'I spent seven hundred dollars of that money today,' she thought. 'I must try to pay that back. But that isn't important now. I'm too tired to think about money. I want a shower.'

She walked into the bathroom and threw the piece of paper into the toilet. Then she took off her other clothes and got int the bath. Pulling the plastic curtain behind her, she turned on th shower.

It was lovely. Beautiful and warm. She closed her eyes. Thi warm water washed down over her body. The bad dream wa over. She was becoming a good, clean girl again...

Marion didn't hear the bathroom door as it quietly opened She didn't see the old woman who was slowly crossing the floor. She was facing the wall when the woman's hand pulled the plastic curtain open. She turned quickly and could see, through the water in her eyes, a face. A terrible white face with long grey hair and mad, shining eyes. And above the woman's head, in her hand, there was a large, silver knife.

Marion screamed. The woman laughed and brought the knife straight down into her neck. Marion went on screaming as the knife cut into her arms, her throat, her stomach. She tried to fight, but the old woman was too strong. The knife cut deeply into her body, again and again and again. Marion became weaker, her screams became softer. Finally, with a small, strange noise at the back of her throat, Marion dropped to the floor of the bath and lay perfectly still. Water was falling into her face, into her beautiful, frightened eyes. It washed down over her body, red with blood.

Marion Crane was dead.