19. 'Sometimes They Come Back' (1974).

This next story stands alone for me as a particularly memorable and unusual. Many of King's early stories take inspiration from sources in his childhood and his own favourite authors and filmmakers (Trucks and Duel, Grey Matter and The Blob, etc), but this feels all his own.

Sometimes They Come Back

Sometimes They Come Back is an updated, original take on a haunting, where the 'ghosts' take on a more solid shape. This is one of the best known of Stephen King's short stories, mainly due to the three movies it spawned (one made-for-TV, two straight to video). The material probably is meaty enough to make a movie out of, although the director took significant liberties with the source material, fluffing out a simpler, harsher story that probably would have created a more subtle, streamlined film.

The story is centred on Jim Norman, a young English teacher with a dark history. As a boy, Jim narrowly escaped being killed by a gang of bullies on the way to the local library. His brother, Wayne, was not so lucky. Years later, in his least favourite class of miscreants, Jim's students begin to die. Every time a student drops, they are replaced by another with an uncanny resemblance to one of the gang members who attacked Jim and his brother. Before long, he is teaching the whole gang, and they have unfunushed business to settle.

As a teacher, I found this concept pretty unnerving. It got me thinking what I would do if faced by my own bullies as students years later. I'd like to think that, as an adult with far more self-confidence than I had as a teenager, I would maintain control and show them who was boss. I'm not sure that's really the case. You can try to drown the memories and bad feelings of the past, and it doesn't take much to bring them floating back to the surface.

Losing control of a class is every teacher's nightmare. For me, it's a literal nightmare; I've started a new school, I can't find my classroom, and when I eventually turn up, late, the class are half-rioting and nothing I do, no threats or pleading, will convince them to stop and study. I suppose it's my version of the 'suddenly-realise-you're-naked' dream. Jim's struggle to control the gang members, and their ability to make him feel like a child again, is distinctly uncomfortable. Teachers should be in charge, and Jim isn't.

One could never accuse King of being afraid to kill off characters; he rivals George R R Martin for that, and Georgie Denbrough and Gage Creed are prime examples of King not holding back. Sometimes They Come Back is no exception, and King's unflinching, almost cold delivery of an important character's death is very effective, and adds to the hatred we feel for the gang members, who are almost, but not quite, charicaturish in their extreme villainy. It's interesting to note that Adam Grossman, the director, removed that particular death from the story.

A key success point of this story is its lack of explanation. King doesn't feel the need to justify why or how these dead teenagers have reappeared, or what caused them to do so. We are never entirely sure if they are ghosts, or demons with false faces. What is scary about them is that they are solid, they can touch and be touched, can hurt and be hurt. The story and its ghosts can also easily be read as symbolic - urging the reader to settle with the past in order to move forward and live life fully.

All in all, an enjoyable, unsettling story with a likeable main character and an interesting, original central concept. A decent, clear-cut ending makes this one a winner.