The Shining Chapter 55 Summary

That Which Was Forgotten

• Wendy is coming to. She's afraid she won't be able to move from the blood stained bed.
• She thinks she was woken by the sound of Halloran arriving in the snowmobile.
• She's praying that Jack hasn't killed Danny yet. Wendy calls out to Danny and then to Halloran.
• She thinks she hears the elevator start up and then stop, then hears the sound of Jack on the third floor screaming for Danny.
• Out in the hallway she moves as fast as she can.
• That's when she finds Halloran on the stairs.
• She tries to wake him.
• Meanwhile Jack is right around the corner from Danny. His threats escalate.
• Danny steps out and tells him, "You're not my daddy" (55.38).
• The Jack-thing pauses, then disagrees with Danny.
• Danny says, "You're a mask. […] Just a false face" (55.41). He tells Jack he isn't afraid of him.
• Jack says he better be afraid. He raises the mallet but stops short of hitting Danny with it.
• Halloran is waking up. His jaw is broken. Wendy explains that Jack and Danny are up on the third floor.
• Danny is telling the Jack-thing that the people and things in the Overlook "lie" (55.43) and that he isn't really Danny's father.
• He says, "Go ahead and hit me. But you'll never get what you want from me" (55.58).
• Something changes in the Jack-thing's face. The mallet falls to the ground.
• Suddenly, the real Jack is back. He tells Danny, "Run away. Quick. And remember how much I love you" (55.60).
• Danny says he won't leave him, and he kisses Jack on the hand.
• Halloran tries to get up. He and Wendy hear horrific yells. They hear the elevator; whatever was yelling is inside it.
• Danny feels like he's completely trapped in the Overlook, all alone without his parents.
• He tells the Jack-thing to go away. It turns. Danny sees the knife in its back.
• The Jack-thing begins hitting himself in the face with the mallet, "destroying the last of Jack Torrance's image.
• It looks at Danny, and Danny sees that it's a mixture of all the other faces he's seen in the hotel, from the dogman to the woman in 217.
• Now Danny realizes what Jack forgot – the boiler! He knows it's about to blow up the hotel!
• The Jack-thing looks upset by this news. He disagrees with Danny, but then goes off down the hall. Danny hears him get into the elevator.
• Now, "the shining [is] on him" (55.92). He knows Wendy and Halloran are alive, and that the boiler will blow up the Overlook at any moment.
• Danny runs, sobbing, to try to get out of the hotel before it goes up in flames.