The Spider Monarch: Greetings
“Hello! Anybody home?” he yelled into the darkness of the old mansion. It echoed throughout the halls and staircases, the cobwebs fluttering in the breeze from the open door.
“Don’t be stupid, Todd,” his cousin said from behind him. “No one’s going to be home.”
Todd laughed and walked inside. The floorboards grunted under his feet and made little prints of his boots in the dust and dirt. Something scuttled across the floor in front of his flashlight and the house smelled like mice.
“It’s like we’ve stepped into a book,” his cousin said once she had walked in. She stayed close to Todd and the light as if afraid of what lurked in the shadows.
“So, go exploring, Dee. That’s why we’re here.”
“I’ll find a light switch,” she said nervously.
She stepped away from his back and he heard her steps as she groped for a switch. All at once the hallway was flooded in a dusty yellow light. The light grew brighter as the spider that had inhabited the spot within the broken glass surrounding the light fell to the floor. Dee squeaked and jumped backwards. Todd caught her and laughed softly.
“Here, have the flashlight I don’t need it.”
Dee swore softly, but took the light into her trembling hands. Todd walked forward down the hall and into the kitchen. Dee had moved nervously towards the parlor, shining the light in all directions thoroughly before walking in. Todd watched her that she was all right before stepping into the dark kitchen.
It was dusty like everything else, but the light worked when he flicked it on. Whatever food had been left was rotted and eaten and there were more bugs flying around here than anywhere else in the house. Something had started growing from the dirt in the corner of the room, probably some sort of plant from a seed deposited by the mice. Todd put his hand around his mouth and nose and stepped into the room.
It was hard to tell how old the house was according to the dishes. When he dared open up a cabinet it was filled with dead spiders and mice droppings. The plates looked like they had gold filigree around the edges but he didn’t keep the door open long enough to examine them. He heard someone rattling at the door that he thought went to the dining room, but there were so many bugs flying about he thought it best to not let Dee into the room.
“Wait, I’m coming around,” he said to the door and started back down the hall.
His cousin was still looking pale when he reached the parlor, but she had brushed off a bit of dust from the piano bench and had sat down. She faced the window, her back towards the piano keys staring into space.
“What’s wrong?” Todd asked, a little disconcerted.
“Nothing,” she said. “I’m just afraid to explore. There are a lot of spiders and bugs here.”
“How far did you get?”
“Just as far as here. I couldn’t go any farther.”
“Did you try the door in the dining room?”
“No,” she said getting so pale she looked blue, “I didn’t touch anything but this bench and the light switch.”
Todd looked towards the open doorway into the dining room. The door was hanging on its hinges and just the bottom corner was knocked into view. The room was like a black curtain and undecipherable.
“Maybe I’d better go look,” he said, swallowing a huge lump in his throat. His stomach hurt and he had the sudden urge to cry.
“No don’t,” Dee said grabbing his arm. Her grip pinched his wrist. She was holding the flashlight just as hard and her feet were now curling off the floor as if something would crawl up her leg from her shoe.
Todd peered into the darkness. “Give me your flashlight.”
“Todd, don’t.”
“I’m not going anywhere, Dee. I’m just going to see what I can from here.”
She reluctantly gave him the flashlight and he shot it into the darkness. He could only see half the room, which was covered in cobwebs. The table was covered in dust and a few fake flowers were still in a vase on the table. There was nothing between the legs of the chairs or underneath the table. The squeeze in Todd’s chest subsided a bit.
“There’s nothing there, Todd. Let’s go,” Dee whined. Something crashed in the dining room making both of them jump.
Dee cringed and curled up into a ball on the piano bench. Todd picked up the flashlight he had dropped and walked towards the dining room slowly. The rest of the room did not look any different in the beam of the flashlight. Todd didn’t dare turn the beam or his gaze away from the center of the room to look for a light switch. He didn’t want to blindly scrape the wall hoping to find it either. He stood in the doorway waiting for his heart beat to subside, sweeping the room with the strong beam of light.
It was his second time sweeping the room when he found it. He couldn’t tell if it was a man or woman but he or she was standing in the corner of the room hiding next to the armoire with the dusty dishes. His or her clothes were none descript: pants, shirt, and gym shoes representing at least three different decades of fashion. The person didn’t move, but stared at Todd with shiny black, iris-less eyes. Its eyes were fascinating to Todd. They looked like onyx or black glass and had no white around the non-existing color it should have had. Everything else about its anatomy looked human, but it stared at Todd calculating him like prey.
“Can you speak?” Todd asked, somehow finding his voice.
The thing stared at him.
“All right then.” Todd took a step into the room. The thing cowered back into the shadows. Something scuttled past Todd’s feet but he didn’t look around.
Todd pointed to himself. “Todd.” He moved the flashlight out of the thing’s face.
The thing pointed to itself and let loose a long string of hisses and gurgles.
Todd smiled. He heard Dee coming up behind him by the creaks of the floorboards.
“Todd?” her voice shook. “Todd, who is that?”
“I don’t know,” he called back. “But I don’t think it’s going to hurt us.”
Suddenly the room was flooded with light and the creature cringed.
“I’m sorry,” Dee said behind him. She had a heavy brass candlestick in her hand as she had flipped the light switch near the door. She was trembling and close to tears.
The thing kept its head in its hands and was crouched on the floor. Todd walked over to it.
“I don’t think it likes the light, Dee.”
“I don’t want to face it in the dark,” she said. “Todd, get back here.”
“Just turn off the light and if it hurts me you can turn it on,” he said.
She sobbed behind him, but engulfed the room in darkness again. The thing stood up and glanced at Todd, who was much closer than before. It hissed, revealing small sharp pointed teeth. Todd took a step back. It took a step forward and started towards the back of the room and opened the door, beckoning Todd to follow.
The next room was a ballroom, which led to hall going to the library. The light didn’t work in the library; Dee had tried in vain. The thing slunk to the shadows and returned to the beam of the flashlight with two books. It handed them to Todd and smiled. He glanced at the covers: Photo Album and Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures.
“Thank you,” Todd said giving a shallow bow. The creature nodded its head.
“Come on, Todd,” Dee said behind him. “Let’s go.”
Todd followed her back to the hall and through the ballroom, dining room, and parlor back the way they had come. Todd carefully closed the door behind them and then ran to join up with Dee who was already a long ways down the street.
This entry was posted on Friday, May 16th, 2008 at 9:14 pm and is filed under Fantasy, Fiction Prose, Short Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.