Here she was, sitting on the edge of the bed.
Again.
For the third night in a row.
She cracked her neck, sitting up from the edge. Her bare feet slapping against the hardwood floor. She stretched her tired muscles. Sure she was physically tired her mind refused to shut off. Each time the darkness would start to wrap around her, something would startle her back to wakefulness. Groaning she would toss and turn around her bed for another hour before getting up, making her morning coffee and go about her day. These sleepless binges always happen after sleeping a solid thirty hours.
Either she always slept for hours, or stay up for days. There were times where she wouldn’t eat for days, and only took her protein in through shakes. With a sigh she went to the bathroom to look at herself in the mirror. She could hardly recognize herself. Her eyes were so deep, her cheeks hollow, her lips lost that pink tinge and was now an off purple veins ran up from her breasts to her neck. Pulling her hair from the bun, she watched the once thick locks fall to her neck in thin strains. She couldn’t see what she once used to be to what she was now… her body became bones, and her skin clung to her body she saw every rib, every bump. She didn’t mind really. It’s what she had come to know.
She reached the sink, turning on the warm water. First the water ran red, then clear. Shaking her head slightly, she dipped her hands underneath the spout and splashed her face with water. With her eyes closed she felt the world spin around her, her stomach heaved. She felt her stomach lurch forward, and felt unbelievably uneasy on her feet. Taking a deep breath in she let it out slowly, dipping her hands into the water again she sipped it. Letting it flow down her throat and into her empty stomach. She felt it growl for the first time in days.
The girl stepped out from the bathroom closing the door behind her. She went to her kitchen and rummaged through the fridge. Black spiders crawled from the white door. The girl blinked her eyes, watching them scurry from jars and bottles of unopened carbonated water.
“W…Wha…?” she whispered, slamming the door shut. She rubbed her eyes hard, when she opened them back up she watched the black creatures crawl to the corner of the kitchen and begin molding into one. She only tilted her head and swallowed, her tongue felt large within her mouth choking her.
“Sissy…oh Sissy!” the black mound of spiders called out to her. Her eyes glazed over for a second, her body grew cold and her veins filled with ice. Terror captured her heart and she felt her lungs expand.
“Why are you ignoring us Sissy?” the mound spoke again, black octopus like tentacles reached out to her.
“Screw that!” Ducking underneath them, she ran back into her bedroom slamming the door shut behind her. Her heart hammered within her chest, she felt sick to her stomach and her body was weak. A thin sweat broke out across her upper lip. Her chest started to ache in a way she hadn’t felt in so long, she backed herself up against a wall slowly sliding down she watched black tendrils leak underneath the door.
“Sissy, where are you hiding from us…?” it cried out, she started shaking her head slowly. It wasn’t real…
It’s not real, it’s not real. None of it is real… none of it… She buried her head against her knees, trying to keep herself calm and her breathing slow. Her heart would have none of it, the terror that gripped her forced a scream from her lips. Her bedroom door squealed as it opened. Covering her head with her hands she waited for the moment to come… to waited for it to take her.
When nothing happened the girl opened her eyes, the lids were heavy… she felt herself start to yawn. The sudden lethargy took over her. Sissy’s body fell to the hardwood floor, the terror leaked from her system. A tear fell from the corner of her eye. Black spiders crawled from underneath her bed, she could hear the pitter patter of their legs tapping against the floor. She wanted to cry, scream, and back away but her body was too weak. They crawled up her hands, the fuzziness made her skin crawl. They were aiming for her mouth, she just closed her eyes. Waiting for sleep.
They were crawling up her shoulder, crawling over her lips and into her mouth. They’re choking her, she couldn’t breathe… her chest was screaming, feeling as if her heart were exploding.
***
The male officer stood at the young woman’s door, he knocked three or four times. Her neighbors called a few times throughout the night, complaining that she was being too loud. Screaming, crying and then laughing. He waited before opening the woman’s door. He called out.
“Ma’am are you in here?” It was dark, and there was a light smell within the air. Something like rotting fruit or moldy flowers. His nose crinkled as he went further into the woman’s apartment. All the lights were off, the fridge open. He clicked on his torch and panned over the room. Dust clung to every corner of the room, it looked as if no one had lived there in months.
The moment he went to the back bedroom, the smell of rotting flowers got worse. He covered his nose, whatever it was… it made him feel sick to his stomach.
Panning his torch over the bedroom wall down to the bed. It was a mess and covered in dust. When he pushed it back to the floor, he only let out a light scream. The woman had been covered head to toe with webbings. Her mouth was wide open in a scream, a white mass of nest laid within her mouth. Her body was so well preserved he could make out her thin brown hair, the empty sockets were her eyes once were. Now they were filled with crawling eight legged creatures. He reached over to his radio on his shoulder.
“I need back up here. EMT’s… I have a deceased woman… man you’ve got to see this to believe this…” Slowly the cop shook his head. From the looks of it, the woman had died painfully… he couldn’t tell what got her first, the starvation, or the spiders…
“Probably the spiders… I’d hate to find out how she died… it looks…” He shuddered.
He didn’t want to know.
The head moved. He looked from his radio to the dead girl. Her head moved again, jaw opening wider. He took a step back staring at the corpse. Large legs slipped from the corpse’s open mouth, pulling out from the nest. It’s large black eyes starting at him, he could see himself staring back. His skin crawled.
“Jose…” it called out, he stared at it.
“Hell no.” He turned running to the door. Black spots flowed from the corners of the walls and over the floors. He felt their small bodies crunch underneath his boots. He felt their tiny legs crawling underneath his pants, Jose made a dash for it, tucking and rolling. The moment he crossed that door, he looked. The black spots were gone, he kept against the door staring.
“What in the world was that…?” He flicked on his torch. The dead girl still laid out on her bedroom floor, her body skin and bones. Her mouth was closed. There were no spiders on her, or in the apartment. He looked down at himself, no spiders on him either. He felt tired… too tired…
He felt as if he hadn’t slept in weeks… his lungs felt heavy, throat dry, his tongue felt swollen…
His chest hurt real, real bad…
“I’m just… going to close my eyes for a moment…”
