Here's a short story that I wrote a few days ago after a friend told me about something that happened to her with a yucky spider, only this is far different and as my mom said gross..lol. I hate spiders and really can't believe I wrote about them..Just to creepy!!!!
Eye’s Upon Her
By: Robin Renee Ray
Carla set on the sofa watching the windstorm blow the wood siding off of the old house. It was one of the many that she had weathered since moving into the country home in the middle of practically nowhere, fifteen miles from the small southern town that she frequented for supplies. Whistling chills screamed throughout the single story home, as the sand pelted the panes of glass on the south side of the house. Carla had been raised by her great aunt and knew nothing of her remaining kin until her aunts death. She then found out that her late father had land that he had left her and a sibling she had known nothing about. One hundred and seventy five acres were to be shared between the two , but she was never able to find out any information concerning her so called step brother.
The small home set in the middle of the desert like plain of land that was surrounded by a thick forest, much like the shape of a crescent moon. The drive broke off of the main road, that also broke off of the hi-way. Carla had decided to move away from her apartment that she had taken after the death of her aunt, who was on the other end of loving and always let it be known who’s home that Carla was blessed enough to be laying her head in. She had turned down the estate, but chose to take the extremely large bank account and leave her past to the vultures that ran her aunts law firm. The place she now called home was more than just a step down from what she had been accustom to, it was falling to the bottom of the barrel, with no step latter to get out.
The moment she pulled into the drive, and that was after the two hours of trying to find it, she knew it was going to be more than just a struggle to get the place in livable order. The windows were boarded up from top to bottom, and the door was locked by four locks, as well as two thick boards that were nailed firmly in place across the door. It was obvious that no one had been in the place since it had been closed up. Once she had the door open it was like the house took a deep breath and blew out the heavy dust that it had been holding for the past thirty years, chocking her as she grabbed her eyes to protect them from the haze coming at her. Her blond locks flew back, her hat took to the sky and she ran off the full length porch as if something was after her.
Carla reached her Jeep before she turned, the leaves were spinning around on the paint peeling steps, calming as she watched. Her heart beat rapidly as she leaned on the vehicle. “What the hell was I thinking?” she asked herself out loud, then open the passenger side door. She grabbed her purse and took out the cell phone, dialed a number and waited.
“Hello?”
“Pepper, you wouldn’t believe what just happened?” Carla said trying to catch her breath.
“Did you find the house?” Pepper asked not even thinking about what she was just told.
“Yeah, but it’s freaking me out and I haven’t even went in yet.”
“Well go in,” she replied with a snicker. “I wanted know what it’s like. Is it richie?”
“I just got blasted by a gust of wind…from opening the door. I think I’m going to leave.”
“I told you nothing can hurt you, Carla. Just talk to me while you go in. What’s it look like?”
“It’s really old, all boarded up. It’s going to take a mint to fix it up.”
“Yeah, but you can afford it.”
“You haven’t seen this place.”
“I’ll be there next month.”
“If I’m alive, this is really creepy,” Carla said walking up the steps.
A cool breeze blew across her face and almost made her turn back for the Jeep. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “You with me?” she asked Pepper. “Yeah, I’m here.” Then she stepped through door into the dark opening. It was at least twenty degrees colder in side the house then it was outside. Carla held herself with one hand and kept Pepper firmly to her ear. She looked everywhere for a light switch and found nothing but a lantern on the center of a round table in the middle of what she assumed to be the living room floor.
“I have to set you down for a minute and light this thing.”
“I though you called the electric company?”
“I did. Hold on,” Carla said and set the phone next to the lantern and took out her lighter.
The room came to life and caused Carla to step back in shock. The furniture was in immaculate condition, lush dark green velvet couches without as much as a spec of dust, graced with handmade cream colored lace throws over the back. The antique high back chairs that set side by side next to the fire place that was filled as if waiting to be lit, were a deep burgundy surrounded by intricate carved wood trimming . She reached down and picked up the phone, finding static where Pepper once was.
“Pepper…Pepper!” she yelled.
A loud bang came from the now close front door and she screamed.
“Didn’t mean to frighten ya ma’am, I’m from the electric company,” a man called out.
“I’m coming,” she called back wiping the tears from her cheeks.
Night after night she had been locked in her room after one of her aunt’s angry manic irruptions, in one of her many rampages of beatings and wild swearing, Throwing her in her room with the lights being off, causing her fear of the dark to fall over into her adult life. At the age of twenty six, and old enough to know that there is no such thing as the buggy man, or monsters in the closet, she still found it hard to open the door. “Can you tell me your name and the company that you work for?” she asked from the other side of the closed door.
“Yes, ma’am. Taylor Lambert, and I work for, LBI.”
“Okay, one more thing.”
‘Sure, what ever.”
“Who’s your boss?”
“You mean, Brian?”
“Yeah,” she replied opening the door. “Can’t never be to sure.”
“This is a small area, no need to worry about things like that around here,” he said smiling down at her.
She noticed his wide shoulders and tall stance before his bright smile flash with the glow of his shinning blue eyes. He flip his work order out and went to writing something down. “I noticed you’re going to be needing some lines put in, mind if I come in and look around?”
“No, not at all. I couldn’t find any switches anywhere in the living room.”
“Well, that’s weird.”
“Tell me about,” she laughed showing him inside.
“This is really nice, you’ve done a lot with out electricity.”
“It was this way when I got here,” she admitted going to the fire place.
“I may be a country boy, but please, I’m not stupid,” he retorted turning to face her.
She leaned down and struck the long match she found in a brass holder next to the wood box.
“I’m not trying to pull your leg. I got here a few minutes before you did. Why would I still have the windows boarded up?”
“Your names Carla…?” Then he started flipping through the papers.
“Stevens!” she added, setting the wood to blaze.
“Well Mrs. Stevens,” he started to say.
“That’s Miss. Stevens thank you,” she interrupted.
“Miss. Stevens, I think your full of it. You can try and make me think this old place just cleaned itself up, but it’s not going to work. This place has been empty for years. I know. I’ve lived around here all my life.”
“Well, smarty pants, believe what you want, I really don’t care. Just do your job, and I’ll worry about this house.”
“What ever you say lady.”
“You got it,” she said standing up putting her hand on her hip.
He shook his head and started looking for any signs of wires and like her, he found none. He asked if she would mind if he check out the rest of the place. She said she wouldn’t mind as long as she could go with him and the lantern. They found two more lanterns, lighting them as they went. One in the dinning room across the hall, and one in the kitchen at the back of the house. The two bed rooms that were side by side shared one bathroom between them, down the hall from the kitchen and on the west end of the house. They found a door in the middle of the hall that took them down into the basement where they found a large room filled with jars of canned goods. Corn, beans, beets, and mix veggies. Other than the shelves it was pretty much empty. The only other room in the house was a large bathroom on the other side of the kitchen, and beside what looked like a washroom. The back porch was screened in, and covered in vines that had creped up from the forest throughout the years.
“Looks like the whole place is going to need to be wired,” Taylor said writing down notes.
“How much is that going to cost?”
“Could go into a couple of thousands, if you include the outside lines. The city will do so much, but your responsible for the rest. Bet you don’t have gas either.”
“Are you kidding?”
“Nope, might have butane,” he smiled.
“Butane, what’s butane?”
“Burns like gas, some folks like it better. You ain’t never heard of butane?” he asked laughing.
“I’m not from around here,” she replied scowling at him.
“I can tell,” he snickered heading back to the kitchen.
“What’s that suppose to mean?” she asked walking up behind him.
“Folk’s around here are a whole lot more polite than you city types,” he explained leaning down over the stove. “Nope, wood burning.”
“Shut up…Who uses a wood burning stove?”
“Looks like you do.”
“You can really shut up now,” she smiled. “I have no idea how to use one of those things.”
“I might even have trouble with this,” he smiled back, “but, I’ll get it started for ya, and make sure it’s going to work, that is if you want me too?”
“If you don’t mind, that would be great. I’m going to get my things out of the Jeep, while you do that,” she said and turned to leave.
“Need some help?”
“No, I got it. Thanks.” Then she left the room.
Carla was getting her things from the Jeep when her cell phone rang. She set her suitcase down. “Hello?” “Carla, what happen. The phone started making this strange noise and it wouldn’t hang up,” Pepper explained with excitement. “I’m fine. It went dead on my end. The electric guy showed up, he’s lighting my kitchen stove right now, can you believe it’s a wood burning stove?”
“Is he cute?”
“Did you hear what I said?”
“Yeah, yeah, but is he cute?”
“Pepper, you are so bad…yes, he’s cute, okay,” Carla giggled.
“Oh my goodness, tell me more.”
“He’s built like a brick, blue eyes, blond hair, tall.”
“6’5 to be exact,” Taylor said from behind her.
Carla jumped and dropped the phone.
“I’m so sorry,” she said picking up the phone. “Pepper you still there.”
“I’m here, and I heard him,” she laughed. “Call you back later, good luck.” Then she hung up.
“Hello, Pepper? I think she just hung up on me,” she laughed nervously.
“I have the stove going pretty good, seems to be working just fine.”
‘That’s good,” she replied and they both reached down for her suitcase and hit heads.
“Ouch!” Carla said grabbing her forehead.
“I really didn’t mean to do that,” Taylor said holding his.
“Tell you what, I have two more in the back of the Jeep if you really want to help,” she smiled shaking her head and reaching down again.
“So, you think I’m cute?” he snickered walking round the Jeep.
“Maybe, a little.”
Carla hurried into the house, setting her bag down in the living room, and heading back out before he could say anything else as he passed her. She gathered the last of her things and was stopped as soon as she stepped around the Jeep.
“If you have everything, I better get this order back into to town,” Taylor said looking down at her.
“Sure, this is it,” she replied raising the objects in her hands.
“Mind if I get your number?”
“Really?”
“It’s for the order, in case my boss needs to contact you.”
“Oh, I see.”
She gave him the number and shook his hand. She stood and watched as he drove off, feeling the warm sensation of his hand on hers, wondering when and if he would be back. She turned around and looked at the house that she knew she had no choice but to go back into, pretending it somehow seemed more inviting with the warm glow of light illuminating the inside and her feet moved more easily. She closed the door behind her and slid the inside lock in place. She rolled out her sleeping bag and comforter on the couch, and slid it closer to the fire. Knowing the wood burning stove was going in the kitchen she decided it was best to go in and check on it before she did anything else. The thought of walking past the basement door made her think twice before she actually found the courage and forced herself down the long dark hall.
She held the lantern out in front of her, hugging the wall across from the basement door, sliding inch by inch, giving her imagination more than enough time to build. The closer she got the more her heart threatened to jump from her chest. The light quivered as her arm begin to tremble, her mind felt faint as the warm sensation of collapse ran up her legs. “Oh God! Oh God!” she said as she closed her eyes and rushed by. Once past and in the light of the kitchen she began to feel the life come back into her limbs, and feeling a bit childish for being afraid of an old house in the first place. The kitchen was warm, and smelt like someone was cooking bread. Carla, opened the oven out of curiosity to find an old cast-iron skillet, empty, but once well used, giving off the aroma of old times. She grabbed a pot holder that was hanging on a hook next to the stove and took it out of the oven. She flipped her phone open to call her friend Pepper, but she heard the sound that Pepper had described earlier and slammed it closed.
Tired, she made her way back to the living room, with a certain amount of speed by the basement door, and laid down on the couch. It was close to four in the afternoon, she had driven for more that eleven hours and her eyes were so heavy she could hardly keep them open. With her comforted pulled up over the bottom half of her legs, and her head resting on the arm of the couch she dozed off. Around midnight her eyes fluttered as she arched her back, stretching her sore bones. She thought she saw a glimpse of something moving, but figured she was dreaming, then she remembered where she was. Her eyes flew open and her entire body froze, while she looked down at the eight legged beast crawling up the center of her chest. It’s brown fuzzy body, slowly making it’s way, one leg at a time, closer and closer to her face, until she could see the tiny cluster of eyes that sit on top of it’s head.
Fear gripped her stomach to the point that she couldn’t draw breath, the quiver of her lip slipping from her paralysis. Sheer will alone raised her hand and flung the creepy crawler across the floor and into the smoldering coals of what was left of the fire. She jumped up screaming, and squealing, running to the fireplace, adding more wood, making the flames come bake to life. Carla searched everywhere for the eight legged creature, moving the ash around hoping to see proof that it really went into the fire place. But she never found it. She started swatting at her cloths thinking she may have missed, pulling her shirt over her head for good measure. The thing was the size of a basketball in her mind, but in reality the mere size of a fifty cent piece. To big to simply miss, yet to small and it got away.
The night was a long draw out ordeal with Carla setting up in one of the high back chairs keeping the fire going as high as she could get it. She braved using the bathroom once, running past the ever present basement door, looking in every dark corner waiting for a massive spider to come out after her. The sun peeking through the wooden slates over the windows was a welcome sight to Carla, who bounced out of the chair, slung the door open and took a deep breath of morning air. She went back in put her shoes on, grabbed her keys, and headed into town to buy as much bug spray as she could find.
Driving through the small town, Carla felt like she had fallen into another world altogether. Where she was use to sky-scrapers, cramp bumper to bumper streets, and crowds of impenetrable people. She now saw one story shops with no more than two to three cars out front, even for eight thirty in the morning she thought there should be more. She had seen few houses on the way in and even fewer people. A man on a tractor out in a field, and an older woman going into a pharmacy, but other than that, no one, not even a car on the road. She pulled into the local grocery story and killed the motor. She stepped out and the first thing she saw was a spider crawling out from under her Jeep, and she stomped on it.
“Why’d you do that?” a little old man asked.
“I hate those things,” she replied shaking her shoulders.
“This world be in a mess a trouble without `em.” Then he turned and walked away.
“Crazy old man,” she mumbled and went into the store.
First ,she went up and down every isle looking for the insecticide, before she went back to the front and asked for help. She was told that they were all out, and that they wouldn’t be getting any in anytime soon. The woman asked if there was anything else that she might need and Carla grabbed a basket. She had four bags worth when she left the store, but no bug spray. She stopped at the feed barn, but had no luck there, and stopped back by the store to purchase ice for her ice chest, then she headed back home. Taylor’s truck was in the drive way, so she parked out in the front, taking two bags as she walked up the long sidewalk. She set one of the bags down, while she looked around for Taylor, and pulled the house key out of her jeans pocket. She pushed the key into the slot and the door slowly opened.
The door being unlocked made her step back, and set the other bag down. She wanted to call out Taylor’s name but thought about things that had happen in the city. Robbers on the inside when someone comes home. Could have happen to Taylor, she thought, backing away from the door and right into, Taylor. She screamed and took off running. “Carla!” Taylor yelled and died laughing.
“Oh, you just shut up!” she yelled back, holding her knees looking back at him a few feet away. “Was you in my house?”
“Your door was unlocked.”
“So, you just went in?” she asked standing up.
“I knocked.”
She made a grunting sound and went to pick up her bags, he bent down at the same time and almost hit her in the head, again. She burst out laughing and he stepped back shaking his head, smiling from ear to ear. She told him since he took her spot in the driveway that he could go out and grab the other two bags of groceries. He told her that her house was full of smoke when he got there, because someone put to much wood in the fireplace. She puckered out her bottom lip and walked into the house, pretending it wasn’t her. The first thing she noticed when she walked in was the open windows. The curtains moved with the light breeze that made its way through the boards on the outside of the windows.
“You could have taken the boards off while you were at it,” she called out as she made her way down the hall.
“Wasn’t sure if you wanted them off,” he replied coming through the door.
“Why on earth would I want to leave them on?”
“We have some pretty bad wind storms around here.”
“So…I should keep my windows boarded up?”
“Naw, but we do have some wicked storms. I’ll help you take down the ones in front before I leave.”
“By the way, why did you come back out today?” she asked putting the milk in the ice chest.
“Needed footage from the road to the house. The city has the layout from the road to the main lines.”
“You’ve already figured out that much since last night?”
“It’s a small town,” he said setting the bags on the table.
“Yeah, you’ve said that, and I’ve been there. Mind getting my ice. It’s in the front floorboard of the Jeep. Make you a glass of tea.”
“Deal, be back in a minute.”
She looked down as she reached into the bag and slid her hand next to the spider that rested on the edge of the sack. She screamed and fell back, as the spider scurried down the side of the sack, making rustling sounds with its legs against the paper, causing chills to flood her body. She kicked out and smashed the bag into the cabinet.
“What happened? Are you alright?” Taylor asked sliding back around the kitchen door.
“Damn spiders, it’s the third one I’ve seen,” she replied getting to her feet and shaking her arms out, and stomping around.
“You live in the country,” he laughed. “You’re going to see all kinds of things out here.”
“I saw one in town…and don’t say, ‘It’s a small town.’”
“Carla,” he said walking over to her and taking her arm. “This whole area is country, from the small town to the forest around us. Spiders are just apart of things around here, just like butterflies and grasshoppers.”
“Those I can handle, spiders I cannot.”
“Why, what’s so wrong with spiders?”
“Just saying the word gives me the creeps. All those legs and eyes, and the way they come at you,” she claimed bring her shoulders up.
“They fear you more then you fear them,” he said rubbing her arm.
“That’s your opinion. They scare me pea green,” she replied pulling away from him.
“I’ll go get that ice,” he said turning around.
“Thanks,” she whispered.
“You bet.” Then he was gone.
She put her hands on her forehead and cursed under her breath, feeling stupid
for being so afraid of such a small creature, that she could crush so easily. She began pushing the sack around with her foot, to afraid to put her hand anywhere near it, thinking the spider would pop up at anytime. Taylor brought the ice back in and finished getting the things out of the bag. Carla watched in amazement as Taylor bent down and reached under the counter, coming out with the spider on the back of his hand.
“Kill it, Taylor!” she yelled jumping back around the table.
“I’m not going to kill it. It’s completely harmless.”
“Then take outside, please!” she yelled as she ran into the far corner of the kitchen.
He cupped his hand over it and smiled up at her. She shook herself and glared at him. He laughed and got to his feet and took the spider out the front door and let it go in the rose bush by the steps. Carla walked out with her arms wrapped around her body like she was cold, causing Taylor to smile. “You’ll get use to them, in time.” He didn’t go back in. He said he goodbyes, turning down the tea, saying he had to get back to work, but promised to come back in a few days and help take the boards off the windows. She went back in and started closing the ones that were open, because the wind picked up as soon as he drove off. Once she was finished she went in and started the fire in the wood burning stove, to boil some water for her first bath, then to cook her first meal in her new home.
The water pump on the kitchen sink worked without any problems, and was easier to figure out than she had first expected. The toilet had to be filled every time you flushed it, but at least it was a working in door system, along with a tub that had a drain. She was soaking when she heard her cell phone ringing in the living room. She stood up and out of the sudsy water and wrapped her housecoat around her, and then ran down the hall to get it. The basement door swung open, just after she past it, at the same time the phone stopped abruptly in the middle of a ring. Carla tripped over the leg of the high back chair and slid face first into the couch. She set up on the cold floor, and pushed herself up against the couch, peering back down the hall. She reached over feeling the service of the couch for the phone without looking until she found it and then popped it open.
“Impossible,” she whispered looking at the phone that wasn’t turned on.
She had turned it off to save the battery so she wouldn’t have to charge it in the Jeep so often. The basement door slowly shut making the click of the blot sound like a bullet going off in her mind. She scrambled to her feet and hit the front door. She struggled to open it but it wouldn’t budge. She placed her back to it and open her phone turning it on. Once she had a tone she dialed Peppers number.
“Hey been trying to call you.”
“Pepper, I can’t get out of the house,” Carla cried in panic.
“Calm down, what happened, Carla?”
“I was in the bath, the phone rang but I had it turned off. I went to get it and the basement door came open.”
“I don’t understand what you mean, your talking all jumbled up.”
“Pepper, I think someone’s in the house.”
“Get out.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“I can’t open the door,” she said through gritted teeth then screamed at the top of her lungs.
“Carla!” Pepper yelled.
Three brown fuzzy spiders came crawling down the hall, right in Carla’s direction. She screamed again and began yanking on the door. “Please, talk to me…Carla!”
“Spiders, they’re everywhere. Get away!”
Then the phone went dead. Carla threw it across the room, bouncing it over the spiders, missing them altogether. They moved quickly across the shinny wood floor, weaving side to side, coming closer to her, stopping as soon as she stepped away from the door. “Go away!” she screamed. They flinched coming to a stop, pulling back their front legs. “I said get away from me!” she screamed. The three eight legged creatures turned and in a hurried fashion rushed back to the basement door and scurried under. Carla slid down the door, setting on her heels and started crying. The phone rang and she jumped to get it.
“Pepper?”
“No, it’s me Taylor.”
“I’m so afraid.”
“I’ll be there in a minute.” Then he hung up.
“Why does everyone hang up on me?” she cried and closed the phone.
Carla stayed by the front door until she heard Taylor’s truck pull up, she didn’t even notice that the door opened freely, she just ran out and flung herself into his arms, the moment he stepped out. He wrapped his arms around her and tried to help her back into the house. “I’m not to sure I want to go back in there.”
“The sun’s going down and the winds picking up. You’ll catch your death of cold out here dressed like this.”
“I don’t care, Taylor. This place is haunted.”
“Nonsense. There’s no such thing.”
“The basement door opened, and shut by its self,” she claimed grabbing the front of his shirt and looking up into his eyes.
“This is an old house. I’m sure there’s a logical explanation,” he said pulling her back into his embrace.
“Fine you go in first. Wait the front door wouldn’t open earlier.”
“Maybe you were just trying to hard. You came out as soon as I pulled up.”
“I can’t explain it, but that door was stuck. I saw more spiders, and don’t try and tell me it’s the country. There were three of them coming down the hall at me at the same time.”
“Hum, three?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Coming on lets get you by the fire.”
Taylor added wood to the wood burning stove while Carla finished up in the bathroom, which didn’t take long. The two went into the living room where Taylor added more wood to the fireplace bringing it to a full blaze. Carla stared at Taylor’s back, making out his form through the thin material of his shirt in front of the light of the flames. Later she curled up on the couch, finding herself extremely tired. She opened her eyes not realizing that she had fallen asleep, and saw movement under Taylor’s shirt. He poked at the burning logs, as his sides pushed out then pulled back in. She softly said his name, setting up waiting for him to respond. He moved his head from side to side as if stretching out his neck muscles, then scraped a pointed brown fuzzy tip of a hand across the floor in front of himself.
Carla woke covered in sweat, setting up so fast she became dizzy. She leaned over and laid her head down on her knees and thank God that she was dreaming. The sun was shinning through the windows extremely bright, and when she looked up it was obvious that Taylor had removed the boards that covered the windows. She went to stand up and feel back on the couch, feeling sick to her stomach, and more dizzy now then she was when she first set up. She held her head and found her footing, making her way to the bathroom. She fell to her knees and lost everything. Afterwards she felt somewhat better and went into the kitchen to find coffee already perking on the stove.
Taylor came in through the back door with an arm full of freshly cut wood, that he added to the cupboard next to the stove. He walked over and pulled out a chair from the table then took a cup from the cabinet over the sink. “Cream or sugar?” he asked then pour it full.
“Cream please. How’d you get all the boards off without waking me up?”
“You were really out, and I was trying to be quite. How do you feel? You don’t look so good,” he asked handing her the hot cup.
“Thanks. I feel like crap, and I had this horrible dream.”
“Wanna talk about it?” he asked setting down across from her.
“Hell no. My friend, Pepper, said you never talk about your dreams, she said it’s how they come true.”
“You really don’t believe that do you?”
“No, I guess not, but I’m not taking any chances either.”
“That bad, huh?” he snickered.
“Don’t laugh you were in it, and it was awful.”
“Sure it wasn’t one of those sexy dreams and your to bashful to talk about it?” he asked wiggling his eye brows.
“You wish,” she giggled.
“At least I just got your color back to your cheeks.”
“Shut up, your just loving this aren’t you?”
“Making you blush…yes, I am,” he replied getting up and going to the sink.
“Don’t you have a job to get to?” she asked starting to get up and falling back in the chair. “Something’s wrong,” she said dropping her cup. “I…I.” Then she collapsed to the floor.
Carla woke in a bed, with Taylor standing at the opening of a door speaking to a older woman and the same man she spoke to out side the grocery store. She tried to move but her body felt heavy and weak at the same time. She tried to talk and only started coughing for her trouble. “She’s awake,” the woman said and rushed to her side. “Here, drink this, it will make the pain in your body ease.” The woman put the spoon of liquid to her mouth and forced her to drink it. The bitter taste made her gag several times, before she could take the water that was offered next.
“One more spoon then you’ll be all done for a few hours,’ the woman said bringing it toward her mouth.
“No,” Carla muttered turning her head.
“Hold her,” she ordered, and Taylor held her head.
“No, please,” Carla cried, as the woman shoved the spoon into her mouth.
“It’s for your own good. The poison has gone deep into your body.”
She cringed shaking her head, wanting Taylor to stop touching her. She swallowed the water rapidly, but the bitter taste stayed, and gagged her over and over. Taylor took out a piece of hard candy and she gladly took it into her mouth, closing her eyes, swirling it around like it was the best thing she had ever tasted. Her eyes flew open as soon as his hand brush her hair away from her face and he slowly stood and backed away from the bed.
“You have every reason to be angry at me, Carla, but I had to bring them here. You would have died if I hadn’t,” he explained stepping back up to the bed. “I knew you had been bitten by one of the others when I saw you the other morning, so I gave you a sleeping drug in your coffee.”
“You drugged me? How long ago?”
“Five days. My elders have been bleeding you, draining the poison from your body,” he said setting down next to her on the bed.
“Draining me, Taylor? I don’t understand,” she said as tears began running down the sides of her face.
“Please, don’t cry. We don’t have the same cures that your modern doctors have, but you will become well just the same.”
“Think you can eat a bit of soup?” the woman asked coming up to the bed with a tray.
Carla was about to nod, when a spider crawled out from under the tray and bounced its body up and down like it was going to jump on her. Her eyes grew wide, and Taylor saw what she was looking at and reached over and took it in his hand. “She meant no harm, she just wanted to welcome you to our home,” the woman explained setting the tray on the bedside table.
Carla looked up a tTaylor who smiled back down at her. He told her he would take the spider back into the kitchen and would be right back. Carla was becoming more confused by the minute. She was starting to think that she was still having effects from the drugs. “Everyone calls me Martha in this form, But my children call me Enik, mom if you will,” the woman said picking up the bowl of soup. Carla was really thinking she was hearing things now. First thinking she heard them say that the spider came to say welcome, then thinking the woman just said, in this form.
“How’s the soup?” Taylor asked coming back in the room.
“I need to call Pepper,’ she said trying to set up.
“You just lay back, you’ve been through a great deal,” Martha said pushing on her chest.
“Please, Martha. I really need to let her know that I’m okay, she’s the only family that I have.”
“She’s already been contacted. I told her that you would call when you felt better,” Taylor explained coming back to her side.
“See child, now eat you soup.”
“I don’t want your soup, I want to go home!” she demanded pushing the bowl away.
The woman looked over a Taylor who looked back, then down at Carla. “Ben will come in and remove the bleeders, then if you can get up on your…”
“What do you mean, bleeders?”
“Don’t panic, Carla. It’s the only way to draw the poison out of your body,” he explained holding out his hands.
“What does he mean, Martha?”
She stood up and set the bowl down on the tray then pulled the bedspread back that cover her body. Carla looked down at the black things that covered her legs and abdomen and began kicking her legs, and screaming, while trying to fling herself off the bed. The woman, Martha, pulled out a syringe and jammed it into her shoulder, while Taylor held her down. Carla screamed looking over at her then fell unconscious, glancing back at the only one she thought she could trust, Taylor.
“Was that necessary,” Taylor asked covering Carla back up.
“For Benjamin to remove the leeches, yes.”
“And the coming?”
“It will not harm the coming at this stage. You just keep your eyes on her after you get her back there. The others have searched the house and placed watchers throughout. If he returns he will find himself in a different situation.”
“Thank you, Enik. I looked, but he must have been hiding inside from the very beginning.”
“She has come home to us, and we can’t lose her now. She’s our last chance for survival.”
“It’s more than that, Enik. I love her,” Taylor said looking down at Carla‘s delicate face.
“Then guard her with your life, my son. She is the future to our tomorrow.” Then she moved and let the old man, Benjamin, get next to the bed.
He placed a hot rod to each of the leeches that sucked the blood from Carla’s body. Thirty five in all. Once she was cleaned, and dressed in her own cloths, Taylor carefully carried her to his truck. He gently laid her in the seat and got in. He pulled her over enough to put her head in his lap, then drove around the large two story home that belong to his people. Taylor’s land wasn’t far from Carla’s but the drive still took some time, being there was only one way into her home, and one way out of his. She begin to wake on the drive, soTaylor turned the radio on, trying to keep her calm.
“Where am I?” she sluggishly asked.
“On your way home.”
“Taylor?”
“Yes, it’s me. How do you feel?”
“Sleepy. I’ve been having the strangest dreams,” she said pushing herself into a setting position. “How did I get in the truck?”
“You got bit by a poisonous…bug, and I took you to the doctor,” he lied looking over at her.
“How come I can’t remember?” she said laying her head back against the glass.
“You’ve been really sick. I think the med’s kept you under.”
“What?” she asked looking back at him. “Was I in the hospital?”
“Pepper called, you need to call her and let her know your feeling better,” he interjected changing the subject.
“You talked to Pepper?”
“Yeah, she was worried. I kind of had to,” he smiled. “She didn’t give me much choice.”
“I bet she didn’t,” she laughed. “Do you have my phone?”
“No, I left it charging in your Jeep, yesterday.”
She didn’t respond she just laid her head back and watched the trees go by while he drove. He helped her into the house and asked if she wanted him to stay, but she insisted that he go home, telling him that she would sleep on the couch in front of the fire, and would call him if anything happen. She really wanted to be alone, not seeming to worry about the concerns she once had about the house. After he left she walked down the hall, stopping in front of the basement door. “This is my house now and I would appreciate it if you would be on you best behavior.” Then she reached out and opened the door. “Did you hear me down there.” A knock hit the front door and she just about jumped out of her skin. She closed the door and walked to the front door.
“It’s me, Taylor.”
She smiled and opened the door to him holding up her cell phone.
“Thought you might want this.”
“I could have got that myself.”
“You said you were going to stay on the couch, not run out to the Jeep. If you need me, I’m in the phone,” he said then turned to walk off.
“Taylor,” she said.
“Yeah,” he replied turning back.
“Thanks, for everything.”
He didn’t say a word, just walked up and wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed her. She went weak in the knees and all but let him hold her off the ground as she explored him with her hands as well as her mouth. When he released her he set her down on wobbly feet and pulled her hands up to his lips, then simply turned and walked off the porch. She leaned on the door jam and watched him drive off with every fiber in her body vibrating. She flip the phone open a dialed Pepper’s number.
“Hello, Taylor?”
“No, it’s me.”
“Oh thank the stars. How do you feel, that must suck getting bit by a brown recluse. I looked it up on line, and your lucky to be alive.”
“That’s the first time that I’ve heard what bite me.”
“Really, they didn’t tell you?”
“I was kind of out of it.”
“Yeah, Taylor told me. He sounds dreamy, and he has a real thing for you,” she said followed by a whistle.
“He kissed me tonight,” Carla admitted touching her lips.
“You need to get bitten more often. Well, come on, do tell,” Pepper snickered.
“It was magical. I can still feel the tingling in my lips.”
“Your falling in love.”
“Shut up. I don’t fall in love, besides who falls for a guy this fast.”
Pepper cleared her throat.
“I do not," carla argued with humor.
“You just have, how can you say that?”
“I have to go.”
“Chicken shit.”
“I love you too, Pepper.”
“I can’t wait to see you. Three weeks. Get some rest and call me.”
“I will. Hey, bring some bug spray.”
“Bug spray, you have mosquitoes?”
“No, no. The kind that kills spiders. The store here doesn’t have what I need.”
“Have it exterminated,” she suggested.
“Thought of that, but there’s not one around here. The feed store doesn’t even have stuff to kill out pest in a barn. This whole area seems to think creepy things are something you can live with. Well, I can’t.”
“Are you kidding, I hate those things. I can’t even imagine what it must be like getting bit by one.”
“To tell you the truth I don’t even know where the thing got me, but I’m so tired I think I’m going to get laid down and look for it later.”
***
Two and a half weeks had past, Carla had become more comfortable with her new home. She had become accustom to having no gas or electricity, and very use to having Taylor around. She was setting on the couch watch the sand storm rage outside as the siding tore away from the house. It was uncanny how the pelting sand could blast the outside but never coat the inside. Rarely did she have to dust and only did so to keep the furniture polished. She now set and watched out the window for Taylor to come up the drive. They had become closer than she could have ever imagined, and felt a growing bond every time they met. She hadn’t seen another spider since she’s been home and she was grateful. The basement door hadn’t opened on it’s own, and finally became just another door that she could pass without having a heart attack.
This was the fourth hard sand storm that she had been through in the short time that she had spent in the house. It was four days until Pepper arrived, and Taylor was working on getting a generator so they could run the small refrigerator that she had ordered from the small store in town. The sun was starting to set and he still wasn’t back. She had been sick a few times since the bite from the poisonous spider, but the tea that Martha brought over calmed her stomach and gave her an enormous appetite, that kept her in the kitchen more than anywhere else in the house. She and Taylor had learned a great deal about cooking on the wood burning stove from Martha, and shared supper together most nights. Tonight, was going to be the first with chilled wine, after the generated was installed.
The stormed picked up and nothing could be seen past the entry of the porch post. She got up on her knees and tried to see past the thick angry sand that beat the window violently. The sounds that howled through the house caused shivers to crawl up her spin. The basement door swung open and crashed into the wall. She jumped off the couch and ran to close, only to stop at the sight of a huge brown spider coming out of the entrance. “Go away,” she whispered.
The spider wasn’t like the others that she had seen, its body was smooth and shaped like a fiddle, where the others where round and fuzzy. The photo’s that Pepper had sent through the phone were much small then the thing she was now looking at, this spider was the size of a dinner plate, and growing before her eyes. She rubbed her eyes and shook her head disbelieving what she was witnessing, until the front door flew open and Taylor ran in with a club and crushed the head of the eight legged demon that was swiftly moving toward her.
“Taylor!” Carla yelled and ran into his arms.
“Are you alright?”
“What is it?”
“A brown recluse, the one that bit you,” he explained moving her away from the shrinking form.
“I don’t understand, it was so big. I swear it was getting bigger, while I…”
“Shhh…everything’s going to be okay now. He can never hurt you again,” he said picking her up like a child.
“The wind, it’s stopped.”
“I know, you rest now.” Then he took her into the back bedroom. “I’ll take care of things.”
“Am I losing my mind?” she asked setting up in the bed.
“No baby,” he replied setting down by her. “Things will become more clear once you get some rest.”
“I’m tired of resting, Taylor. I want to know what’s going on.”
“Look, Pepper will be here soon, and you’ll have a different outlook.” He then kissed her and she laid back and feel asleep.
It was the day that Pepper was coming in and Carla was cooking her favorite meal, Taco’s. Taylor went to meet her on the main road and show her the way in. Martha and Ben had come over to join them for supper. Martha had made her special soup, and Ben brought his pipe and was on the porch smoking it waiting for Taylor to return. Carla told Martha she was going to go out to her Jeep and try Pepper’s cell phone, because she thought she should have been there already. Once there she got no response from Peppers cell, and tried Taylor’s getting the same thing, nothing.
“Martha, I can’t get a hold of Taylor,” she claimed walking back into the kitchen.
“Well, they’ll be here soon enough. Why don’t you have a little soup while we wait.”
“Does smell yummy,” she said leaning over the pot.
“Better than yummy, it’s the best,” Martha replied dipping in a spoon. “ Special family recipe, here try it.” Then held the spoon full out to Carla.
She put the spoon in her mouth and closed her eyes with the glory of it flavor. “It’s wonderful,” she said and grabbed a bowl from the cabinet. “Want some?” Carla asked but Martha just shook her head, smiling at the way that Carla took another bite before she filled her bowl full. Carla was halfway through when her head begin to feel strange. Her hand fell to the table as her body fell back into Taylor’s arms.
“She’s ready,” Martha said and took her legs.
“She‘s so beautiful, Enik,” he smiled looking down at her.
“She will make a fine addition to the family.”
They took her down to the basement where Ben had slid the shelves of jars aside to opened a room that Carla never knew was there. They laid her on a twin size bed and placed her legs up in stirrups and strapped them down. She began to moan the moment Martha placed the needle in her arm. Carla opened her eyes to a room covered in webs, and she started to scream.
“Please, don’t be afraid,” Taylor said moving her hair from her face. “All mothers go through this.”
“Your crazy. Let me up, Taylor,” she cried.
“It’s to late, the birthing has begun,” Martha said from the end of the table.
“No…No!” Carla screamed as hundreds of tiny baby spiders came rushing out between her legs.
Her eyes dashed to the corner of the room, where she saw Pepper being cocooned by two giant brown fuzzy spiders. The hundred of tiny ones ran down her thighs and off the table straight for the woven mass in the corner, and began consuming her friend, until they vanished inside the cocoon with her. “She will feed them well, my queen,” Taylor lovingly said stroking her hair. Martha, Ben and Taylor began to change. Taylor’s shirt burst open and two spider formed arms jetted out as his torso morphed, twisting, molding, until he too stood on eight fuzzy brown legs at her side. The three began spraying webs over Carla’s screaming body until she was concealed inside of her own cocoon, then they waited.
Two weeks later the three gathered around the solid shell that had become Carla’s flight into her new world, a place that she always belong in, a place that she merely came home to. The brother that she never knew was the very one that tried to poison her, and the same that Taylor had killed in her hall. She was the off spring of a brown recluse, never knowing the cruel trick that nature had played on her kind, and now those who were enemies of her people were hoping she would be the queen to their new world. One half recluse, one half wolf spider, but which would she be reborn?
The cocoon begin to move and the three came closer. It formed a small crack on the top and a human hand shot out grabbing Martha by her spider throat, and crushed it. She dropped where she stood and Ben started backing away. Taylor’s form changed back into his human self and waited for the cocoon to break open. Another hand came out and pulled the thick web back, until both arms were fully out, seconds later Carla’s head popped free and she stood up, nude and covered in web’s.
“Taylor, you’ve been a bad boy,” she said shooting a web from her mouth and covering Ben’s head.
He shook his spider head as it begin to dissolve under her poisonous gift. She jumped from the table and walked over to Pepper’s cocooned body and split it open with the tip of her very sharp finger nail, and her slightly bigger babies climbed her body, covering her like a slick brown over coat. She turned and looked at Taylor.
“I know how my father died now, Taylor.”
“I love you, Carla,” he replied stepping up to her.
“I love you too, but I’m so hungry. You were right, everything is so much clearer now.”
The basement door slowly closed to the screams of Taylor, as Carla had her first meal with her children. The town would have to wait until the next wind storm, but spreading the good news about a new breed coming would happen soon enough. Taylor’s children would inherit his land and change they way of the future, and Carla would be the queen that they all wanted so badly…To bad she carried the other half of a killer, it was something they should have taken into consideration.
