The Black Widow

POP! The tire blows out. “Shit,” Tom says as he is forced to a skid as his bike flies out from underneath him. His legs and palms scrape against the cement. He gets up turns around and looks at his bike the tire popped and the chain came off. He bends down to fix the chain. His hands get full of black grease, “Not a good way to start the day,” he says to himself, and started to walk his bike to the school.

“What took so long,” Mat teased. Mat is tall has black hair with, a spiked hairdo, and black color contacts, and he only wears black. He hates spiders; he hates everything for that matter. Tom walked up to the bike rack where, his friend, Mat standing.

“Yeah, check out my tire,” Tom said. Tom is a short kid with short black hair and brown eyes. Mat pointed at the ground.

“Eh, oh well… hey spider,” He snarled as he raised his foot.

“Don’t…” Tom started. Stomp! Went Mats foot on the ground, he didn’t head Tom’s warning. “You did it again,” Tom murmured as he turned away to lock up his bike.

“Hey!” Sara said. Sara is taller than Tom; she has long curly blond hair, and green eyes. She loves a good adventure; and hates when Mat steps on spiders.

“Ooops… I mean…uh… Hey, Sara what’s up?” Mat tried.

“Did you just step on a spider?” Sara continued. Mat took a step back.

“No…” Mat said pathetically rolling his eyes; waving off the subject with his hands. He took another step back in to the bike rack. “…I was just explaining to Tom how I… uh… laid down the line to my… uh… sis yesterday.”

“Time for class,” Mat said changing the subject. Tom went down the hall, pushing through the wave of people. Grabbed a few books from his locker and made his way to class.

“Tom!” Mr. Lowler called.

“Huh? Wha…What?” Tom said groggily. He had fallen asleep one the keyboard. There were several lines of b’s across the screen. Not many people were in Mr. Lowler’s class. Not because of the class he taught but because he smells. Tom took this class because he needed another elective, and the class next quarter was full, so he is stuck with Mr. Lowler.

“Get to work!” Mr. Lowler yelled. “Get something done in the last twenty minutes of class, or I will be forced to give you an F!” Mr. Lowler yelled and as he went back to his desk.

‘Hope my friends are having just as much fun,’ Tom thought. The bell rang, and finally school is over. Tom went to his locker, and met up with Mat, and Sara to walk home.

“Did you guys see the vampire documentary that was…” Mat drifted off.

“You were saying?” Sara questioned.

“… O… Ya I uh…the one that was on last night,” Mat finished.

“Dude, what was with the…?” Tom mimicked smiling.

“I don’t know I…” Mat started, “I was just looking at the spiders on the ground.”

“Don’t you dare,” Sara threatened.

“No, no not that it’s that they are going in a straight path like ants in…um what’s the word… single file, yah,” Mat said.

“Whatever,” Sara murmured.

“No, this is weird,” Tom claimed, “I know a little bit about spiders, they don’t usually follow each other, for the most part they are loners.”

“Fine, let’s go check it out. Where were they?” Sara asked. Mat pointed to the grass. The group followed down the line of spiders. The spiders went threw a rusty old fence that led to an untidy yard. Putting down his kickstand, Tom hops over the fence after Sara. Mat trying to squish as many spiders as possible on his way down form over the fence. Sara gave him a cold stare, but he just shrugged his shoulders. The grass is thick, so they pickup the trail once it leaves the grass. The trio found them selves across the yard by the back of an old condemned house. The spiders climbed through an old jagged broken sliding glass door. Sara tried to squeeze threw but he couldn’t fit without cutting herself. Mat tried next but he couldn’t fit either. They asked Tom to try.

“NO! No way am I going through there. Un-uh, no way, not going to happen,” Tom protested shaking his head.

“Fine then,” Sara said. “Just move out of the way.” She surveyed the area and found a nice sized rock over by the fence. She bent over grabbing hold of the rock her hair rubbing against the mossy fence. She picked up the rock, carried it over to the door and swinging it back and forth gaining momentum, lets it fly though the glass shattering it into splinters. Sara and Mat proceed to pull Tom inside; as soon as Tom enters he notices a musty smell within the cool, damp, mist about him. There were patches of mold on the carpets, from water collecting on it. Every few steps you took you could hear the creaking from the stress on the old wooden boards.

“We shouldn’t be here,” Tom cautioned. “I got homework to do; Mr. Lowler assigned a whole paper due Monday and I still have yet to start.” Mat and Sara turn around and stare at him blankly, seeing as they are both enjoying the thrill of being inside the house.

“No way, why should we?” Mat protested. Sara nodding in agreement standing next to him with arms folded.

“No, we just broke in here and I really don’t want to get in trouble,” Tom demanded.

“Whatever, you know you’re just no fun,” Mat refused.

“Ya, ok whatever, lets get out of here,” Tom urged. Tom checked to make sure they were following him as he walked over the broken glass through the door. Tom climbed over the rusty fence with its hinges squealing. “You guys want to meet up at the park around six?” Tom asked once they had left the house and were nearing their own.

“Sure,” replied Mat.

“Ya, I’ll be there,” Sara piped in.

“Cool, see you then,” Tom replied and pulled his bike into his drive way.

At six Tom went over to the park, but neither Mat nor Sara were there. He walked over to the slide. As kids they used to make little maps to show were they were, but Tom only had to guess where they were. He turned around and started running.

When he got to the house he jumped right to the top of the gate and with a screeching of metal; the gate buckled at the rusty hinges and collapsed to the ground. Mat and Sara ran around the corner to see what happened. Tom sitting unnerved in the middle of the ruins of the fence, dazed at what just happened.

“Why are you guys here?” Tom barked angry.

“Cause, this place is cool,” Mat declared.

“Come on you two, I want to see where the spiders are going. If you don’t want to come you don’t have to,” Sara offered.

“I am coming,” Mat snorted.

“Fine,” Tom gave in. They picked up the spider trail where they left off. Not to far ahead the spiders split apart. Some continued down the hall, the others walked right into another room through a door frame.

“Come on in here,” she said. She opened the door and immediately a horrible smell of rotting flesh attacked there nose. Tom covered his mouth and nose with his hand feeling the food in his stomach regurgitate and start to fetter and churn inside his stomach. Even with the smell, Sara walked into the room. Mat followed her in, Tom hesitating. Eventually walked in too the smell increasing as he walked. They continued to follow the spiders, leading up to the closet. The smell had become increasingly worse. There was a dead corpse mangled and contorted in the bottom of the closet.

‘He probably died in his thirty’s,’ Tom thought to himself examining the body yet keeping his distance. The body was of an African American male, he had a ring on his ring finger on his right hand so he probably had been married. He also had bite marks in its side and back. These bite marks were bigger than any spider could make, looking more like a snake bite, but just not quite. The spiders crawled into the bite marks, and didn’t seem to have an exit point. Just kept coming in not being packed in without any room but going in to an abyss or vortex.

“That’s it I getting out of here,” Tom quivered.

“Ya, maybe we went too far. This is serious stuff,” Mat confessed. He and Tom started walking to the door. “I mean this guy is like dead,” he continued.

“Oh, come on well tell the police what we found here,” Sara reasoned. “But first I want to check out what is upstairs with the other line of spiders.”

“I’m not so sure,” Mat murmured not making eye contact, but instead staring at the body and the deep wounds in which the spiders climbed.

“Come on were already here we might as well see the rest of the house.” Sara insisted.

“Kk, whatever I know you will go anyways so I will come,” Mat reasoned. They started walking to the stairs. Tom looked back to the broken glass and to the unkempt yard. He noticed that the sun had already set. Turning around he heads towards the stairs. Cautiously following the line of spiders, he looks at their multiple mobile legs. As the spiders went up the stairs, they slowed down because having to climb the vertical stretch.

‘Nothing can stop those spiders,’ Tom pondered shivering at the thought of unstoppable spider army. They followed the spiders into one of the several doors on the second floor. The room had an abundance of spiders. They were everywhere, on the ceiling, walls, especially floor; also spider webs filled the room and Tom just noticed that they had been missing throughout the rest of the house; this is the only room with spider webs within it. Pondering that for a moment, and decided that all the webs were from the spiders stopping and moved freely here and not in single file.

There is an old lady in the center of the room, sitting in a rocking chair. She is an African American, wearing all black. She smiled at the children and rocked back and forth, in her chair. Sara noticed that she has fang like teeth. She went to whisper it to Tom, but the lady distracted her saying something that they could not understand. All the sudden, the spiders started moving toward them…

“Ow, my thigh,” Mat yelped swatting at his leg. As soon as he did he fell back wards onto the floor confusing.

“Mat!” Sara screamed a grossed out look on her face, “Ow, one bit me on the ar…” She faded off, and she collapsed on the floor just like Mat did. Tom being the only one left started to watch his surroundings. Jumping at any twinge or hint of movement that felt like a spider.

He looked at the lady just sitting there smiling, that’s when he saw her teeth. He noticed one more thing; he noticed that she is wearing a wedding ring. He remembered the man in the closet. Distracted he did not notice a spider on his ankle and then an excreting pain came from a bite on his ankle. First the poison and pain slowly crept up his leg, soon his leg became weak, and once the pain reached his waist it spread faster. His other leg began to feel weak and he slowly fell to his knees. More spiders crawling over him he is getting bit every where but he can no longer feel it. He buckled at the knees and fell forward. He tried lifting his arms to protect his head as he fell forward, but they would not move or even respond to what his head told them. His heart beat slows, and breathing becomes a task. Falling face first he landed on his nose. Blood seeping across the spider filled floor.

Tom feeling fatigue; can hear his heart slowly beating in his ears. He can barely see; his images are blurred and slowly a black shade came down like a curtain over his vision. Blinking to check if his eyes are open, but he cannot see anything. Trying to speak trying to move it is just impossible not physically but Tom’s brain would just not send the waves, like the options were missing. His heart beating so, so faint now, that he could hardly hear it; his head giving off a searing pain and then… then nothing. Slow pain picks up as the rest of the life is drained from him starting with his legs and arms.

He thought back to the lady… Sitting in her chair, smiling with the… the, the teeth her teeth… some thing about her teeth. Fangs that’s it he had noticed that she had fangs. Wait the ring on her finger and the man stuffed in the bottom of the closet. They were married and she… that makes her… a… a black widow. Sensing what little energy he had left and the energy leaving his heart, along with his brain becoming very, very weak. With his last second he laughed to himself as a flickering of images flying across is minds eye, an increasingly brighter light behind it, he recognized the images of his child hood and his life. The light becoming too bright… and there he is standing in a world… a place… the end.