Chapter Two

A young woman's life is consumed by terror and tension after encountering an eerie, spidery man hidden in the back of her closet.

Falling asleep proved extremely difficult that night. Not only because of thoughts regarding my little brother, but also because of the strange sound coming from my closet. It was dull and incessant, and sounded as though something was scratching its claws or nails on wood. In all the times I’d stayed in this room in the past, I’d never heard such a noise before. Whether mice or raccoons were the culprits, I remained unaware. But the scratching was such a bother that I decided to gather up my blankets and sleep on the downstairs sofa. I fell asleep around midnight with blissful silence in my ears, and woke to an airless blue room the next morning. Jack breezed through the living room, caught sight of me all disheveled and drowsy on the sofa pillows, and chuckled. “Well now, sleeping beauty. Didn’t expect to find you out here.”

“I just decided to try out the sofa.” I patted the nearest cushion. “Very comfy.”

“I’m glad.”

“I’ll be honest though, I ditched my room because I kept hearing a weird noise. I just couldn’t fall asleep listening to it.”

Jack tilted his head curiously to one side. “What kind of noise?”

“It was this…scratching, kind of grating noise. Do you have any idea what it might be?”

“Rodents, maybe? Termites? I’ll take a look later today. What part of the room did you say it came from again?”

“The closet.”

“Yeah, I’ll give it a look, maybe call an exterminator if I have to. God, I hope it’s not termites…that’s the last thing I need.” Jack sipped his coffee and started to the kitchen, calling over his shoulder, “Join me for breakfast, will you?”

“Sure thing.” I started to rise from the sofa when a wave of nausea drifted over me. I felt my stomach ripple while my face grew warm - the very sensations that preceded vomit. My fingers clutched at the edge of the sofa. I felt like I had to run to the bathroom - and fast. But before I could take a single step, the nausea slipped from me like water, disappearing just as quickly as it had come.

“Miranda?” Jack called.

“C-coming,” I stammered. Puzzled and still breathing somewhat ruggedly, I entered the kitchen to find Jack cracking several eggs into a bowl. After dousing a slab of butter on a frying pan, he turned to me and said in a low voice, “Benjamin’s getting worse, isn’t he?”

“We’re doing all we can.” That was all I could say.

“It’s still an early stage, isn’t it? Do the doctors know how quickly it will progress”

Answering my grandfather’s questions added cracks to my heart. “Very…very quickly. They’re trying to stop the cells from spreading through use of surgeries and chemo, but they’re very aggressive.”

“Remind me why this thing can’t be surgically removed?”

“It’s too close to his brainstem. They’ve removed a portion of it during his last surgery in June, but it’s already begun growing again.”

“And how long?” My grandfather sat down in the chair beside me. “How long does he have?”

I did not respond to Jack’s question. Not because I didn’t know the answer, but because the momentous grief building in the back of my throat refused to let me speak. I just gaped at my grandfather, every inch of my body coated in frost and fear. The future was looming and I was not ready to see it. I was not ready to see what would become of Benjamin in the next year or so. And most of all, I did not want this tumor to take him away. The thought of him leaving everything behind - high school, girlfriends, marriage, having children - was agonizing. All I could hope and wish was that some miracle cure would come along and spare him, or at least give a little more time. Something.

Micah chose to enter the kitchen that very moment, lugging what looked like a wetsuit and scuba diving gear over his shoulder. Noting the tension in the room, he frowned and asked, “Uh, is everything all right?”

“Everything’s all right,” I said, struggling to compose my voice. I pointed to the scuba gear in an effort to change the subject. “What’s with all of that?”

Though Micah looked unconvinced, he still commented, “Brace yourself for what I’m about to say, and try not to be too intimidated.”

“Okay.”

“It’s too awesome for words.”

“All right.”

“You ready for this?”

“I think so.”

“’Kay, check it out: my team and I, we’re diving off the rim of Berchain Bay to study the giant kelp forests.”

I smiled encouragingly. “That’s wonderful, Micah.”

“I’m so excited, I think I could wet myself.”

“Please, don’t,” Jack put in.

“I can’t wait for this!” Micah was practically bouncing up and down in place. “Do you know how long I’ve waited? Do you have any idea? This experience that’s about to go down today - this right here - is what made me sit through twelve million hours of marine and micro biology!”

“I’m still surprised you made it through those classes,” Jack admitted, shrugging his shoulders. Glancing at me, he added, “The kid’s not very bright. Just sayin’.”

Dully, Micah said, “Way to be an a*s, gramps.” He started towards the door and announced, “Next time you see me, I’ll be a changed man. A man greater than any other man, perhaps. Be prepared, my sister, my a*****e grandfather.” And with that, he was gone. We could hear him whooping all the way to his car, though; clearly, diving through the kelp forests was a bigger deal than we could possibly imagine.

We ate breakfast in silence. Jack did not bring up Benjamin again, and I was grateful, as my little brother’s brain tumor was the last thing I wanted to talk about. After clearing my plate, I slipped outside to go for a walk on the beach. Benjamin was still asleep and didn’t have to take his medication for another hour, so I refrained from asking him to join me. Donning a heavy sweatshirt, I stepped outside to enjoy the crisp, cold morning by myself.

Everything looked so peaceful. Gulls drifted lazily in the cloudy sky while waves crashed and thundered. I passed the orchard Jack kept on the right side of the house, where a variety of citrus trees ranging from oranges to limes. A sand-powdered pathway weaved through the backyard fence and met a tiny wooden staircase that stretched from the top of the hill all the way down to the beach. My grandfather had built these stairs long ago. The entire structure was weirdly crooked, jolting to one side as it bumbled down to the pale gray sand. The wood was worn, bleached in some places, and the steps were so steep that anyone walking up or down could easily loose their footing. But despite the staircase’s imperfections, I still liked it. It was unique. Jack might not have been the best carpenter, but at least he had tried.

I walked down the sheer steps and removed my shoes when I reached the beach. I plopped down on the sand a foot away from the blue-gray waves. While I sat, I let go of everything - worries about school and Benjamin, memories of my deceased mother, thoughts of my heartbroken father. I let myself mold with nature’s serenity and became one with the cold, churning sea. Tears threatened to come once or twice when a worry about Benjamin broke through my peaceful shell. But then I would simply breathe, reclose my mind, and let the waves carry me away.

When I returned to the house, the nausea I had felt earlier struck once again. It was so brutal that I had to lie motionless on my bed, because if I were to move, my stomach would snarl with protest. Benjamin came to visit me a little while later. He seemed shocked by my inert state. “Are you sick, sissy?” he asked in a tiny voice. He crawled onto the bed and put his face directly in front of mine. I could see the terror gleaming in his wide blue eyes.

I kissed his nose. “I’m fine,” I told him in a whisper.

“You want water?”

“No thank you, Benjamin. But I need you to do me a favor, all right? I need you to ask Grandpa to give you your medicine.”

“Icky stuff.” Benjamin wrinkled his nose. “I don’t want.”

“B, please,” I sighed. “If you take your medicine, we’ll play later. Maybe we’ll go collect seashells on the beach.”

At this, Benjamin brightened. “Okay!” he said, and shuffled off.　When I was sure that he had gone, I let out a painful gasp and clutched at my stomach. I had never known such an awful pain before. It was crippling, at least five times worse than cramps. I felt so raw, so strange. I felt different. I lay in bed for at least another hour, the daylight whispering through my bedroom windows. And then my stomach began to churn.

I don’t exactly know how I made it to the bathroom. One moment I was lying on my bed, breathing heavily through my nose and struggling to ignore my piercing abdominal pain - and in the next, I was stumbling to the toilet. I flung myself down on the tiled floor without a moment’s hesitation. Clutching the rim with trembling hands, I let my stomach finally empty itself into the bowl. And when I opened my eyes, the sight of the bowl made me almost pass out.

I had vomited nothing but blood.

I stumbled backwards in horror and ended up throwing up again, this time all over the floor. The awful sloshing sound was accompanied by something else - a loud clatter. I looked down, terror building in my throat, and saw something slim and black sitting in the pool of blood. A tiny skeleton key of some sort, thin as a nail and scarcely longer than my index finger. I stared at it for a moment longer before darkness bled across my eyelids, spreading and spreading until everything went black.

Reviews

[StarsofPassion]

Ooh! The story is starting to get intense! The ending was very creepy to predict to what will happen in th next chapter. So sad of what's happening with Benjamin.