Alone

Did you hear that?

My breath shuddered as I began to feel my nerves start to roll my stomach and cause my limbs to shake. “Not now, not now.” My breaths began to speed up in unnatural patterns. I started to pace, trying to focus on bringing my breath to a slow rhythm. Darkness began to creep into my vision as I slid my body to the ground, collapsing under the weight on the anxiety that was pushing on my chest. These attacks never come at convenient times and this was an inconvenient time. I was fighting for life, literally and this was not the moment for this.

Thump

Thump

Thump

Pieces of dust rained down from the ceiling above me. I coughed trying to stand up, but my fuzzy head caused me to slide back down to the ground. In and out. In and out. I repeated this trying to calm my breaths. My body won’t stop shaking. This is not the time for a panic attack.

Thump

Thump

I started to rock back and forth, trying to remember something that would ground me. My parents, my boyfriend, my best friend. Somebody would be looking for me. I choked back a sob trying to not let the tears stream from my eyes. Blurry vision would be the least helpful thing right now. I allowed myself to keep rocking for a few minutes, but I knew I had to keep going if my body allowed me too. My breath began to come back under control. I was still shaky but I knew I had to get up regardless.

Thump

I rose to my feet and looked up at the ceiling. More pieces of ceiling and dead insects rained down on my head. I closed my eyes so dust didn’t fill them. I began to blink rapidly just in case dirt was lingering on my lashes, but my heart seemed to know when something was off. My heart began pounding as I looked straight at the ceiling with my vision clouded from the debris. Two eyes were staring at me from a depilated hole. I felt all of the air leave my lungs. My brain knew I needed to get out of there, but my body could only move so fast. I could only manage to step slowly back until I hit the wall behind me. Still shaking, I looked back up at the eyes. They were still looking at me. The eyes were pensive and thoughtful, not ferocious. I stared back at the wide blue eyes watching my every movement.

Thump

The eyes stayed looking at me. Whatever was watching me, wasn’t making that noise. My eyes began to scan the ceiling and the room for more movement. I was in a run down bedroom with various holes in the floorboards where I can hear small rodents scampering about. My eyes shifted to the peeling wallpaper to the shaking spiderwebs that bounced with every thump I heard. I didn’t know what to focus on: the growing volume of the thumps or the eyes that would not leave me alone.

A sudden rustling from above broke my concentration of inspecting the room. The eyes were gone.

This was my opportunity. I moved down the wall, blindly reaching for a door while keeping my eyes on the vacant hole in the ceiling.

THUMP

My heart rate began to immensely speed up again. I didn’t have time to tip toe around. I turned towards the walls of the room and found the door. I gripped the weathered door knob and yanked the door open. The surrounding hallway was dark and foreboding as I stumbled through the dark. This is the last time I envision an abandoned mansion as a good place to explore. It has been hours since I was separated from my friends. Alyssa, Jessica, Brandon, where did they all go? The hallway was darker then I had remembered, probably because I was alone. I crept through the hallway trying to remember what room was next.

A door loosely swinging on its hinges seemed to laugh at me as it revealed a new location in the manor. Flickering fluorescent lights illuminated the scattering insects that were roaming over left out food. What surprised me was the type of food that was left on the counters. There were wrappers of different candy bars, but there were also different types of perishables like dairy and fruit that had not spoiled yet. This place had been abandoned for years, how?

The laughing door started to cackle at me and my predicament. I froze knowing that the door would not have come to life on its own. I didn’t have time to decide my next move when a long and hairy arm wrapped itself around my ankle. I screamed as I hit the floor hard as it dragged me through the kitchen and back into the hall. My head began to bleed from the impact and my vision became spotty. I watched the ceiling move by like clouds on a windy day. Hopefully if I pass out, I’ll wake up and it will all be just a dream. I expected us to go back to the bedroom, but instead we went right through the floorboards.

My head was too fuzzy to start panicking or to see where we were going. It seemed like we were going deeper into the house. We finally stopped in a large room with vaulted ceilings. I wasn’t sure if it was the likely concussion that was making me see things or if I was truly seeing the horror that was before my eyes. The walls and floors seemed to be moving with me. I knew I was swaying, but that did not seem to explain how the room was moving. I was still seated on the floor when the floor moved over me. Wait. It’s moving on top of me? I strained my eyes. No, it wasn’t the floor, but millions of insects swarming every inch of the room. I screamed again, but this time I was so out of it to move. A choked sob escaped me. I could feel them in my hair and moving underneath my clothes. Tears streamed out of my eyes keeping the bugs from crawling too close to my eyes. This was my worst fear come to life.

My body began to shake hard from sobbing. I couldn’t breathe, but then I felt a reassuring hand on my back. A hand? I turned and met the blue eyes face to face. I shut down not knowing how I could get out of this. The man looked to be over six feet tall but slouched so I couldn’t see exactly how tall he was. He was also covered in insects, but it didn’t seem to bother him. He didn’t say anything, but continued to look at me. I just stared back.

He abruptly dropped his hand and stood up facing a dark corridor that led from the room. He opened his mouth to speak, but instead of words, he began to make different clicking noises. My vision was still fuzzy but it looked like the insects were gravitating towards this man. The man’s clicking noises began to grow louder as he raised his hands towards the darkness. I slowly started to crawl out of there, but the sudden movement made him turn towards me.

“No, no, no” I pleaded. “Don’t touch me.”

He grabbed me from my arm and brought me to a standing position. I tried throwing myself to the floor, but he held me up while still making noises.

THUMP

THUMP

THUMP

The clicking noises seemed to get unnaturally louder and louder. The man beside me was silent but I could still hear it. The room began to shake. Dust and insects began to fall on my head.

THUMP

From the dark corridor, a tall creature emerged from the depths making the loud clicking noises. My eyes and mouth gaped open as I tried to make sense of what I was seeing. It had to be at least eight feet tall with insect-like features. Two antennas grew from its hard shelled head. Many different pairs of compound eyes analyzed my weak form. It stood on two legs, but had six more stretching out from its body. The most terrifying part was the enormous stinger that was at the end of its abdomen.

The man shoved me forward. I stumbled onto my knees, scratching them up even more. I raised my head and saw my reflection in the multitude of eyes on its body. My face was streaked with dirt and bugs. My pathetic reflection was the last thing I saw until I felt that stinger plunge into my back. Maybe it will all feel like a dream.