THE MIDDLE
She was a lonely little thing.
The girl had been staying in the apartment for a while, it seemed as though she had nowhere else to go. Her day was mostly spent pacing back and forth while running her fingers repeatedly through her hair.
She was always nervous, always twitchy.
It was early on a Saturday morning she was sitting down on a beaten down couch drinking her third cup of coffee when she heard a knock on the door. Sighing exhaustedly, she got up to see who it was; it was the landlord.
“Ok, this is the third time this month. How long are you planning to drag it out?”
“Listen, just give me few more days. I promise I’ll pay you back everything in a few more days.”
“Days?! No, I am giving you till Monday and that’s it! You haven’t paid your rent for two months. I am a nice guy, but this is pushing it. Pay up or clear out!”
Grumbling the portly landlord handed another notice and left, the girl closed the door and leaned against it tiredly. She glanced around the apartment looking lost, the apartment itself was a simple little thing, a tiny bedroom with a hall and kitchen. The toilet was ensconced in the corner with a tiny window next to it.
It always surprised the girl it costed so much. Sighing once more she made her way towards the couch and dropped the notice into the bowl next to the couch, it was overflowing with more unpaid bills, she really was struggling.
Unpaid bills, unanswered calls, another tired human lost in the system. She had no contact with her parents who had long since abandoned her to her pointless cause and friends never really mattered to her, why have other humans burden you with more misery when she had plenty to go around?
Her gurgling stomach dragged her back from her musings as she sat up from the couch. Startled she looked around, it was already late, and she had missed her lunch. She got up and made her way towards the kitchen and rifled through the cabinets looking for something to eat. She pulled out a half empty pack of pasta and some vegetables from the fridge and began to cook.
Just as she was pouring the water for the pasta into the pot she heard another knock,
“It can’t be the landlord…?” She murmured and went towards the door. Throwing it open she peered outside, nothing; it was just the empty corridor.
“Weird.” She shivered as a sudden gust of cold air blew past her and closed the door feeling uneasy.
“Must be some kids.” She muttered and went back into the kitchen.
She pours the pasta into the boiling water and starts chopping up the vegetables to fry them and frowns in annoyance as a piece of carrot falls and rolls under the counter, she hates cooking.
She wasn’t used to all this… work.
Her parents spoiled her you see, everything given without the slightest hardship. So, it surprised her when she was forbidden from something, so much so that she decided to do it anyway. It never occurred to her that her parents would abandon her. But after all who’d accept the proud District Attorneys’ only child as a mere stage actress?
The travesty, the disappointment.
All her friends warned her, but she was stubborn.
And now here she was, digging around under dusty countertops for a carrot.
A failure.
Grunting with annoyance she finally straightened as she threw the dirty carrot into the trash, she turned back towards the pot and gasped, a large shadow loomed over her, the smell of decay overwhelmed her senses.
With a cry she stumbled backwards, she blinked and then… nothing.
The kitchen was empty, the only sound coming from the boiling pot of pasta and her thundering heartbeat. Trying to calm herself she walked out of the kitchen and took deep breaths.
What was that?
A monster?
A nightmare?
She bit back a scream as another knock startled her. But what? It wasn’t coming from the door… where? The closet…? Inside the closet…?
The old closet was there since the day she had arrived, she had never opened it, never felt the need to. If you asked her why? She wouldn’t be able to tell you. Just that it never mattered, it was old, creepy, and just plain old ugly.
The knock repeated again, and the girls hand shook as she reached for the door, she flung it open and … nothing, just a few dusty coats and dresses.
She had barely bit back a sigh when she felt claws bite into her skin, the smell of decay clogged her senses, and she was thrown back into the kitchen. She skidded across the floor, her screams deafening as she heard a sickening pop when her shoulder hit the counter.
“No, no, no…” She pleaded to an unseen entity as she scrambled to her feet, choking back her screams she grabbed a knife and watched the now open closet door. It’s dark in there, an open void that seems to reach out and consume every bit of light it could.
The silence is oppressive, the girl straightens and winces as her shoulder radiates pain, tightening her grip on the knife she takes a tiny step forward, she’s determined.
Shivering she moves slowly towards the closet, the scent of decays grows stronger and with a shriek she runs towards the hall. The walls seem to be closing in on her as she stumbles her way through.
She sobs as the sound of knocking fills the apartment and the doors begin to rattle angrily.
“Stop! Please stop!” She chokes out.
Silence.
Only the noise of the boiling pasta is heard.
The girl doubles over gasping and shaking trying to understand what was happening to her, she just begins to calm down when a sensation of foreboding fills her; she’s being watched. Her hairs stand up on their end as a chill breaks out over her body, she whips her head around side to side trying to see what it was, but nothing.
The apartment was empty.
As the feeling intensified, she backed away slowly, constantly turning her head from side to side trying to search for whatever it was that was haunting her. She was suspended in madness where nothing existed beyond chaos. It’s the sensation you get when you see a spider scamper away into your room, but you cannot find it, you just wait until it finds a way to scuttle over your body.
The same sensation of wrongness took over the girl as she kept looking around until she caught a wisp of shadow in her periphery and looked up. There it was… something. The girl couldn’t put into words what she saw, she just stood stunned, a garbled moan coming from her throat.
It was a lump, the creature, built from a mess of limbs and shadows. The flesh of its victims hung in strips of decay over it, various limbs patched together to build its body. Its eyes were made of the faces of those it consumed, and they rolled sightlessly taking in everything. It unhinged its jaw and the shriek it cried felt like a city under siege.
Otherworldly.
The girl could taste its hatred as the many legs moved together propelling the creature towards her.
Finally startled into action the girl dashed towards the door, almost tripping in panic as she heard its cry. She’s coughing now the smell is unbearable, a cry is torn from her throat as she feels a claw rip through her hurt shoulder and trip her.
She tries to crawl forward quickly, breathing through the pain but the creature grasps her leg crushing the limb instantly. Bile coats her throat as she tries to stab it with the knife but its of no use, it grasps her head almost gently, she’s crying now.
She feels a sharp pain, hears a crunch, and then silence.
A door closes softly.
The apartment is quiet now, only the pasta is heard boiling.
…
THE END
A series of knocks sounded on the door.
“Hello?”
A jingle of keys and the door opened, “Hello?”
The landlord walked in and looked around, no one was there, the apartment stood empty. The mail laid outside the door untouched and old pasta laid clumped around the pot. It looked like no one had been there for a while.
“Dammit.” The landlord swore and called the police. He was more upset at the loss of his money than anything else.
The police arrive in an hour and scan through the apartment, they didn’t find much, just some bills and old clothes.
The landlord stood brooding in the corner his shoes scuffing against a red stain on the carpet near the closet, he’d not only lost the money but now he’d have to hunt for new tenants again, they never seemed to last long enough.
The police saw the amount of bills and rent the girl owed and declared her a runaway. The parents didn’t seem too bothered by it.
The landlord just sighed, locked up after everyone and left.
…
THE BEGINNING
The apartment was old, nearly 150 years old. But as any dilapidated building it underwent many renovations, you would never have recognized it as it was.
We have been there since then, we are old.
The first to move in were a small family, just a husband and wife with their young son. We weren’t there yet.
The family was a happy one. So cheerful, so vibrant. Their colors would soon fade. The husband wasn’t content you see, he hungered for another. He soon started having an affair. The poor wife didn’t know at first but soon she realized.
The despair, the rage. Such delicious emotions.
We were born.
The wife filled with madness cut into her husband, the blood painted the walls. The son stared on with horror filled eyes. Now drowning in shame, she slit the boys and then her own throat.
It took days to clean, we absorbed it all.
We fed.
No one wanted to stay there, after all would you like to be in bed where a corpse once was?
The poor landlord stayed there for a while, he was a sad little man who was separated from his wife and was disappointed with his children.
Overcome with grief he hung himself. His disappointments lingered long after.
We absorbed it all.
No one stayed after that.
Soon after the building was renovated and everything changed, the neighborhood was an up and coming one, new people moved in every day.
A new family came to stay.
They were a family of four, the mother, father and two daughters. Such bright creatures, one of them – the elder one – loved to play inside the closet, she called it her castle.
She was often left alone, disregarded by her family for her younger, prettier sister. She didn’t mind at first but soon she grew frustrated at being ignored, at being left behind. We whispered to her, told her of ways which would make her the most loved, the most important.
She was so excited.
She killed her sister in her sleep. Covered in blood she woke up her parents, excited for them to see her work.
“Now you’ll only love me!” She screamed in delight, she kept screaming it all the way to the asylum.
The parents soon died with grief.
We feasted on their misery and soon on their bodies. We absorbed it all.
All of them became all of us.
We soon lost count of all those we feasted on.
Now we hunger.
We wait.
