JEREMY NEVER MADE IT TO THE GROCERY STORE

flash horror

Jeremy ran as fast as he could, his chucks slapping on the wet pavement. Looking ahead, he saw some trashcans and dove behind them. He grabbed a bag on the ground and moved it in front of him, cowering, trying to obscure himself. He realized how loud he was breathing and clapped a hand over his mouth, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to become invisible.

Silence. Silence. Silence. He thought that he might have outrun it, but then he heard a soft crunching noise. Something was creeping through the yard. Jeremy sat frozen, terrified. He was too scared to run and too scared to look.

A shadow moved over his head, darkening his hiding spot even further. Black on black. He stifled a scream. The creature moved past him, long spindly legs probing out in front of it, feeling, searching, groping for Jeremy or anything else that it might find tasty.

Jeremy cracked one eye open, just a bit, and caught a glimpse of a large set of double-rowed teeth, glistening with spit. They clacked together noisily, and a long strand of saliva slopped down onto Jeremy’s shoulder. It was warm. Putrid.

Jeremy shuddered, then froze again, terrified. The creature didn’t seem to have heard him. It continued its search, probing down the street.

When it reached the corner and turned to make its way down the next row of houses and trash cans, Jeremy felt a wave of relief. He let out a breath that he wasn’t aware he had been holding. Simultaneously, the creature froze. It remained perfectly still for one long moment, then began to reverse and walk towards Jeremy.

He remained still for another long moment, waiting to see if the creature could see him. He looked up toward the jaws, still making that awful clacking noise, and locked eyes with the creature. It burst forward towards him with incredible speed, spindly legs propelling it down the sidewalk.

Jeremy screamed and jumped out of the trash pile. He tripped over an errant bag in his haste and stumbled forward, sending garbage flying into the street before regaining his balance. His sneakers found purchase on the asphalt. He sprinted. He was only a couple of houses down from Tissy’s place. If the door was already unlocked, he might just make it.

He could hear the thing behind him but didn’t dare to turn around and look. He felt a brush against the back of his pants legs and kicked out wildly behind him as he made it to the front door of Tissy’s house. He turned the handle. It was locked.

He banged wildly on the door with his fists, screaming out for help. There was no answer. He kicked it, turning the knob desperately. He heard the creature scrabbling up the front steps of the porch and turned, searching for an escape.

He looked into the jaws of the creature as it descended on his face. All he could see were the eyes and the teeth and the red red throat. The claws at the end of the long spindly legs grasped his body firmly. He felt a pinch at the back of his neck, and then an odd, tickling kind of warmth flowed through his body. His struggles became weak, even though he was trying to kick himself free as hard as he could. He was finding it harder to move. He opened his mouth to scream and found that he couldn’t move at all.

The creature put him down, almost gently. Jeremy stared up, horrified. The creature sat for a long while. Jeremy thought that it must have been an hour, at least. The toxin had taken full effect by now. He could barely twitch a finger. He couldn’t scream or do anything but blink as the creature stood up over him, apparently done resting.

It grabbed Jeremy up by the collar of his shirt and held him in front of its face. He could see its six eyes, dark and glassy, flicking up and down as it appraised him.

Then, his view changed as the creature spun him like a top, letting its thread out of the base of its thorax. Starting at the feet, it wrapped Jeremy up in silk, tightly binding him, leaving only a small slit over his nose and mouth so he could continue to breathe.

In complete darkness now, he felt himself being moved onto a hard, warm surface. There was some tugging and more pressure before the legs moved away. He lay there, helpless, unable to move, or cry out, or see.

He couldn’t react when the surface underneath him began to move. He rocked, swayed, and then felt momentarily weightless. This repeated, again and again. He realized that he was on the back of the creature, and it was taking him away somewhere. He knew that the creatures only allow their prey to live when they are planning on keeping them for some time, or when they are going to feed them to their young, as practice.

He wasn’t sure which was worse.

He reflected on his life choices. He never finished college. He hurt his sister’s feelings that one time. He drank too much and smoked too much. He was a great friend and a loyal partner. He was good at pool, and he liked spicy food. He did a lot of things that he wanted to do, but not nearly enough. Not nearly enough.

His ride slowed, and he heard a door open. A few loud clacks came from the creature, followed immediately by a loud parade of scuttling coming straight towards them, and a lot of smaller, higher-pitched clacks.

Jeremy realized his fate. He was lowered onto a cold surface, the clacking noises gathering around him, coming from all directions now. He couldn’t even breathe harder. The tight silk wouldn’t allow it.

The voice of his attacker hissed loudly, and the clacking stopped. Jeremy could hear the shuffling of dozens of little legs scratching the table all around him.

There was silence for a long moment. Then, with one clicked command, Jeremy felt them swarm on top of him. He lay silently, feeling their teeth and claws tear into him, sucking him dry. His entire body erupted in pain. They were everywhere, touching, grabbing, biting, sucking. He felt himself dying. He felt the nothing creeping in, and with such pain, he welcomed it.

Jeremy never made it to the grocery store.

Art credits for cover image: Odilon Redon. Spider, 1887. The Art Institute of Chicago.