“You found me husband. Finally. Oh I have waited so long for you.”
I screamed and took a step back.
But I was too late.
The woman flew from inside of the trunk and floated in the air in front of me before she grabbed me.
Her hands closed around my neck and I couldn’t breathe.
Her hands were mostly bone.
And they were so cold.
I dropped the flashlight and tried to pull her hands from my neck.
I heard the sound of clapping and cheering around me.
Before I could look around, I was pulled forward.
I managed to scream when I saw that I was being pulled into the trunk.
The dead woman fell into the trunk and she pulled me in with her.
The lid slammed down and I was surrounded with darkness.
I was lying on my side and the woman was beside me in the dark.
Her hands were still around my neck. Her hands closed tighter around my neck and I could feel the tickle of a million spiders dancing across my face, neck and hands as I clawed at the dead woman’s hands that are tight around my neck. I struggled to breathe.
The dead woman laughed and she spoke to me again.
“Now husband. Now you’ll never leave me again.”
My chest was burning. I was getting weak. I struggled feebly in the dark in the dead woman’s embrace.
Two spiders crawled into my mouth as I gasped for air. I could feel them dance across my tongue and move to the back of my throat.
I gagged and tried to breathe.
The dead woman’s hands to tighten around my neck. I pulled desperately at the bony fingers that were cutting off my air.
The hands remained.
Three more spiders crawled into my mouth.
My chest ached. I could not breathe.
I started to panic.
In the cold dark of the trunk I suddenly felt a cold dry kiss on my mouth.
I tried to scream but the spiders danced in my mouth.
The darkness of the trunk did not last.
Bright light filled the trunk and the hands that clutched at my neck suddenly fell away.
More hands grabbed at my shoulders and I’m being pulled from the trunk.
My body hit the floor and a mouth, a soft warm one, closed atop mine.
Air was being pushed into my lungs and soon I was coughing.
The mouth moved away from mine and I could hear sobbing.
I managed to breathe again.
I opened my eyes and looked up.
My Mom was leaning over me. Her eyes were filled with tears. She was rubbing my face and looking down at me.
“Daniel are you alright?” she asked.
I tried to talk but my throat was sore.
I heard a loud crash and I turned from my Mom.
I saw my Dad standing near me.
He was hitting the trunk with a sledgehammer.
Mom looked at Dad and she said, “Roger that’s enough.”
Dad dropped the sledgehammer and he rushed to me.
“Daniel what is wrong with you? What the hell were you doing up here anyway? We told you to stay out of the attic! You’re not five anymore Daniel you’re sixteen. What in the hell were you thinking laying inside of a trunk? Was this another one of your stupid YouTube stunts because if it was it is beyond stupid because you could have died! Are you listening to me son? You idiot! You could have died son! You could have suffocated. If we didn’t get back from theater early you could have died!” Dad said.
“She pulled me in the trunk,” I said.
“Who?” Mom asked.
“The dead lady in the wedding dress,” I said.
“What lady?” Mom asked.
“She was in the trunk with me,” I said.
“There was no damned lady in that trunk,” Dad said. He moved to the damaged trunk and reached inside. He pulled out an old lace wedding dress that was covered with spiders.
The spiders were all dead.
Dad moved to me with the dress in his hand and he started yelling again. As he screamed at me, he shook the dress. And each time the dress moved in his hand, lots of dead spiders fell from the dress. The dead things fell on the floor.
I stared at the dead spiders as my Dad let me have it.
“Daniel there is no lady in that damned trunk! What in the world are you talking about? Look at me! Look at me!”
It was hard but I looked up at my Dad.
His face turned red and he starts up again with the yelling.
“There was no lady in the trunk! It was just this dress! This dress was the only thing inside of that trunk. Only this dress! You imagined the other stuff because you nearly suffocated to death after you decided to take a nap inside of a trunk! Was this one of your stupid YouTube stunts! What in the hell were you thinking! You could have died! You think your followers would care if you were dead? No they wouldn’t! They’d just click their mice and watch something else! What you did was stupid son! What were you thinking! You could have died!”
Then Mom chimed in and tried to calm Dad down.
“Roger stop it.”
But of course, Dad was having none of it. He was mad and he kept yelling.
“No Laura! I will not stop it! Our son needs to know that he could have died! He needs to know how series this is!”
Dad kept yelling and shaking the dress.
I watched the veil fall from the dress. It hit the floor.
I looked at it.
It was covered with spiders.
And not all of them were dead. One of them was still moving.
My Dad was still yelling and my Mom was trying to calm him down, but at this point I was ignoring them both because my mind was on something else.
Something important and scary.
While my Dad and Mom were talking I suddenly felt it.
It was tickling at the back of my throat. I tried to swallow it down but it became worse.
I started gagging.
I turned from my Mom and let loose on the floor with a ton of vomit.
It seemed to go on forever, and when I was done hurling up my guts I sat up.
Dad and Mom had stopped talking and they were both looking at me.
I was looking at the vomit on the floor.
I couldn’t believe it.
There were spiders in my upchuck.
There were five big black spiders in my throw up. And they weren’t dead. They were wriggling. Floating in the sick.
My Mom touched my face and I turned to her. She asked me a question that I could barely hear.
“Daniel are you alright?”
I swallowed a few times, and when I was sure that I wouldn't hurl again, I tried to explain what happened to me.
“Mom. It was the lady in the trunk. She pulled me in and then the spiders got inside of my mouth.”
And then my Dad started yelling again.
“There was no damned lady!”
I looked at Dad.
He was standing near me. He still had the dress in his hand. He’s shaking the dress and yelling.
I was surprised that he was no hoarse.
“There was no damned lady! You just imagined it or are you on drugs!”
My Mom tries to take my side.
“Roger stop it! You’re scaring him.”
“Our son should be scared and I want to put an end to this dead lady 8in the trunk business. I want to know what you smoked or swallowed or whatever. No I want to know! There was no lady in that damned trunk!”
Dad’s face had gotten redder. He was grinding his teeth and looking at me like he wanted to strangle me.
I tried to explain things to him.
“Dad I’m not on drugs and there was a lady.”
Dad didn’t believe me and he started yelling again.
“There was no lady and don’t talk about it again! I don’t want to hear another word of it!”
Dad threw the dress on the floor and h
e stomped on it.
“Roger stop it please!” Mom said. “Daniel is fine.”
“Yeah he is,” Dad said. He took his foot off of the dress and he looked at me. “Son? Daniel?”
I was not looking at Dad. I was looking at the dress. I was staring at it.
I stared at it for a long time and I ignored my father’s questions.
I didn’t respond when my Mom rubbed my face and felt my forehead.
I kept staring at the dress.
Then I looked at the veil.
A spider was crawling across the veil. It moved to the dress. It stopped on the center of the dress. The spider fell onto its back and kicked up its legs. And it didn’t move anymore.
It was dead.
I guessed.
I started laughing. And then I started screaming.
“It was just the dress! Just the dress! The dress! The dress! It was just the dress and I imagined the whole thing! It was just the dress! The dress!”
I laughed and screamed.
I clawed at my face and pulled at my hair while I screamed.
I yelled until my throat was raw and then I just sort of giggled.
I giggled for a long time until I couldn’t breathe anymore.
And then I passed out.
And now I’m here.
In a padded cell. In the hospital.
I guess it’s a hospital.
Its quiet here, the people are really nice and the food is okay.
I didn’t like wearing this straitjacket at first, but after the doctor injected me with some really good drugs a few times, I guess I sort of got used to it.
It’s really peaceful here.
Quiet.
But there’s just one thing.
Sometimes at night, when I’m laying on the floor and trying to sleep I can feel them.
The spiders.
They tickle.
They crawl all over my face but they usually stop when I sit up and bang my head against the wall.
I smash them all.
But there’s something else too.
Something that does not go away no matter how much I scream and slam my head on the walls.
It’s her hands.
The dead woman’s hands.
I can feel them touching my face.
Rubbing my hair.
Pinching my ears.
And sometimes.
Sometimes I can hear her whisper in my ear.
“Never leave me again.”
About the Author
Amanda Lawrence Auverigne writes Horror, Humor and Dark Fantasy fiction.
She lives in the United States.
Read short stories, watch book trailers and find out about Amanda's upcoming book releases.
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https://amandaauverigne.wordpress.com/
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Stalk You Later Page 8
