For Kelan, a sliver of light offered hope at the top of the steps. Yet when the door shot open and slammed shut in a breath, he knew the hard truth. Eric wasn’t coming to save him. He was only teasing.
Kelan cradled his snowboard, his fingers kneading the edges. His body was cold and weak; he feared his heart would stop. Something skittered across his wrist and he stiffened. The clicking kept on and on.
Crickets—it had to be, nothing else could be that big—shifted up his thigh. He swatted blindly at the mass there and heard a satisfying spluut as the spider struck the concrete. He would stomp it if he could see it … he would stomp on them all.
If only he could move. If only the things weren’t crawling up his pants. If only—
He heard a voice beyond the door. Beyond the darkness.
It sounded like his father. But it sounded as if another voice were there as well. A voice within the voice.
Bobby?
Why wasn’t he down here? Why wasn’t he helping?
Kelan shut his eyes. The clicking throbbed in his brain.
EVERYTHING … BE … GONE.
He opened one eye, then the other. Nothing had changed. The spiders were everywhere. The darkness crawled.
Kelan reeled and toppled back. He struck the floor hard but managed to scramble toward the steps, toward the light. He kept a firm grip on his snowboard. At the first step, he heard a ruckus beyond the door. He started to head up, but the sight of Crickets stopped him. How the spider had moved so quickly terrified him.
The thing stared from the fourth step. Pointed a hairy leg at him. It eyes were bold and hungering.
“Eric! Open the door! Open the door!”
Kelan called again, but his voice choked. His terror spiked as the clicking closed on him.
He eyed the thing blocking his path. The dim light granted him more than a hint of it, and it seemed to have grown larger and meaner in the last few moments. It shifted, and he shifted with it.
A hundred legs scampered inside his pants. He screamed. The spiders were up past his knees. He beat down on them. Their thick guts squished against his skin.
Kelan shrieked. Three more crawled up his back and skittered up his neck and into his hair. Another scampered across his chin. He dropped his snowboard and started to swat them off as fast as his arms would move.
He scooped up the board. He raised it over his head and slammed it down on the step. His aim was true, and Crickets popped like a fat sac of pus.
Kelan wasted no time. He skipped up the stairs two at a time. He found the doorknob, then burst through the doorway and spilled onto the carpet. His snowboard flew forward and struck the wall.
He got to his feet. A spider crept up his pant leg, and he beat it down. Scores more crawled over him, and he swatted them off. He shimmied out of his pants and whipped them down the steps. His heart was pounding as he slammed the door shut.
Kelan pulled off his shirt. His legs were slick with spider guts, and he wiped them clean. He summoned the courage to open the door and tossed his shirt down the steps. He shut the door tight.
Kelan took a breath. He feared he might faint, but when he turned and saw his brother, he stood straight, his mouth slightly agape.
Blood dribbled from Eric’s nostrils. His eyes were big and bloodshot. He trembled where he stood. A dark wet spot stained his crotch. He didn’t seem to be breathing.
“Eric—? What happened to you?”
Eric barely spoke. His eyes were lost and dead.
“What?” Kelan said. “What did you say?”
Eric whispered again. Gibberish.
“Eric?”
Eric stepped past Kelan and set a hand on the doorknob.
“No, Eric, don’t—”
The door swung wide. Eric took the first step and closed the door behind him.
“Eric!”
Kelan moved to the door. Eric’s words came rapidly now, over and over as if a single word, and as they drifted into the darkness, he heard no more.