Girls for Spiders [COMPLETED]

Chapter Six

Skylar jumped to her feet and squeaked in surprise as pain exploded in her knee. She dropped the flashlight and it rolled under the sink. The bathroom plunged into blindness.

She stooped, grimacing, and picked up the flashlight. Leaned her face against the cupboard. Calmed herself. Girl, there is nothing here. She aimed the flashlight beam at the toilet.

The black widow was the size of a baseball, perched on the toilet lid. It scuttled along the rim. Skylar hollered and dropped the flashlight. Adrenaline poured through her veins. She grabbed the perfume shelf and ripped it from the wall.

The perfume bottles fell to the tile floor and shattered. The room reeked of apple blossoms and alcohol. Broken glass flew everywhere. Skylar swung the shelf at the spider and bashed it. It jiggled. Not dead yet.

She lifted her arms and crushed the metal shelf on the spider's body again. I'm screaming. The spider stopped moving, then disintegrated into spurted piles of gutty mush.

Mia limped down the hall and picked up the flashlight. "What's wrong?" Skylar watched her take in the scene. The broken glass, the stinking reek of perfume, the shelf, and the spider's corpse.

Skylar dropped the shelf and held up her hands in the rough size and shape. "Spider. Big one. Huge. So big, Mia, so big."

Mia's nodded. "Come here. You got the spider, and you killed it." She held out her hand. "Be careful of the glass now." Skylar minced forward, feet ginger on the broken glass. The stench in the air was incredible.

They opened the bathroom window and shut the bathroom door. Skylar winced on her sore knee. The two girls stumbled to the kitchen table.

Mia turned on the flashlight. She focused it on the ceiling so it would reflect more light into the room. "More beer?"

Skylar nodded and inched her way around the table. "I'll get the cookies." They sat for a moment eating gingersnaps and drinking warm beer. Mia burped. "Better get fly swatters too."

Skylar nodded and hobbled around the kitchen. She got a pink fly swatter, an orange one, and two heavy cookbooks. "Spiders are going down. We got the spider swatters." She paused. "Mia, we need a plan."

Mia leaned forward and opened one of the cookbooks. "Yes, we need a plan." A soft smile lit up her face. "Look. Mom got this book for her first wedding, back in 1965." She traced the penciled inscription with a finger. "Too bad we don't have power or ingredients. I want to make snickerdoodles."

She shut the book. "Here's the new plan. We stay up all night." Skylar groaned and covered her face with her hands. "And we talk about Mom and Dad, and how we're orphans now."

Skylar's chin quivered. Her eyes squeezed closed. A tear rolled down her face. She sniffed. "I don't want to be an orphan. Did you smell Dad's cologne on his pillows?"

Mia nodded. "Yeah, I did." The tears helped. Skylar sobbed a few times. Her shoulders relaxed and she wiped her nose and eyes with a paper towel.

When she lifted her head, she saw Vincent. He stared at her through the open kitchen window. His bald head gleamed against the sooty sky. Skylar shouted and jumped back in her chair.

Mia put down her beer. "What is it?"

Skylar pointed at the window. "It's him. It's Vincent. He was looking at me through the window!"

Mia tilted her head. Looked at the window. "Girl, that is unlikely." Skylar's heart pounded. She glanced back at the window. There was no one there. Adrenaline coursed through her veins, but her knee hurt and she sat down. The wilderness beyond the windows promised invisible lions.

Mia rose. "I'll tell you what." She limped over to the kitchen window and closed it, then drew the curtains. "In the morning, we'll hitchhike over to John's house. We'll take a nap, get some gas, drive home, and hire a cleaning crew and fumigators to take care of this house for use. We're done."

Mia turned around to come back to the table but paused. Paled. Her eyes widened and she raised a trembling finger. She pointed at the door. Skylar twisted around to look.