The Belle Dame

Chapter Two: A Dozen Spiders and The Little Door

Juniper had the dream again. It happened the first night she visited her dad in the new apartment building. Visiting her dad turned out to be more boring than she expected. He had promised to take them shopping while they were there, but on the first night, a lightning storm rolled in and left them unable to leave the house.

For a while it was kind of fun to be in the house with everyone. They played cards together, though Juniper didn't know how to play so she was quickly kicked out of the game by Mick, who was stuffing her face full of cheesy puffs like she was a pig. Louis was scared of the lightning so he screamed and screamed until he had cried himself to sleep on the couch.

There were three bedrooms in Dad's apartment. Mick had her own room in this apartment. Another was for Dad, and another, much smaller bedroom for Juniper to share with Louis. Louis refused to let her change a thing in that room, claiming he liked the "vibe" of the grey walls and dim florescent lighting that made Juniper sick. 

"Just put up with it, Junebug, Louis is just a kid. This divorce has been hard on him and I want him to be as comfortable as possible here. You understand, don't you?" Her Dad reasoned with her.

"Sure," she responded dryly. "Why would anyone around here care about my feelings? It's all about Louis."

"I invited that neighbor girl to come over tomorrow so you might have a friend. What's her name? Glynis?"

"Gladys, and she's nuts!"

Her father rolled his eyes. "You can't complain about everything, Junebug."

"Please! Call me Juniper, Dad! I'm not a little kid!" 

He rolled his eyes. "She's coming over in the morning. Maybe try and not be such a brat to her." He left and shut the door behind him.

A brat? But she wasn't a brat. Juniper sat in the windowsill with Little Doll on her lap, watching the lightning and rain outside the window, and listening to the thunder clapping. She heard whoops and cheers coming from her dad and sisters in the living room.

"At least I've got you, Little Doll." Juniper told the doll, who looked back up at her with her button eyes. Juniper hugged the doll to her and began to weep into it. The yarn of the doll soaked up her tears, and her sorrows and comforted Juniper.

Juniper cried and cried until the rain subsided and she fell into a deep, soothing sleep.

In her dream, her mother's voice whispered to her. "I'm here, Juniper. I'll love you forever, and ever and ever..."

"Mom..." Juniper reached out for her, only to be pulled back by creepy disembodies hands. Then her mother's voice was drowned out by the terrifying voices of those children, and Juniper sunk into a dark black hole while the world around her started to fall apart.

 The voices told her "She is coming... She is coming for you. She is coming." While black spiders danced rhythmically to their chanting. 

With a gasp, Juniper shot straight up in her bed and looked around. Little Doll was still beside her, and the sun was shining outside. She caught her breath and wiped some sweat from her forehead. On the floor across from her, a little black spider crawled from her bed to the door and wandered down the hall. She scrunched up her nose and groaned.

"Gross." She mumbled as she got out of bed and pulled on a pair of jeans and a sweater. 

At lunchtime, Gladys knocked on the door. 

"June! Your friend is here!" Her father called as he opened the door and welcomed her in. Gladys wore a black, torn up dress, black leggings, a black sweater with white spiders on it, and black eye makeup, and bright red lipstick. Juniper wasn't allowed to wear makeup.
She stepped into the apartment and looked around with contempt on her face, and spun around when she heard Juniper come around the corner.