It was a blank wall.
Rule 22 - Delaney
Watch for spiders.
Iclawed at the wall as the sound of hundreds of spiders scurrying around the small room filled my ears. Where had the door gone? I pounded my fists at the solid surface and sobbed, as I continued to brush the tiny, black, terrifying things off me.
The book.
I hurried to where it was on the floor, pages open, spiders continuing to pour out, and quickly slammed it shut.
For a moment, I thought they would all disappear. It was just a figment of my imagination. The girl who had come in before had spooked me, making me create this horrible situation all in my mind. But no. The book shook in my hands and then burst open, spiders spilling onto my hands, my arms, and crawling up my body.
I screamed and brushed them off, returning to the wall to pound, only to find a door handle now. I quickly turned it. The wall opened and I fled the room as fast as I could, screaming and continuing to rub my arms and kick my legs to get the spiders off.
I ran down to my room, sobbing. I tossed my bag on thecouch and stripped down in the living room, not caring if Priest was here or not, and hurried to the bathroom to shower.
As I ran the chill water, spiders tumbled to the tile from my hair. I stared at them in shock as they slid down the drain. I slid down and let the water run over me until my teeth chattered. The room, having no windows and no electricity, grew dark, and only when I couldn’t see anymore, did I stand and turn the water off.
I’d washed my hair and body, but I could still feel them crawling all over me. Shivering, I dried myself as best as I could and went to the living room, where my spider-ridden clothes had been folded and sat on the couch, and a fire had been lit in the fireplace. I went to it, still wrapped in my towel, and attempted to warm what I could.The door opened a while later, and I stood just as Priest walked in.
“I wondered where you’d run off to.” He gave me a fake smile. “Did you get any writing done before your laptop died? Mine just shut off.”
“I—What time is it?” I asked instead, stepping away from the fire.
“It’s almost six. Dinner should be soon. You want to get dressed and go down together? I heard they’re doing a tour around nine.”
“Sure, yeah.” I dug through my clothes, looking for something warm. I huffed as I found nothing that would keep my teeth from chattering or my knees knocking together. I had planned for a week of seducing, not a week with no heat.I put on my red baby doll dress and the longest socks I had that went to my knees. I added my winter coat, but it did little to warm me.
Looking in the mirror, I felt utterly foolish. My cheeks were puffy from crying all afternoon, my eyes looked tired from the stress of the spiders. I was never going to get Moth oranyone else’s attention looking like this!Glancing at the clock, I grabbed my makeup bag and quickly did what I could. Priest knocked on my door just as I was putting my setting spray on.
“You look nice. Cold, but nice,” he said as we went down to dinner together.
“Thanks, you too.” I looked him up and down. He wore a black button-up and jeans but had styled his hair to look a little messy, which made him even more… sexy.My stomach fluttered at the word. Could I say that? Could and should were two different things.
At dinner, I was distracted. I kept feeling the little legs of spiders on my skin. It was all so confusing. Who was that woman?
At night, I found myself agreeing to go on the ghost tour with the group. Priest, who decided not to go after all, tried to convince me to go back to the room, but the look in his eyes told me how he intended on spending the evening. What happened last night couldn’t happen again.
“I’ll keep an eye on her.” Moth put his arm around me and pulled me toward the group before I could explain to Priest why it was a bad idea for us to be alone. Which, oddly enough, despite knowing better, I still wanted us to be alone. I didn’t really want to go with Moth and the others. Was I losing my interest in Moth already? Because of Priest?
My core pulsed, remembering last night. No, it was a good thing to go with Moth. Moth was safe. I was allowed to love Moth.But I didn’t.
I looked back as we started up the stairs for the tour, and saw Priest watching me with careful, yet sad eyes as I went with Moth and the others.
The tour was done with flashlights. Gloriana led the tour, telling us all about each person who had died in each room. Her tone was so deadpan, and her voice so dry, that I was catching myself dreaming about other things. So much so thatI found myself abandoned on the third floor. I looked around and called out.
“Moth? Annie? Juniper? Where did you guys go?” I stepped out of the room and into the pitch-black hall. “Hello?”
The fear of darkness crept back in. I didn’t have Priest to save me tonight. I turned back into the room as shadows darkened everything, so I could see only shapes of things and nothing else.My heart raced as I hurried to the curtains, drawing them open, only to see nothing but black outside. I turned again, my body readying itself for a panic attack when a figure stepped into the doorframe. I squeaked as I jumped and fell against the wall.
“Moth?” The figure was male and large. I could see that. That left only a few people it could be. The figure cocked his head but didn’t speak. Instead, he stepped inside the room.
My eyes were adjusting, but only slightly. Enough to see that whoever it was had a mask on. Was that…the guy from those Halloween movies? I laughed, despite my clammy palms and racing breath.
“Michael Myers? Where did you even get that? Did you bring it with you?” I asked Moth. Despite the mask covering his face, I knew who it was. No one else knew I was up here. He must have waited for me and then once the group had gone on, put the mask on and come looking for me.
Despite knowing who it was, the way he stalked slowly toward me, almost menacingly, was… thrilling. I pressed my back to the wall and shrunk into myself.
