Stuffed

Chapter 7

I pulled at the grass in the front yard focusing my eyes on a tiny ant hill. The tiny black creatures were routinely piling dirt on top of the little mound they have created, all of them working together in unison. A singular ant was crawling in the opposite direction of the hill, it stopped periodically twitching its tiny antenna. It was getting pretty close to my pink boots, I took a piece of bread from the sandwich in my backpack from earlier and dropped it in front of the ant. Upon the dropping of food it wandered over cautiously and picked up a crumb quickly scuttling away back to the ant hill.

Betty and Buster were sitting on the sidewalk watching the ants as well, completely quiet and focused. As if nothing were more important in the world the ants continued to work on their personal masterpiece. I always thought it was amazing how they always worked together without fighting. People always seem to find a way to argue and fight, but these ants always work towards one goal regardless of their tiny size differences. My stuffed purple bat Betty extended her paw over to try and pick on up, but it avoided her like the plague scampering away to the rest of his hill.

"Why don't they like me?" Betty asked in an upset tone.

I pet her head reassuringly, "They're just scared, to them you're a huge monster!"

She waved her winged arm over the hill delicately, "I just want to be friends!"

I giggled as I observed her attempts to pick up the ants as they ran away and hid from her. The blue dinosaur that resembled that of an Albertosaurus pretended to be a giant and roared at them in a tiny screech. It was cute to watch but Buster always seemed to be the more aggressive of the stuffed animals, he wasn't very forgiving and often pretended to destroy entire cities with wooden blocks. As I watched Raum leaped out of my pack that had been unzipped resting besides me. His white eyes glowed in a ghostly way, he was always so blank and emotionless.

The black deer stood over the ant hill, "Pathetic little things."

"What?" I questioned not understanding the word.

"Working so hard together just for one ant, whose to say that ant even cares for them?" Raum hissed coldly while pacing around them.

I scratched my head ruffling my hair, "They work together so that they can all build and live as one."

"Humans like in a hive, but they don't work together" The buck snorted at their insignificance, "They find differences in each other, tiny meaningless differences, and tear each other apart. Even then, they have one leader that rules not by fairness but by fear. Easily manipulated by fear..."

I didn't understand much of what he was saying so I gave him a weak smile of appreciation. Outside I was waiting for my mother to come home as she forgot I came home from school again. By the street I saw a silver van beginning to slow to a stop in front of my house. It wasn't anyone I knew, I clenched my palms nervously as a strange man came out of the van. He was a ruffled larger male with deep brown eyes and black hair, his clothing were fairly average and nothing about him screamed unusual. Walking towards me he shot a wide and friendly smile before kneeling down next to me.

"Hey there I couldn't help but notice you all alone for hours every day after school, where are your parents honey?" The man asked his voice like silk.

I glanced over to my stuffed animals who momentarily played dead, "My mom will be home soon thank you..."

He grinned and laid a hand on my shoulder that made me shiver, "Well hey my buddy and I are getting ice cream do you want to come?"

"No thank you, I'm not hungry" I declined his offer shyly.

"Awe, come on it'll be fun?" He prodded grabbing onto my shoulders.

"No, I'm really oka-" I replied getting interrupted by an intense squeeze around my stomach.

The man with black hair had lifted me off my feet and was attempting to take me into the van. I screeched as loud as I could and kicked at his arms. Before he had the chance to take me away Raum sprang into the action almost immediately morphing into a huge elk with massive and sharp ghost white antlers. His eyes were foggy and sparkled like snowflakes as smoke puffed out of his nose, it was clear his anger as he reared up stamping his hooves once more into the dirt. The man dropped me in seconds at the sight of the massive buck in front of him, but Raum was not very forgiving.

"W-where did it come from?" The strange male choked over his words with disbelief.

Raum stepped forward with powerful strides, "Humans, controlled by fear. I'll give you one chance to try and outrun me, you better run fast."

As if the grown man turned into a child he slammed the door to his van attempting to drive off, but before he could get very far Raum had leaped into the air gracefully chasing by the vans side. Stitches on the elk's mouth stretched to reveal a wide menacing smile full of sharp teeth. Watching the horrified man scream in terror Raum finally decided to end the chase goring the cars side with his massive sharp antlers. As if the metal was like paper to scissors he slammed through and stomped the body of the terrible male, his chest broke open flicking blood all over the glass. Ripping screams could be heard from the van and I covered my ears to pretend it wasn't real, when it had finally stopped Raum returned to me in his regular form not another word to be said.

******

"What happened to the man?" Maurice wondered with a face of pale white.

The tiny deer sat on the table quietly while Isabelle spoke, "The news said that it was a bad car crash, they assumed that the person who crashed into his car drove away. It's a really bad excuse..."

"No kidding..." He gulped inwards feeling sweat drain from his neck.

She sat impatiently in her seat, "Yeah but do you know what day it is today?"

Maurice White being a man of impeccable memory could not have forgotten the day, it had finally come to pass to her birthday. The thought of an eighteen year old woman being stuck here rotted him to the core. How much he had wished he could convince them to let her free, but they'd assume him crazy or he'd just lose his job otherwise. The other stuffed animals were on her plain bed listening quietly, it had disturbed him when they didn't move or say anything as if they were waiting for him to mess up. Patchi the rabbit however had been the worst of all of them, its constant intent to observe him and find something wrong with him made him feel as if his life was always in danger.

Putting on a charming smile he began to speak, "I wouldn't forget it for the world, it's your birthday! How does it feel to be eighteen?"

Izzy chuckled while pulling her orange hair out of her face, "Doesn't really feel any different, but you know whatever."

"Well I have plans for you tonight so hopefully it will be a little better" Mr. White whispered to her happily.

Isabelle squealed, "I'm so excited, you're the nicest person I've ever met thank you!"

Preparing himself to leave he closed his binder and fixed his short hair. Before he could open the door to go Isabelle latched onto him in a tight embrace. This wasn't the first time but unlike the other times before it wasn't so horribly awkward, instead he felt an overwhelming amount of affection towards her. Instead of addressing his feelings for her however he brushed them away lightly and patted her gently on the head. It wasn't professional for a therapist to love a patient, he didn't need to lose his entire career over a girl he liked.

Promptly after the hug he left to the outside world and locked the door behind him, the click of the the door made him cringe with agony. It was the hardest thing to lock that door every day, it killed him. Attempting to ignore his mixed emotions he began to whistle a tune on his way back to his office, the halls echoed the sounds in a eerie way. In a few moments he turned a sharp corner with a body full of purpose, he was at peace for once, but not himself. The boring frame to his office door was directly noticable as he approached it, it was starting to annoy him.

As he pushed through the door he took a deep breath releaving his soul of his worries for just a moment. Before he could sit back down he noticed a pile of papers that had been placed onto his desk, he trotted over to examine them. More files that need to be examined, it was so typical that they piled all of their work onto him. Sitting down at his desk he began to pen through them, his focus however was have pinned to his work and half wandering around in space.

An odd feeling of exhaustion hit him like a gun shot as he was in the middle of his work, only three files in he could feel his eyelids sliding closed. Forcing himself awake he proceeded to power through the papers, but he didn't know how much longer he could stay awake. In what seemed like only seconds he began to lower his head to the cold desk. Just a quick nap would be enough to refresh him, just a few seconds.

******

Maurice startled awake throwing his head up, how long had it been? He darted his head to the clock that hung up on his office wall, it was far past midnight, how had no one warned him? In a flurry of panic he raced out the door struggling to get his jacket on, he viciously turned the corner to Isabelle's room. The hallway was elongated and seemed to last forever, the faster he ran the longer it got. Realizing that the hallway was endless he began to slow down panting in confusion. Gazing up and around him he noticed that the walls were warping around him, that wasn't normal.

The dim lights in the hallways began to flicker intensely and then shattered throwing glass across the floor. It seemed like hours that he waited standing in the darkness, afraid to make a move in any direction. As soon as he decided to take a step forward he heard a squishing sound below him that made him jump, below him was a slim across the floor. Throwing his head up in front of him suddenly a glowing red light burst into the shadows cutting it away. His stomach knotted up from what he was seeing, the entire hallway covered with large scuttling insects of all kinds. A strange black beetle the size of his head flew by him with loud buzzing of its wings, the stench of its exoskeleton made Mr. White want to vomit.

Treading lightly through the hallway he held his ribs in fear of touching one of the creatures by accident. The worst of all was a giant worm that winded in and out of the walls through what he could only assume to be tunnels made by its mouth. A staircase that he hadn't seen before appeared in front of him, the stairs itself seemed to be made of dead husks from large bugs. Not wanting to touch the railing he shivered to himself as he cautiously made his way down the winding staircase. As he proceeded he began to enter into a dark damp room full of huge thick white webbing spread across the place.

His heart beat intensely as he bit down on his lip, there had to be spiders here. As a child Mr. White found them interesting, but a fear from them began to develop when he was bitten by a brown recluse and nearly had to remove his fingers. Reaching the end of the staircase he held his breath as he searched for the spider he knew that was here somewhere. The suspense crawled into his head and he was beginning to feel something crawl on him even though there was nothing there. Walking further into the room the webs became thicker like a nest. Finally he reached the end and there was a young teenager smiling at him widely.

He wore a long baggy blue hoodie and ripped jeans like any typical preteen would, however his teeth barred two large fangs like a vampire. The child made him feel extremely easy as he waited with his hands in his pocket while staring at Mr. White with that toothy smile. Maurice's heart pounding a mile a minute he reached closer to the kid, the young teen lifted his arms in a welcoming way. His hair was a dirty blonde that brushed just barely past his shoulders, his eyes however were bright green like an insect.

"Welcome Maurice! I've been waiting for you!" The preteen greeted him with open arms.

Maurice froze solid from the scenery of webs and shadows, "How do you know my name?"

Returning his hands to his pockets the child continued, "My name is Tyler, I've been waiting for your arrival since you met my friend..."

"Your friend?" Maurice White asked with fear.

"Amelia? You met her in her home. Welcome to my sanctuary! I am quite fond of insects but my favorite are arachnids don't you agree?" Tyler chuckled maliciously while moving closer to Maurice.

As Tyler advanced on him Mr. White backed away trying not to touch the webs, "The little blonde girl? She was nice..."

The boy gazed up at Maurice squinting his eyes, "I created the second angel for sweet Isabelle. I really like dinosaurs you see, they are fearless and big. You're so weak and frail, what did she see in you?"

Mr. White scoffed at this, he was not frail or weak he was in fact well toned and active. The fact that a teenager calling him weak irritated him, but assuming there was a spider he wasn't going to take the chance of back talking him. Tyler grinned widely show off his fangs again, besides him a giant black widow climbed down from the wall. Its glossy black body danced creepily down to the ground, all of its legs slowly but surely reaching to the floor. A shock was sent through Maurice's spine, he couldn't look at it, it was horrifying. The mouth inside its fangs clicked a wet but rough sound at the sight of Maurice White's skin, he wished he could run away but he knew better than to let a predator chase its prey. Its black beady eyes stared through him and Tyler pet the arachnids abdomen with a grin.

"But you are fearless aren't you Maurice?" The boy taunted him while petting the black widow.

Mr. White glanced away from the spider and stared straight at the teen, "Why am I here?"

"I suppose I should tell you my story then..." Tyler sighed avoiding his question, "I gained the name bug boy long ago, many people thought my obsession was odd so I guess you could assume so. That didn't mean that I deserved to die though, I didn't deserve what they did to me."

"You're dead too... Wait... What happened?" Maurice asked his skin still crawling.

"The boys at my school thought it would be funny to take me up onto a hill far away from where the school was" He began to tell his story with burning eyes, "They beat me, they burned cigarettes into my skin, and when they were down pushed me down the cliff. I was alive for a solid day bleeding, but nobody came for me."

Maurice White could feel nausea burn into his throat, he had been bullied but never to such extents. The widow spider began to crawl back up onto its web, every leg moved carefully with meaning into a small lump weaved over the wall. Two of its legs could be seen as it waited tapping the webs, this trick Mr. White had seen before, it was waiting for something to eat to touch the web. More than ever Maurice could feel his skin ripple from the fear of touching the webs around him. Returning his attention to Tyler he noticed him way closer to him than he had been before and it made Maurice flinch.

The boy hissed with flames in his eyes, "DO NOT let that happen to Isabelle!"

The world around him began to fade back into shadows and only the sounds of crawling and clicking of what he hoped to only be one spider could be heard. A panic pushed into his soul once more and he was so terrified that he could tear his own heart out. In whipping fury he pulled at his skin screaming until finally he awoken once more.

******

His heart was pounding out of his chest as he awoke from his nightmare, before he could think he checked the clock to notice that it had only been a few minutes that he had slept. How terrible of a nightmare, how much he had wished he had never saw what he did. The crawling of the spider still lurked in his mind and he couldn't shake his body of the crawling sensation in his skin. Gazing down at his paperwork he decided to finish them in hopes to restore his mind again.