Under the Floorboards

Chapter 5: insects

The room seems to have gone dimmer, our eyes adjust to the new lighting. We wait in silence for whatever the house has in store for us.

"Who's fear do you think is next?" Yvoni swallows with fear.

"Mine," Arizona whispers, her body trembles as beads of sweat slide down her forehead.

Her eyes are staring at a speck on the ground, though it seems to be moving. "It's a..." Arizona gulps in between, "A spider," she shudders.

"It's just a bug," Alaska groans, squishing it beneath her finger. A cracking noise sounds as she does so, the lifeless corpse of the spider twitches. Suddenly, a herd of spiders come pouring out of its body, Arizona screams as she backs away to the wall. We all follow her wearily, eyeing the scattering bugs.

"You're scared of spiders?" Ivy groans.

"This isn't that bad," Nina sniffles as she recovers from her fear.

"Yet," I eye them with uncertainty. Of course, I'm right.

Out of nowhere, a line forms in my eye. It blurs my vision, making it hard for me to focus. Then, the line begins to twitch and squirm as I blink furiously. "Guys!" I squeal as I scratch at my eye. With a sharp pain, a spider wiggles it's way out of my eye and scrambles down my cheek. I swipe at it, flicking it off of my reddened face.

"Here we go," Chase whines.

My throat begins to scratch as I feel a tickle run inside my mouth. "No," I croak between struggled breaths. I feel nauseous, my mind begins to spin. With a quick uncontrolled motion, my mouth falls open and my hands are suddenly placed on my knees for balance. A wad of bugs fling  from it, covered in blood. "Why me?" I cry with disgust. Mark runs to my aid, helping me keep my balance. My skin is crawling, along with everyone else. After recovering, I notice an oddly large bulge on Chases leg.

Squinting with confusion, the bump begins to move. "Chase," I warn him as he slaps at his neck.

The chunk of skin pops open and a nest of moths fly out. "OW, shit!" Chase screams.

Nina stomps, not even bothering to look. By now, the whole floor is covered in crawling insects, the air is barely breathable because of flapping wings. Buzzing and humming fills my ears, sending chills down my spine as I try to focus. From every direction, they pelt at my skin.

My attention is caught by Arizona, her body is hunched over and crippled with pain. "Arizona!" I scream as a moth flies into my mouth. I spit hard, crying with disgust. When will it be enough for the house?

Screams come from everywhere as everyone swipes frantically into the air, trying to stop the bugs from landing on our bare skin. Arizona's hunched body suddenly flings the opposite direction, her spine snaps as her mouth flies open. Bees fly out in packs, buzzing into the air. Little red dots cover her skin as random insects rip through. Her eyes roll back in her head just before mounds of spiders crawl from them. The bugs gravitate towards her, swallowing her. A few gnaw at my reddening skin. Adrenaline pulses through my veins, lessening the pain and stinging.

"Arizona! Hang in there," Cole shouts in the bug-filled air as he squashes his feet on random crawlers.

I fall to my knees, shielding myself with my arms as Mark falls beside me. Tears stream down my face as I watch bugs swarm over Arizona. "Mark! We have to do something!" I shout with agony as I watch the bugs dig into my best-friends flesh. He throws himself over me, knowing Cole is already doing the best he can. His body shields most of me from the insects, I squirm knowing it is putting him in more pain.

"Arizona!" I hear Alaska scream, pain is etched in her voice. Then, everything goes black. I can't see a thing, only the feeling of bugs crawling up and down my body, in my mouth and eyes, I am feeling Arizona's pain. We all are. The ringing and the pumping of my wild heart only lessens the buzzing a little. I focus on the beat of the heart, worrying for her safety. Thump. Thump. Thump.

And then it stops. I blink, regaining consciousness. I can't hear the thumping anymore. My hand instantly flings to my chest, checking for a beat. There it is, my heart is fine. Mark slowly peels himself off of me with horror as we watch Arizona crumble to the ground. It is as if her lifeless body is the drain and the insects are water as they drain into her, clearing the room. Once the last bug enters, her chest pumps up with one last breath and then it falls. She is gone.

"No!" Alaska screams to her sister and flings herself across the floor as she slams her hand upon Arizona's motionless chest. Nina runs to Chase, Cole crumbles with failure as tears trickle down his cheek. Mark shields me but I break away, running to the corpse. I can't hear anything, I can't feel anything. It seems as if the world has stopped spinning. Ringing fills my ears as I collapse onto the floor.

I gasp for air, I can't hear my screams, though I know that they're loud. I can't hear anything more than the ringing as time begins to slow. Hazel and Ivy uneasily step forward to confirm her death. It's true. They look away, their faces twist in pain.

"Is she..." Yvoni trails off.

"She's dead," Damon answers quietly. Lazaro sniffles and wipes his tears on his sleeve. Zane's face appears to be splotchy as he holds in the pain. Mark pulls me away from the body as we let Alaska have a moment.

I fling myself into Mark's safe arms. He holds me tightly as I feel myself cave into him. He rests his cheek on my head and I listened to his beating heart. Arizona seems to sink into the floor, vanishing into nothingness. Alaska scrambles, trying to stop whatever is taking her. But she can't, and just like that, Arizona is gone.

Everyone is silent, eyes red and cheeks puffy.

"Not already!" Chase chokes and screams as he cries out.

"What?" I scream with horror.

"What's happening to him?" Nina squeals in terror. "Chase!?!"