Get Them Out

The darkening evening gloom pressed against the dining room windows while Lily sat at the table finishing left over school work from earlier. She kept trying to focus, but as it grew darker she became more and more agitated. No surprise there, first grade homework wasn’t all that exciting, and Lily’s attention easily wavered as she imagined all sorts of horrible things creeping out of the woods. They would be well hidden now by the dark shadows that lurked there.

Their house sat between two fields, off of a dead end dirt road. Across that dirt road was a dark and gloomy New England forest that wrapped around each bend and curve of the road until it slunk behind their house, effectively surrounding their property line with an army of dense pine.

During the day that forest held all the magical secrets of fairies and wood nymphs for Lily, but at night – she knew in the deepest part of her heart – as any 7 year old would – those dark trees hid unspeakable terror.

Sighing, Lily again turned her attention back to her work sheet. Nothing creeps around out there, she thought to herself. It’s just like mom and dad always say, I have an over active imagination. It comes from being home schooled.

Nodding to herself, she pushed away the unkind thoughts that sprang up in her mind about how if only her parents would hang curtains like normal people, she wouldn’t have to worry about the things creeping out in the forest.

“No!” she whispered to herself, “nothing is creeping out there!” But it was too late, goose bumps were raised all over her arms and as she once again stared out the window in to the now almost completely dark night, she could have sworn that in the barn window across the yard she saw –

“LILY!” her mom shouted angrily from the other room, interrupting her thoughts as she jumped, completely startled out of her reverie.

“LILY!” her mom shouted again, “Come here right now!” The tone in her mom’s voice quickly caused a knot in the pit of her stomach to form. Something heavy and churning. She was in trouble. For what, she had no idea. But she knew there would only be more consequences if she didn’t respond as quickly and respectfully as possible.

Sometimes, the things we are most afraid of, are far closer to us than those we imagine creeping in the dark.

“Coming, mom!” Lily shouted as she pushed back from the table, completely forgetting the white face she thought she saw pressed against the barn window.

Walking through the kitchen, through the front hall and in to the living room Lily hurried. But as soon as she turned in to the living room, something gave her a reason to pause – her eyebrow furrowed. Something felt… off.

The lights were off. That’s what it was. The rest of the house had lights flicked on here and there, but her mom hadn’t turned any lights on. She was sitting in the living room facing partly away from Lily, the light from the hall illuminating just part of her face. Her mom was staring in to the far corner of the living room. Still as a stone.

It wasn’t totally new for Lilly, but it still gave her chills now and then. She couldn’t see it, but she knew, her mom would have a vacant expression, completely focused on nothing. In the same position, sometimes for hours. The only sound, the light ‘swish-swish’ as she absent mindedly rubbed her thumb and forefinger together.

“Yes, mom?” Lilly whispered.

Nothing.

“Mom?” Lilly said, a little louder.

But her mom didn’t stir. Yet, Lilly heard something… as though her mom were whispering very, very quietly. A low, almost growled utterance, that she would need to be closer to here.

Lilly’s brain was screaming a warning to her not to get any closer. But she knew, that the slightest thing could compel her mother to become enraged with her. And never knowing what to expect, was the sole reason she knew she had to enter that dark room.

There was no light switch to turn on, and the closest lamp was on the other side of her mom. She wasn’t sure why the thought of walking past her mom to turn it on made her entire body fill with fear, but the sight of her mom in shadow, slightly slumped and staring vacantly at nothing, felt almost exactly like the time she’d been pushed into a deeper part of the creek behind their house, before all the ice was melted.

Taking a deep breath, and feeling a little foolish, Lilly stepped in to the living room, rushed past even more huge windows, with no curtains to cover them, refusing to look out of them she moved to the other side of her mom and flicked the light on.

“Yes, mom?” She repeated one more time.

Her mom – looking over Lily’s shoulder at the same empty spot in the living room still whispering, so quietly Lily had to lean forward to hear whatever words were trying to escape …

“Get them out…” Her mom was whispering.

Lily stood up straight, arm hairs raised, entire body tingling.

“Get what out mom??” She replied, glancing around the room looking for something that hadn’t been put a way. A toy, laundry, something, anything rational.

Her mom, suddenly reached out and grabbed Lily’s arm. Lily’s heart thundered in her ears drowning out any other possible sound. But as her mom’s eyes, so close now she could see herself reflected in them, focused behind her she felt the unmistakeable sensation of something creeping closer and as she leaned closer to her mom to try to hear, in her eyes she saw a shadow forming behind her. Something horrible and insidious uttering a groaning, creaking sound that somehow penetrated the frantic drumbeat in her head.

Lily felt utterly frozen to the floor, her body prickled as though thousands of needles were simultaneously pricking her skin. And through it all her mom kept looking past her. Who knows how much time passed, with Lily terrified to turn around, sure that at any moment this thing would reach her, when finally her mom spoke again.

“Get … them out.” Her mom croaked hoarsely, breaking whatever trance Lily had been in. Now her eyes shifted to Lilly, boring in to her, her lips tightening in the expression that usually meant a sudden flash temper if her wishes weren’t followed out exactly. It was enough to remind Lily that what she really had to fear, was sitting right in front of her.

But Lily had no idea what she was talking about. There was nothing there to “get out”. Unless she was talking about whatever was in the corner, but what did she expect Lily to do?

“GET. THEM. OUT” her mom shrieked violently. Spittle flying out of her mouth as her face twisted in anger.

“GET THEM OUT GET THEM OUT” Lilly, shaking with fear, wishing her dad was home from work or her brother was home from his part time job at the farm. Someone. Anyone.

“My ear!” Her mom finally added. Lilly bent forward to look at the ear her mom was gesturing to and saw a few little black specks. Like maybe some coffee grounds were in her ear or something. It seemed so bizarre and so strange, how had this even happened? But she also remembered a time when her mom screamed at her from the other room, simply because a napkin had fallen off of her lap and she wanted Lily to pick it up for her… sometimes there just wasn’t an explanation that could ever make sense to a little girl who just wanted to make her mom happy.

So she didn’t stop to think, she just knew she would be in huge trouble if she didn’t obey. Reaching, tentatively forward she tried to grab one of the little black dots, but as she did, it suddenly moved. Now she was totally focused, more puzzled than concerned, she got closer, finally pinching one of the dots between her fingers.

But as she did so, it began to swell, and wiggle, the harder Lily tried to pinch it the bigger and more prickly it got.

Lily screamed. It was a spider. All of the black dots in her moms ear were somehow spiders. Now there were even more of them and to her horror they began to spill out of her moms ear, pouring down her face and covering her body, while the one in Lily’s fingers began to bite her over and over in a series of impossibly painful little chomps. Lily couldn’t stop screaming, but her mom seemed completely unphased. She was now staring back at the corner of the room. With a vacant expression in her eyes, her face no longer twisted in anger, just a small little smile on her lips. As Lily screamed and screamed and screamed.

With a sharp intake of breath and a hoarse cry Lily sat up in a start, shaking and sweating.

She looked down confused, weakly pulling at the tangle of sheets wrapped in a stranglehold around her legs.

“Wait,” she whispered. “Wait…” Her mind raced to connect the dots, trying to make sense of the blurred confusion that always strikes after a night terror. Her sheets were tangled around her because she was in bed. Starting to feel a bit more clear she took a deep breath, it was a dream. She wasn’t covered in spiders. She wasn’t a kid living in that house… she was an adult. She was safe.

She took a few more deep, but shaky breaths.

“It was a dream.” She whispered to the dark. “It had been a dream then and it was just a dream now. I’m Lilian now, not Lily”

Shaking she brushed the sweaty hair out of her face, and padded softly to the bathroom, flicking lights on as she went. Knowing that after a few splashes of cold water on her face the dream would fade and she could push back the memories of living in that house, but still – she wouldn’t get back to sleep again tonight. She never could.

For a few moments she stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, solidifying that she was not that scared little kid anymore. She was a competent, professional, almost thirty year old. But much to her dismay, as she always found when she looked for to long – she didn’t resemble that little girl anymore at all.

In fact. More and more, she was starting to realize, she looked an awful lot, like her mother.