The Castle

Image source: PxHere

Decade old walls observed in silence as two figures walked up the narrow stairs. The otherwise silent passage resonated with sounds from their soft footsteps and beating hearts. The darkness in front of them was betrayed by the flashlight one of the held, the other held a phone.

They struggled to draw breath from the cold wind that patrolled the hall; each step bringing them closer to their destination. They approached the end of the stairwell and felt a wintry wind blow across their face.

“I still don’t think coming up here was a great idea,” Jimmy remarked through his grating teeth. He had one arm across his shoulder, the other holding the flashlight in a tight grip. He stood at the top of the stairs and watched as Rebecca explored the vast hall. The wind whistled as it searched a path between the many pillars in the large hall.

“Come on Jimmy, don’t be a coward.” Rebecca chided excitedly as she sprang across the hall like a hare set free pushing the piecing light from her phone unto the walls.

“Come look at this mural, it’s beautiful.” She invited as she lifted her hand to see farther up the wall. ‘There are so….” She paused when her ears picked up a strange eerie sound in the darkness. She looked up and her vocal cords gave out a single note at a very high pitch.

“Rebecca!” Jimmy shouted when he heard her scream. Her cry had pierced through his heart like hot knife through butter. His first instinct was to run but he would never leave Rebecca behind. He turned to where he felt the sound came from and saw rapid movement of a light from a phone. The light blinded him so he couldn’t see her face. He looked away to avoid the approaching light. The shove from Rebecca caught him by surprise and he fell on the ground, his hand losing its grip on the flashlight. He heard a strange sound from somewhere beyond her. The flashlight fell and rolled, pointing its light towards the direction Rebecca was running from. It was then he saw it.

Jimmy wasn’t sure what creature it was. It was walking on all limbs, its eyes blazing red glow as opposed to its body that was as black as a jaguar. Jimmy tried to steady his breath, reach for the flashlight and stand up at the same time. The cold wind blew the dust Rebecca had raised in her stampede against him causing him to sneeze. His fingers felt the flashlight but the sneeze caused his hand to slip and the flashlight rolled forward. He managed to prop himself against his left hand. The flashlight rolled and he caught another glimpse of the approaching creature.

“Rebecca!” his voice elected a shriek like that of a woman experiencing her first labor pain. He used his hands to crawl backwards, unable to bring himself to stand up. He could feel tiny beads of perspiration spring up on his face. His hands welled up with sweat and crawling became harder. When the creature got in the full glare of the flashlight, he felt as if he was going to die at very moment.

The creature crossed over the flashlight with its first limb on the right, and then the one on the left, and then the second on the right and then the second on the left and then the third…. The third? Jimmy sprang up at once and began to run. The creature was at least three feet tall and walked on three pairs of limbs! Probably more than three, his mind told him. He felt a little moisture in his underwear.

Jimmy wondered why he hadn’t reached the stairwell after what seemed like 20 minutes of running. He felt himself losing breath. He tried to locate the flashlight but the darkness in the hall had swallowed its light.

“Rebecca! Rebecca!!” He screamed with his might, not willing to believe she had left him to fend for himself. “She’s probably dead” his mind told him... he wondered what thought scared him more: that Rebecca was dead or that she left him behind. He glanced around, trying to see if creature was still tailing him. He slowly walked backwards and turned at the same time trying to adjust his eyes to the room. He heard a slight crack.

He jumped at once and started running. He was not sure if he had stepped on something or the approaching creature stepped on him. He stopped and rested his hands on his knees trying to catch his breath. He needed to locate the stairwell. He needed to…. He saw familiar red glows in the dark. His hands began to tremble like a cup of tea placed at the mouth of a raging volcano. He turned to the opposite direction and saw two other red glows.

He was tired of running. His heart was pounding like a thousand elephants were running across it. He needed to escape. He contemplated running in between the two approaching creatures. After all, they did not seem to be fast creatures. However, he couldn't bring himself to do it. He backtracked his steps and stumped against something he could not see in the dark. Thankfully, there was a net to break his fall.

He tried to lift himself out of the net but could not. It seemed as if there was something sticky on the net. He managed to free his right hand and sought a place to propel himself against as he tried to rise. His hand kept slipping through the holes in the net. It was then he noticed how large and irregular the spaces were. He remembered his biology class, the annoying biology teacher and the creepy lesson about spiders.

The strange sound began to grow louder. The cooing suddenly became familiar to him. It was the mating call of the Gazette Spiders, the world’s largest spiders. They only mate after a meal. They are usually slow. Well, that was not going to be any advantage to him as he was stuck in this web so big that it seemed like it could stop a car.

He saw the first creature climb onto him and opened what seemed to be its mouth. The liquid rushing out from between his legs didn't matter to him. Jimmy closed his eyes and tried screaming but couldn't. His vocal cords had taken flight, his limbs paralysed in the face of approaching death.

The first creature looked like a female. Her head was directly in front of him. Jimmy shut his eyes and cursed Rebecca for bringing him to castle. He wished she was dead.

"Jimmy!"

He opened it to see Rebecca looking into his eyes.

“It seems you are having a nightmare. I have trouble sleeping. How about we check out that abandoned castle at the other side of the resort center?” She asked.

Entry for sound in the darkness contest