Spider Dreams: Chapter 15 "Day Job"

ghostfish (60)in #story • 6 years ago

I must be at work. The warden has come around. He is yelling at me for not cleaning all the spiders that have collected in the corners and along the ceiling. I tell him, I swear I got them a couple days ago and the week before that. They keep coming back, creeping back in through the cracks in the wall. In the night. In the dark. They crawl in, unnoticed beneath our feet and above our heads.

He yells some more. He doesn’t care.

“Keep feeding the machine! Suck up all the webs and all the spiders! These walls must be clean! Clean and white!”

Then I think, alright, this is better than being outside. This is better than shoveling cow shit. I don’t like the sound the sucking machine makes. Always hungry, even when it is being fed. If I don’t feed it quick enough it tries to turn on me. Starts sucking me into that black hole mouth. Sucking me deeper into the void of non-existence. I get caught halfway when my body wont bend inward or twist down the hole. I get spat back out while the machine squeals like a pig searching for another breath of air. Its powerful suction suffocates itself and I pry with all my might to escape.

It looks so welcoming down there. I go in headfirst. Nothingness, that sweet quality of non-being, looking down the path, a tunnel forever traveling away. Sometimes I want to let go. Let my grip slip and fall and bounce down the howling machine’s throat as it screams in thirst. Swallowed by the void.

No more spiders.

This time the machine works smoothly. The warden must have tuned up the motor. This time I get all the webs and their makers.

A knock from behind startles me. I flip the switch killing the power to the monster machine. It’s the Sun Goddess. Her presence without the usual flames dancing and wiggling about her.

“What are you doing?”

“I am on assignment. Warden's orders.”

“I see.” She turns sideways. Her round form blocked the light from the open doorway that leads up and outside from this damp dungeon. It causes an eclipse of herself. “My sister has requested a visit. She needs a few things at her apartment repaired if you would be available.”

“Sure, sure. Talk to the Warden to schedule something.”

She flips her golden hair back over her shoulder and flip-flops her ass back up the stairs outside. The door swooshes close and I’m left in the musty basement cellar. One light bulb swings overhead, casting shadow on paint cans and tools. The silence around me begins to scream.