Grueberfest 1: Floorboards (515 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.57 on 21 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by stardamage (View user info) at 2008-09-25 21:49:16 EDT
Melissa sits up in bed, and with one easy, fluid motion she throws the covers back. She turns to look for Peter, but his space is empty - probably fell asleep watching television on the couch downstairs.
Her bathrobe is on the floor and she picks it up, threads an arm through each sleeve, ties the sash absently. The bathroom nightlight glows dimly and she pushes the door open, uses the toilet, dabs her hot face with a cool washcloth.
The September air is chilly but Melissa opens the bedroom window a little wider and sits in her bathrobe on the edge of the bed. Her back aches, as it always seems to these days.
She places her hands on her back and stretches. She thinks she feels the baby shifting. For a moment she considers heating up a warm compress in the kitchen for her sore back, but decides on bed instead, and slides back between the covers while the sheets are still warm.
Melissa is drifting between sleep and waking when a creak in the floorboards stirs her. It sounds rather like a slow, heavy footstep at the doorway. She sits up a little. "Peter?"
As she says his name she realizes that if it were Peter she would have heard footsteps come up the stairs and down the hallway long before they reached the bedroom threshold.
Another creak, a little softer this time. Melissa's heart begins to beat a little faster, and she swallows and takes a slow, even breath, raising herself up on her elbows.
She is wide awake now.
She listens again. Another, louder, creak. It sounds like a heavy person rocking back and forth on their feet; the sound rolls and shifts a few times, and then goes quiet.
Melissa's gaze fixes on the doorknob, then shifts to the edge of the door, the better to see if it opens.
(It's not going to open. This is an old house that has all kinds of loose boards and ticking pipes and besides you locked the doors tonight yourself you know you did and Peter's downstairs he would have heard anyone coming in now STOP IT!)
Melissa forces herself to lower herself onto her aching back, but her neck is still craned to see the doorway from her bed.
There is a twinkle of light in the hallway. Melissa shoots back up to a sitting position, stifling a hiss of pain, staring saucer-eyed at the yellow glow visible under the door. The glow fades and disappears, and Melissa feels like she is pinned to the bed. She can't move or even squeak for Peter, even if he could hear her. She can barely breathe.
A creak sounds directly at the foot of her bed, and Melissa has the wild thought of throwing her covers over her head and hiding. (If I can't see you, you can't see me--)
A hairy shape is rising from the floor. It twists and stretches as though it has just come through a tight tunnel. There are soft yellow lights dancing near the floor, like fireflies or Christmas lights.
Melissa's teeth are clenched so hard she thinks she might break them. The baby kicks softly in her belly; maybe the rush of adrenaline, or even the unusual activity during a customary quiet period, has uneased him.
She doesn't want to look but of course she can't help it.
A wild-haired woman is standing at the edge of the bed. Her eyes aren't eyes at all, but holes of rotten skin and caked blood where eyes once were. Her arms hang white and rope-limp at her sides. Her face is expressionless until it grins a little, and Melissa sees one huge, long, white fang gleaming in the middle of an otherwise toothless mouth.
Melissa is trying to breathe. The scolding internal voice of a few moments ago is now whimpering in fear, and a sudden liquid warmth is spreading under the sheets. Her eyes feel pulled open, as though she won't ever be able to shut them again. Her fear feels alien, external to herself, and it paralyzes her completely.
The woman at the edge of the bed sways in place. A twinkle of yellow light dances around her belly, which Melissa realizes is where the body ends; the woman is only a head, arms and torso, with intestines, stomach and heart trailing uselessly behind. Each meaty string produces a hot sort of glow at the end, and flashes of light dance around the room. There is a dark pool forming under her from where the entrails drip onto the floor.
Melissa and the legless woman are motionless for a moment: Melissa gapes, terrified, while the woman rocks gently to and fro, as though blown by a gentle wind.
Then the woman's hands are suddenly stiff at the bottom of her arms. The limp, rope-like limbs are now full of terrible speed and intent: the woman lunges at Melissa, mouth slung wide open like the gaping maw of some cold, hungry fish.
Hot entrails slap bloody on the comforter and the woman has Melissa's hands pinned to her sides. Melissa is trying to tell her muscles to struggle, but her entire body is slack with shock. Now there's dirty, knotted blond hair in her face. She coughs and spits and cries with the effort to breathe, as the cold woman claws at her hands.
A razor-sharp pain at Melissa's belly. A hot knife tears a ragged line from hip to quivering hip, and the sheets are soaked with blood. She's making some sort of noise, now, but she can't tell what or how loud it is - the sound is unconscious. The baby is writhing now, and feels like he's kicking Melissa's ribcage.
The agony is unbelievable and yet somehow distant - it's as though Melissa is watching it happen to someone else. She feels very far away.
Another stabbing pain, in the very center of her belly. There are fingers stuffed and poked through the broken barrier of her skin and pulling the gaping, bloody hole wider, and Melissa moans aloud through the haze of pain. The woman is jerking and tugging at Melissa's skin, fat, bones, organs, to dig inside her.
Those same dirty, cold fingers push deeper and deeper, and Melissa has stopped moaning and is simply staring blankly at the ceiling, barely able to breathe. The hair moves away from her face but she doesn't really notice.
The dead woman rears back. She is holding a wriggling, shapeless object. She brings a moist, bloody string to her tooth and snaps it apart; dark fluid drips on the little rug next to the bed as Melissa stops breathing.
Melissa's head lolls to watch the bloody lights sink to the floor and then darken as though someone threw a dimmer switch. The blood-covered arms tighten around the squirming bundle as the shapes disappear through the floorboards, and the mouth gawps mutely; Melissa sees the blood-covered fang, and closes her eyes.
User Reviews
Submitted by JoeyG (user info) at 2008-09-29 16:51:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Hmm. I'm torn between this an ahumblefool's entry.
Both good.
As seperate stories I would +2 both for being enjoying fiction pieces, so I can't justify rating one above the other.
Submitted by billrhine (user info) at 2008-09-28 12:49:35 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Brian_Johns (user info) at 2008-09-27 22:15:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
No Comment
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2008-09-27 00:25:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by tatersninja (user info) at 2008-09-26 15:43:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
so a floating head ate her baby and lives under the floorboard?
Who is this head? WHy does she eat dah baby?
"Then." = D:
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2008-09-26 15:29:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
This was good, but I'm not exactly sure what was going one. Put this in a longer story with more context and it would really kick ass.
Submitted by John_H_Kim (user info) at 2008-09-26 13:24:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
It was a good read. The point, somehow, eludes me though.
Submitted by Brdn_Nkd (user info) at 2008-09-26 11:42:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by monkeyswithguns (user info) at 2008-09-26 11:05:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
+2's for all Grueberfest entries posted today, just because.
Submitted by stardamage (user info) at 2008-09-26 10:54:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penanggalan
Submitted by sage104 (user info) at 2008-09-26 10:18:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
What can be said here except wow?
And points?
So, POINTS!
Submitted by sage104 (user info) at 2008-09-26 10:18:09 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
What can be said here except wow?
Submitted by Paralyzed_By_Hope (user info) at 2008-09-26 09:32:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
(If I can't see you, you can't see me--)
That totally works.
Submitted by whiskey_jack (user info) at 2008-09-26 06:02:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
No Comment
Submitted by Desz (user info) at 2008-09-26 05:11:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
mommy.. can you leave the lights on today??
Submitted by Quint (user info) at 2008-09-26 01:28:30 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Not bad
Submitted by Falafel (user info) at 2008-09-26 00:30:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Jesus Christ.. I better not dream about this tonight
Submitted by Gyro_Gearloose (user info) at 2008-09-26 00:00:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Amontillado (user info) at 2008-09-25 23:00:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Allman brothers.
Submitted by frankthebear (user info) at 2008-09-25 22:31:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
soooo....
what the hell was Peter watching! I NEED CLOSURE!!!!
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-09-25 21:58:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Sweet Melissa. . . . .
Almond Brothers reference. . . . . . .