Please Don't Go into the Basement

Like any normal day of studying and doing homework, I begin with a drink, an energy drink. Nukies is a viable resource of energy, I even own a comic: Nukeman drinks Nukies. It’s mined from the purist samples of Nukide, then bottled and sent out. Nukies has several varieties of flavor: apple, blueberry, raspberry, pineapple and grape. Though I hate grape, but only because it doesn’t taste like the actual fruit. It’s freak’n vexing, so the pineapple is my favorite. Reminds me of Hawaii, never been and never will. The only problem with this brand is how low-key it is. It’s regrettably hard to locate in stores, so usually I order a shipment of Nukies. Not too expensive, but shipment fee is a killer, comes all the way from Russia. Crazy import tax or some not liable for Chernobyl factory accident. There is an interesting ingredient in nukies, but I’ve never really noticed any of its side effects. Well, until something magical happened yesterday, now I don’t order shipments of nukies. My room is like any other late high schooler’s room. A bed unmade with garbage and mags under it. NO DIRTY MAGS HERE, except for the older ones... A TV on the other side of the bed. Damn cable providers got rid of my favorite channels, life is getting worse. And my desk sits in the corner with the only window, THE only window where the sun is a constant bother to my eyes. On the desk is my notebook, laptop and aquarium cage for my pet spider Henry. Henry’s terrarium is filled with dirt and other dried nature. It takes up about most of the room on the desk, giving me only a bit of space. He has two dishes, one for food and the other for water. He mostly eats crickets. He’s around the size of my thumb and is of wolf spider descent. His gray hair with black stripes makes him look almost like an alien. Those four-five-six eyes and eight legs are just too cool, even though they scare the s**t out of my little sister, Tats. Weird name for a girl, but then again when you have parents who prefer to be called by their real names instead, any name is acceptable. Now my problem lies with the fact my nukies is open on top of Henry’s terrarium. It sits next to the tube which brings water to his dish. And being the clumsy klutz I am, and sitting at my desk for well hours. Yawning with my arms out stretched knocking the beverage over. The sweet, succulent pineapple liquid pouring down the tube like a toilet flushing. Releasing altering chemicals on Henry. In an instant he begins growing. I can’t say what happened next because I blacked out. The chair tipped over while I was yawning, thus allowing myself to lose balance and fall head first on a nice hard text-book, chemistry. The next thing I remember is waking up with something warm and furry to my face. A puppy? Penelope’s wig or... Now I know a normal person may freak out if they saw a spider grow to the size of a dog, but I didn’t see him grow since I blacked out. All I saw was the end result. A dog sized spider. Named Henry. Honestly, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I rubbed them twice just for efficiency. “Well, it’s decided no more bong water for me” jokingly I say to myself. “Jeremy are you alright, I heard a bang” a voice asked from beyond my door? It was Penelope, the mom, she’s probably standing outside the door holding a basket of clothes as she, so often does. “No one” I pause to listen for her footsteps. Suddenly the door started to creek and I knew the horror which would await me. Penelope would find out how much money I’m spending on energy drinks. There would surely be a lecture, so I whisper to Henry in hopes he could understand. “Henry the ceiling quick” as I try to stop Penelope from getting inside and nodding toward the ceiling. The young spider followed my instruction like a well-trained dog. With speed he rose to the ceiling making little noise. “Honey, what was that sound?” her question made me nervous. Damn thought Henry’s sneak was less conspicuous. How much does she know? Could she have peeked earlier? No because she would have freaked out, and then woke me up. Besides I wasn’t out for too long. The sun is still out. “I’m cleaning up right now, so could you leave” I tell her how it is, because Moms love hearing “I’m cleaning” from their teenage son. “Oh well, let me know if you need any cleaning products or a duster. If you want any tips like…” I slammed the door. School was no different from any other day. Classmates still played and laughed… At me. Because I do not have any human friends. Instead I prefer to be more like a lone wanderer, however this take on reality hasn’t paid off, or ever will. In fact I’ve pretty much stooped to low standards of the school’s social hierarchy. Since I’m not strong or have any talents at all, thus rejected by both jocks and nerds. The life of a lonely me, it’s a hard one to bear. Today in Math, I sit at the desk in my corner watching the sky pour rain against the window. Most classrooms at the school can fit twenty student desks. Math would be a lot better and cooler if Henry is here. Giant spiders would defiantly make any class better. He’s like my big red dog, but not a dog. Then thoughts rolled in, dangerous ideas. Thoughts of losing Henry would surely bum me out for all eternity. Even before the accidental spill with nukies, spiders don’t live long and Henry is no exception. This thought always makes me shiver and the students watch me as I do. They shout ‘spaz’ at me as the teacher glares at them to stop. Again I’m sent to the nurse’s office. I make my way across the room to the doorway out. The halls are vacant with rooms and lockers parallel with each other. Walking down the hall seemingly miserable I run into an old friend of mine. Half smiling at him, he quickly paces by me. I watch him speed down the hall and turn a corner. There are no friends besides Henry. In the nurse’s office I lay on a couch awaiting the period to finally be over, as the nurse was stationed at her desk. I play with my hands as she types aimlessly on her computer. Slowly I feel my eyes getting heavy and it becomes increasingly hard to keep them open. Gently now I shut them one at a time. Throughout the week there were reports of hauntings in my home, courtesy of Henry. He would hide in the pantry and leap out at any who’d open it. Of course he was, so fast and arguably suggested a poltergeist haunting. Penelope and Faun, dad would really get religious on the matter. While Tats would act like Linda Blair from ‘The Exorcist’. She’d twist her head as far as it could go. Force herself to vomit. And try to skip as much school as possible. As for me, well I went into panic mode. After the ghost haunted Tats’ room. From what I could tell Henry wandered out of my room, late one night. Tats was playing her music pretty loud and hadn’t shut her door completely. From the crack, Henry squirmed his way into the obnoxious sounding room. Unfortunately, I do have to say she had coming. There was a time when I asked her to feed Henry and she agreed while I was away. But, she didn’t feed him, obviously, so poor Henry held it as a grudge. Next I think he jumped onto the ceiling and hiding atop the armoire. Tats was most likely on her bed shifting images from her phone. The armoire is next to the desk with the stereo on top. This is parallel of the bed and the vanity is right across from the armoire. There’s also posters of her favorite bands like ‘Dreadnaut’ and ‘I like fire’. Both are the ever popular heavy Satan metal bands which promote anarchy and of course Satanism. I know not all metal bands are like this, it’s just these guys ‘really’ believe in it. And you can tell when listening to the lyrics, ‘Burn the flesh, eat a human heart’. Sometimes I hear Tats praying to them, kinda creepy. At times I wonder if she plans to sacrifice us. She has loads of friends, an honor student and invited to all the cool parties. How is she popular at her school? Any way Henry smashed the stereo in a quick stroke before jumping back to the ceiling. Penelope and Faun came running in when she screamed out. Her face would’ve been flushed with purple judging from the amount of banshee. Slowly I crept toward her room in the silence of the night. There by the crack of the door I push it open wide letting Henry climb through the doorway. He passes me in the hall heading to my room, as I glimpse into Tats who’s being huddled with care. Penelope and Faun sat with Tats on the bed, her cheeks red with fluster. I just stood there at the door staring. She spots me. “Hey s**t what are you staring at” with sobs and scratchiness in her voice. Uncomfortably I stare away from her. And like usual our parents take her side and suggest I leave. I wonder will she still practice her dark dealings with Satan after seeing Henry. The haunting escalated to the point where my family looked into finding an exorcist. So, I hid Henry in the basement and placed a sign on the door ‘DO NOT ENTER, HOME OF GHOST’. I typed it up so, Penelope and Faun wouldn’t know it was me. It mostly worked no one went into the basement. But now I had to feed Henry rabbits and fish I caught, and send them through to the basement windows. On a morning, I open the fridge in the kitchen and set a breakfast for myself. Tats arrives not to long after, I wait for my toast to pop. She sits down with her eyes drained. She studies me with her glare. POP, with hast I grab the toast make and way to the table. I sit with a plate of toast in front of me while Tats has nothing. “Are you okay” I ask? “That thing keeps coming to my room. That thing keeps coming to my room…” I listen to her murmurs which puts a sneaky smirk on my face, but secretely fear runs within me, HOW MANY TIMES has Henry visited her. Certainly there’s been less of a cult coming from her room. And I think I hear her praying to God for forgiveness. What is this feeling? Pity? Shouldn’t I be the one pitied here not her. “Now, Tats, what does this ‘thing’ look like?” hoping for answers I stare deep into her eyes. She just sits there, destroyed, quiet and hopeless. Though among her cold lips she mutters a single word. “Spider” I grasp my shuddering knee in hopes to keep compose. “Do you think it’s a demon?” The question seemed to puzzle her. Then a thought came to her mind, I could tell. She had the look. Sweat pours down my face. My ear becomes itchy and I scratch it furiously. “I think, it may be my imagination” my knee stopped shuddering as well as my fears. Curiously I slightly glance upward. Long furry legs, its Henry on the ceiling. “Yeah probably just your imagination, there’s no way Henry could grow that big, without some kind of help. Like with a mutation, possibly from my energy drink.” f**k me. “Huh” puzzled and gears grinding, Tats shakes her head. “Nothing” well it’s settled I’m going to get caught. Damn my big mouth! After a month Henry had grown to the size of a bear. And it became harder to feed him, because he never seemed to get full. Soon rabbits and fish may not be enough. What would I do then, kill people? No that would draw too much attention. But, then how could I sustain my only friend. Would it really be wrong to feed Tats to him? I told my parents I wanted to go hunting and asked to get a gun license. They weren’t sure but, I was able to convince them in time. I have my ways around my parents, too. The forest outside of town was perfect for deer hunting. And when I had my sights on one it suddenly hit me. Couldn’t I just go to the meat market in town? So, I threw down the rifle and went to town. Now I spend my money on shipments of venison. About a week later, Penelope finally found an exorcist. And in good timing too, I didn’t have enough money for meat this week. When the doorbell rang it startled everyone. It was pouring outside with a side of thunder. A Father, priest, approached us as he came in to the family room. The TV had snow on. Stupid cable provider. The power was fluxing at times. It was like strobe lights and it only made the Father’s opening eerie. “Where is the source of these hauntings” he asked so casually as if he deals with ghosts on a regular basis. I always thought of exorcists as ‘demon hunters’ not ‘ghost hunters’. It made feel skeptical. But, sure enough we point to the basement. Though I try to block it. Spreading my arms out wide I tell him. “Please don’t go into the basement” he only pushes me aside as he enters down the steps in pitch blackness. I followed him down. At first I thought maybe if I push him, but that’s too obvious. Then came Henry. With one leg staked the father and dragged him down kicking and screaming. Running frantically in search of him. In the dark I couldn’t see anything. Only hands barely, however there was a glow, as I went further down the steps. And there I find myself in a wonder land of webs, Henry sits eating the Father. He didn’t even comb him into a web. Suddenly Henry exploded, his guts flew everywhere. And all there was left was a six foot tall, humanoid, purple skin and spider legs forming hair with breasts as big as Penelope’s. A woman in the place of a monster. And all I could say was, “Henry, you’re a girl”? After two weeks everything kind of blew over. I mean it was a crazy week, but in the end it all worked out. Well until Henry had a baby-babies, about a dozen of them, but no need to worry… I regret to inform any of those who were reading, my spiderlings have gotten out and caused some slight confusion among the small town populace.