Cropsey

This tale I wanted to send to a French publisher, but then I didn’t write it and then I wrote it in English. Enjoy.

The little girl had seen the boy before he told her to come with him and this might explain why she followed. Before this, she had been playing with a discarded stick, drawing arcane mandalas in the mud which was the street. Even she could not understand them.

In the recess of her heart, she secretly wished her father, who had vanished a few months prior, was able to witness her newfound talent. In an unconscious, not really theist manner.

The street was busy to say the least; for it led to the market and carriages and horses and sellers and cars all blended in a gigantic centipede. One who did not, and in fact could not, care about the little girl. The road which was supposed to get paved, yet remained an embankment of mud despite the mayor’s promises, bordered a wood and this was where the boy had come from.

He was blonde, with piercing brown eyes and a nose slightly too big. Still, there were few doubts, he would eventually grow up into a fine-looking young man. This played no part in the girl’s decision for she already had a lover named Cesar who lived on the third but was presently in school.

Truth was the savage boy intrigued her. Plus, there was nothing else to do for mom hadn’t come back from work and Cesar and all the other children weren’t there. So much for lying to her mom about being feverish and counting on the fact that she would wake up late and could not check her daughter’s claim any further. The little girl had spent half the day all by herself and her plan to skip school had gone awry when she ran out of things to do.

Which led to this terrible moment when the boy, having crossed the street while being yelled at, finally grabbed the little girl’s fingers. Without as much as a moment of hesitation, she followed the ragged silhouette.

She would have admitted she got scared as they tried no to get crushed underneath the traffic. Vehicles were taller than her and noisy, and smelly, but she was tough and did not show any sign of it. The little girl stopped a moment before the boy forced her into the forest.

She never really like the wood and its shade which creaked all day long. Even while playing hide-and-seek, she would frequently be found because of her reluctance to press too deep amongst the trees.

But the boy held her firm and walked fast enough that she had to be wary not to lose her balance. “Slow down”, she even attempted to protest, wriggling her flabby arm in a useless fashion.

The boy simply turned and smiled.

“Where you live at?” Asked the girl.

“T’was your building you were in front of?” Questioned back the boy.

“Yup.”

“Why you alone?”

“Mom’s at work. Pop’s gone.”

The boy giggled a bit to the way the girl said “gone”, with some weird accent that made her seem Australian or something.

“I have something to show you. It’s not far,” suddenly explained the boy as dried leaves crushed in a peaceful song under both children’s feet.

“Oh yeah?”

“You never went to the ‘ther side of the wood?” He asked, genuinely surprised.

“I don’t like the woods.”

“Well, they end soon, anyway.”

When the forest stopped, as abruptly as a chitinous frontline caught under fire, all there was to see was some tall and decrepit building. Part of the roof had already crumbled, either because of snowfall or the weight of leaves. Windows crept across the façade like pests, barricaded with iron bars.

“Wow, what is that?” Asked the little girl.

“An hospital of some sort, I think. Come on, What I want to show you is on the other side.”

“Oh,” calmly answered the girl as she tried to decipher the letter painted above the door, but could not.

If the front of the structure was not in its best shape, the back had simply vanished. It was as if a bomb had exploded in there, taking off the entire wall. Through the gigantic opening, you could see the tiled floor of the six stories, sort of magically levitating. The little girl stood mesmerized ten feet away from the cyclopean mausoleum.

“Wow,” she repeated to no one in particular. “This your house?”

While asking her question, the little girl had turned and seen the boy had retreated towards the trees.

“Oï, wait! What are you doing?” Screamed the girl while taking a step towards her companion.

The boy seemed suddenly alarmed as he stopped her by showing the palm of his hand.

“DON’T MOVE!” He angrily pleaded.

“What is it?” Asked the girl, turning again to face the mesmerizing structure.

The gigantic spider was too quick. In a single jump, it had sprung its front legs, as a giant hand, over the small body. The little girl did not even scream.

The boy watched as the incredible arachnid retreated backwards, while keeping a jealous hold of her prey.

It had been fed.

Next week we’ll talk about Lovecraft’s Colour Out of Space and its many adaptations!