Flies

Seeing the boy watching the movers she hired, Beth calls out to him. “Hey kid. You, across the street. I’d like to talk to you.” But before she has a chance to say anything more, the young boy takes off in the opposite direction and disappears around the corner. As he runs off, Beth continues, but in a lower, more subdued tone. “I have someone here I’d like you to meet.”

Beth sighs and turns around to face her son, Spencer, who had just moved into view from the side of the house. If the boy was still there, he would have seen him.

“I’m sorry hon, maybe next time.” as she places her hand on Spencer’s shoulder in a show of sympathy.

Spencer looks down at his sneakers when he answers, dejected, his voice low. “It’s okay. I wasn’t expecting to meet another kid so soon anyway.”

Beth smiles and gently squeezes his shoulder, hoping to cheer him up. “The summer is young. It’s only a matter of time before you meet other kids and start making some friends.”

“I guess.” His voice is so low, Beth almost misses what he said.

Her smiling waning, Beth decides to change the subject and take a different approach. “Come on sport, let’s go to the front and see how the movers are doing. I believe they’re almost finished bringing everything inside.” As she gently nudges Spencer towards the front of the house, she says, “Hey, I have an idea. After the movers leave, we can spend a little bit of time unpacking. Afterwards we can go get something to eat.”

“Okay, I guess.”

Mother and son walk slowly. Spencer’s head still looking down, his hands in his pockets. “How does Sweet Tomatoes sound?”

Spencer’s head snaps up and looks at his mom, a big smile plastered on his face. Yeah, thought that would bring him out of his doldrums of not getting to meet that neighborhood boy, Beth thinks as she smiles back at her son.

Walking over to the truck where the movers are waiting, Beth turns to her son. “Why don’t you go inside while I settle up with these guys.”

Spencer is already half way to the front door when he yells out, “Okay mom.”

After settling up with the movers, Beth enters her new home and surveys the mess of furniture. Some of the big pieces are already in their place, until she decides to move them around. Some of the boxes she sees are already open.

Hands on hips and shaking her head she wonders what became of her son. She thinks maybe he might be in his new room, checking it out, even though nothing was set up yet. Reaching the wide open door, Beth knocks and enters.

“Hey kiddo, you in here?”

Nothing. She turns to the closet and approaches it, her sneakered feet making padding sounds on the hardwood floor, thinking that maybe he might be hiding in there. Obviously not, since she sees that the door is also wide open and the empty closet is in full view.

“Welp, might as well see where else Spencer might be hiding.” Beth murmurs to herself as she leaves the bedroom. There is a lot she still wants to get done before they go get something to eat and she really does not have time for this.

Spencer was surprised how clearly he could hear his mother’s foot steps walking around above him. He giggled to himself, placing his hand over his mouth to stifle himself.

After he came back inside, he realized he did not want to start unpacking. In his mind that was to boring and seemed to much like a chore. Spencer thought instead that he could find some of his toys and at least play until his mom came in. Then he can try and persuade her to go to Sweet Tomatoes now instead of later. He was already starting to feel hungry.

Spencer walked over to the pile of moving boxes and started pulling the tape off the boxes that were on top. He smiled and thought, maybe he will get lucky and besides finding some of his toys, he will also find his tablet. That was what he really wanted to play with.

After opening up a number of boxes and having no luck in finding any toys or the tablet, Spencer got bored of the whole thing. He tried to think of what else he could do to pass the time until his mom came inside.

He thought about going back outside and asking his mother to hurry up with what she was doing, but then thought better of it. For one thing, knowing that that would probably annoy her, plus with two strangers standing there, he would feel to self conscious.

Unable to think of anything else, Spencer started to aimlessly walk through the house. Weaving his way around the obstacle course of furniture and boxes in the living room, and making his way to one of the bedrooms, he enters it. Looking around, seeing his mom’s mattress and box spring, and other assorted furniture, his eyes pass by the bathroom and then the walk-in closet. The doors to both are open. Stopping, he swivels his head around, bringing his eyes back to the bathroom and closet. Walking over and standing there, he stares, grinning from ear to ear, thinking to himself, coming up with a fun idea. He knew that at first, once his mother comes inside, she will not know where he is, but he hoped she will eventually understand that he was playing hide and seek.

When he was younger and his dad was still around, Spencer loved playing hide and seek with his parents, where they used to live. He especially loved hiding and his parents used to pretend not to know where he was and search all over the apartment for him, even though they knew exactly where to find him. There were even only a few places where one was able to hide and after a few times playing, whether he was hiding or one of his parents were, all the hiding spots were pretty much used up. As he got older, his parents did not want to play any longer, because he was getting older, even though he still wanted to play. But after tragedy struck, he no longer saw any point to the whole exercise either.

It has been quite a while since Spencer had last played hide and seek, and now with a new place, bigger than their previous home, playing hide and seek might end up being fun again. It would not be the same though, now that his dad was no longer in the picture, but he will make due.

Leaving his mom’s bedroom, past what will be his bedroom, Spencer walks through the empty dining room and moves into the kitchen, trying to figure out where a good place would be to hide. He stops in front of a door on the far end and opens it to the darkened garage.

The garage, he thinks, would that be a good place to find a hiding spot? He peeks inside real quick and decides, no. Really, the only good place in the garage would be to hide underneath the car, because the rest of the garage is pretty much just open space. He knows how dirty it can get underneath a car and the last thing he wants is for his mom to get mad at him for getting his clothes so filthy hiding underneath the vehicle. The last thing he wants to do is ruin his chances going to Sweet Tomatoes.

Closing the door, Spencer turns to the living room and notices the stairs going down. A big smile cuts across his face. That is it! The basement will be the perfect place to find a hiding spot.

Tramping down to the basement, making sure not to fall, Spencer stops at the foot of the stairs and looks around. Where can he hide?

Trying to get his bearings, he hears the front door upstairs open and then close. His mom calling out to him.

“Shit!” he mouths and immediately clamps his hands over his mouth. He knows he is not supposed to use bad language and has tried very hard not to.

Spencer looks left and notices double doors ornamented with stained glass leading to a room just off of the stairs. He quickly moves over and opens them. His mother once told him, these doors had a specific name, but could not remember what they are called. He will have to ask her after she finds him. If she finds me, Spencer thinks. He snickers quietly at the thought of her not finding him.

Spencer enters the carpeted room, and quickly scans for a place to hide. Looking to his left, Spencer sees another door. Walking over to it, he opens it and sees that it is a closet that is set underneath the staircase. Smiling, he knows this will be the perfect spot for him to hide.

Entering the small enclosure, he needs to kneel down so as not to hit his head on the steps. Settled, he leans out, grabbing the edge of the door and closes it, hoping his mom did not hear the door close. Once the door is shut, Spencer finds himself engulfed into pitch black darkness. The only illumination, a strip of faint light coming through the bottom of the door.

Above he can hear his mom walking around, trying to figure out where he might be. He wonders how long it is going to take her to find him. He hopes not to long, because the hunger is starting to set in. Spencer knew if he had some snacks with him, he would not care how long it would take. With no snacks and the thought of going to Sweet Tomatoes, makes his mouth water, which only helps to make him feel hungrier.

For a nine year old boy, waiting for something to happen is not only boring, but a bit grueling on the nerves, especially when that child is waiting in complete darkness. Spencer wishes he was able to find his tablet. Besides keeping him occupied until his mother found him, the tablet would also help with the darkness problem, giving off some illumination, like the night light he used to have in his old room.

As Spencer waits for his mom to discover him in the cool hiding spot he found, he senses he is not alone. First he hears buzzing and realizes that there is a fly in here with him. Great, he thinks, that is all that he needs is to be in here with a fly and hopes that the fly does not land on him. As soon as he thinks that the buzzing has stopped and he can feel the fly land on top of his hand. Disliking flies, his hand instinctively flinches, causing the fly to take flight once more. Thankfully he did not yell out. The last thing he wants is to give away his position.

Spencer starts moving his hand around in a swatting motion trying to smack the fly out of the air. A difficult thing to do while sitting in complete darkness.

“Pesky fly. Get out of here. You’ll ruin everything.” He mouths.

Spencer stops his hand in mid swat and listens intently. The buzzing has intensified and his eyes grow wide as he realizes that there is more then just one fly in the closet with him. Way more.

Flies land on his face, on his hands. He can feel them landing on the back of his neck. Forgetting about hiding any longer, Spencer throws up his hands, swatting at his face, his neck, the top of his head, all the while screaming at the top of his lungs “GET OFF OF ME! GET OFF OF ME!!”

Spencer reaches for the inside door knob so he can open the door. He feels all around, but there is no door knob. Fear turns into panic and it sets in deep as it dawns on him that he is trapped in this complete and utter darkness with all these flies.

As the panic sets in, Spencer begins to bang on the door with both fists, hysterically screaming “LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT!” as tears stream down his face, the flies continuously buzzing around his head, every so often landing on an exposed body part. He bangs harder and harder, but the closet door is not budging.

Thoughts start entering his mind. What if his mother cannot hear him? What if she left the house, thinking that he went outside? Or even worse, she knows he is in here and is not letting him out, thinking that it will teach him a lesson. Leaving him trapped in here with these flies forever.

“HELP! LET ME OUT!” He screams with more urgency, banging on the door even harder. Spencer stands up and kicks at the door, banging his head on the exposed steps above as he tries to stand up straight. He can feel a fly try to go into his ear and swats at it, ending up slapping his ear hard. Crying now, snot flowing, bad thoughts invade his head. Bad thoughts that he has not had in some time, not since his father left. Spencer keeps banging, but, no one is coming, not his mom, and especially not his dad. It is hopeless, he thinks. No one is coming to save him. He is hopeless.

After swinging his arms around again, trying to swat the flies away from him, Spencer bangs on the door again, his hysterics intensified. As he throws his whole body now into a forward motion, about to hit fists to door, the door opens and Spencer topples out, into the arms of his mother.

Spencer struggles at first, not realizing what is happening, sobbing uncontrollably. It does not even register yet that his mom is talking to him. All he can hear is buzzing.

As his mom’s arms encircle him, the buzzing fades. Pressed against her, realizing who it is, Spencer hugs his mom tightly. He can feel her warmth, hear her heartbeat as he presses his head against her chest, until finally the buzzing is completely gone. Silence.

Beth interrupts the silence.

“All right young man, do you mind telling me what you were thinking going into that closet and shutting the door?” She tries not to sound angry.

Beth looks into her son’s eyes and sees the fear emanating from them. She sighs.

“It’s okay, I’m not angry with you. I’d just like to know why you decided to play in there?” Beth gently says.

“I wasn’t playing in there.” Spencer says in a low whiny voice.

“Then what were you doing?”

“Hiding.”

“Hiding? From who?” Beth asks, not quite understanding.

“From you!”

From me? “Why on Earth would you be hiding from me? What did I do?” Concern sounding in her voice.

Spencer moves away from Beth, looking at her as he wipes his tears away and then the bottom of his nose with his arm. She really wants to say something about that, but she knows now is not the time.

Feeling a little more calm, Spencer starts to explain. “I wanted to play hide and seek. I went through the whole house looking for a place to hide. When I came down here, I heard you coming in. I found the first place that I thought would be a good hiding spot.”

And it all became clear to her. “If you wanted to play hide and seek, why didn’t you just wait until I was finished outside? You really had me worried when I couldn’t find you. Then I hear you screaming and I still couldn’t find you, until you started banging on the door down here.”

“I’m sorry.” Spencer squeaks, sounding like he was about to cry again.

“I’m just glad you’re okay.” Beth tells him soothingly.

Suddenly, going from sadness to anger in his voice, Spencer stabs a finger at the gaping maw of the closet. “If not for the flies, everything would have been fine!”

Beth stares at her son, a quizzical look on her face. She then looks over at the open closet. “Flies? What flies?”

Spencer spins around and stares into the completely empty closet. “But, but, they were in there! A whole bunch of them! They must have all buzzed away when you opened the door.”

Beth shakes her head. “Sorry nugget, the only thing was you tumbling out.”

“But, but…” Spencer turns back to his mom, a look of despair on his face, tears welling up in his eyes. Beth knows she needs to act quickly before her son starts crying again.

Beth wraps her arms around him and gently pulls him to her, snuggling him. “It’s okay. Sometimes being in complete darkness can play some pretty weird tricks on the mind.”

Spencer pulls away from his mom and sputters out his words. “But it seemed so real. I heard them and felt them on my hands and face.”

“I know kiddo, but like I said, the mind can play tricks on you some times.” Beth warmly smiles at him.

Feeling something on her hand, She looks down and notices a fly sitting on it.

Her smile fades. Is that fly looking up at me?

Her motherly senses do not just start tingling, they are clanging a four alarm fire. Cold dread seeps down her spine as she feels a presence behind her.

Slowly standing, Beth nudges her son with her foot towards the closet.

Spencer looks up at her, fear in his voice. “Mom?”

Hoping to drive her fear away, Beth closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, reopens them, and begins to turn around.