Chapters The car was just as reveling as usual, with everyone nodding their head to the tune that played in the car. While it was admittedly loud, they didn’t have a care in the world and merely moved their bodies to the music. The man driving the car was dancing in a rhythmic way, while subtle, it was a dance nonetheless. He had his left hand on the steering wheel and tapped his thumb against it, he nodded his head and moved his body in the same direction.
The man had skin dark as coal, wearing a black durag on his head, a gold chain around his neck and wore a black wife–beater. On the fingers of each of his hands were a set of rings, one on each ring finger, not too flashy, not too less flashy, just the right amount of flashiness. He wore a pair of black jeans to match and a pair of white Jordans to stick out. In his mouth was a blunt that he took a big drag with the index and middle finger of his right hand around it. He parted the blunt from his lips and puffed smoke in the air.
“Shiyeet, Tyrone, pass the blunt!” The driver – now known as Tyrone – turned over to the person in the passenger seat. He was a young man with a similar complexion to Tyrone, and instead of a hat, he showed the waves on his head. The young man wore a Canterlot Wondercolts hoodie with a matching pair of pants and shoes to go with it, all in the school’s colors. Something of note was that he had an old fashion watch on his right wrist.
“Aight, but don’t drag too long, you got basketball practice today.” Tyrone gave the passenger a quick glance, giving him a look that said he meant it before focusing back on the road.
“Ty, he don't got practice today!” Another young man from the back – with a Brooklyn accent – said with a guffaw, “Yuh gotta be highuh than a fuckin' kite!” The entire car laughed, two extra voices joining in. “Ey, Jamal, pass it over to me!”
“Hey, are you sure that’s safe? You guys shouldn’t be getting high before you go to class.” This time around, the voice came from Flash Sentry; he was sandwiched between two people in the back of the car. “You could get in serious trouble.”
The man with the Brooklyn accent scoffed and turned to Flash, allowing him to see the full view of his black leather jacket, a red t-shirt underneath it. If he were to look lower, he’d spot that he sported a nice pair of blue jeans and his shoes just like Tyrone’s. Looking back up, his hair was a messy and rough black, and to finish his ‘bad boy’ look, his eyes were hidden with a pair of shades. “Hey, when ya ride wit' us, trouble is fixin' tuh happen.”
“Amen!” Said the last rider, who was a small white boy wearing the exact same fit as Steve Erkel.
“Amen!” The entire car sans Flash nodded their head simultaneously. The Wondercolt merely chuckled and bounced his leg with his hands folded together. The man next to him – the guy in leather – took notice.
“Yuh nervous, or what?” He asked with a shiny grin, Flash shook his head profusely.
“No! Not at all, Tommy, it’s just that I haven’t hung around you guys; I never knew you guys were so…” Flash didn’t even need to finish his sentence for everyone to understand.
“Yeah, we get that a lot,” The last guy spoke up again with a snort, “But hey, at least we’re cool.”
The man in leather raised a finger, “Hey, hey, hey! We’re not! We are not cool, okay?!” This brought the nerd to tilt his head in confusion as the Brooklyn Crook lowered his finger to point. “...We’re badass.”
“AYYY!” The car exploded in hype, and they all moved around, causing Flash to be ping-ponged between the boys in the back. Tyrone smiled at his boys and as he did, he turned a corner, revealing Canterlot High in the distance.
“We’re almost there, should we?” Tyrone raised an eyebrow, gazing into the rear-view mirror to look at Tommy.
The mad man gave him a nod, and rubbed his hands together deviously, “Hell fuckin’ yeah!” As the two of them grinned, Jamal couldn’t help but shake his head in annoyance, something that Flash picked up on.
“W–What? What’s happening? What’s gonna happen?!” Flash exclaimed, looking around the car, seeing a small smirk on each of their faces.
“Man, shut yo bitch ass up!” Tyrone scoffed and rolled down all the windows while raising the volume of the music at the same time. The car could now be heard blasting music from afar, and to help raise the deafening noise, the boys (excluding Flash) were singing along to the song that was playing.
As the car rolled into the students parking space, the students that were getting into the school were all looking at them with an agitated look. Flash couldn’t help but try and hide by shrinking himself from the view of the windows. The car finally stopped as it parked into the space, but the music didn’t, Tyrone opened the door and stepped out, the gang quickly following – Flash being the least eager of the bunch to get out and have his face be seen.
“This true rap shit right here!” Tyrone yelled to the passing students, throwing up a gang sign with a nod and sparkly teeth. The students either shook their heads or just nodded to the music. “Now up is down–!” Tyrone began to rap.
“Tyrone Smith!” A loud and stern voice cut through the music, and immediately, the boy turned to see Vice-Principal Luna standing across from him with her hands on her hip. “Turn that music off right this instant!” The students all stopped to look at him and his crew, causing Flash to nearly jump back in the car.
“...Aight,” The delinquent shrugged his shoulders and opened his car door to turn his car off. He locked the door with his keys afterwards and stepped away from it. With the music turned off with the car, the crew awkwardly stood around it. There was a long pregnant pause as Tyrone and Vice-Principal Luna locked eyes. “Fuck you looking at, bitch?” He thought, furrowing his brows.
The Vice-Principal tilted her head, “What did you just say?”
The moment she said this, shock was brought to Tyrone’s face, “Uh, fu– I mean… Nothing. I ain’t say nothing.” He shook his head, “Nope, not at all, y’all hear anything?” The entire crew shook their heads, especially Flash who looked like his head was spinning with how fast he was shaking it.
“Good.” She huffed, folding her arms under her chest, “Flash, Jamal, you two are Canterlot Wondercolts, I expect you two to act with some level of maturity; especially from you, Jamal. Don’t be like your brother, you’re better than that.”
Jamal gave a quick glance to his brother, who remained stone-faced. He didn’t have his eyes on Tyrone for long and returned his gaze to the Vice-Principal. “Yes, ma’am.” He nodded, Flash doing the same.
Returning the gesture, she glared at Tyrone and the other troublemakers, “Head to your classes, they start in twelve minutes.” And with an about face turn, she left Tyrone and his group behind. Some of the students sneaked in a few chuckles before they carried on.
Tyrone, meanwhile, merely stood there in silence with crossed arms. “Hey, man,” He turned to his brother who put a hand on his shoulder, “You ain’t all that bad.”
In response, Tyrone shook his head, starting his walk into the school. Jamal followed his brother and threw a gaze behind him to wave farewell to the others as they split off to head to their own classes. As the gang split, it left only Tyrone and Jamal walking through the doors of Canterlot High. “Nah, she's right, you shouldn’t be like me.” Tyrone assured as he put his hands in his pockets, but Jamal saw right through his facade.
“Ty, you ain’t gotta lie to me, I know it gets to you.” He tried to put a hand on his brother’s shoulder again, but he brushed the hand off.
“I’m good,” He shook his head, furrowing his brows. “I’m good.”
“You said that twice already.” Jamal pointed out, this made Tyrone pause and turn to his younger brother.
“Shut yo bitch ass up,” The sudden surge in his brother’s anger brought Jamal to cackle and clap his hands together. As he guffawed behind him, Tyrone moved down the hall, shooting everyone a glare as he strutted past them. Watching their sneaky snickers turn to fear from a mere look in their direction brought him nothing other than satisfaction. “Fuck them, fuck all of them, fuck those pussy ass bi–”
“YOINK!” The durag on top of his head was snatched off his head, exposing his waves. With fury in his eyes, Tyrone spun to catch the perpetrator and managed to catch a glimpse of his brother dashing past him with his durag in hand.
The rage in Tyrone’s eyes vanished as his brother sprinted off. Now, instead of a scowl, he wore a grin. “Oh, you little bitch! Give me my durag back!” He exclaimed and ran after Jamal leading to the younger of the two laughing giddily like a toddler.
“Gotta catch me first!”
Tyrone had gathered all of the boys – including Flash Sentry who surprisingly decided to come along. A large majority of them hung out near the car. Speaking of, Tommy leaned on the hood of Tyrone’s ride with his arms crossed, he was sucking on a lollipop and acted like it was a cigarette. Taking notice of this, Ryan – who was next to him – couldn’t help but try and mimic the Brook Crook with a lollypop of his own, and yet he still couldn’t hold a candle to the coolness that Tommy radiated.
Flash, on the other hand, hung out a few feet in front of the pair behind him. His hands found a resting place in the safety of his pockets. He watched as Tyrone paced from left to right in front of an exit in the school with his blue eyes on him like a bee on honey.
The main man, as previously mentioned, was pacing left to right in front of the exit. He looked down at his phone with the clock app open checking the time. He pressed the Overview button and switched over to texts, where he sent a message to his brother, urging him to hurry up. Once the message was sent, he paused in his pacing for a moment to see if ‘delivered’ changed to ‘read’ at all.
…It didn’t.
Tyrone clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes, turning around to resume his pacing. “Damn, where is J at?” He huffed, gazing into his phone’s clock feature one more time before stuffing his device in his pocket.
“I doan know, must be takin' a big shit. Eh, Ryan?” Tommy tittered and nudged Ryan with his elbow lightly, but still, the scrawny dweeb winced.
“Yeah, must be.” He nodded and lifted his chin up so that his voice could reach Tyrone, “Sometimes when I take a big shit, I gotta put my phone down, you know what I mean?”
Tyrone turned to Ryan, pure disgust in his eyes. “No, I don’t, you fucking geek. ” As soon as the words came out of his mouth, Ryan gasped and held his heart.
“Hey, I’m a nerd, not a geek!” This brought a laugh out of Tommy. Frowning, he turned to him, “Hey, it’s not funny, there’s a difference! You see, geeks…” As Ryan rambled on to the bad boy, Flash walked up to Tyrone right as the delinquent paused in his pacing yet again.
“Hey, is everything good with your brother?” He inquired. Tyrone spun and gave him a glare, wanting to say something but he held himself back at the last second.
He took a long and deep exhale before he shook his head, “Nah, he hasn’t answered any of my texts or calls.” Anxiously, he put his phone back in his pockets and rubbed his hands togethers to warm them.
“Do you think he got in trouble with the Dean or the Principal?” Tyrone scoffed at Flash’s question and gave him a shake of his head.
“Nah, like the Vice said, he’s better than me, he wouldn’t get into any trouble. He’s a Wondercolt too,” Tyrone swung his arms and warmed up his shoulders as he walked towards the door leading to the halls of Canterlot High. “He’s taking too long; I’ll go looking for him myself.”
Flash outstretched a hand to stop Tyrone, but he was out of reach, “Wait, wait, wait! That’s breaking and entering!”
Tyrone rolled his eyes and didn’t bother giving Flash a glance. He reached the door within moments and grabbed the handle; it was then that he turned to the Wondercolt and gave him the finger before he twisted the door handle and pushed. To his surprise, the door did in fact open. “Shit, I thought I’d have to pick it,” He chuckled to himself in disbelief, “Aight, I’ll be back in a few.” As he opened the door, he took one last look at Flash and the others before heading inside.
Upon entering, he found that the halls were abandoned if not completely dead of life. There wasn’t even a janitor going from classroom-to-classroom cleaning. Not only was he alone, but the dead silence didn’t help either; well, it wasn’t complete silence. The lights were buzzing over his head and his feet were making loud thuds on the marble tile. It felt weird, what was normally a hall full of colorful students and conversation was now dead and lonely. He shook his head and continued walking, giving a quick scan to the doors and bathrooms as he passed by. He kept his hands in his pockets the whole time, fiddling around with the trash inside to keep his mind distracted from the fact that he was alone. He turned a corner in the hallway, and like the one he was walking down, the hallway that followed hadn't a soul wandering it.
Taking in a lungful of air, he pushed off his back foot and kept walking to scan this hall. He made the scan quick as the worry of him being caught by some kind of authority took over, he quickened his pace and made it to the end of the hall where it presented a fork in the road. One led to a hallway that looked like a copy and paste of the one he walked to get here, and the other was a dark, pitch-black hallway. The only light that could be seen in that hallway was all the way down towards the bathroom at the end of the hallway, but even still, the lights were flickering. Off and on, off and on.
For the longest few seconds that felt like hours, Tyrone stared down that hallway and shook his head slightly. "Nah, J couldn't be down there." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone to dial his brother's number. As he pressed the digits and the call button, he heard distant and faint ringing; and it was coming from down the dark and shady hall.
Ring–ring–ring… Ring–ring–ring…
The ringing echoed off the vacant walls across the hall. He squinted his eyes to try and see if he could see something with the help of the flickering lights from the bathroom. With a bit of struggle, he managed to make out something on the ground in front of the bathroom.
Panic raced in Tyrone’s mind; “Did J get jumped?” That thought was quickly stuffed down, shaking his head. “Nah, nah, this school… It’s… It’s different.” He mumbled to himself as he turned the flashlight on his phone. “...He fell asleep, that’s all, his dumbass is passed out on a toilet seat. Has to be…” Once more, he pushed off his backfoot and began his tread down the abyss. With the flash being on, he felt a little bit safer and slightly more relaxed. His shoulders slumped an inch instead of being tight and stiff.
His foot slowly lifted up the ground and gently touched it, tipping and tapping his feet on the ground. Although his prowl was solitary, he felt a presence behind him, stalking him; watching him. Tyrone paused in his walk and quickly spun around, flashing the light down the direction of the hallway that held the most light, he expected to see a demon or a monster down the hall.
Nothing.
A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead; what if the monster was behind him again? He quickly spun back around and clenched his free hand tight, as if he was ready to swing. “Nah, nah, nah, fuck this…” Tyrone reached into his pockets with his left hand and pulled out a brass knuckle. Holding the knuckle in his hand, he put his phone sideways and up to his neck where he pushed his chin down on it to keep it in place as he put the brass knuckle on his left hand. When it was on, he grabbed his phone and put it back in his right hand.
He twisted his neck and popped it a few times, shaking his arms – his nerves – and finally continued walking. At all times, he kept his fist clenched, ready to strike at whoever or whatever jumped out. He was getting closer about ten feet away from the flickering lights. At this point, the light reached him and provided dim lighting for him, but he still kept his flash on. He dropped his phone down a little in front of him so that he could see what the thing could be he saw in front of the bathroom beforehand. Sticking his chin over his phone, he gazed down to see what looked like a watch.
Again, panic took a fine grip on his heart as he looked up from the watch and into the flickering bathroom. Tyrone took a small step forward, one tiny tap at a time, he made it within a few inches of the watch. He adjusted the brass knuckles on his left hand by itself and stuck his index finger and thumb out, taking after a crab. Again, as he prepared himself to snatch the watch from the ground, he looked over his shoulder with the flash on his phone to glance behind him. There wasn't anything there much to Tyrone’s relief. He turned back around and peered down at the watch, his knees bending a little.
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” He muttered under his breath before quickly bending down and snatching the watch with his fingers and shooting back up. He spun around to try and catch someone sneaking up on him, yet once again, there was nobody. Tyrone let out a deep exhale and inspected the watch in his hand. There might be a crack on it, but it was without a doubt Jamal’s watch. For a while, he froze and stared at the watch, his mind lost in thought. He peeped up from the watch and into the bathroom. The bathroom was without a door and had an open arch that showed two signs: men on the left and women on the right. Yet, both lights flickered.
Shoving the watch in his pocket, he walked past the arch and inside the flickering bathroom. Slowly, he inspected each of the paths, turning his head right and seeing it appearing normal. Turning left, he saw a slight crack on the wall and heard water from the sink. He wanted to call out for his brother, but he tensed up. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” He repeated softly under his breath, walking over towards the crack before turning around the corner of the room to finally gaze into the men’s bathroom.
Tyrone dropped his phone, letting it clatter on the floor.
The bathroom was in mayhem, the stalls were broken as if it was knocked over like dominos. The toilets were shattered to bits and the sinks were gushing out water like small geysers, if that wasn’t enough to give him unease, it was the claw markings on the walls almost like a grizzly bear wreaked havoc inside of the bathroom. As he scanned the walls, his gaze went over to the shattered mirrors, how he hadn’t noticed that with the broken sinks was a mystery to him.
The lights flickered and brought Tyrone to get into a fighting stance and look up at the lights. When he saw the ceiling, he slumped his shoulders and dropped his hands. There was a plethora of spider webs over his head. The webs weren’t small, no, they were big and spread all over the ceiling. The giant webs also had sacks of smaller webs as well, he froze as he realized what it was.
“...Spider eggs.” He shook, his voice trembling as he looked back down from the ceiling to pretend it wasn’t there. As his gaze fell from the ceiling, it quickly landed on a giant mass of webs at the end of the bathroom, placed on the floor, and strangely, it looked human sized. Human. Sized.
Tyrone shook his head and quickly ran over to the human sized web, his feet thudding on the ground. He was at its side in a moment, muttering and mumbling; “No, no, no, no, no…” He grabbed hold of where the head should be and clenched the silk tight. With all his strength, he pulled and pulled but it was no use, it couldn’t be broken. He swore and turned left to right to find a shard of the mirrors, luckily, he found one in reach and seized the shard in his grip. Now, with one hand, he pulled the webs a distance away from the head and began cutting with the shard. Back and forth, back and forth, did his hand go before the web broke off and made a hole. He dropped the shard and put his fingers into the hole he made with the knife, and with a mighty pull, the hole grew, and he saw…
…His brother.
His eyes were dead of life and his head limped to the side, showing Tyrone a giant spider bite that left two nasty holes in the side of his neck. Tyrone’s hands were shaking so much, his brass knuckles came off. He held his brother’s head to set it upright. He felt his brother’s cold skin and gazed into his faded brown eyes.
“...J…?”
When Tyrone walked out of the police station it was night, he found his crew all huddled next to the car in front of him. They were all leaning on the car and facing him as if they had been waiting for his arrival the whole time. Tommy had his arms crossed, leaning on the hood of the car with a lollipop in his mouth. He took a deep exhale, seeing his breath in the air, the seasons having shifted along with their lives. Tommy's gaze was fixated on the ground, unable to face Tyrone.
Ryan was next to Tommy, fiddling around with a fidget spinner, spinning it around in his right hand. His hands were shaking – shaking a bit too much as the spinner fell out of his grip. Quickly, he dropped low and picked it back up. He gazed down at it with sullen eyes, wanting to fidget some more to keep his thoughts at bay. But after a pause, he stuffed the device in his pocket, knowing that it wasn’t the time.
And lastly, Flash distanced himself away from the other two, leaning on the passenger door with his hands in his pockets. He couldn’t bear facing the door, and instead, gazed out into the road, watching the cars roll by.
“Yo,” Tyrone said, sounding more melancholy than ever. His voice cut through the silence and alerted the trio. Ryan kicked off the car and walked over to him, wanting to ask a question but not having the strength to do so. With tears in his eyes, he embraced the delinquent. Tyrone accepted the hug, and gave it back, patting his back without a drop leaving his eyes.
“...So, what happened?” Tommy asked, shifting his gaze from the ground to Tyrone’s eyes; he didn’t have to say anything for him to know what happened. His eyes told him all. “That’s fuckin' bullshit!” He exclaimed, kicking at the ground. “Yuh saw whatcha saw, yuh ain’t a liar when it comes tuh family! Why can’t dey unnerstand dat! It happened, it really fuckin' did!”
“So, they didn’t believe you? Did you explain everything? All the details?” Flash turned to him and walked towards Tyrone as he let go of Ryan.
Tyrone shook his head, “I did, but they…” He froze, gazing at the ground. “...They said that with my track record I might have been high out of my mind and seeing things. They said that…” He choked and turned away from his boys, not wanting them to see his poker face break. His body trembled as he raised his hand to hold his mouth, trying to stop a cry. “...They said… They said that he might have just run away from home… ‘Cause… Of my bad influence…”
“WHAT DE FUCK?!” Tommy exclaimed, his voice so loud he caused everyone to flinch. “Nah, nah, nah, I’m gonna go ovuh dere and give dem a piece of my fuckin' mind!”
“Tommy, no!” Flash ran over and grabbed Tommy’s arm while Tyrone watched.
“How dare dey! How fuckin' dare dey!” Tommy growled as he resisted Flash’s pull, glaring at the police station doors. “What gives dem de right, what gives dem de right tuh tawhk shit like dat! Why I oughta–!”
“Tommy,” He turned to glare at Tyrone with tears in his eyes, “...Enough… Just… Enough…” He shook his head and walked towards the car.
“But dey need tuh pay–” Tommy protested only for the delinquent to interrupt.
“They need to pay nothing,” Tyrone took a swift inhale and exhaled deeply. His fists clenched and shaking. “Do you know who needs to pay?” He turned around and faced the trio that stood side by side, all of the looking at him with curious eyes.
“That fucking spider.” Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out Jamal’s watch. “We’re gonna find that fucking thing and we’re gonna pay it back in blood for what it did to me, what it did to us . Jamal was more than a brother, he was a proud wondercolt, the star basketball player of Canterlot High, a loyal and trustworthy friend… He was everything. But I can't find the spider alone, I can't do this alone. I need help. Your guys' help.”
“I’m in,” Tommy immediately stepped forward, “I’m gonna hunt dat spiduh tuh de ends of de Earth, I fuckin' promise yuh dat. I will crucify dat fuckin' ting.”
Ryan stepped up next, “Yeah, when you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us!”
Tyrone gave a nod of respect to them, turning to look at Flash, who stood behind the two at a distance, having not stepped up. “And you?”
Flash glanced at the three men in front of him, a part of him hesitating to step forward. All of them faced him and waited expectantly. After a pregnant pause, he groaned out a sigh and…
…Stepped forward.
He could feel the eyes from his peers on him, sitting in Mr. Cranky Doodle’s class. Everyone had heard about what "happened" to Jamal and everyone wanted to ask about it but were too scared to, given his previous track record. Tyrone was seated in the dead middle of the room. His arms were over his desk, his hands folded in front of him, a pencil on one end and a sheet of paper on the other end of the desk. Instead of the clothes he usually wears, he was dressed appropriately. He wore a gray hoodie and under it, a black shirt. His pants were blue jeans, and his shoes were a nice pair of gray and white Jordans.
With his hands over the desk and him sitting up straight, one would assume that he’s paying attention, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Instead of being in the moment, his mind was racing a thousand miles per hour, his eyes staring straight ahead, not following the teacher’s movements as he and reality were completely separated.
In his mind were the events leading up to him discovering Jamal’s body, he replayed the day from scratch. He remembered waking up to the smell of chicken and waffles prepared by his brother for them to eat and a note left by their mother about having went to visit G-Mama up north to care for her because she was sick, leaving them to fend for themselves for a couple weeks. She had left them eight hundred dollars for them to split between them. They decided to split and got a text from Tommy to pick him up because he missed the bus.
So, they drove over to his neighborhood and picked him up. Then, they received another text from Ryan to pick him up because his bicycle broke down, and so, they drove over and did just that. On their drive, they found Flash walking to school from a while away since he had also missed the bus, Tommy called him over since they knew each other, and Flash got in the car.
The rest felt like a blur with him and the boys jamming in the car on the way into the school, getting reprimanded by Vice-Principal Luna, chasing around his brother and getting to class. He recalled that after second period, during his walk to his third, Derpy bumped into him and dropped her books. He thought about how he stepped over her while she tried to pick her books back up and got dirty looks because of it. When he turned around, he saw that his brother, Jamal was helping her pick up her books, apologizing for Tyrone’s actions.
Going further into that day, Tyrone remembered towering over Snips and Snails after they purposely poured apple juice on his Js. He almost got physical with them before his brother stepped in and convinced him to let them go; and instead of getting physical, have them pay lunch money for compensation. Even further, he minds the fact that he almost pulled the fire alarm but at the last moment, Jamal stopped him after alerting him of the Vice Principal entering the library.
And later that day, he remembered when his brother hadn’t come out of the school, so, he went to go looking for him and…
…
…
…
…He spaced out, a dark part of him grabbing hold of his mind and showing him that bathroom stall. Completely in ruins, the webs, the destruction, everywhere. Jamal’s cold lifeless body wrapped in a blanket of spider silk, the large spider bite on his neck. Ever since that day, he hadn’t gotten a lick of sleep. The nightmares of seeing his brother’s body haunted him, not just his body too; it was the fear of what kind of spider did this to him and most importantly, who it was going to go after next. Was it going to be him? His mother?
Sweat rolled down Tyrone’s cheek, he tapped his foot on the ground, his fingers twitched – aching for his phone. To dial the numbers of his–
Ring–ring–ring… Ring–ring–ring…
He didn’t dare turn his head as he heard that damned ringing, it wasn’t coming from his phone, it sounded like it was out of the room. Out in the halls . The ringing was unceasing, never ending, from where his eyes were at, he saw that no one was clearly reacting to it. Was it just him or were they just ignoring it?
Ring–ring–ring… Ring–ring–ring…
The phone from the outside rang yet again, beckoning him to come out of the classroom and follow it’s call.
Ring–ring–ring… Ring–ring–ring…
A large shadow scuttered down the hall, he could see it from the small window on the door. The sight nearly brought his head to jerk towards it. However, fear was the only thing keeping him from doing so. “That must have been Granny Smith, lunch is coming up anyway, she must be late.” He thought to himself. But then, it scuttered by the door again, and he saw that the shadow didn’t have a humanoid shape, but rather, it had an abnormal one.
Ring–ring–ring… Ring–ring–ring…
Tyrone’s heart was pounding out of its chest as the shadow darted by the window again. Scutter, scutter, scutter, each and every time it passed, he saw the shadow get clearer and clearer. Scutter, scutter, scutter, skitter. From the window, he saw a giant arachnid, what seemed like a thousand eyes on its head. It put its many arms beside the door to push itself up to analyze the room as if it was searching for something, or , someone .
Ring–ring–ring! Ring–ring–ring!
It was at that point that the ringing was blasting in his ears. The ringing was so deafening that he couldn’t think, reverting him to his natural instincts, watching as the giant spider gazed into the door. He couldn’t run, that was his only exit. He couldn’t kill it; he didn’t have his brass knuckles. He froze, it was the only thing he could do. The spider opened its mouth…
“Tyrone!” It cried out, using Jamal’s voice. “Tyrone, where are you!?”
Ring–ring–ring! Ring–ring–ring!
The spider banged on the door, trying to knock it down.”Tyrone, help me! I’m scared, Ty, help! I don’t wanna die! Help me, please!” It mimicked and mocked, the wooden door having started to bend and creak. The spider slammed its arms into it, causing more damage. And Tyrone couldn’t do anything but watch.
BANG!
“TYRONE!”
BANG!
“TYRONE!”
BANG!
“TYRONE!”
BANG!
“TYRONE!”
Tyrone was snapped out of his trance. Reality having finally grabbed hold of him. He looked around the room, everyone was gone except for a frustrated Mr. Cranky Doodle that stood in front of his desk. He had his hands on his hips and frowned down at him.
“The bell has already rung,” Mr. Cranky Doodle grunted, raising his arms to cross them over his chest. “You’re going to be late to your next class. Maybe if you hadn’t been daydreaming then you’d–” Tyrone slowly gazed upwards to meet Mr. Cranky Doodle’s eyes, and almost immediately, the teacher dropped the snark in his voice. He saw the terror and the unshakeable trauma in the young man’s eyes and dropped his gruff voice into a smooth and comforting one. He went down to one knee to be on Tyrone’s level. “Hey, kid, I, uh, didn’t mean to scare you like that. Is everything alright?"
Tyrone stared into Mr. Cranky Doodle’s eyes.
“I’m fine.”
Lunch. The only time in school Tyrone could chat with his friends about the event, and nobody was there at his table. All of them were busy; Tommy skipped school to search for the spider, Ryan got sick from grief, and Flash had a doctor's appointment. And so, it left Tyrone in his lonesome. He was in the school's cafeteria, two bootleg airpods in his ears, listening to music. Trying to listen to anything that could separate him from this nightmare, as he listened to the song, he nodded his head gently to it. Tapping his feet, a little.
The song came to an end, which led to Tyrone reaching into his pocket to pull out his phone. He scrolled down the music page and found "Leave Me Alone" by NF. A classic. A soft smile cracked on his face before playing the song. He stuffed the phone back into his pockets and sat up straight. Hearing the opening to the song made him tense - the phone ringing and the background talking - was exactly how he felt. Up until it happened, he didn't think he had any fear other than cops, but now, he had more than just one. The fear of ringing from anything, from phones to bells, and the fear of the dark. But what about spiders, you ask? Why would he fear something he's going to kill?
Tyrone didn't sing along to the music and instead let himself get absorbed by the passionate rapping. Taking deep and slow breaths, he calmed himself, leading to his shoulders to relax a little. He closed his eyes and blocked off his senses to escape once again. With his headphones in his ears and his eyes shut; he finally felt calm.
That was until his peace was broken by a muffled, “Hey.”
With a sharp exhale – and a tinge of frustration – he tapped the side of his earpiece and paused the music. He bent his arms like he was curling weights and reached his headphones to take them off. After he did so, he put his hands together and formed a ball with the off brand airpods. Finally, he opened his eyes and saw Sunset Shimmer sitting across from him with an awkward grin, a plate of food in front of her.
“The fuck do you want?” Tyrone leaned back a little, lifting his chin and tilting his head to the side to give her a stink eye. Sunset, having caught on, had a small bead of sweat rolling down her forehead.
“Um… Well, I’ve heard about your brother,” Sunset began, pausing to gauge Tyrone’s reaction. Tyrone didn’t really make a face and remained solid as stone. “And I just want to say I’m so sorry and I hope you find your brother.”
Upon hearing this, he dropped his head back to its normal position to look her properly in the eye. “He ain't lost,” Tyrone droned, which brought the ex–bully to raise a one of her eyebrows. “He’s dead.”
Instead of one, she now raised both. “We don’t really know that; how can you be so sure?”
“I saw his body with my own two eyes. He was murdered in cold blood by that fucking spider.” He huffed. His fingers twitched, wanting to reach in his pockets to light a blunt, but he stopped himself.
Realization seemed to hit her as she made an audible ‘oh’ sound. “You mean that investigation last week? The bathroom was completely clean, there were no webs or anything.”
This seemed to tick Tyrone off, “I know that. The spider must have covered its tracks, it wanted only me to see my brother’s body.” He planted his index finger on the table as he leaned forwards, “This is a strategy a gang used back where I grew up. What they did was that they'll beat, or kill, your closest partner in an attempt to make you slip, and when you slip, they get you. When you show a crack in your poker face, they start hammering away to break you. That ain’t happening to me; I’m gonna find that spider and nail it onto a cross because of what it did to me, what it did to J.”
All that he received from Sunset was a wide-eyed expression that said: ‘you’re crazy’. “O…kay? Well, it isn’t healthy to bottle up your emotions like that.”
“Fuck my health,” Tyrone spat, crossing his arms over his chest.
Sunset tilted her head as she analyzed his face, “Have you been getting enough sleep?”
“What does it matter to you?” He huffed.
She nodded slowly, taking that response as a ‘no’, she gazed down at the empty space on the table in front of him. “And have you been eating?”
Tyrone threw his hands up in the air and let them flop on the table, “You is not my Momma, stop. I don’t need your concern or your pity.”
Sunset leaned back and showed Tyrone the palm of her hands, “Hey, I’m just trying to look out for you.”
Tyrone’s glare intensified, he put his elbows on the table and folded his hands together to look at her dead in the eyes. “Why are you really here, Sunset? ‘Cuz I sure as shit know it isn’t because you’re concerned for me.”
“It is because of that!” Sunset protested, slamming her hands on the table. “Listen, Ty, I–”
“Don’t fucking call me, Ty, you whore .” Tyrone furrowed his brow. Sunset let out a sigh of exasperation and face palmed, slumping her shoulders as she shook her head.
“Okay, let’s just… Start over.” Taking a deep breath, she sat up straight, masking annoyance with a polite smile. “Hello, Tyrone, I have come to your table to try and figure out what’s been going on with you. You haven’t been acting like yourself as of late, you’ve been avoiding people in the halls, you’re a lot quieter, and you tend to have moments where you gaze off a thousand miles. Which is a symptom of PTSD, are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“Bullshit.” Sunset frowned, making Tyrone roll his eyes. “Do you want to know why? It's because you're trying to make something up that didn't even happen, trying to make sense of your brother's disappearance. Tyrone, you claim that your brother was killed by a spider and there was web everywhere in that bathroom. Here are three reasons why that isn’t a likely story." She cleared her throat, beginning her list. "Reason one, when the police came, there was no source of Jamal’s DNA or even a trace of a spider anywhere." She raised a finger, "Reason two, there is no spider in the world that could be big enough to prey on humans." She raised her second. "And finally, reason three, where would the spider nest? We live in a city, the spider would have to have a dark and damp space to nest, and I don’t see anywhere that the spider could hide.” She raised her third with a flat stare that fell onto Tyrone.
Throughout Sunset’s speech, Tyrone’s head remained tilted, staring into Sunset’s eye with nothing but a stone-face. When she was done, the two locked eyes for a moment, and Sunset waited for him to say anything in response – a comeback, anything.
…Nothing.
“See?” She gestured to him, “You can’t even say anything back, you know I’m right.”
Tyrone closed his eyes, trying to calm himself, even by a smidge. “...Tell me, Sunset, how come it isn’t likely that a large spider is preying on humans when you literally turned into a demon during that whole shit at the Fall formal?”
“Well, uh…”
“And to go a little further, the sirens had everyone under their spell, and was fucking with their minds. Also, that Twilight girl ALSO turned into a demon, and to backtrack, you used mind control!” Tyrone exclaimed, “So, how come a big fucking spider isn’t likely, but mind control, transformation, and messing with minds with music is? How come, Sunset?”
…
…
…
…Nothing.
“That’s what I fucking thought, bitch.” Tyrone pushed himself up from his seat. “And if I somehow find that spider and it manages to kill me, I just want to let you know right now…” He moved next to her and leaned down to whisper in her ear.
“...I. Fucking. Told you.”
The day was finally over, the school day had ended, the sun had set, and most importantly, he was finally back home. While the day at school was rough, he thanked the good Lord for the mercy he’s brought. After lunch, he was caught skipping his next class and was brought into detention for basically the whole day, and now he was finally free, he could rest.
‘Rest?’ He didn’t know how but he managed to scoff in his mind, shaking his head afterwards as he got out of his car. His car was parked right in front of his house. Something that he always made note when driving back from the clean and safe city was that the whole neighborhood was just run down and dangerous. Something that he takes for granted, even at night the city was safe, something that couldn't be said for this neighborhood. So, he quickly locked his car with his keys – stuffing it in his pockets after doing so – and sped-walked towards the front door to his house.
He almost skipped as he put one foot in front of the other. Upon reaching the door, he reached down to get his keys when he noticed a small crack, about an inch or two, from the door frame. The door wasn’t fully closed at all, he remembered locking it, heck, he remembered closing it. So, who could have possibly done it?
“Better not have gotten fucking robbed, I swear to…” He paused and prayed silently for forgiveness before pushing the door open. The door thankfully made not a creak or groan when opened and led to a small hallway where all the shoes went. Silently, he kicked his own off his feet so as to not dirty the floor. He reached into his pockets and slowly pulled on his brass knuckle that he put on his left hand. He didn’t bother turning on the flash to his phone, if the perpetrator was still here, they would notice the light. He crouched down and put his right hand over his fist, as if he was ready to throw the punch like it was a baseball.
He walked down the hallway, past the door that led to the AC unit, and made it into the dining room that had two different pathways. One path led to his mother’s room, the other led to him and his brother’s room, despite being teenagers, they still slept together as they couldn’t afford another room. So, they just bunked. Still in a crouching position, he made a decision – his own room, that was where the game console is at, something of major value.
He turned right, which revealed a dark and narrow hallway and at the end of it, the half open door to his room. He raised his brass knuckle and kissed it for good luck and began stalking like a lion. His feet made not a sound as it touched the hardwood floor, and if he was truly feline, his eyes would be glowing with bloodlust.
A couple of seconds passed but it felt like minutes, which it probably was. He had reached the door and stopped behind it, preparing himself to rush in; why, you ask? Because he is many things, a delinquent, a bully, a thug, a ruffian, a rogue, a pot head…
A bitch is not one of them.
He shoulder checked the door and flicked the light on as he lunged inside the room in a swift motion. He got in a fighting stance and glared around his room, “Surprise motherfucker!” He shouted, readying himself to strike. But as his gaze went around the room, it eventually fell on something in particular, or rather, someone.
There, on the wall, was Tommy. There were webs holding him up on the wall around his waist, around his wrists, and around his ankles. His arms were outstretched like he was T-posing, his ankles were on top of each other, his head hung limp in a direction that revealed a nasty spider bite on his neck. He lacked color and was so pale that Tyrone could see the color of his veins, but instead of blue, it was black. It must have been the venom coursing through it, all around, up and down, everywhere in his body. It wasn’t that he was dead or his body was in his house that really sent shivers down his spine, it was that…
…He looked exactly like Jesus Christ when he was crucified.
One by one did the people exit the church. It was the only church in the neighborhood and the one clean safe place for all kinds of people to congregate and pray to the good lord. But as everyone left, one person went in, that person was none other than Tyrone. He brushed past the people flooding out the church, apologizing as he pushed his way into the church. The inside of the church was nothing short of divine, the walls were white with yellow dashed onto it, symbolizing the gates of gold that stood before Heaven.
Tyrone gazed around the church, looking for a particular someone. People were still moving to get out of the church, which hindered his focus as he analyzed everyone that went by. Surrounded by his brothers and sisters, he walked further to distance himself from the crowd and walked down the aisle that led to the altar. As he gazed around, he noticed a nun walking over to him with a polite smile.
"Good evening, brother," She performed a polite bow, which Tyrone reciprocated.
"Hello, sister," He responded, "Do you know where father is? I have to ask him something important."
"Father?" The nun tilted her head to the side, "Father is right over there," she gestured next to the entrance where he just came, there stood a priest blessing everyone that went by.
"Aight, thank you, sister," Giving the nun a nod of respect, he walked towards the priest, who had just blessed the last person leaving the church. The priest was dressed exactly how you think a priest would dress up with a complexion of darker color than Tyrone. He was elderly and had gray hairs all over his body, most notable was his neat gray beard.
Seeing the young man walk over to him, the priest offered a polite wave, "Hello, my son."
"Hello, father," Tyrone said right back, speaking a little too quickly for his liking.
The priest took notice of this and tilted his head, his face filled with concern. "My son, what troubles you? Why are you so stressed?"
Tyrone opened his mouth to speak but hesitated for a moment, sighing afterwards. "My brother and my best friend have just died over the course of the last few weeks. Jamal, Tommy, they've reached the pearly gates."
Horror struck the priest's face, "I thought your brother was missing? Are you telling me that he walked the stairway?" Tyrone didn't even need to say anything, just his face alone said more than words could ever. The priest's face was filled with sorrow as he clutched a hand over his heart, signing a cross over his chest to bless the dead. "Who did it? Was it a rival gang?"
Tyrone shook his head, "No, father, it was one of Satan's demons." The priest, once more, tilted his head, causing Tyrone to groan. "Father, can I show you something? It is proof that one of his demons killed J and Tommy."
"Go on, my son, show me."
Without saying a word, he nodded and took out his phone and went into his gallery. He glanced at father who's eyes said 'show me the truth'. With a sigh, he turned over his phone and revealed a photo of Tommy hanging from his wall with webs. Father let out a gasp and took a step back.
"What is that?" He asked.
"Those are webs and that's Tommy. It came from a spider, a big one, it's been targeting those closest to me. My brother, my best friend, and I'm scared it might have killed my mom too. It knows things about me, it knows that I worship a God, it knows where I live." Tyrone's voice shook as he clenched his phone, "I need help."
"Why not go to the police, my son? With a photo, they would surely believe you." The priest said.
The delinquent merely shook his head, "Father, as much as we praise the Lord, as much as we try, we can not stop people from being prejudice towards the people of our community. The police would believe that it is either photoshopped or I did it myself for attention," Tyrone explained.
The priest stroked his beard with a hum, "My son, you have come to me and tell me these awful things this demon has done to you, and I am willing to help you in any way I can. Please," The priest put a hand on Tyrone's shoulder, "How can I help you defeat this demon?"
Tyrone exhaled and took a step closer so that they could be quiet in their talk, "I need three necklaces with crosses on them, and a lot of holy water. I'm talking buckets, gallons, bathtubs full of holy water."
Hearing this, the priest gave him a nod. "Is that all, my son?"
Tyrone shot him a nod right back.
"Yes, father."
"Are you sure this is where the spider is?" Flash said, his voice quivering as he stood alongside Tyrone. The two of them were standing over a manhole in the city, both having gathered in the middle of the road where, oddly enough, there wasn't a soul or car around to bear witness to their obvious crime.
"Positive. Spiders like dark and damp places," Tyrone confirmed, "You got your strap?" He lifted his water gun, which was reminiscent of a glock, he didn't have just one, he had two on both sides of his waist.
The wondercolt in response groaned and lifted his blazer to reveal a similar water gun to Tyrone's. "Why do you have to say it like that? It just makes it sound more illegal than it already is."
Tyrone rolled his eyes in annoyance, "Shut yo dumbass up. It ain't illegal if we send a demon back home."
He couldn't help but shake his head, "But trespassing is, and really? I had to visit Church for the first time since I was like six to get holy water. And we're going to kill a demon with water guns?"
The delinquent raised a finger, "Nah, we're killing a demon with holy water guns. There's a difference." In response, Flash merely sighed in exasperation.
"When is Ryan coming?" Flash moaned, his eyes darting around the street in fear of a police car driving by.
"That's a good ass question," Tyrone mused, tiling his head to the side. "Where is that geek?"
"I’m a nerd!" The two spun to see Ryan, carrying three hard hats, two vests with water balloons - having been filled up with holy water, and a massive water gun assault rifle.
Tyrone gestured over to Ryan, "See, Flash? Why couldn't you be like him?" As Ryan made his way over, he handed the vests over to Flash and Tyone, wearing one already. He also handed them to hard hats, Flash wearing it immediately and Tyrone looking down at it with a raised eyebrow.
"Something the matter, Ty?" Ryan asked with a dumb grin.
"Hard hats are for pussies," He dropped the hat and let it clatter on the ground.
"Ty..." Flash complained.
"Flash, do me a fucking favor and shut the fuck up." He gazed over to Flash and pressed the muzzle of his water gun against Flash's chest, "I'm tired of you bitching and complaining about everything." Switching over his gaze, he saw Ryan wearing the cross necklace and returned his eyes over to Flash. The jock had no cross on him. "Flash, put the mother fucking cross on."
Flash opened his mouth to speak but Tyrone, again, pressed the muzzle of the water gun onto his chest. With a groan, he shut his mouth and reached into his pockets, pulling out the necklace and putting it around his neck.
"Aight," Tyrone crouched low and put his water gun on the ground in a swift motion. He looked down at the manhole and looked at his hands, realizing that he can't open it, "Fuck, y'all got a crowbar?" He looked over at Flash and he shook his head, but when he went to face Ryan, he already had a crowbar out, seemingly having spawned it out of nowhere.
"Here," He handed it over to the delinquent. Tyrone grabbed hold of it and stood back up to his feet. He stabbed the crowbar right next to the manhole at the right angle before cranking it to lift the piece of metal from the road. He pressed his heel against it and kicked it over before dropping the crowbar inside. Flash winced as he heard the crowbar clattered down into the sewers.
Tyrone picked back up his water gun and motioned for Ryan to hop in first, the eager nerd complied and climbed down, having some trouble with the rifle on the way. Then, he motioned for Flash who offered him pleading eyes, only to be met with a firm glare. He gestured his head down and that was enough for Flash to comply, with a sigh of defeat, he started his climb and right after, so did Tyrone, but not after pulling the manhole back over.
Now, the trio were in complete darkness, which led Tyrone to reach for his pockets to take his phone out and use the flash. He was surprised when he saw Ryan tap the side of the hard hat and reveal the flashlight on top of it. Seeing this, Flash did the same and turned on his light.
“See?” Ryan gazed up at Tyrone, “It’s always good to have a hard hat on.” He chuckled cheekily.
“Yeah, yeah.” Tyrone grumbled as he turned on his flash.
“So, where do we look?” Tyrone and Ryan glanced over at the man in blue who raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah, Ty, where do we look?”
“Wherever you see spider-webs, follow wherever it leads, it might lead to the nest.” As soon as Tyrone said that he received confused looks. Not that he could see them, the delinquent had turned away from them and began walking in a random direction, well, not so random, they could only go left or right. Ryan hurriedly followed after, but Flash dragged his feet.
Despite having light, Tyrone couldn't help but think about how dark the sewers were. It was so dark that if they had turned their lights off, it would take years for their eyes to adjust. The darkness wasn't the only thing that bothered Tyrone, it was the smell. Urine, manure, and sometimes vomit ran down the sewers all the time, and it surely stacked up. At all times, they had their mouths shut, for if they had breathed in even a little bit through their mouths, they would catch a banquet of awful smells - and taste. Although not having a physical form, they could taste the awful smell in the sewers. Adding onto the hindrance of their senses, the rushing water from the sewer filled their ears like buckets and hammered them like they were nails, but despite all of this, they pushed on. Tyrone pushed on.
With every step they made on the sidewalk-esque bit of the sewers, they felt the grime and dirt touch their shoes. With every turn they made, they nearly slipped and kissed the revolting floor, but every time, they corrected their footing, and they kept walking. Tyrone kept walking.
"Hey, Ty, I found something!" Called out Ryan, his voice echoing off the walls and reaching the ears of the delinquent. Tyrone stopped and Flash in turn did as well, twisting their bodies to face Ryan, who was on the other side of the sewers, pointing to a large hole with webs acting as a protective wall in front of it.
"How did you get over there?" Flash asked, raising his voice to keep it above the rushing sewer water.
"I walked!" As he said that, both Tyrone and Flash pointed their lights to the bottom half of his body. From his feet to his waist, his pants were damp with murky water.
"Aw hell naw," Tyrone shook his head and glanced down into the water, not seeing a bottom to it. "...I'm jumping." He decided.
"What?" Without saying another word, Tyrone jumped across the gap between the walking spaces to land on the other side. He raised his feet to his knees and stabbed them down as he reached the other side, but much to his horror, the wet floor made him slip and fall right into the walls of webs. With a yelp of fear, he crashed through the webs and collapsed against the ground. Continuing his shout, he went to his feet, dropped his water gun and phone, and patted himself down to rid himself of the web. Ryan and Flash couldn't help but laugh at Tyrone's misfortune as he ripped the webs off his body.
By the time Flash made it across, the delinquent found his bearings and picked back up his items. They all stood side by side and stared past the broken wall of webs, the wall having hidden what looks like a narrow cave. Tyrone glanced between Flash and Ryan, stepping aside to push the wondercolt in front of him. The jock made a girlish scream as he stumbled his way inside.
"The Hell?!" He exclaimed, spinning to face the ruffian.
"You go first, you take the lead." Tyrone pointed his water gun right at Flash.
"Why?" He whined.
"What did I say about complaining, Flash? We dealin’ with demons!" With a shove, Flash was forced forwards and started walking. Followed by Tyrone and Ryan in the back.
The cave was slim and short and made the delinquent and the wondercolt have to turn to the side and bend down just to keep their heads from bumping against the ceiling. What was worse, was that their lights revealed webs everywhere it was shone upon, side to side, up and down. Yet no spiders for some odd reason. They kept walking until the small cave started to grow with each and every step. Slowly, it was beginning to be tall enough that Tyrone and Flash could stand tall and become wide enough that they could stand normally.
It expanded even more and became more a cavern than a cave. They were no longer standing in a line, but standing side by side like they once were. They could still smell the awfulness of the sewers from the cave, but it was a little tamer than it was when they were really in it. The cave felt chilly, possibly from the air currents that sewers had, but regardless, it was cold. Neither of them could try and keep warm given that their hands were full, so they just stood there. Walking a little further, Tyrone with his flash could see something on the walls, but it didn't look like webs. Curiously, he stepped a little further to see what it could be...
...He froze.
On the walls were pictures of him with his family and friends, ranging from when he was a kid to now. Some of the photos were old as dust and others recent as last week. He inspected the walls to investigate more, and found that there weren't only pictures, but documents. Medical documents, sport documents, passport documents, any document he ever had was also on the walls. Even random information, his blood type, his date of birth, his height, his weight, and most eerie of all; names. There were names on the walls.
Jamal Smith, Tommy Dawson, Ryan Green, Flash Sentry, Jessica Jones, Xavier Williams, Leshawna Brown. The names went on and on and on. The names weren’t in any order but were randomly put on the wall. Some names were bigger, some names were sideways, some upside down, but they were all names. Names of his family, his friends, his exes, his past crushes, everyone he’s ever thought about, talked to, or seen.
“...The… Fuck?” Was all that Tyrone could say, his brain couldn’t conjure any other words to utter.
“Your middle name is Linette?” He heard Ryan snicker. With a frown, he spun to face him and saw the boy pointing his phone at where his name was on the wall. Tyrone rolled his eyes and looked around the room for Flash, seeing him on the far side of the cavern gazing into something.
“H–Hey guys,” He stuttered as he turned his vision over to the pair, “The cave goes further, look.” Reluctantly, Flash grabbed hold of something and pulled it, revealing another tunnel that leads further down.
Tyrone paused for a moment and stared at a photo. It was a photo of him and J as babies, being held by their Mom in front of a Christmas tree. He let the picture soak in for just a few more seconds, trying to savor the photo one last time. ‘I know what I’m fighting for,’ He thought to himself. ‘I gotta fight.’ He turned on his heels and made his way over to Flash, “We movin’,” He threw a gaze over his shoulder and saw Ryan still looking at the walls, “Ryan, hurry up, we ain’t got all day to wait for your dumbass.”
Still fixated on the documents and photos on the wall, the nerd shrugged. “You guys go on ahead, I’ll be inspecting the stuff on the walls and taking some photos for proof!”
"Good idea," Flash nodded as he made his way into the tunnel, Tyrone followed after, leaving Ryan in his lonesome.
The nerd was chuckling to himself as he inspected a particular document on the wall - a document of Tyrone's embarrassing moments. He chuckled dumbly as he read what was on it, "Pissed himself on the bus in the 4th grade? Shit, I'd be angry all the time too. And what's this?" He squinted his eyes and peered into the words, "He got..." He paused and dropped his water rifle at the sight of the sentence. "...Oh no."
It's been a while since they last saw - or heard - Ryan. They had been making their way down the tunnel for what seemed like hours, traversing corners, forks in the roads, and inspecting walls. Speaking of, the walls had nothing but names on them, names that Tyrone couldn't even recognize anymore. The tunnels were getting frostier, making Tyrone regret not wearing a jacket like Flash. There was no breeze, the wind having stopped blowing since they were in the first tunnel they traversed. The tunnels were getting darker, without Ryan's extra light, it felt like they were at the deepest parts of the ocean, added with the cold, it almost felt true. Another thing that bothered them was that they could hear everything.
Drip, drop, drip.
Went the water droplets from the stalactites.
Tip, tap, tip.
Went their feet as they walked down the tunnel.
Skitter, scutter, skitter.
Tyrone paused in his walking, making Flash stop as well to gaze back at the delinquent.
"Is everything alright?" He flashed the light in Tyrone's face. The light didn't faze him, his eyes were locked and wide open and his chest wasn't moving either. "Tyrone?"
"We're getting closer." Is all he said as he pushed Flash out of the way and trudged forward.
Seeing Tyrone's sudden change in demeanor, Flash threw a glance over his shoulder. "Um, w-where's Ryan?"
"He probably ran off, he's a pussy." The delinquent muttered, but even something as quiet as that reached the jock's ears due to the echo present in the tunnels.
"Hey," Flash stopped walking, "You shouldn't be talking to your friends like that."
Tyrone rolled his eyes and turned to the wondercolt to face him, "Really? Complaining again?"
This seemed to be the last straw for Flash, he marched up to Tyrone and glared him right in his eyes. "You're such an asshole!" He shouted in his face, yet Tyrone didn't flinch. "You've been a dick to everybody, even when people try to reach out to you to try and be your friend, you insult them and put them down! Even your own friends aren't safe from your constant berating! Ryan, who's been nothing but a nice person to you, does NOT deserve the way you talked to him just now. I don't deserve to be bullied by you, I've been at your side for support, I've been so nice, and what do you do to me? Put me down and insult me, just like everyone else! Heck, I don't even think this spider is real! The police might be right, all of this, the spiders, everything might just be in your head! This whole CAVE is probably some weird dumb elaborate prank to get back at you for what you did to the good people at Canterlot High, or you're just trying to prank me! No." He dropped his water gun on the ground, "You drag me out here, doing illegal shit, disrespect me, and you expect me to follow you in your weed induced trip? No. Fuck you, Tyrone. Fuck you!" He spat on the ground next to Tyrone's foot, "You're the problem, I hope they never find Jamal because he's probably living a better life without you in it." He turned on his heels and stormed off, leaving Tyrone alone in the tunnel.
It took a while for Tyrone to register it all. Flash exploded out of nowhere and the points he made started to tickle his mind. Was he really in the wrong? Was he the problem? Was this all a weed induced trip? Should he just give up and follow Flash back out and apologize? Should he apologize to everyone?
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes to calm himself. 'I'm too deep to back out now, I gotta kill this spider.' Clenching his phone tight and his water gun tighter, he faced where the tunnel further descended and kept walking, kept moving, kept marching. With every step, he felt like he was getting closer to his goal, closer to the spider. He saw the spider webs grow in frequency, seeing more and more of them as he walked by. He was getting closer.
Skitter, scutter, skitter.
He stopped his pace to a halt, staying silent, still, so he could hear where the sound was coming from.
Skitter, scutter, skitter.
It was close. It sounded close. Tyrone stalked forwards in a low crouch, he wasn't sure why, it's not like they couldn't see him, he still had his flash on. The spiders probably knew he was there. For that reason, Tyrone had his finger on the trigger of his water gun. The light from his phone prevented two paths, one that continued down, and one on his right that opened to another section.
Skitter, scutter, skitter.
Right. The sound was louder from his right. Like a spy, he pressed his back against the wall and slid against the wall step by step with his weapon raised.
Skitter, scutter, skitter.
The sounds were getting louder as he drew nearer. He clenched his weapon tighter.
Skitter, scutter, skitter.
He was getting closer to the corner.
Skitter, scutter-
He flipped from the wall and spun to face the archway that presented the section, with a battle cry, he charged forward and blasted his water gun, expecting to see a large spider right there to meet him. But there was no spider in front of him, there was no large arachnid, no freak of nature, no spawn of Satan. It was something far worse.
There was a giant web a dozen feet in front of him bathed in what looks like a streetlight, seemingly having turned on when he charged inside. The light glimmered a cool blue hue, as if the moon offered some of its glow to the cave to bring it a shine. Light, which offers guidance, warmth, and companionship to those in the dark, was now revealing a scene that made Tyrone's heart drop. Jamal, Tommy, Ryan, and Flash, they were all strung up on the web, their bodies mutilated and ripped apart.
J's head was severed from his body, his arms weren't attached to his body making the only thing being attached to his main body being the legs - and of course - the torso.
On the right of it, Tommy's head was still attached to his head, but his arms and legs were not. They were placed under his body where they should be, but instead of side by side, they were placed on top of each other like a tower. His arms, however, were placed adjacent to the legs horizontally.
The once beloved nerd, Ryan, had his torso ripped open in half and formed a donut shape with his head inside the massive hole it left. The body was stretched and pulled to make a large somewhat circular hole, big enough for the head to fit in. The rest of his limbs weren't with the body and were on the right of it. His severed arms and legs formed a checkmark-esque shape.
Last was Flash, who followed the pattern of being on the right of the victims. The body was barely recognizable, the only thing that he could make out being the blazer he typically wore and the strands of blue hair. one leg was torn from the body and both arms were ripped. One arm was horizontal to his head, the other next to his waist, and his amputated leg placed across from his ankle.
The last piece that he hadn't noticed before was a mirror below all of the corpses, their blood having dripped from the webs down to the mirror. Making streams of blood roll down it, but despite this, he could still see his reflection. He thought he could never see himself as white, but looking at the mirror, he was confident this was the closest thing to ever changing color.
Tyrone projectile vomited on the floor, feeling himself weak in the knees as he collapsed to one. His grip on his phone still tight but weak, his grip on his water gun still strong but loose, he desperately gasped for air before another spew of his breakfast left his stomach.
"My, my, I didn't expect you to be so surprised you'd puke yourself." A foreign noise - or rather a foreign voice - entered his ears. The voice came from his left and kicked in his fight or flight. He pushed himself to his feet and pointed over his weapon - and his flash - at the voice. Despite the combined light from above and the one in his hand, it still could not pierce the darkness. Laughter could be heard from the shadows with twin predatory eyes that looked like raspberries staring him down like he was fresh meat. He heard the sounds of boots thudding against the floor as the figure made its way into the light...
"...Adagio?" He dropped his water gun, his hand dropping to his side in disbelief. "...W-W..." For the first time, he was speechless. He was truly speechless. Was she the spider all along? "What... Spider...? My..." He turned over to the webs where the disfigured corpses of his closest friends and family. His body was still in the position that was lined up with the mirror, and he could see the puke dripping down the side of his mouth.
The girl raised a hand to his mouth and offered a maniac giggle. "Aw, cat's got your tongue, Ty?" The delinquent wiped the disgusting leftovers of his past food off with his shirt as he collected himself. "Hm?" She tilted her head.
"You... You...!" Tyrone clenched his fists, turning his head to glare bullet holes into her body. "THAT WAS MY FUCKING BROTHER! THESE WERE MY FUCKING FRIENDS! WHAT DID YOU DO?!" All Adagio could do was laugh in response to his outburst, cackling like a witch as the bully roared in outrage. "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?!"
Adagio's deranged laughter continued even more, seeing tears escape from Tyrone's eyes. The man clenching his fists so tight his entire fist was switching colors. "You have NO idea how long I've waited for that! To see you make a mess of yourself, puking and crying, the only thing that could make this better would be if you pissed yourself!"
"YOU BOMBOCLAAT!" Tyrone marched towards Adagio, his fists cocked and ready to fire. Noticing this, the siren snapped her fingers, leading to a familiar sound to fill his ears.
Skitter, scutter, skitter.
From all around Tyrone were black widows, crawling towards him and swarming him. At the sight of the arachnids, he let out a scream and backed away as they surrounded him and formed a wall between him and Adagio. The spiders weren't tens, or hundreds, or even thousands. They were millions. From every surface of the cave was a black widow spider, when he looked at the walls, there were black widows, when he looked at the ceiling there were black widows, and the floor? Well, you could probably guess.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," A smirk formed on Adagio's face knowingly, looking on as Tyrone stared at the spiders with shaky-legs and the fear of God in his eyes. It was at this point the delinquent was a mess, he couldn't speak, he couldn't run, he was surrounded, he was trapped, he couldn't fight all these spiders; he froze. "Well, now that you're all nice and quiet, let me give you an explanation." She twisted her body and began to circle Tyrone; the spiders having made room for her as she moved around the ruffian. "Do you remember when we went out on our first date? We met online and decided to meet in person. We had a nice date, walked around the park, hit the arcade, it was a good time. During that date, you let it slip that you went to Canterlot High, and conveniently enough, I was going to go there anyway for... You know. So, when I finally came across to being in Canterlot High, you were the biggest and baddest guy there, I didn't even need to use my pendant to change you, you were already as bad as you could ever be."
She stopped in front of him and spun to face him, a deranged look in her eyes - almost appearing to be glowing. "But then... You dumped me out of the blue, not even a proper explanation, like you were done with me. And when I asked for a reason or a chance to fix whatever was going on between us, you pushed me away, and flicked me away like I was a pesky mosquito." She shook her head, chuckling. "Not only was I dumped by the one I actually fell in love with, someone who I thought I could spend the rest of my life with, but I was also beaten by the Rainbooms and their pesky "rainbow power". Everything fell right on top of its head. Me and the girls had to struggle to find a place to live. I tried texting you, you had me blocked, I tried mailing you letters, you don't check your mail, I tried talking to you in person, you tell me 'who are you again?'!" She clenched her teeth and stepped up to Tyrone, looking him eye to eye. "Do you know how painful it is to be put down by someone you had good memories of? Someone who loved you, cared for you, related to you? You didn't," She smirked, "But now you do."
Realization hit Tyrone like a truck, his head whipping up to lock eyes with Adagio. "You didn't..."
"I did," She folded her arms under her breasts and took a step back, shifting her weight to her right leg. "All of this, killing your brother, your best friend, your entire friend group. It was all to get back at you for what you did to me."
"B-But..."
"The spiders?" Adagio continued pacing around Tyrone, "Oh, that was easy. With my simply divine singing, and a little bit of help from my girls, I managed to train a specific breed of spiders to follow my orders, to answer to my beck and call."
"What about those big ass spider-bites?"
"Simple, look." She snapped her fingers and on top of the mass of spiders came out twin daggers being passed along by the arachnids. She bent down and picked them up, revealing daggers shaped like spider fangs, "You see, it's really easy to use. Just stab into them like so," She flips the daggers and puts them in reverse grip and stabs the air. "And then inject the venom," Tyrone noticed a button at the butt of each of the handles. Adagio pressed them and spewed out spider-venom on the floor. The arachnids beneath them parting from the splash zone. "See? That simple." She shrugged with a knowing grin.
Tyrone couldn't say anything, couldn't face her, he faced the ground. What could he say? What could he do?
"Do you know why I chose black widow spiders as the type of spiders to control? I could have chosen tarantulas, wolf spiders, huntsman spiders..." She trailed on, walking up to Tyrone and putting her lips next to his ear. "Do you want to know? I want to hear you say it."
After a long pregnant pause, the delinquent nodded shakily. "...Yes..."
"Close enough; Female black widows sometimes kill their mates, but sometimes, the male escapes." Tyrone felt a chill run down his spine as Adagio put a hand around his neck, pulling him down to whisper in his ear some more. "I want to play a little game with you, I'm going to let you go, and if you can escape me, then you're free. But if I catch you... I might just kill you, or I might spare you. I'll keep you down here, I'll start hunting down everyone you love and drag them to this special place and force you to watch me kill them. I'll take everyone important to you so that you'll have no one else to love other than me. Or, that won't happen, maybe you'll escape." She pulled him closer, "Do you understand, Ty?"
...He nodded.
"And don't forget," She grabbed hold of Tyrone and turned him over to face the bodies. "I..." She pointed over to Jamal's corpse, which resembled the letter 'I'. "...Love..." She gestured to the dead bodies of his friends. "...You." She finally pointed at the mirror which revealed Tyrone, Adagio standing behind with a twisted grin. "I'll give you a sixty second head start." She whispered in his ears before turning him back around and shoving him forward. "Sixty..."
Tyrone didn't wait any longer and sprinted out of the cavern and back into the tunnel, remembering the path towards the sewers and turning a hard left after almost slamming into a wall. He quickened his pace and used every single muscle in his body to move as fast as he could. Thinking quickly, he stuffed his phone in his pockets briefly and tore the extra water guns from his pants and dropped them on the ground as he ran. Reaching down, he seized back his phone and continued his pace. At the rate he was running, he felt like a predator chasing after prey, but in reality, it couldn't be more opposite.
The narrow halls he traversed with Flash took a while to travel when walking, but with the speed he was sprinting at, he felt like he was zooming past it. He was moving so fast, he felt as if he was getting close to the document room already.
Skitter.
He sharply turned behind him where he heard the noise, but in doing so, his right foot skid across the dirt as he was running and bumped into a rock knocking him over. He thought he would meet solid ground but felt a silk-like texture instead. Upon feeling the texture, he turned and flashed the light on it, revealing it to be spider-webs. Quickly, he pushed himself off of it... Or, he tried to, he couldn't, he was stuck. Desperation took over and he dropped his phone in an attempt to tear the webs apart with his hands with his back against the web and his eyes facing from whence he came. The phone's light was no longer shining his way, his phone was face down on the floor, depriving him of the gift of sight.
"No, no, no!" Tyrone tried to shake his head, but it was also stuck to the webs. He tugged and tugged and pulled and pulled. Grunting, growling, snarling, using all of his strength to try and break free. With clenched fists and teeth, he pushed forward, trying to break free.
Tip, tap, tip.
He could hear the stomps of boots.
She was getting closer.
"No, no, no, no!" He yelled, thrashing around in his web bindings. As he thrashed, he could make out dozens of small blotches of darkness moving towards him, closing in on him like caught prey.
Tip, tap, tip.
The sound of her boots was getting louder.
She was getting even closer.
"Lord, have mercy on my soul!" He wept, tears and snot streaming down from their respective holes, his body working in overtime as the end got closer. "PLEASE! GOD! HELP ME!"
Tip, tap, tip.
It was getting even louder.
She was getting even closer.
"NO!" He wailed as he saw a large shadow in the distance, "NO!" He pulled once again as the shadow got closer.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"
