It was the last period. Marshall sat with his head down, fidgeting with his pencil. Everything around him seemed like a blur, every voice meshing together and time crawling by. Not even what was happening before his eyes could catch his attention, he was in his own world, worrying. Feeling anxious about what would happen tonight. Was the spider really real? Was anything today real, or was he still in a dream.
"Mr. Carter, is there a problem?" The teacher directly addressed Marshall from his desk. Marshall looked up and saw no students in his peripheral vision. It was apparent that the class had ended without him noticing.
"Oh, no..." Marshall answered before picking up his bag and getting out of his seat to leave the classroom.
"If there's anything you need, Marshall, don't hesitate to ask me." The teacher said as Marshall approached the door.
"Ok." Marshall stopped before answering then continued out of the classroom.
"What a fucking embarrassment." Marshall muttered under his breath just outside of the school. Kids were sparsely placed around the sidewalks and parking lot since he'd been a little late to exit. He wondered if Sam or Richie waited around for him this time. He looked around to see if Norrustus was standing around anywhere waiting for him. Maybe it was all just a weird dream he had in the last period and didn't know he fell asleep.
"HEY, MARSHALL!" Sam shouted from behind. She was yelling and running, it was a rare sight. "I was waiting for you." She looked at Marshall with unassuming eyes.
"Hey." Marshall said before smiling a second later. He was nervous earlier in class for what was yet to come, but he thought why not enjoy the moment. "Where's Richie?" Marshall asked.
"Oh, don't worry about him." Sam said as she got closer to Marshall. He felt his heart skip a beat and he bit his tongue to hide his anxiety. "I wanted to show you something." Sam said with a grin. A strangling feeling started to envelope in Marshall's chest. Whatever it was, big or small, he wasn't ready for it. Things were moving too fast for him to handle, yet too slow and methodical to where he could feel every bone in his body react.
Marshall felt a warmth in his left hand. Sam guided her fingers around his as she smiled at him. He suddenly felt ok. Their fingers locked and Marshall let out a small grin. They were suddenly holding hands and walking together. Marshall began to turn his head to look behind him.
"It's ok, nobody's watching." Sam said.
It was euphoric. A warm feeling radiated from his arm into the rest of his body. All of the attention was on Sam now, all of the threads of his mind combined into one as a tickling feeling filled his chest. Marshall had underestimated the seductive power of touch.
Sam let go and began to walk to other way, still smiling at Marshall. He stared at her as she disappeared down the road.
Marshall opened the door. He slowly walked to his room. Step by step. Inhale, exhale. He looked at his hands, they were shaking. He swallowed.
"Norrustus?" Marshall said. He stepped closer and closer to his door. He took off his bag and sat it on the floor. He readied his arms, tip-toeing closer and closer. His hand approached the door knob. It touched. "Norrustus?" Marshall said. His fingers wrapped around the doorknob and he twisted. The door slowly crawled open as he pulled the doorknob. He peaked through the crack. It was dark, but no spider. He opened the door further. Norrustus was lying on his bed with the covers tangled around his legs and his arms scrunched up to his chest. Marshall exhaled a sigh of relief.
No. Marshall looked at his nightstand, a tiny spider slowly crawled across. Marshall started to hyperventilate and he fell to his knees. "NORRUSTUS!" Marshall yelled causing Norrustus' body to jerk and then slowly rise out of bed.
"Oh... hey Marshall, why don't you-"
"NORRUSTUS! IT'S THE SPIDER!" Marshall interrupted Norrustus and pointed at the spider crawling around his nightstand. Norrustus looked.
"M-Marshall.." Norrustus said frowning and looking at Marshall who was curled in a ball on the floor. "You have to..." Norrustus said before crawling on the floor next to Marshall.
"Norrustus... please.." Marshall muttered as he clenched his hands into fists.
"It's the prophecy... Marshall." Norrustus said.
"NORRUSTUS." Marshall grabbed Norrustus by the sleeves and looked into his eyes, tears running down his face.
"Just make it go away... please..." Marshall pleaded, locking eyes with Norrustus.
"I can't..." Norrustus muttered. He stood up and turned around towards the nightstand where the spider crawled. He bent down led the spider onto his hand before turning back to Marshall. "Just like last night, once you kill this spider, it's true form will be revealed."
Marshall grabbed his head and pulled his hair. He shook violently, muttering unintelligibly under his breath.
Norrustus walked on the grass of the backyard bare foot with the spider in his hands. He turned around and looked at Marshall, who was looking down and hugging himself as the cold wind of the night hit him. He could feel the tears drying on his face as the breeze caressed his cheeks before he slowly looked up at Norrustus.
Norrustus held the spider in one hand. It lay dormant on his palm before he crushed it and smothered the inside of his hand with black spider mush.
It seemed to crawl out of the the night sky.
"Do a good job, Marshall." Norrustus said and walked back into the house.
The spider lunged onto Marshall. He caught the spider by it's head and it started to chomp on the air with its sharp fangs. It shook its legs in bicycle motions erratically and screeched while jerking its head back and forth. One of the sharp legs caught Marshall in his right shoulder and tore his shirt. Marshall yelled in anger and pain before punching each of the spider's eyes causing blue liquid to gush out onto his shirt and knuckles. The spider screeched even louder.
Marshall rested for a second, taking in the screeches and the pain in his shoulder before grabbing on the sharp fangs of the spider, causing his hand to bleed, and ripping it off. The spider gargled, its face a discombobulated mess. Marshall picked up the fang and stabbed it into the area between the spider's head and body, and ran it through its flesh.
The head easily tore off and fell on the ground along with the rest of the body. A fiery burning feeling arose in Marshall's left hand, and he looked to see it was swelling. His eyelids began to feel heavy, and he accepted the embrace.