Stopping outside, Ronnie turned around and grabbed the Bic lighter. It was red and felt really good in his hand. He looked into the barn. He saw hundreds of spiders crawling all over the hay and walls of the barn. Many of them were much larger than any known spider. As he was looking inside, he saw a huge spider pop up over the top of the hay bale, fifteen feet in front of him. It was even larger than the one he had seen earlier.
He turned the wheel of the lighter and it caught flame, He held it to the bottom of Mike's shirt and the shirt blazed into flame. Some of the lighter fluid had gotten onto it. Ronnie pitched the shirt into the barn and it landed at the bottom of the hay bales.
Nothing happened.
Spiders were now crawling past the hay into the open area of the barn, crawling closer to Ronnie.
The hay finally lit, with a loud wooomph. Within seconds, the back exit of the barn was completely engulfed in flame. The heat was intense and Ronnie backed into the field. Ronnie saw quite a few spiders, normal sized, crawl out of the barn but within seconds the entire floor of the barn was aflame. Nothing else would escape.
Ronnie suddenly heard a horn blaring. It was Pops.
Ronnie ran to Pops, who was just getting out of the Ford, giving the flaming barn a wide berth.
Chapter Nine
Ronnie ran to Pops, lighter clutched in his hand.Pops saw the barn engulfed in crimson flame and saw the smoke billowing skyward. Ronnie was running as fast as he could, screaming as loudly as he could in pure terror. Ronnie ran into Pops at full speed, almost knocking him off balance. Pops wrapped his arms around Ronnie as curious as he was glad that his son was not hurt. He was curious becuase he knew, as only Fathers of young boys know, that his young son was somehow responsible for the barn burning to the ground.
Pops went to one knee, holding his son, wrapped in his large arms. Ronnie was screaming and crying and through cries, Pops heard, 'Ba- barn...Mike's B...BB gun....bi...big....big spiders.....h-h-hole in barn.....HUGE SPIDERS!!!', and then Ronnie collapsed into his Father's hold. Pops was smart enough to know something was going on in that damned barn. He had lived in Taylor County his entire life and had never heard of any massive spider nest, but that was obviously what was happening in the barn. He didn't like that his youngest had gone back in the barn and was going to have to let him know that was not acceptable. Disobeying your Father was not a good thing. Whether to get your hurt Brother's gun back or not, it was not acceptable. Now, the level of how that lesson was going to be applied was certainly up for an Executive Decision and Pops figured whatever punishment was laid down, would probably only smart for a day or two.
'Hey, Ronnie, it's ok, man. We'll figure it out, but right now, the important thing is you're ok. But god-all-mighty, why did you burn it down? There's no way of getting out of this, burnin' down a building is something....'
Pops held his son, deciding to deal with any repurcussions later. However, he was wondering what exactly his son had seen in the barn. Clearly, Ronnie was scared out of his wits. Pops also had heard Ronnie claiming that he saw HUGE spiders in the barn. His son did have a great imagination but Ronnie was also a smart kid and not given to hysterics, which is very close to where Ronnie was now. Something else nagged at Pops mind. Last night, Dr. Ward had said the spiders in Mike's clothes were bigger than any he had ever seen. They weren't really huge, only about two or three inches long, but still, it gave Pops an uneasy queasiness in the pit of his stomache.
The barn was still burning. Pops was kneeling on the ground, holding Ronnie, who had his back to the barn. Pops saw the flames were almost at the top of the barn. Staring at the flames, he noticed the little trap door at the very top of the barn begin to edge open. Pops saw one, then two huge spider legs emerge from the open door. Soon, the top of a spider appeared , easing its bulk through the open trap door. Pops knew how big the trap door was, and his eyes bulged at the site of what he saw. The spider was forced to squeeze his body through the opening. The opening that was eighteen inches wide.
Pops stared in horror at the spider as he finally made it out onto the exterior wall of the barn. The spider started to crawl down the wall, towards the front of the barn. As the spider moved away, Pops saw the small door open again. Another spider, just as big as the first, started to escape the inferno inside the bar.
Pops let out a scream. He grabbed a tighter hold of Ronnie, preparing to make a run for the house.
Just that moment, the barn collapsed into itself, the flames rising even higher. The Spiders were fed to the flames.
Pops made an Executive Decision right then and there and that was that as far as he knew, Ronnie had nothing to do with the barn burning down.
Epilogue
Later that day, at dusk, across the field from where the remains of the barn smoldered, a rabbit nervously wandered on the edge of the woods. The rabbit's nose twitched at the pungent smell of smoke. The rabbit scurried from cover to cover, finally pausing next to a hollowed out log, long ago fallen. The rabbits ears twitched and he sat, listening for danger.
He never saw the spider slowly emerge from the dark cavity of the fallen log. The spider silently edged closer and pounced on the rabbit, killing it quickly. The spider, holding the rabbit with its mandibles, dragged it back into the log.
Thanks for reading! Any comments would be greatly appreciated. Email me at [email protected]
The Barn Page 3