Purgatory - Part 1

A pair of curious, bright-blue eyes met Sarah's blurred gaze as her brown eyes wandered aimlessly through her surroundings. Her eyelids felt unusually heavy, as if she had fallen asleep after taking medicine. She'd managed to catch a glimpse of the girl with the blue eyes before she had fled, her short hair tailing her around the corner to remain unseen. Sarah finally realized how cold she felt, winter-like air in whatever room she'd awoken to. Her eyes finally opened wide, and she struggled to force her tired limbs to sit up. The girl brushed away the thin brown strands of hair from her face as her breath caught in her dry throat. This wasn't her school's courtyard. She could still remember, having stayed afterschool for a tutoring session, and being the last student to leave. But now she had woken up in this freezing-cold, dimly lit room. On all four sides were simply gray walls with peeling wallpaper, only revealing a darker gray beneath. The weak light cast patches of shadows along the bed sheets that appeared to obscure the furniture beneath them entirely.

The fact that the room was so cold was enough of a puzzle to Sarah, considering it was Florida in the summertime, but there were no air vents that could have possibly cooled the room to the point that it could be winter. Sarah finally noticed a set of wooden steps leading to a door, once her eyes had adjusted to the shadows that hid them. She stood shakily and walked towards them with caution. She took tentative steps; The wooden boards looked old and decayed, yet held strong to her weight. Reaching the top, Sarah's heartbeat echoed through her ears as she felt for the doorknob. There was a splintered wooden hole, but no sign of a doorknob.

"We have to find it."

Sarah gasped audibly and turned to face the fragile voice that had come from behind. The voice itself was so quiet and dry, she'd surprised herself by being afraid of it. A child's figure stood at the bottom step of the stairs, and she could easily recognize the blue eyes from before. Realizing it was a child, Sarah walked down the steps once more without hesitation as the little girl's image grew clear.

She looked young, age seven or eight, Sarah figured. The child had short, dark brown hair with bangs that ran straight across the tops of her eyes, appearing to need a haircut. She wore a black collared shirt with an elementary school's logo sewn over the breast pocket, and a light-brown skirt that came just above her knees.

The girl blinked at Sarah with an apathetic expression, nearly unreadable. She spoke in a frail voice. "The doorknob...we have to find it."

"H...How did you know that?" Sarah questioned, suddenly alarmed.

The girl smiled nervously at her, holding up a small sheet of paper for her. Sarah gently took the paper, exchanging a confused glance with the child before reading it aloud.

"You have to find the knob...hint, careful of sheets. Have fun..."

She let out a shaky sigh and tucked the note into the pocket of her jeans. Her heart still pounded roughly against her chest. "Okay. So...what's your name?" Sarah smiled weakly and kneeled down to face her.

The girl smiled shyly, feeling more comfortable. "Shia. But I can't tell you my last name...daddy says I'm not allowed to tell strangers my last name. Sorry."

"Okay, Shia. We don't need last names. My name's Sarah." Sarah glanced around before adding, "Do you know how we got here?"

Shia shook her head. "I was gonna wait for my daddy to get me from school, but he never came. That's all I remember."

Sarah nodded and stood again, eying the sheet closest to them. "So...are we supposed to do something with the sheets?"

"Yeah! I think the knob's under 'em!" Shia's voice echoed within the small room, causing a few of the filthy sheets to shuffled briefly before settling once more. Sarah felt herself shiver.

"Okay, Shia." Sarah wouldn't dare to allow her eyes to leave sight of the sheets, but took Shia's hand carefully. "Don't taken any of them off, okay? Don't get too close when I do, there might be weird stuff under them..."

Shia nodded and let Sarah lead her towards the closest sheet, presumably a table. Sarah let herself take in a few deep breaths before snatching the cover away. She felt odd strands attatch themselves to her hair, and a dark blur flew by her head as if to follow the sheet. Both girls gasped in surprise as their eyes focused.

A book had managed to prop up the thin sheet just enough to allow several Black Widow spiders to create tangled webs and breed. There were easily ten of the arachnids, and it made her stomach churn uneasily. A spider found its way onto her pale hand, scurrying towards her elbow. Sarah screamed and swatted the spider from her arm, back onto the table. She grabbed Shia's arm and rushed towards the stairs without hesitation, feeling her breathing become ragged and uneven for a few moments.

Shia watched curiously, hardly frightened, as the widows descended down to the floor, already creating new webs. She then stared at Sarah with concern. "It's okay. They wouldn't bite unless you threaten them."

Sarah struggled to breathe normally again, casting a side long glance at Shia. "I'd be pretty threatened if you tore up my home...god, I hate spiders, especially those evil little-"

"Sarah!" Shia whined, grabbing her arm. "They can't hurt you much! They'd make you dizzy and stuff, maybe make your blood be weird, but they can't do anything! Calm down!"

She stared at the child, startled by what she had said. She sounded childish, but she sounded a bit smart about spiders when she'd said that. It confused her enough that anyone would bother learning about them, let alone being a seven or eight year old explaining things to a sixteen year old. Shia only stared back, her blue eyes glittering mischeivously in the dim light.

Shia finally said, "Can we go lift another sheet?"

"No way!" Sarah protested. "We at least need a safer way, y'know..."

"Easy. The sheets in the back'd be the harder things to escape from quicker to the door, so the knob'd be in the most difficult spot to get away from. If there's stuff under the doorknob one, anyways."

She thought about what Shia had just suggested, curious as to how clever this girl was. "Hey, Shia. How old are you, anyways?"

Shia grinned. "Seven."

Sarah grinned back, standing up. "Cool. Just wondering. You're kinda like my little sister, but a lot smarter than her. C'mon."

Shia giggled at the compliment and followed the older girl again. Both girls searched, finding two spots on either side of the room to choose from. They would be difficult to get around, and the path to the door could easily be ruined just by slammed a hip or foot into another sheet covering a table or chair.

"So? Which is it?" Shia moaned impatiently, walking back to Sarah.

"I dunno..." She paused to consider the alternatives. The sheet behind them, one of the choices, was hiding something that appeared to be a small bookshelf. From there, to run back to the door would be more difficult for Sarah. Two pieces of furniture were close together, and while Shia could quickly squeeze between them without disturbing the creatures underneath, Sarah would be forced to either crawl between them by wedging herself underneath the two, or attempt jumping over. The other choice had an easier but longer escape to the door, yet not quite as risky. "Okay," Sarah sighed. "It'll be this one. But..." Sarah flicked a part of the sheet, feeling uneasy about what resided within the shelves. A dull buzzing sound came from where she had flicked, faintly drifting away again as if going to sleep.

Shia whimpered from behind Sarah, grabbing at her shirt. The child looked up at her with a new look, a fearful one. "Sarah...that was a bee..."

Sarah blinked in surprise before kneeling down again. She took Shia by the shoulders and smiled. "It's okay. They're just bees. I want you to go wait by the door, though. Okay?"

"B-But I hate bees!" A few tears gathered on her long eyelashes. "I...I think I'm a-allergic, Sarah! Daddy said I might b-be..."

She gnawed at her lip. Her sister had never been afraid of things, especially to be so life threatening. She'd get stung and pull out the stinger as if it was nothing. "Shia, just wait by the door. I'll lift the sheet, so hopefully they ignore you. 'Kay?"

Shia sniffed, her face starting to puff up as a tear ran down her cheek. "O-Okay..."