Close Your Eyes: A Horror Story Collection Read online

  There was an incident today at the Dodge Island docks.

  A previously unknown insect had stowed away on one of the shipments.

  This insect has proved itself to be extremely aggressive and extremely deadly.

  The Emergency Alert System is advising all residents within a ten mile radius of Dodge Island to STAY indoors.

  Do NOT leave your residences or places of employment.

  We repeat, do NOT leave you residences or places of employment until further notice.

  If you come across large blue and green insects remove yourself from the area as fast as you can.

  Emergency services are on standby.

  Further updates will come at a future time.

  Amanda stared blankly at nothing as she listened to the message. Not a test? Insects? Really? Fucking bugs? That’s what they were interrupting her show for? She was pissed off more than anything but then it occurred to her she had no idea where Dodge Island was. Was she close to it? Should she be worried?

  As quickly as she could Amanda pulled up a map of Miami on her tablet and started looking for Dodge Island. When the map finally loaded her heart seemed to jump into her throat. That couldn’t be it. Using the same map she checked the mileage from her apartment to the dreaded Dodge Island. Three point two miles. Three point two. The comfort of having the open windows blowing the cool air across their apartment now seemed like a curse. She stared at the open window next to her halfway expecting a swarm of insects to come flying in at any second.

  There was a noise coming from outside that she didn’t recognize. It was faint but constant. Amanda strained her ears trying to her best to ignore all of the other noises around her. Trying to ignore the sound of Tony munching on graham crackers on the table behind her and trying to ignore the radio show that was now back on the air. It took a moment for her mind to register what it was, and then it hit her. It was screaming. It was the sound of a man screaming from somewhere unknown. Amanda’s whole body shuddered in fear. Could it be the bugs?

  Nearly in a state of panic Amanda ran over to the kitchen window that was above the sink and slammed it shut as fast as she could. She had to get that screaming out of her head. She had to stop that noise. She had closed the kitchen window but she could still hear it. Why could she still hear it? Why was it following her? It was then that she felt a cool breeze come from the patio. The patio door was still open.

  Amanda rushed over to the patio door attempting to close it. The closer she got the closer the screams got. But also, there was something else. The screams were there but now there was a new sound. There was the sound of a buzzing, like a bee or fly. Amanda’s eyes grew wide and her breathing became rapid. Was it one of those bugs? Were they close? Amanda grabbed the patio door and flung it shut with such force that it slammed against the frame cracking the wood slightly. The blinds shook and rattled against the glass of the door. Tony looked up at her startled, and asked, “Wat wong momma?”

  Amanda stared at him for a second not answering. She was instead listening. She was listening for that buzzing. Was it still here? Had she trapped it outside? There was a minute of silence where nothing happened. They both seemed to be frozen in place, her at the patio door in a panicked state and Tony sitting at the breakfast table with a crayon in his hand looking at his mother with concern.

  “Momma?”

  Amanda took a deep breath and then let it out. “I’m fine sweetie. Just thought I’d turn on the air conditioning a bit earlier today.” She tried to sound chipper and upbeat but instead it was turned into some bizarre tone of voice that she had never heard before. Tony gave her a funny look, furrowed his brows, and then went back to coloring his picture.

  Amanda pulled out a chair next to Tony and sat down next to him in deep thought. It was amazing how fast things could change. Two minutes ago she was happy go lucky enjoying her quiet morning with her son… but now, now she seemed paralyzed in fear. Her ears listening to every little noise hoping against hope that it wasn’t the buzzing of an uninvited guest.

  It was as she began to relax that it started again. She swore that their buzzing must be controlled somehow. That it wasn’t just some side effect of being around them but that they could somehow turn it off and on as they wished. Amanda was sitting there at the table staring into space when she saw something flying high above their dining room table near the light fixture. Almost as soon as she saw it the buzzing started yet again. It had got in. Somehow it had got in. Amanda screamed and kicked out her chair form behind her. She stood up and reached for Tony.

  --

  Amanda grabbed Tony as fast as she could. He shrieked in alarm and fought her reaching for his graham crackers and his picture. She ripped him away with surprising force and dragged him down in a kind of slouching sprint. Tony was crying as she carried him and was now bawling as she sat him down in his room next to his blocks. As soon as she sat him down she turned and slammed the door shut behind her. She then glanced over at his window making sure that it was closed. They were now trapped in Tony’s room. The bug ruled the house. It flew aimlessly around their kitchen and living room, looking for something to eat or something to sting.

  Amanda sat with her back against the bedroom door trying to think of what to do next. The screams that she had heard in the distance now seemed closer. She swore that she could hear one just outside of her apartment. She thought about calling Frank but upon further thought she realized that he wouldn’t be able to do anything to help them. The only thing she could do was call for help, call 911. She reached into her back pocket to pull out her cell phone only to find nothing. Her cell phone wasn’t there. She must had left it on the kitchen counter next to her tablet. Amanda pounded her fists into the wood floor and then started rocking back and forth slowly against the door trying to think of what to do next.

  She would have to go back out there. She would have to go back out there and risk being stung by that …that creature. What other choice did she have? Wait for Frank to come home and be greeted by the deadly insect? Or, what if Frank didn’t even come home tonight? Were her and Tony going to be stuck in his room all day, or all week? Amanda raised her hands up to her forehead and rested her palms on her temples. Her fingers moved back and forth slowly between her hair. The screams could still be heard outside of her apartment but some of them had stopped abruptly. She wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. In her gut, she felt that it was bad. Once they stopped screaming they were gone.

  Throughout all of this Tony had stopped crying. He had moved his back so that it rested against the corner of the wall where his blocks once stood. He had his knees pulled up to chest. His arms were wrapped around his knees, and he stared at his mother, but didn’t say anything.

  Amanda stood up from her perch at the door and walked across the room over to him. She bent down to his level and then began to speak, “Tony, I have to go back in the kitchen for a minute to get my phone.” Her voice cracked as she spoke and he gave her a quizzical look. “I need you to stay here and keep the door closed until I get back. Can you do that for me?”

  Tony didn’t say anything but just looked at her and nodded his head. Amanda kissed him on the top of the head and then said, “I love you sweetie.”

  She then opened the door as fast as she could. The opening made a whoosh noise as the door flew open. When she was in the hallway she closed the door immediately. She couldn't risk the bug, or bugs, getting in there with him. She had to get her phone and then get the hell back in there.

  With each step she took she scanned the room before her. The hallway, the living room, the kitchen. All the while she was looking for that long insect flying around her house. Where had it gone? She craned her ears trying to hear any buzzing or any other noise but she had left her radio show on. The talking and music in the background made it nearly impossible to hear even if the bug was right next to her.

  She had made it out of the hallway, out of the living room, and into the kitchen with no incident. There
was no trace of it anywhere. When Amanda arrived in the kitchen the first thing she did was turn the radio off. As soon as she did the screaming from outside intensified. She wasn’t sure if it had always been that loud or if the new found silence within her apartment had increased it. With her ears listening sharply she reached over to the counter and grabbed her cell phone. She took one more look around the kitchen expecting to see the bug waiting for her at the edge of kitchen blocking her path back to Tony, but there was nothing. No buzzing. No bug flying around her ceiling looking for a way out.

  Cautiously, she moved out of the kitchen. She had to get back to Tony. Again, through the living room there was nothing. It was as she entered the hallway that led back to the bedrooms that she heard the buzzing rev up again. It sounded like a Bumble Bee but as loud as a summer Locust that was right next to your ear. Amanda panicked and dropped the cell phone to the hardwood floor with a crash. She scrambled to the ground to grab the phone all the while looking around wildly for a source to the sound. Every so often she felt the sensation of something crawling up and down her skin but every time she looked there was nothing.

  With cellphone in hand she turned to Tony’s door and turned the handle. Or, she tried to turn the handle. It didn’t budge. Amanda tried again but nothing happened. The buzzing continued and somehow began to strengthen. The door was locked. How could the door be locked? Something out of the corner of her eye moved. Her heart was racing. Her palms were sweaty. Had Tony locked the door?

  “TONY! OPEN THIS DOOR,” she screamed at him. She tried her best to make it sound like her discipline voice but instead she just sounded crazed. The buzzing seemed to be getting closer. Tony didn't’ answer her.

  “Tony! Come over here and turn the doorknob right now!” Her voice sounded calmer, more like herself. Again, there was nothing. Only silence greeted her from the other side of the door.

  “Tony?”

  “Sowwy Momma.” His voice sounded close. It sounded like he was on the other side of the door. A second later there was a clicking sound and the door creaked open a few inches. There behind the door stood little Tony looking down at the floor apologetically.

  Amanda pushed the door open the rest of the way so that she could fit and closed it as fast as she could. The buzzing came from everywhere and nowhere now. There was no way to isolate its source. Were there more than one in the house? The screaming outside continued.

  When she was sure the door was closed she bent down to Tony’s level and told him, “I’m sorry I yelled at you sweetie. Mommy… Mommy… Mommy just doesn’t feel very well right now.” Tony seemed to accept this explanation. His face still wore a look of worry mixed with shame that he got in trouble. But after only a short while he was back to playing with a few of his toys.

  Amanda gave her a few minutes to calm herself down before using her phone. She was so rattled that she wasn’t sure she could even dial the numbers correctly. When she felt she was ready she pulled out her phone, unlocked it, and began to dial 9-1-1. She was inputting the last one in the number when she heard Tony say something that caused her to freeze in her tracks.

  “Look Momma. A budder fly.” Tony turned towards her to show her the prized possession that he had found. There on his arm just above his wrist was the bug. There was the insect that had caused their chaotic morning. It’s large beady ruby red eyes stared at her. It’s long three inch dark blue body sat there unmoving. The green stripes shimmered slightly in the sunlight from the window. In it’s own way it had a kind of beauty to it. Amanda watched in horror as the bug’s lower abdomen slowly began to rise. It’s stinger began to arch as if it was getting ready to sting her boy. To sting her Tony.

  Amanda screamed in desperation. Tony was a few feet away from her. There was no way she could get there in time. She couldn’t lose her boy. No. No. No.

  “NO!” Amanda screamed at the bug. As she did she hurled her cellphone at Tony’s arm and at the insect. Time slowed down as the phone catapulted through the air towards Tony. Only a few seconds later the front of the phone collided with Tony’s wrist but as it did it flipped forward violently and shoved the insect off of Tony’s arm. The phone hit the floor with a loud thud.

  Tony, having no idea what had just happened except that his mother just threw her phone at him, began to bawl. He looked at her with the most hurtful look on his face. Why did his mommy do that to him? Why didn’t she like his butterfly? Tears flowed down his cheek in streams.

  After the phone was thrown and the insect was shoved off of Tony’s arm the buzzing started again. This time it was angrier and louder than ever. Amanda saw the thing stumble to the ground and then get up and began to fly again, towards them.

  Immediately, Amanda jumped up and ran over to him. She glanced at his arm to make sure he wasn’t stung, and then scooped him up and threw him over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. She ran out of the room as fast as she could, leaving her cellphone behind.

  She didn’t care what the radio said. She had to get out of here. She knew going outside was a risk. Hell, she could hear that it was a risk just from the screaming that came from all around. But what other choice did she have? She had to get to her car and then she had to get her and Tony out of here. There was no way she was going to be spending another minute here risking fate.

  With only a quick pitstop in the kitchen to grab her keys and purse Amanda rushed towards her front door. The buzzing of the bug in Tony’s room had quieted. It was still there but it was distant. It hadn’t followed her right away, thankfully. Amanda stood there behind the front door waiting for the courage to open it. Hoping that it would come to her at any moment. Tony was sprawled out over her right shoulder, her purse on her left, and her keys were jingling in her left hand ready to go. The screams are what caused her to hesitate. She had heard screams like this only once before in her life.

  When she was a young girl she had spent the day with her mother while she was at work. She couldn't remember the circumstances of why she wasn’t in school that day or why she didn’t just stay home but there she was shadowing her mother as she did her work. At the time her mother was a nurse in the emergency room at a hospital in Council Bluffs. Most of the day was rather routine. There were broken bones, flu cases, and even one gunshot wound. (Self-inflicted thigh wound by an idiot hunter.) The worst of it came towards the end of her mother’s shift. It was just after three in the afternoon when a new patient entered the ward. Amanda only saw him for a second as his wounds were so severe that they rushed him straight to the burn unit. She had always assumed that the person she saw was a man because they were bald but now looking back at it his or her’s hair could have been burned off. Whoever he was he had come in with third degree burns all over his body. His skin reminded her of a marshmallow that was left too long in the fire. It would get black and crusty on the ends of the marshmallow and if you used your finger you could slide it all off like it was a some kind of shell. That man’s screams as he rolled past her on the gurney has haunted her nightmares for years. They were screams of despair, screams of desperation. Those same screams she heard out her front door today. Those same screams had paralyzed her.

  Time passed slowly as she stood there contemplating what to do next. Tony begin to struggle trying to get down. She began to think that she couldn't do it. She couldn't go out there. She was about to put Tony back down to the floor and find another way when the buzzing came back. This time it wasn’t in Tony’s room but it was closer. She couldn't pinpoint where but she knew it was searching. She knew bugs only worked on instinct but somehow this thing had it out for them. It was actively searching for them and it was getting closer.

  Even though the screams were terrible Amanda now realized that these screams were because of that bug. Everything was because of that bug. If she stayed here it very well may be her and Tony writhing around on the floor screaming in agony. Amanda took a deep breath, let it out, and then flung open the front door.

  --

  The day w
as still cool for Miami. The temperature was just above sixty degrees with a strong wind coming in from the ocean. The staircase in Amanda’s apartment building was centered right in the middle of the unit. On each side, left or right, was a staircase leading down to the sidewalk. This gap in the building created a kind of tunnel that if the wind was blowing right could amplify sounds in the distance making them louder and more forceful. The screams that Amanda had heard from inside her apartment now appeared to be five times louder as she stepped out onto the landing. They came from all directions. Along with the screams came the buzzing. The tunnel that they were in gave no indication where these sounds were coming from. They echoed and bounced off the walls endlessly.

  Amanda leaped out of her front door and left it open behind her. When she was sure Tony was secure she began to sprint down the concrete stairs that were to her left. All the while she ran she kept seeing the burning man from her nightmares. His paper thin charred skin, and his screams of agony. She moved faster down the stairs, probably faster than she should have.

  At the bottom lay a sidewalk and beyond the sidewalk was the parking lot. Her Ford Fusion was only a few parking spaces away parked underneath a palm tree. She had to get there. Now that she was out of the tunnel she found that the echoing sounds had dissipated. The buzzing was still there though and now the screaming was so much closer. Amanda ran across the sidewalk and into the parking lot all the while with Tony bouncing up and down with each step crying and trying to ask what was going on.