Daddy Long Legs Death

   When I came to, I was laying on a couch in a living room with a man and woman and several children sitting around me. A toddler lay sleeping by his father. Suddenly he lunged for his father's arm and bit a large chunk of flesh out of it. His father screamed in agony and grabbed his arm trying to stop a spurting geyser of blood. The mother picked up the little monster and walked outside with him. I followed asking her why she was not upset and what was she going to do with her son. She reassured me that everything was going to be alright. The child stared at me with ice cold hatred. His ungodly assault on the world focused on my eyes. I fought back. I bellowed that he was not fit to be locked up in a cage. He leaped from his mother's arms and skittered off into the underbrush. He emerged at the base of power pole, climbed to the top, grabbed a wire and let the electricity surge through him before shooting down the line and disappearing. The mother told me I must go before the child returns with others of his kind. She handed me some car keys and pointed to a parked car. She said I had to drive into town and warn everyone.
   When I arrived, the town was in a panic. A group of marauding children was picking people off one by one. A man in a bar had his arms torn off. A woman in a restaurant was decapitated. A well known and beloved actor performing a well known and treasured play was surrounded on stage and torn to pieces as the audience fled the theater screaming. I looked around me. My eyes darted here and there. It wouldn't be long now. If only I had some bugs.
   I heard rustling. The infants were surrounding me. They were smiling sadistically.
   I felt something in my shirt. I looked down and saw a daddy long legs crawl out. I took it into my hands and raised it to my lips. "Go and find your friends quick, before it's too late." I let it fall to my feet and it wobbled off.
   I turned to the children. "You know, when you grow older, you are going to grow hair in places you don't grow hair now."
   They stopped their advance and looked at one another. "And when you do, you're going to have to shave it off."
   They had confused looks on their faces. "You're going to have to shave it off every day."
   Their confusion turned to anger and they moved closer. "Some of you will have it ripped off." This stopped them again. Some had fear in their eyes.
    Legions of daddy long legs swarmed over them. Muffled screams filled the air.

copyright 2015
image and text
Richard Talbot Hill