The Queen — Short story
A short story about depression.
Rick was walking home after work, like every other night. But tonight was different.
He felt something had broken inside him, and all the feelings faded from his aching heart. His steps were heavy on the wet concrete of the city, the ghastly sound of his shoes slapping the ground on the empty street. It was very late and almost all the lights were off in the building where he lived.
He was longing for his bed. He took a deep breath in and ran up the twelve flights of stairs that separated him from his flat. This was a ritual he took up when the lift broke for the first time, and never gave up, also considering that since then, the lift broke at least five more times.
Rick reached his door, his lungs screaming for air, his legs and calves on fire after the incredible struggle of the only workout he performed regularly.
He opened the door and kicked off the shoes off of his feet before plunging into the bed, still dressed. With his hands crossed under his head, Rick forced himself to look at the ceiling. His eyes were drawn to the bedside table, where still the happy eyes of gorgeous Sarah looked at him through a picture he took when he brought her to Rose Island.
Cheerful, lovely Sarah. He cursed himself for not being able to get rid of the damn picture before. But today something was different. Rick took the picture and put Sarah in the drawer forever. He felt nothing.
Going back to staring at the ceiling, he noticed a fat spider in the top corner of the walls.
“Hey, gorgeous. You can’t stay here, you know. Unless you pay your part of the rent, obviously.” Rick didn’t really know why he was talking out loud. Maybe he was really going crazy, as his colleague Mike said.
He wanted to stand up to get the spider out of the window, but suddenly he felt exhausted and fell into a deep sleep before he could even take off his clothes. From the ceiling, the spider was staring at him with too many curious eyes, moving its long legs and weaving a web.
Rick came back home after work and performed the same ritual as every other day since Sarah was gone.
When he slipped into the bed, he noticed the spider again. Damn, he completely forgot about it. He must have fallen asleep before he could put it out.
It looked bigger than yesterday. Mhm, probably his memory was not as good as he thought. Spiders don’t grow overnight. He looked curiously at the peculiar shape of the spider web, admiring it for a moment like a work of art.
“Oh wow, little friend, you are building a nice nest over here! Don’t get too comfortable, you will have to go soon…” he said. “As everyone goes…”
“You know what? You can stay awhile. After all, you are not bothering me. It’s actually nice to have some company in this empty, lonely flat…”
The spider looked at Rick and moved his front legs in a gesture that he interpreted as a “thank you”. Rick rubbed his eyes, a blanket of slumber falling on him. He fell into a coma-like sleep and didn’t dream of Sarah for the first time in months.
A few nights went by, and Rick suddenly knew that it wasn’t his imagination. The spider was getting bigger day by day. Even knowing that he couldn’t build up the courage to throw it out of the window. It was the first time in months that he could sleep without a single nightmare, and for some reason, he thought it was thanks to the spider.
Actually, he even slept too much now. About twelve hours every day. He would come back from work, go straight to his bed, talk of his daily troubles with Regina, and fall asleep without eating or changing his clothes.
“God, I even gave a name to that thing. I’m in trouble,” he was cursing himself during the day. But then at night, everything made sense again. Regina was a perfect name for his eight-legged roommate. As it grew, Rick could clearly see a white mark on its “head” that looked exactly like a crown, and Regina means “queen” in another language. Rick didn’t remember which. He didn’t remember many things.
Rick was losing weight rapidly. Soon, he was dozing fifteen hours a day, his sleep so peaceful and dreamless that he preferred that to real life. He often overslept and got late to work, or even missed a whole day.
His colleague, Mike, worried, decided to speak to him and planned to visit him after work that day. They were never close. Rick was kind of an introvert and wasn’t really close to anyone in the office.
So Mike braved the twelve flights of stairs to get to Rick’s apartment. He convinced his boss to give him the address so that he could speak to him before he would mess up any more and get fired. He was a skilled employee, even though a bit eccentric.
He got to the end short of breath and exhausted. After a couple of minutes of heavy breathing and panting, Mike dried the sweat off of his forehead and knocked on Rick’s door.
Rick appeared at the door, black circles around his eyes, a week's worth of beard growing on his face, his clothes now baggy on his fragile figure.
“Rick, what’s going on? Are you okay? You haven’t been the same in the last month. May I come in?” Mike made his way into the flat without waiting for an answer.
“Oh yes, I’m fine, man. Please, come in”, Rick added a touch of sarcasm to his last words. His heart jumped in his chest when he realised soon Mike would spot Regina, now grown to the size of a big dog, hanging from the ceiling over his bed.
Mike kept talking. “Do you know we are all worried about you, man? The boss is mad at you, big time. Get your stuff together and get back to work if you don’t want to get sacked.” He looked around and Rick hold his breath because he knew soon Mike would head to the other corner of his tiny studio and see Regina.
He didn’t move, paralysed by fear and shame, his heart pounding.
Mike reached his bed and sat on it as if the massive spider over his head didn’t exist. “Are you depressed or something, man? Is it still because of Sarah? Listen, I know it’s hard, but you need to try…” Mike didn’t finish the sentence, his last words almost floating in the thick air of the room.
“Listen, Mike. I’m okay, man. My sleep has got better after ages, finally! I just need some rest. I’ll call the boss and get him to give me a week off or something. But really, don’t worry.” Rick shoot out the words so quickly, while he was grabbing Mike and pushing him not so gently to the door. He was scared to death he would see, he must have noticed…
Regina blinked at Rick with some of her gigantic eyes.
“Really, I’m fine!” Rick pushed Mike out the door.
“But…” Mike didn’t have time to reply. The door was already closed and Rick couldn’t hear him.
“Why? What happened? How come he couldn’t see you? You’re huge. Is he blind or something?” Rick was still panicking, his breaths short and fast.
He couldn’t understand what was going on. Everything was so damn weird and the situation felt out of control for the first time. He had to take action.
Rick looked at Regina, now sitting on his bed, with her massive legs stretching on his pillow and his white sheets. Her black body and the “crown” were so shiny that almost looked unnatural.
“Maybe you should go, darling.”
A deep growl came from the insides of Regina. She wouldn’t cooperate, but Rick had to get rid of her for his own good, he finally realised.
He opened the window next to the bed, gathered all the energy that was left in his emaciated body, and lifted the heavy spider. Regina was fighting back, but Rick had grabbed her from behind and her legs and jaws couldn’t reach him. Struggling, he pushed her through the window; her legs trying to grip the frame, but with one last move, Rick managed to shove her out.
Regina fell from the twelfth floor, kicking frantically in the air. Rick didn’t watch her fall. He stepped back, exhausted. He dropped onto his bed and fell asleep.
Rick dreamt again. He was running, but he didn’t know from what. No matter how fast he would move his legs, the creature behind him was getting closer and closer. He could hear thousands of steps in the dark, and his only instinct was to run because nothing good was coming.
The creature finally caught up with him with a great leap, crushing his chest.
He woke up, but the crushing feeling didn’t leave his chest. Regina was on top of him. He fought and kicked, bit and punched, but the spider was too heavy and had him wrapped in a tight web.
The last thing Rick saw of this world was the monstrous mouth of Regina, and then everything was again a dreamless sleep.
Thank you!
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