A Prank Gone Wrong

“It was a dark and stormy night,” Brian Anderson began, “wait, wait, that’s such a cliché beginning. How about a bright and sunny afternoon? Much better.”

“Just get on with the story Brian. It’s getting late and you promised me a good and scary bedtime story!” His little brother, Nick, said, getting clearly impatient. His older brother had been procrastinating much of the night, letting the evening hours wane until it was nearing midnight, the perfect setting for a story to scare Nick.

“As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted,” Brian went on, “it was a sunny day that day. The wind blew, and there was a young boy, much like you Nick, and around your age too, who had just gotten home from school. He got a snack, and lazed around watching TV, rather than doing his homework like good little boys do.”

Nick was fascinated with the story as lightning flashed outside, and thunder shook the house as a storm began to rage.

Brian continued, “His mother wasn’t very happy with him. She sent him to his room for disobeying her instructions to do his homework when he got home from school. He sat in his room without supper. Soon it began to get darker, and his mother eventually went up to give him something to eat, but told him he was banned from video games for the rest of the week, and she would later give him his real punishment, since this wasn’t the first time the boy hadn’t done his homework.”

“What was his punishment Brian?” Nick asked in a child-like innocence and wonder.

“Hold on Nick, I’ll get there in time. Now where was I?”

“You just said that it wasn’t the first time the boy hadn’t done his homework.” Nick replied immediately, engrossed in his brother’s story.

“Oh yeah. As I was saying, it wasn’t the first time the boy hadn’t done his homework.” Brian began once more. The thunder outside began getting louder and louder as the storm quickly approached, and lightning flashed every minute or two. The rain pounded against the windows with a bit of hail as well.

“The boy sat and sat in his room, waiting for the soft creaking of the stairs showing tell of his mother heading up. The sound never came, only an incessant chattering, like something was crawling about. He got up and put his ear to the door, but it wasn’t coming from outside his room. The boy crept along the walls with his ear to them, listening to the soft chatter get louder and louder, as he came closer to his closet. He opened the closet door in a flash, and…surprisingly found it empty.

“The boy crept inside, his ear still pressed to the walls. The chatter was almost like a scream now, as if the thing or things in the wall were aware of him. As the boy investigated the closet, the things silently crept up his leg, and he discovered that his bedroom and closet walls were infested with every kind of flesh eating bug imaginable. They continued on up his legs, tearing off small chunks of his skin. He heard the bugs chew on his precious flesh as he screamed. He tried to run and escape the confines of his closet, but the bugs kept him rooted to the floor. They crept higher and higher, leaving their mark on the boy, with little bite marks and holes in his body where the bugs had torn his skin apart to get to the blood and muscle. They were inside him then, creeping along underneath his skin, letting him see the moving bulges. They soon made their way to his heart and lungs, along with his other body organs, and ate him from the inside out, leaving an actual skeleton in the closet.” Brian finished. He had succeeded in scaring his little brother, since he had his head covered by a blanket.

“That was a really scary story Brian.” Nick whispered.

“Well, you wanted scary, so I gave it to you.” He responded. Brian got up to leave when Nick said, “What’s that?”

Brian turned to face him. “What was what? I don’t hear anything.”

“That noise. Like the one you said in the story.” Nick replied.

“Nick, I really don’t hear anything…” he trailed off. The noise grew louder. It almost sounded like it was coming from the closet.

“Go check the closet. I’ll promise you there’s nothing there. It was just a story.” Brian insisted. He pulled his younger brother out of bed and pushed him towards the closet. Nick slowly reached out for the handle, his hand and small fingers trembling, when he felt something crawling up his legs and he screamed and jumped away. Brian sat on the floor, laughing at his trick. Thunder boomed as Brian rolled on the floor from laughing so hard.

“I so got you! That was amazing!” he said after laughing.

“Well, I guess it was a little funny…” Nick said, followed by a slight chuckle. Nick crawled into bed once more, and Brian got up. He tucked his little brother into bed, and was just about to leave when the noise resumed. Nick sat up in bed and glared at his brother.

“Brian, it’s not funny anymore. Stop it!”

Brian came back in and stood by his brother’s bed side. “That noise isn’t me. I have the tape right here. I picked it up.” He showed him the recording machine. Nick still wasn’t convinced, and got up to check the closet.

“I know you’re trying to scare me again. Knock it off!” He said as he made his way towards the closet. Brian followed him and tried to stop him.

“Listen to me Nick. I swear to God, I am not messing with you!”

“Well I have to see for myself!” Nick proclaimed, strongly stubborn and not believing his brother’s pleas. He whipped open the closet and walked confidently inside and his older brother followed. Nick walked around in the walk-in closet, looking for any signs that his brother had attempted to scare him again. Then Nick felt the creeping and crawling up his legs again and turned around to face his brother, who was a few steps away.

Nick gasped and said, “If it’s not you, then…” He looked down and saw a multitude of bugs creeping up his legs, ants and spiders and centipedes alike. They tore apart his tender skin with their mandibles, munching on his warm flesh. The thunder masked his screams as the bugs ate him and his brother alive, letting the two boys scream and cry in the closet from a mix of the terrible pain of being eaten alive, and a deathly amount of venom launched into their bloodstreams.

The venom flowed into their blood, causing the boys’ limbs to sting and burn profusely. They screamed and wailed, but the storm made it impossible for anyone to hear their cries. Nick looked to his older brother, who was trying to open the door with his failing limbs, but to no avail. Nick never wanted to see that kind of fear in his brother’s eyes. That kind of fear meant that this was serious. Nick mouthed to his brother, I don’t wanna die Brian. He just stared back at Nick with a painful and sorrowful look, as the bugs crept up his face and into his mouth.

The boys tried to hold on as long as they could, but it was over before it had even begun. The multitude of insects and arachnids would finally get their feast after many years waiting in the walls, waiting for the boys to grow. They were just waiting for the perfect moment to strike, when their appetite for food was the greatest. The boys, what was left of them at this moment, were mere muscle and organs. Their hearts continued to beat as they felt the many insects eating them piece by piece, as the bugs crept along their insides, eating them from the inside out. Their jaws were set in an open position, as if their faces were eaten as they screamed. They lay crumpled on the floor, side by side, as the insects finished off the remaining flesh that was left on their pure white bones.

The bugs, finished with their feast and their stomachs full, crept back into the walls, their chattering ceased.