Flash Fiction
Through a Spoon Darkly
In the background, the TV blared something about the President, half the cabinet, and all the Joint Chiefs flying to London for an emergency meeting to discuss the increasing number of UfO sightings.
“Scary days!” Alice said aloud as she set the soup to simmer. Her sister, Arlene, would be here soon, and everything had to be perfect. Although Arlene was the culinary expert in the family, Alice wanted to impress her.
Alice heard some scurrying on the floor behind her. “Rats, please, not today. And none of those large roaches either”. She thought she’d gotten rid of them all months ago.
More scurrying. She spun around, forgetting her arthritic back. The pain was excruciating, and she fell to the floor. It wasn’t rats. And it wasn’t cockroaches.
She didn’t quite know what she was looking at. Half a dozen spider-like creatures, each the size of a Madagascar Roach raised on multiple jointed legs with a crescent of six protruding red eyes above one large, white, dripping fang, were racing towards Alice.
Alice was terrified and tried to stand, but the pain was too great. She fell back to the floor. As she opened her mouth to scream, one of the creatures leaped inside.
