Jane felt her stomach cramp. She was hungry but there was nothing to eat in the house. She remembered someone saying that Columbus and his crew ate sawdust but there was no sawdust anywhere, only cobwebs and dry spiders. Spiders, spiders, spiders – all the same spiders. Maybe they all came from the same mama, she thought.
A square of light moved along the wall downstairs. Moments later, the front door rattled, followed by a series of giggles. Then it rattled some more, and the wood holding the lock began to crumble and gave way. The giggles hushed. Then a young girl laughed. “You broke the door.”
“Jeez, Jenna. It was already broken.”
Three then four lights beamed into the dark house. “Wow,” a boy said, “this is an awesome place to party.”
“You think,” a petite girl said. “We used to be creep-ed out by this old place, but you’re right. It is pretty awesome.”
“There’s no lights,” a tall boy pointed out matter-of-factly.
“Michael, you’re a wuss,” a stout boy said.
“I was just stating the obvious.” He shone his light about the place. “We can get candles, I guess.”
A girl in khakis turned to the stout boy and said, “Since it’s your turn to get beer from town, Chuck, could you get us candles too?”
“Don’t call me Chuck,” he said and trudged out the door, leaving behind him a cloud of laughter.
“Who do you think we should invite, guys?” khaki asked.
Michael said, “Don’t look at me. Pauline’s the one with the fancy friends in this county.”
Jenna in khakis then turned to petite Pauline. “Well?”
The other girl fished out a mobile phone from a back pocket and began to tap around in it. After about five minutes she said, “Done. I’ve invited ten people and asked everyone to bring alcohol, food and any other important stuff.”
By the time Chuck returned, six other teenagers had turned up at the farmhouse, and four more came soon after. Jane knew that she wasn’t invited, but it was her home after all, so shyly she came down and sat among the noisy crowd in the living room. Nobody chased her away or anything like that. Some tried talking to her, others passed her a joint, but when she only smiled and said nothing or shook her head, they left her alone. The night wore on and on, and it seemed like a never ending dream. Finally as the last of the candles burned out, and dawn began to show in the horizon, Michael declared that the party was over.
Everyone who was conscious groaned and stretched themselves awake. Jenna shook Pauline and said, “Hey, Polly, wake up.” The other mumbled an incoherent reply. Jenna turned to Michael, “I am not carrying her home.”
“It’s alright. You can leave her here,” Jane said from a dark corner.
Michael squinted. “You’re not going back yet.”
“I am staying.”
“Oh, alright.”
Jenna said, “What do you mean, alright?”
“She’s Pauline’s friend. Anyway it’s safe here, nobody ever comes. We can come back after breakfast and bring coffee. Maybe she’ll be awake then.”
One by one they left, and soon Jane found herself alone with Pauline. She began combing her hair and singing to her then when Pauline woke, she took her upstairs to one of the bedrooms and into the wall.
When her friends returned for her that afternoon, they searched but couldn’t find her so they assumed that she had gone home. They called her mobile, and discovered it on the floor. She dropped her phone they said so they called her house, and found out that she wasn’t home. They began to call all the friends that she texted the night before. Nobody knew where she was, and by the time they reached the tenth person on her message list, they also learned that nobody knew who the quiet girl was.
#
Pauline still felt drowsy, but she pushed aside the white laced blanket and forced herself to get up. Flowers, the scent of flowers were everywhere. She stretched her arm and realized that she was wearing a clean but faded nightdress.
She looked for her clothes but didn’t see them either on the bed or on the dresser, so she peeked out the door and found a carpeted corridor outside. She went along it and reached a staircase. A young man looked up from the floor below. “Howdy,” he said and took off his cowboy hat while turning his eyes away at the same time. “I’m sorry,” he said, “I didn’t realize that anyone was living here.”
“Where is this place?” Pauline asked as she studied his dusty spurred boots, linen pants and woolen shirt.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I woke up one day and found myself inside this house.” He cleared his throat, looked up then just as quickly looked away, for the light from the window at the end of the landing was showing Pauline’s silhouette through the thinning fabric. “I…I mean, ma’am, I would appreciate it if you could tell me how to get out of this house.”
“What do you mean, get out of this house? You mean there is no way out. But I’ve got college coming up.”
He looked up again, and this time he didn’t turn away. “College. What is a college?”
Pauline stared aghast at the man. Then she slowly backed away as he climbed the steps towards her.
#
Jane giggled. “Come on now, Bo. Make her fall in love with you,” she said to a dry skeletal form lying next to Pauline, whose sweat drenched face was pale. “You’ve been alone long enough. It’s time you have a wife. Maybe I’ll find you kids next time.” She turned both bodies on their sides, made them face each other and locked their arms in an embrace. Then she brushed aside Pauline's hair and licked the nape that had begun to bleed.
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