A Writing Journey; Cobwebs

This is another piece that I wrote in my first year at University.

I was staying at the YWCA in Auckland, and the layout was very kind of hospital-like, I guess. There were about six floors, each lined with rooms. The decor was very I guess 60s-70s era, worn and needing a little bit of an update. The rooms all had fluorescent lights; you know those that turn on about four seconds after you’ve flicked the switch. I must have watched or read something that got my imagination stirring because I ended up coming up with this story. I can remember standing in the middle of the darkened hall, between my room and the bathroom, staring down into the darkness and imagining cobwebs, basically turning it into a bit of a nightmare.

I also match this story up with my mum’s story of playing Hockey on the grounds of an old mental hospital, (perhaps you can add something about that in the comments, Mum?). There isn’t much else I can share about the origins of this story. So here it is, enjoy. I would love to hear your thoughts about it!

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Cobwebs

She flicked the light switch almost positive that the light wouldn’t turn on, but to her surprise, the neon lights flickered on, and she got fleeting glimpses of the room beyond. When the light was finally on, she blinked, it made her eyes ache and water slightly. After a few seconds, her eyes were accustomed to the harsh white light coming from the strip bulbs on the ceiling. The unnatural light threw everything in the room into sharp relief and banished the chance of shadows.

The room was simple and bland.

The walls and ceiling were all the same shade of grey-blue, making it seem as though you were stepping into a room under the ocean, it wasn’t exactly a pleasant sensation especially since the air seemed 20 degrees colder in there as well.

One wall was almost entirely covered by a window, despite the size of it; it allowed no wintery sunlight into the room. The window was coated with a thick layer of grim, both on the inside and outside.

The bed looked as if it was made only of wooden boards. When she poked it, with the toe of her trainer, several bugs ran off, and a bulge appeared making her hurry back several steps.

Shelves and cupboards covered the wall opposite the window. The shelves were full of solid cobwebs, with giant black spiders sitting in them waiting for some unfortunate innocent bug to get caught in their sticky prison. She could vaguely make out books and ornaments lined up neatly like soldiers in rank, though what the books were called or what the ornaments were she couldn’t tell. Time had worked its curse on them, and the heavy curtain of spiderwebs didn’t help.

She pulled on a cupboard door, and it opened with a violent squeak.

She was immediately covered with a puff of dust that tickled her nose into a sneeze. A bulky rat fall to her feet, she jumped away as others followed and then, following their leader ran out the still-open doorway.

Inside of the cupboard was strung with spiderwebs. The clothing rode was askew, the coat hangers were all wedged at the lower point. A single shoe sat neatly at the bottom, time and rats had had their way with it. On the top shelf was a folder of sorts. She used her torch to get a stand of web out of the way. The biggest spider she had ever seen rose to its feet and ran over the top of the folder towards her torch. She pulled back and pushed the cupboard closed quickly, whatever was in that folder was not worth fighting a stupidly huge spider for.

She rubbed her arms and pulled her beanie down further, her hair was obviously standing up.

One of the drawers rattled suddenly, she stared at it and decided the others would be better left unopened.

The tattered blinds clattered against the window frame even though she felt no wind in here.

The light flickered, plunging the room into darkness for a few seconds.

It’s surprising that the lights still work even though the rest of the place is so run down, she thought.

This was the worst room yet. The others had been somewhat decent still, but this one was different.

She stepped back out into the hallway and closed the door quietly behind her, not wanting to disturb the thick silence of the building.

Looking down the hall, she decided that the whole floor was in a bad way. The beam of her torch picked out cobwebs that were like streamers running from floor to ceiling, they looked as though they were more designed to catch humans as apposed to insects.

She shivered at the thought and turned back to the stairwell to meet back up with her friends.

There was no way she was going to keep going up the levels or walk down that hallway. As a matter of fact, she was going to leave the whole building and wait for everyone else outside in the sunshine where she felt safe. She would let the others discover whatever treasures may lay hidden in here. Thinking about it, she felt terrible about the whole thing. This was other people’s belongings, whether they were now died or still alive didn’t matter. They didn’t belong to the group of raiders who were invading the old building.

She reached the floor below where everyone else was.

There was a loud bang, then a chorus of screams and yells, followed closely by a stampede of running feet. She froze, staring in the direction of the footsteps, nerves entirely on edge. Her torch light shaking.

“What’s going on?” She asked as they came closer.

“Dunno… Don’t want to know…” Said one of her fellow explorers quietly as he stopped in front of her.

“Find anything?” One of the others asked though she sounded as if she didn’t really want to know.

“Yeah, an overwhelming desire to get the fucking hell outta here!” There was a murmur of agreement from everyone else.

The group then made their way back down to the ground floor and out into the bright, warm and comforting sunlight. They piled into the cars that had been waiting patiently for them and wove their way back down the sloping drive of the old boarding house.

Each with the feeling that hundreds of dark hidden eyes were watching them the whole way.