Chapter 29

The evening glow was easily observed by the brown-haired boy. His eyes caught every second that remained of the intense glow emanating from the sun until, at last, the moon took its place and the environment became much darker. However, he could not care less.

He took a quick look at the photos captured by his camera lens and placed them on the shelf next to his bed. Without a doubt, the twilight of each day would forever be his favorite moment.

—Matthew! —His name was being called from downstairs. —I'm going to serve dinner, come right now!

He jumped off the soft mattress and sped through the door. He had been so caught up in the beauty of the orange and red hues that he ignored the growling of his stomach.

When he got to the first floor, he saw his mother putting the last plate on the dining room table and his father with all the attention directed at the eight o'clock news. Despite this, his father approached his small body and carried him, then headed towards the kitchen.

That boy with the white smile and tousled locks was Matthew. The reality was that he did not differ so much from his other classmates —or even from other children. He had two parents who loved him too much, a vast amount of toys that any little boy could wish for, and many friends with whom he had fun at school. It seemed that his life was completely perfect, but it was not. Matthew did not always show his gums denoting happiness, because there was something that frightened him. There was something, in the world, around him, that made him feel in danger, sending slight shivers down his tiny back.

Matthew had arachnophobia.

And, although this was not a total concern for his parents, it symbolized an advantage for that female who was hidden inside the white frame mirror in Matthew's bathroom.

It would be the end of the child if she, Elena, found out about his worst fear because she would then use it to her advantage and he would become the loser of the battle.

Unfortunately for him, Elena knew that secret that Matthew jealously guarded, and, inside the mirror, she was preparing a plan to be free once and for all.

[...]

—I don't want to... Really, I don't want to do that to him. —The girl was crying close to the monster with red fur. —I don't want to hurt Matthew and do what my reflection did.

The monster near her leaned a little closer and held her against his hairy chest. Ten long years had passed since the arrival of the girl and from that day, both creatures and humans began to create a bond. A bond difficult to break, but one that would be violated by Elena's departure. Three pairs of eyes were placed on the body of the young woman and from the hairy mouths came sighs of sadness. Everyone decided, even Elena. It was the right thing to do, even if it was painful for all four of them, and then for Matthew. There was no going back.

—It's the only thing you can do. Wasn't that what you wanted? Get out of this mirror and be free. —The creature murmured.

The girl sighed, but she did not shake her head in denial at her friend's question. Indeed, that was what she longed for since she came to stop in that cold and dark place, but she terrified him to be equal or worse than the reflection of her. She was wondering for months if this was the best thing she could do, reflecting on her next actions within the nightmare factory. She walked away from the monster with a stoic face and showing a straight line on her lips.

—Okay, then let's get started. Let's go to the control center.

The monsters were silent and began to walk behind Elena until they could see the metal door at the end of the hall.

Elena positioned herself in front of some buttons while the creatures headed towards the three white circles that were on the floor.

At the press of a button, the room was completely lit up with a blinding glow, coming from the screen near the girl when this light was dedicated to scanning the furry bodies.

After a few seconds, the light ceased and the room was dark as before. On the screen, the bodies of the captured creatures were visualized as if they were tiny dolls, but the four beings, inside the factory, knew exactly the use and requirement of those images.

Elena took a kind of plastic pencil that was on the table next to the big screen and began to draw on the fingered bodies. After a few minutes, she finished the work and stepped away so that her friends could observe the form they would take during that night's nightmare.

The monsters perceived with full attention the lines made by the girl from the white circles a few meters away. The yellowish-furred monster, the largest of all, would appear in Matthew's dreams as an immense spider. The silhouette he saw had four pairs of eyes, all with a radiant reddish glow but denoting danger. As for the legs, they were characterized by being extremely long as well as thick, and finally, he would obtain two fangs coming out of his mouth. Clearly, he saw the reason for such a creepy animal to get a role in the nightmare.

The sky-blue-skinned monster, the smallest of the three creatures, sighed nervously as she contemplated the new appearance she would take. Years had passed since the last time she entered a dream. But still, she couldn't understand the reason for her character's existence. The creature would play like a woman with brown hair, perhaps she was not more than thirty years old, and yet she did not understand the role that was going to assume that night.

—She is his mother. —Elena explained as if she had read her mind and the creature swallowed thickly. What was this girl trying to do with the mother of a small child?

Finally, the ruby-maned monster was drumming his big fingers on the top of his leg. Elena chose for him a person that he had already seen weeks ago. Sometimes, he stayed by the female's side at night, looking through the white-framed mirror. They watched Matthew and what his life was like for the little boy, but that didn't mean they didn't notice the people around him. Every night, a man walked over to Matthew to take him to bed, tell him a story, and have the child's eyelids slowly start to close. That subject, whom the creature was observing, was that man. He was the father of the child.

—Listen carefully, the plan for tonight is this... —Elena said and the three creatures approached the human.

[...]

—Time to sleep, Matthew. —The man reminded the boy. —Let's rest.

He scooped Matthew up in his arms and they both headed upstairs to the child's bedroom.

After telling him a story, the child's eyelids began to close little by little to the point where his irises were no longer visible to the child's father, like the sun when it dies after sunset, behind the impressive mountains.

Witnessing this act by the minor, the man prepared to get up from his son's mattress and close the door when he left the room.

Nobody inside the house noticed that something unusual and devastating would happen. No one knew of the unjust future that the next morning held for the family.

[...]

❝ —Hello? Is anyone here? —The infant asked, observing what was around him. Despite the effort to reach to see a minimum thing, he did not achieve it.

There was nothing to examine in that mysterious place. Everything that dwelt on Matthew's sides was practically invisible to him. Everything around him was dark, black. He didn't know where he was.

Suddenly, he heard in the gloomy space, footsteps. He frowned because he did not know the appearance of the person responsible for those noises. Then, he remembered when he traveled with his father to summer camp. They were in the woods, at night, returning to their tent to rest when his father stopped totally.

—What's going on? —Asked the child.

—I heard footsteps. —He answered. —We must be careful if it is an animal.

They were silent for a moment, and his father's ears perked up. Then he sighed and mentioned:

—Fortunately, it is far. Let's go quickly to the tent.

Matthew remained confused and looked at him. —How did you know it was far?

—When you hear footsteps, but the sound they make is loud, then the creature is far away. But, if the sound is low, then the creature is close.

Coming out of that memory, he settled into silence to learn the whereabouts of whatever it was walking around. However, at that moment, the footsteps stopped. The dark place was ruled by silence and fear began to run down the spine of the minor.

He waited a few minutes until his ears caught the sound of a footstep. He began to hyperventilate when he realized that the noise caused by the footstep was low. Too low, but without being imperceptible.

He didn't want to turn around. At that moment he prayed that the feeling that kept him immobile was due to a bad dream. Yes, it was just one more nightmare for the boy. He just had to close his eyes and when he opened them he would be in his room. He sighed and closed his eyes as the unknown creature walked to perch in front of Matthew.

However, when the infant opened his eyes he could notice two things: first, that he did not wake up from the nightmare as he had thought it would result; and second, that the monstrous creature was close to his small body. Too close that he got to discover its appearance.

It was a spider. A gigantic spider.

He took a few steps back, away from the animal, until his back touched a slimy substance, and then his arms and legs did the same. He was caught in the web of his worst fear. The scream that was willing to sound from the minor died in his throat when the creature took him between his hairy legs about to wrap him in a layer of white thread.

Meanwhile, Matthew tried to regain what little sanity he had left and try to wake up from that terrifying dream, but he did not get what he expected. From the back of the furry creature, he could observe two people running in his direction, so his mind lit up. And his face too.

—Help! —He pleaded through the darkness of the void. —Help me, please!

People heard his call and came to rescue him. The man struck the spider while the woman next to him grabbed the child and released him from the creature's hairy legs.

Matthew smiled when he saw who it was. They were his parents, they had come to save him. He breathed a sigh of relief, at least that nightmare didn't turn out to be as horrible as he first thought.

He turned on his heel when he realized that the creature was unconscious on the ground and then went to his parents and hugged them. How he loved them, he loved them a lot. The sudden embrace lasted a long time, but it broke the moment Matthew sensed a different texture in his parents.

He looked down at the arms of both parents and watched in horror.

Their skin was beginning to be invaded by large amounts of orange hair, ending in hairy arms and legs. Hairy like the monster behind him, spider-shaped on the ground. Hairy such as the worst fear of Matthew in the world.

It was too late when he realized that they were not his parents. They were not protecting him, on the contrary, they came to hurt him. Much damage.

He darted out of the arms of those who looked similar to his parents. His next move would be to run from them and find a hiding place in the vast darkness that surrounded him. However, when he turned to flee, he collided with the furry body of the first spider, which seemed to have regained consciousness.

Then he tried to turn again to escape in another direction, but the hairy bodies of both parents were blocking his path.

He now could see them without difficulty. All the creatures present showed their fangs to him and approached, getting closer and closer to the boy.

—No, please. —He begged. —Don't you dare, no-

When he least expected it, one of the spiders buried a paw in his chest, straight into Matthew's heart.❞

[...]

The three spiders reached down and scooped up Matthew's corpse. At the end of the dark void, a light emerged as if by magic, giving rise to a huge door.

The wood of the door creaked, it was being opened by someone. That, someone, pushed open the door and the monsters went with the boy towards the lighted entrance.

—Come in, we don't have too much time. —Elena said. —The real parents are about to wake up.

Then the human and the three monsters disappeared into the dark and gloomy void.

[...]

—Go wake Matthew up. —The mother of the child murmured to her husband, yawning. —He has to go to school.

The man just nodded and left for his only son's room.

Meanwhile, the woman collapsed on the soft mattress, falling asleep again. A few minutes passed before her husband came running into their room.

He moved her with force, trying to wake her up and when he succeeded, the woman realized that the other's body was shaking uncontrollably.

—What's going on? —She asked.

The man did not respond, actually, he seemed lost, staring at a fixed point, pale and with fear running through his veins. But his wife still didn't understand.

—What's going on? —She asked again.

—He is not here. —He replied without looking into her eyes.

—He? Who is he?

The man remained fearful, petrified when he discovered what was happening inside the house. What was missing inside the house? Who was missing inside the house?

—Matthew isn't here. He has disappeared.