The Glass Globe

The hushed silence of night in the suburbs cloaked the small, innocuous house. A blazing bright moon perched in the sky, its ghostly light almost trickling down and through the dark window. A few strands of moonlight brushed the mumbling sixteen-year-old, but then continued on to the glass globe on the dresser. The globe had settled "snow" at the bottom, and a lone figure, a boy with jet black hair, standing on it. When Brenda had first received it for her birthday, she had been fascinated by the little person utterly alone in his world, with no one else around. Now it sat in a pool of dust, forgotten as so many childhood trinkets are, the carefully hand-painted eyes staring out the window. As the moonlight circled it, the globe emanated a gentle glow, and the world stopped ticking.

Brenda's clock froze at 3:16 AM, as did every other one in the house and every other one in the world, regardless of the time zone. She stirred briefly in her sleep, eyelashes fluttering, before sighing and returning to her confused dreams.

Alone.

***

She smiled dreamily, her amber locks strewn about on the pillow, and her lanky limbs askew. Sunlight poured in from the window, casting a golden glow on the maple furniture and hardwood floor. Brenda rubbed her eyes and sat up, yawning, as she glanced at her clock. Blinking, she peered at it again. 3:16 AM. She whipped around and hurried over to the window; it was much too bright to be 7:00 - why did her alarm clock have to die on today, of all days?

"Mom!" she called, throwing on a lime green t-shirt and worn jeans. "What time is it? Why didn't you wake me up? I'm gonna be late for school, and the final rehearsal for the musical starts second period!" Frantically lacing on her sneakers, she studied her reflection in the mirror. Her hair had seen better days but it was presentable, at least. There wasn't any time to comb it, so it would have to stay as is.

There was no reply. "Mom!" she shouted louder, bursting out of her room and racing down the stairs. "Mom?"

Brenda paused in front of the living room clock and saw it too was stuck at 3:16. Was there some sort of power outage the night before? At least that would mean a couple kids would be late like her, so surely it would be okay.

Running her fingers through her hair, she grabbed an apple and threw on her backpack. Her parents had probably left for work already, and figured she was at school. As she stuffed her house key in her pocket, it occurred to her that her mom wouldn't do that.

A pit in her stomach, Brenda ran upstairs and knocked on her parents' door. She waited a few moments, and then peeked in. The bed was impeccably made, and her nerves were assuaged. They must be at work, then.

Running back downstairs and out the door, she headed for school. The streets were silent except for her footsteps - she must be later than she thought. The quiet was unsettling, and she silently berated herself for such cowardness.

A few minutes later, she arrived at the large high school, and took a deep breath before pushing the heavy black door open. Hopefully, the rehearsal wasn't too far along by now. Brenda quietly walked down the hallway and reached her locker, where she shoved her backpack inside and grabbed her costume and script. She hurried to the auditorium and slipped inside. "Sorry I'm late, I -"

There was no one there. "Mrs. Muller?" she asked uncertainly. "Hello? A-anyone?"

No response. Slightly chilled, Brenda walked out and headed for the attendance office. A small brown spider landed lightly on her arm, and she wrinkled her nose and brushed it off. Opening the door, she looked inside but the only one looking back at her was the gray desk.

Heart pounding, she turned around and saw another one of those brown spiders. She quickly stepped on it, but then another came, and another, and another. They seemed to be getting bigger and bigger, and she couldn't step on them fast enough as they crawled up her arms and on her legs, her stomach, back, hair, and face. Screaming, she tried to push them off, but the halls were teeming with them, packed full until the spiders had trouble pushing through. Their fangs clacked together as they buried her, small brown bodies wriggling, their long legs touching her. Brenda's stomach writhed and she realized that they were inside of her, somehow, someway, and as they consumed her, she let out a last whimper, fear forever frozen on her glassy eyes.

***

The hushed silence of night in the suburbs cloaked the small, innocuous house. A blazing bright moon perched in the sky, its ghostly light almost trickling down and through the dark window. A few strands of moonlight brushed the mumbling sixteen-year-old, but then continued on to the glass globe on the dresser. The globe had settled "snow" at the bottom, and a lone figure, a girl with amber locks, standing on it.

Randy's clock unfroze at 3:16 AM, as did every other one in the house and every other one in the world, regardless of the time zone. He stirred briefly in his sleep, eyelashes fluttering, before sighing and returning to his confused dreams.