The Playroom
There was a spider in the walls, and Eloise was fascinated by it. It had been a very long while since she had seen anything alive in the house, and now, there was a spider.
It had been some time since the Andersons had died, and all their servants and workers had gone away. The house had been empty for years. Aside from the plants in the garden, none of which were bright and cheery, the grounds of the house seemed to abhor living things.
Long ago, birds landed in the trees and insects roamed the property, even into the house. That had ended some time ago, and Eloise hadn’t even realized it at the time. It was only when she saw the spider in the walls that she reflected on how long it had been since she had seen a spider or any other living thing in the house.
For a day, she was infatuated with the tiny creature. With its pale, yellowish body and long, spindly legs, it wandered about and even set up a web between some support beams behind the drywall.
Soon, she found herself feeling sorry for the creature. No insects would fall into that web anytime soon. As far as she knew, the spider was the only living thing in the house. It would starve to death if it stayed.
“You need to leave,” she told the spider. “It’s not safe for you here. You should be out in the world where there is food and water.”
The spider, of course, understood nothing.
“Follow me to a window,” she told it. “I’ll let you out. There are many bugs in the yards nearby. Tasty flies and other things. A feast!”
The spider remained where it was.
“I’ll get you to a window. You’ll see,” she assured the creature.
She had thought that maybe she could pluck it from its web and carry it, but she knew she no longer had the dexterity to do such things. Her ghost hands were not as nimble as they had been when she was alive. The cold that came from them would probably be enough to kill the spider. She couldn’t move it manually. She would have to think of something else.
The idea struck her that perhaps she could use a small stick or piece of wood to wrap up the web and just take the spider along with it. She could take that downstairs to a window and toss the creature in the yard, where it could escape to greener pastures.
It was not the best idea because, for the same reason: holding and manipulating a stick for a long period was not something she could do well. She had learned to move things, and she was better at it now than when she had first died, but it was still not easy. But she had to try.
She searched the house for something that might aid in moving the little creature and settled on a wooden spoon that had been left in the kitchen. It was only when she was halfway from the kitchen to her destination that she realized there was no opening in the walls for the spoon to pass through. She would have to either break a hole in the wall or abandon her quest.
“This isn’t fair,” she said, dropping the spoon. “He never hurt anyone.”
She was alone in a hallway a short distance from the stairs. Carl and Thaddeus were not around, and Vivienne had been hiding for weeks. It had been too long since Eloise felt like she had anyone she could talk to, and as much as it pained her to admit it, she was lonelier than she had ever been.
