Chapter 10

Spiderweb

“It kind of looks like…self-destruction,” Rita mumbled to herself as they passed by the houses along their way. 

“And we haven’t met a single person since we left the house. It’s like the town is completely abandoned,” Kaisa replied and darted quick glances left and right. To her this utter chaos didn’t seem all that messy if she was being honest, but that was something she knew to keep to herself. This wasn’t self-destruction to her, but like the curtains were finally drawn back. She glanced over at Rita who was still scanning each house they passed with an anxious look on her face, and Kaisa wanted to protect her, like she’d always protected her, pointing her towards the light, pretending that’s all there’d ever been. An oblivion that filled their lives with wholesome boredom. Now her best friend was left confused and in fear. I’m so sorry, she thought. It was all just lies. All of it.
She took a deep breath, shrugged, and hoped Rita wouldn’t press the matter any further.

After what had felt like forever, Rita’s house appeared on the right side of the road. 

“Looks normal. It just looks like my house,” she said, and it did look normal. Considering the state of the rest of the neighborhood, it seemed even a little more out of place than everything else. Rita’s house was a two-story home. The outside walls were red, the window and door frames white. It looked peaceful, and also distinctly Nordic. The water barrier had reached up over the front steps, and inched over the bottom of the front door. It otherwise seemed quiet and undisturbed, but for a while neither of them made a move to go inside.

“Why does it seem like nobody is there? The water must be flooding the bottom floor, my dad would have a proper meltdown.”

“That’s what I keep saying. Rita, we need to go inside.”

“I know.”

“Then let’s go.”

Kaisa gestured for her to get a move on, but Rita kept staring at her house and didn’t budge.

“Rita…”

Rita shook her head and just stared up at her front door. Part of Kaisa just wanted to push her in and get it over with, but she knew she had to bury that urge.

“They’re fine. The day your mother bows to the Oddity will be long after it has already killed everybody else,” she said, waiting for a reaction. Something that wasn’t standing and staring. Rita nodded and, to Kaisa’s relief, started walking up the stone stairs. The door stood open a crack and she pushed it all the way in with the tip of her toe. To their surprise, the water hadn’t entered the house. It stopped at the door and cut off at about an inch of depth. They stepped inside, dropping their bundles of clothes in the anteroom. 

It was dark inside, and it reminded Kaisa of their sleepovers. They would come downstairs during the night to get something to eat and would try their best to quickly get back upstairs and into bed. It was creepy and unsettling to find such a lively home so void of life, like people just left and never found their way back.

“Mommy? Daddy?”

“Mommy and Daddy? How old are you? Four?” Kaisa replied, rolling her eyes, but immediately felt bad.

“Can you stop? This might be serious, and I’m kind of stressed out!”

“Orla, Thorinn, where are you? Please come out. This is weird, and we’d like to make sure you aren’t dead,” Kaisa yelled, and saw Rita’s narrowed eyes. Kaisa pursed her lips and looked away. She didn’t mean to be inappropriate, but Rita’s worry made her nervous.

“Rita? Is that you?” 

Both girls turned their heads and stared at the stairway that led to the second floor. Before Kaisa could say anything, Rita had already started sprinting, taking the stairs two at a time and Kaisa had no choice but to follow. When they turned the corner and into the master bedroom, both came to an abrupt halt. Kaisa rubbed her chest, feeling like she’d bumped into a stone wall.

“Mom?” Rita said with a small shudder in her voice.

Orla looked tired and had an empty, cold expression on her face. Kaisa tried to grab Rita’s sweater to pull her back, but as she reached up her hand, Orla pulled them into a firm embrace. It felt nothing like the warm, inviting hugs she usually gave, but like the metal clasps of a mousetrap that had just slammed shut.

“Mom, you’re hurting me a bit, can you please…” 

But Orla wouldn’t move, would only let her arms close around them tighter until Kaisa struggled to breathe. Rita screamed when Orla’s fingers dug into her daughter’s back.

“What are you doing? Orla!”

“It has been so long. I’ve been waiting for so long. Waiting and waiting. It was so quiet here. So, so quiet. But it’s been quiet everywhere.” 

When Kaisa looked up at Orla, their eyes met and she didn’t need to take another look to understand.

This wasn’t Orla.

She heard Rita cry out in pain, and saw little pools of blood where Orla’s fingers kept piercing her back. Kaisa tried to let herself drop down to escape her grasp, but no matter how hard she pushed and shoved against Orla’s arm, there was no movement.

She will kill you, a voice echoed in Kaisa’s head. You’re being crushed to death by this creature, this impostor, this wrong mother. You’re dying. You need to look. Look at it! 

And Kaisa obeyed. She closed her eyes. For a second, time had come to a halt. The world was holding its breath. When she opened her eyes again, all was still. The woman who had looked like Orla was washed clean of her disguise and all that was left for Kaisa to see was the truth. Like a beating heart, exposed in an open chest.

“I see you. And you do not belong here.”