"Well, excuuuuuuuuse me Princess!"  Susan said coming into the room with a flourish and looking over Delilah's bedside with some disapproval.

"All layin' down on your butt, you'd think that I was the tougher one." She chided. Susan was tough, at least for a girl in her grade. A year younger than Delilah. She could scare most of the boys.

A hard family was Delilah's. Except for Dad. But Dad was gone now, and maybe that meant there was no one there to balance the hardened nature of the remaining family members.

Delilah's breath slowed, but her heart still raced. In that short space of time between her mother's departure and her sister's entrance, she'd started to sweat. She feared it was the Pig at the door. Or worse. Once she saw it was just her little sister, Delilah rolled her eyes. It was what passed for the usual exchange of pleasantries in the Gray household.

"Ugh. Just you, Sarah. Shut the door, you feeb. Get over here."

It came so naturally that Delilah didn't consider her tone to be rude. If anything, she thought Susan was the rude one for wasting time when there was so much to explain.

Delilah's sister came over to the side of the bed, not taking any offense in the least.

"So...they give you anything good for that sissy scratch you got?" She asked.

"What happened out there?" She said on the bed, causing Delilah to wince as the springs made the mattress jump slightly, shooting fresh pain into her back.

Delilah's teeth clenched from the soft impact of Susan landing on the bed. She grimaced and exhaled forcefully through her nose. She needed a moment to catch her breath after the jolt of pain.

"You know? About Dad?"

It was a short break. Had to keep Susan on track before Mom returned.

Susan turned away. It probably wasn't because she was about to cry. Just had something in her eye was all. Delilah could see her rub it.

"Yeah." She said, coughing a little. She was probably sick. Not crying. The winter was a time for when the flu went around. Everyone knew that. Just like everyone knew that Susan picked on kids that cried in her grade.  "Just wasn't strong enough." She managed to croak.

"What happened?"

Delilah saw her sister turn and bring her hand near her face. Delilah didn't see anything unusual after that. She looked at the boring wall clock. She couldn't tell anyone about Susan crying if she didn't see it happen. She launched into the explanation to cover the sound of coughing.

"He changed. Into somethin' bad."

There was so much to say, but Delilah cut straight to their father's arrival. He had walked through a blizzard just to keep his promise. But he'd gotten sick and not just any kind of sick. He had a spider bite; the nastiest she'd ever seen. She told Susan all about how he'd gotten pale and skinny all in one day. He wanted to eat everything. In the morning, their father was gone and a giant, stringy-legged spider had grown inside of his skin.

"It was me and Roger and Josh and John. Um, Sammy and Hannah. Those two babies that go everywhere. Lilly. That one new kid, Jaime or something. And this other kid I don't know. But it was really just Josh and John and me, 'cause everyone else ran off, right. And we were trying to chase it away. And Josh and John were beating up on it. And I threw this rock. And it--" Delilah swallowed hard. She squinted to see the clock more clearly. The second hand ticked three times. Delilah's fists clenched until they shook.

"It's sk-skin...split open...and t-tore off. Dad's face was on the ground. And the spider-- Y'know, you know that fat, bulby part of spiders? Like the butt? It busted open and a jillion baby spiders came out! They came out with clown faces! And teeth! Right on top of the boys. So many that they crawled over Josh and I couldn't even see him anymore."

Delilah would never get to tell them that they were the best teammates. Right to the end.

"But I could hear him. He was screaming."

The tale had its effect. Somewhere in the middle of the story Susan turned towards Delilah, her face gone slack, mouth opened. An expression of complete, dumb confusion slowly changed to horror as she absorbed the final, terrible moments of their Dad and their friends.

Her eyes seemed puffy, swollen. That unmistakable look of a stuffy nose and a hoarse throat that kids get when they have a cold. Because that's what it was. Susan had a cold. Plain and simple. She wasn't crying. Wouldn't ever cry. Even at a time like this.

"At least he..." she stammered. "at least he fought to the end." She finished lamely. Of course, no one really fought to the end. Not any of the kids that Delilah saw die that day. And it wasn't clear if Susan was talking about Dad or John or Josh. Or even if she was just throwing it out there.

"I feel like..." She started, looking up at the clock. "Like this might be a wake up time." She affirmed with solid confidence, even though she had gotten the phrase wrong, the meaning was there--strength, resolution, fortitude.

"Dad was only a person maybe. A good person. But a person. And people aren't always strong. Mom says we all die some day. And Grandma Phyllis said that as soon as we're born we start dying. But gosh...spiders?" It was the child in her breaking through at that last part, threatening to bring down the speech in one phrase before she recovered.

"It just means that as the strong ones, we have to stick together. Make sure the world doesn't push us around. Maybe we do our own pushing. Find out who is responsible for this. And pay them back. Even if we have to find every spider until we find the ones that killed Dad." She said with grim resolve.

Delilah squirmed to sit up higher. Pride swelled inside her listening to Susan's declaration. Mom wouldn't listen, but Susan did. And she believed! It didn't matter that Susan was still little. Or a girl. Susan was fearless and ferocious.

"Yeah, but it wasn't the spiders. I mean, just the spiders."

Delilah told her sister about the evil clown and the black, iron scissors that ripped her in half. A boy worked with him. A shrimpy, wimpy boy who was only brave after selling out Roger.

"They cut his nose off. Like they didn't even--" Delilah's lips twisted. She sniffled. Susan must have brought the germs in. "So it wasn't just spiders. It was the clown and his whole team. They got the drop on us. But we'll be ready for them next time."

She didn't explain how she knew the clown or one of his goons would come back. Or the pig-pact.

Susan's arms and hands trembled as Delilah told the story. But it wasn't fear. Never. Never ever. Never ever, ever. It was anger.

Upon hearing the end of Delilah's story, Susan landed a solid fist into the open palm of her left hand with a loud 'THWACK!'

"I hate Clowns." she said with a quavering voice. "I hate Clowns. And I hate that girl Hannah. And I hate spiders. And I hate that Dad was so weak he had to die." She announced, voice cracking slightly. But that was probably just because she was sick. Under the weather was all that was.

"We just got to start looking up things in the yellow pages. We've got scissors. We'll cut the pages out. And then we'll do our own cutting with our own scissors. Find out how clowns and spiders like that. Find out how they feel when the shoe is on the other foot!"

Delilah sniffled again, but it was followed with a grimace and overly bright gleam to her eyes. Susan had the right of it. This was no time to feel sorry or sad. That was garbage. This was the time to heal up, plan and get ready. She wasn't sure how cutting up phone book pages would help, but it didn't matter. Susie was on her side for once. Her zeal was infectious.

"Yeah. Yeah! I hate them, too! I hate them all! And I don't care if the clown comes looking for me, 'cause I'm gonna be looking for him!"

Delilah couldn't say thank you to her sister. No more than she could directly ask for her help. She clapped her hand over Susan's angry fist. A silent token of solidarity. Delilah's fingertips were still discolored and sore from exposure, but her palms were rough and calloused from years of gymnastics.

"Looking for payback!"

There eyes met with shared animosity. Delilah was able to take in Susan's appearance with renewed sense of unity. She was short and petite with calloused hands like a farmer. A lot of people mistook her for a sweet girl. But they were wrong.

"When we get outta here. They'll see. They'll all see." Susan promised, sounding just like Mom in that instant. "I promise you that Delilah. I promise." She gripped Delilah's hand with a healthy, man-like squeeze.

Delilah nodded gravely. She returned Susan's handshake with three deliberate pumps. Then she let go. They didn't need to hold hands forever. They were sisters, not boyfriend and girlfriend.

"Hey, do you know if anyone else made it here? I remember seeing Mark at the end. Then I woke up here."

Delilah wasn't ready to admit to cutting a deal with the monsters yet. Susan would look down on her for sure.

"Oh yeah. Mark made it. He had frostbite. Kind of surprised that the little weasel managed to survive. I thought Josh was made of tough stuff. But I guess that's what happens. That's what Mom calls it: being put to the test. I guess Josh failed."

"But Mark made it out yeah. I guess he passed." that idea didn't seem to sit right with Susan judging by her mannerism. "Or maybe he just got lucky."

"He's the only one they found. The kids at school are saying that some kids are maybe out there. The adults are still out looking for them."

"Hey! Josh punched a giant spider monster in the face," Delilah said hotly. "Dumb, but better than worming off the minute something scary happens."

She sat frowning, thinking for a moment.

"Wait, so people are out searching already? How long have I been here? Who found us?"

"You're right." Susan agreed. "I probably shouldn't have said that about Josh. He went out fighting." She admitted, in the kind of way little sisters defer to their older sisses.

"You don't remember? You've been here about three weeks. The police did a search up there for the first week, then they called in other big police. They've been up there for the last two weeks looking for everyone. Mark is the only one that made it out so far."

Delilah's eyebrows flew up. "Three weeks?" She sagged back. "Then they're really dead. Like all frozen, even if they got away." She was quiet again, thinking.

"Mom says she's gonna get me out of here early. We're gonna go back to school and see who's left. Nobody's gonna be good as us, but maybe they'll know something. That one kid helping the clown. Somebody's gotta know him or seen him."

"Kid helping the Clown!" Susan's voice rose in shock, face twisted into something filled with anger, hate.

"Some kid was helping kill other kids? Bogus! Let me tell you somethin.' We're gonna find out soonest who this kid is and where he lives. You ever seen him before?"

"Yeah! Helping! We were running from the spiders, that boy, and Roger and me. And it was the weirdest thing. Okay, wait."

Delilah shifted a bit, restlessly.

"Hannah and Sammy built this little snowfort. Nothing special, right. But then, after the snowball fight, it got weird. There were loooong tunnels into the snow. And they had candy in 'em! At first, we were like awesome! But then there were lights and signs and one of those old-timey arcade machines. Like, no way they did it themselves. No way. So we were running from the spiders and we get to a rollercoaster. And the boy was saying, 'We better hide,' or something. So we hid. And that's when the clown came. He had needle teeth and grody, rotty skin. And he was thanking the boy for bringing us! That boy gave Roger to the clown and the clown cut his nose clean off. That's when I started running really hard. He cut me up the back, but I kept running."

She shook her head slowly.

"I never seen him before the snowfight. And I don't remember his name. He was on Sammy's team and he was really quiet. Really wimpy, too! Back when we were still in the snowball fight, it was down to me and him. And he just gave up. Surrendered for no reason! I shoulda known he was rotten from then. If I ever see him again, I'm gonna cut his nose off. And make him eat it." She balled the hospital sheets in her fist.

"That's...." Susan didn't finish. She just sat there, mystified at the story, eyes wide with a mixture of terror, all consuming rapture. But this quickly gave way to a familiar, more comfortable expression of emotion in the Gray household: anger.

"Surrender..." Susan spat the words in disgust. "We'll add him to the list of people to find. Weird, wimpy kid. Check. Clowns. Check."

"Anything else?" She played with the frayed edges of her hair, reaching up to touch them. It was a bad habit. Delilah remembered how Mom would beat Susan, to make her stop doing that. She told Susan time and time again not to touch her hair like that, because it made her look like a 'cheap girl.'

Delilah's eyes followed Susan's fingers as she savaged her hair. "Mom's gonna have a cow when she sees your split ends." Delilah tended to tug at her own hair when she was nervous. Her mother would slap her hands away if she saw. Growing her hair very long helped. But Susan would twist and rip right at the ends until they looked chewed. Mom would get mad, then cut Susan's hair to get rid of the damaged ends. Susan would lay off for a short time, but it was never long before she started up again.

But noticing Susan's hair was just a delay tactic.

"Mark and I did something to get away. I'd been running forever, but the clown was following me, 'cause I was bleeding a trail. And I found Mark hiding in this RV. Y'know, how people leave cars and stuff by the hill all the time? We broke in one and hid and tried to cover it up. But a monster found us."

She dropped her eyes to the sheets and picked at them the way Susan picked at her hair. The words came slowly. She didn't want to say this.

"There was a monster lady with a pig face. Totally gross. She said she'd get us away from the clown, if we went with her and, and she said that if we didn't go with her and be her slaves, then the clown would chop us up. She said we'd keep running, but wouldn't ever get home, because the clown changed the world. Like how he changed the snowfort to have candy and rides and stuff. And Mark was all crying. And I didn't know what to do. But I said 'Okay'."

She started speaking faster as she justified herself.

"But I told him that we'd just get back and then we'd run away from the pig. She's big and fat. She can't catch us. And I think it worked because I'm here now."

Delilah could not remember ever being worried about what her sister thought before.

The conversation made Susan sit down. Her hands, once balled up in anger now folded in her lap. She licked her lips nervously.

"I...had a dream like that. Not a nightmare." She qualified, wanting to make clear that being scared of dreams was for sissies.

"In the dream, a pig-face comes and takes us away. Not a thing like you describe, with a body, but just a face. I can see it all flat and its snout sticking out. If I close my eyes and I can smell the thing. Its a pig face. With those hairs that pigs have on a farm. But in the dream, it somehow gets us. The whole family. And it's taking us to a place that I don't want to go."

"Then I wake up."

It sounded like a confession for an instant. But then she clarified her comments.

"I hate pigs now. Ever since I had that dream. And now that you told me that, I hate pigs even more. Probably if I go to a farm again on one of the school field trips, I'll kick one."

No anger? Well, anger for regular pigs, but none for her.

Delilah glanced at the door, then asked quietly, "When'd you dream that?"

"I don't know." Susan said. "It isn't important." She stated, clearly trying to change the subject, though Delilah could tell that her sister would talk more about if pressed.

"What am going to do though, is put a real beating on anything with Pigs, Clowns, traitors, and spiders." Susan said.

"I promise." And she extended her pinky to Delilah, waiting for it to be hooked.

Delilah hooked her pinky tightly around Susan's and locked eyes with her.

"And I promise that I'm not gonna ever give up looking for the clown, for that rat boy, for everybody that killed Dad. I'm not gonna let them get you or mom. I promise that they're all gonna get theirs. Payback!"

Delilah Join's Thread:

Delilah: It Happens Every Night....