Stingers Part Four

“I can’t believe that thing stung me,” Noah says as he dabs a warm rag on his throbbing head. The rag wasn’t really helping but his mother had done this to him when he was a little kid, when he was stung on the finger. “I’m going to have to finish that paper soon or I’m going to go insane.” Finishing the paper was going to be a little bit harder with the nagging pain he now has on his head. He tried parting some of his hair in order to look at the sore, but he could only see a small red lump.

“That doesn’t look too bad,” he says while looking into the bathroom mirror. He thought about shaving his head in order to put some cream and a band-aid on the sting but decided against it. A bald Noah wouldn’t go over too well with his friends.

He hears a jingle coming from his computer in the living room. It’s the instant messenger as he has just received a message. He turns his head from the mirror looking into the direction of the living room. His chair pulled out from where he leapt out of it and a chewed yellow pencil lying on the floor.

“What now,” he said. A look back into the mirror reveals a young man who has just been through a war. His eyes sag with black circles and his lips droop down pointing toward the floor. He was a young red headed guy with a massive headache brought on from a hornet sting. He sighs.

Walking into the living room he sits at his computer desk again making sure to pick up his chewed pencil. There were a lot more spaces left on that pencil that his teeth needed to work on so he set it to the side for later. With his right hand he presses the warm wet rag down on the top of his head as he clicks the mouse with his left. He wasn’t left handed but with his right hand preoccupied at the moment he had to use it. The small messenger box on the screen was from Nighthumper.

“Hey are you done yet? If you don’t get over here soon I’m just going to put all of this food away and you’ll have to eat it tomorrow. We’re not going to stay up all night for you, you know.” He seemed to be a bit angry.

“I told you I was almost done I just have to finish my work. You just messaged me a few minutes ago so would you just hold on.” The throbbing of the hornet sting continued.

“What? That was over three hours ago boy what are you talking about?”

Three hours ago? How could that be? Had three hours really passed since the last time Noah had messaged his dad? He looked at the clock on the lower right hand corner of the computer screen. His eyes widened.

“How in the world has so much time past?” It was indeed three hours since Noah had last talked to his dad on the instant messenger. Three hours and twelve minutes to be exact. He wondered how he could have lost so much time without even noticing it. Did he pass out after doing battle with the two hornet? The question bounced around in his head a few times before it brought up another one.

“Where did that pulsating hornet get off to?” He leaned over to his left checking the room across from the kitchen. He sees the small flight of stairs leading down and he sees the shop-vacuum sitting there turned off. There was no sounds coming from that room, no hornet flying around waiting for him to come back out for round number two. The room had the light flicked off making it feel like a dark crevice. Like if he were to set foot in there he would be stepping into a place that he would never return from. Another thought entered his mind.

“Did I lay unconscious on that floor in there for over three hours?” And most likely the answer to that question was yes. After getting stung on the head he remembers fighting with the pulsating hornet, and then watching it climb into that crack in the wall, and then going into the bathroom to nurse his wound. After the hornet crawled into the crack in the wall he must have passed out. He remembers watching the hornet crawl into the wall and he remembers walking to the bathroom. So it had to have happened in between those two events. But if he were really laying on the floor for over three hours in that room did that pulsating hornet come back out and…

“No he didn’t come back out…” The thought jogged around his mind doing laps over and over. If that pulsating hornet would have come back out while he was laying on that floor defenseless than he would have plunged his stinger into Noah over and over. At least that’s what Noah would have done to an enemy. So did he have more stings on his body somewhere? A chime came from the computer in front of him.

“Hey did you fall asleep or something?” Nighthumper posts a message on Noah’s computer. “If you fell asleep than you can forget about coming over to eat. Your mother is already very tired and she doesn’t need to be waiting up for you. Do you know how long she worked on that meal today? You have really disappointed her boy. Now if you don’t...”

The message went on and on and on, but Noah wasn’t even sitting in front of the computer to acknowledge it. He had gotten up out of his chair making his way back into the restroom. Glancing into the room beyond he listened for the hornet noise… there was nothing and all was quiet.

“Okay if I have any other stings I’ll just clean it up and put a band aid on it. No worries.” He looked at his head and saw the one sting he already knew that he had. Its size had grown and the redness has gotten darker. Not too pretty and very painful. In fact the pain has increased a great deal with pounding throbs as he walked across the kitchen. He checks his neck over and there was nothing there, no stings of any kind. He does see a few more freckles that have appeared on the right side of his neck.

“Must be from the sun,” and he checks both of his arms, no sting. Next he checks his chest and abdomen only to find out that there are no stings. So far everything is looking good, and he checks his back. Once again there are no stings. Maybe the hornet never reemerged from the corner crack while he was laying stupefied on the floor. Next he checked his legs and there was nothing there. All was good on Noah with no other stings in sight but that one on the top of his head throbbed like crazy.

He came out of the bathroom wondering where in that room he had passed out. He tip-toed down the small stairs trying not to make any noise as he flipped the light on. Veiny wasn’t anywhere to be seen so that was a good thing. On the floor where he was standing earlier looked normal, dirty but normal.

“Paper Noah, get that paper done.” And he shook his head tossing the idea that he had lost time out of there. Going back up the stairs he hears a small buzz coming from behind. He snaps his head around but sees nothing.

“Great now I’m hearing things,” and he was. He took a few more paces forward only to once again hear the buzzing sound coming from behind. Another snap of the head showed him that there was nothing there. Was it the ghosts of all the fallen hornets sucked up by the vacuum coming back to haunt him? Hopefully not, and he continues on into the room to sit down in front of his computer. The message from his father (Nighthumper) continues.

“...make it over here before long I’m just going to toss the food down the disposal. How would you like that you ungrateful brat? There is nothing in this world that your mother wouldn’t do for you and you treat her like this, like she is a second rate nobody who is only important when you need something. If you were here now I would take my fist and…” Noah closed the messenger box not reading the rest. His dad has gone off the deep end again and he really didn’t want to deal with him now. If he does end up tossing the food down the garbage disposal than that would be fine. There is some hotpockets in the freezer that he could eat. They were old but they would still be good to feed his hungry stomach.

With a few clicks he brings his paper back up on the screen ready to finish the job. He begins to type when…

BUZZZZZZZZZZZ!

“What the...” He turns in his chair looking for the loud insect noise only to see there is nothing behind him. That wasn’t just a hornet buzz that was an angry hornet buzz. A buzz that was warning him of something, maybe his impending doom? His heart rate is thumping and his breaths are short as he looks around the room with the feeling of dread. There are no hornets on the walls, there are no hornets on the ceiling, and there are no hornets on the floor. At this moment in his living room there isn’t a hornet to be seen, but where oh where did that loud buzzing sound come from?

He turns around in his chair facing his computer one more time with the thought of finishing his work before the night is over. He can’t help but think of his lost time that he hadn’t even known he lost until his father had told him. Up on his head the red bulge of a sore is getting bigger as the pain increases with every passing minute. His red hair is pushed up in one section which bobbles back and forth as if something were inside. Behind him hiding in a dark unlit corner of the living room was the pulsating hornet. It stares at him while preparing its stinger making sure its sharp. Noah begins to type away at his keyboard as the hornet makes another noise.

BUZZ.