Tally

I woke up to the sound of my alarm playing quietly in my headphones, I slid off of my bed and glanced out of the small hole to the outside world. A thick layer of snow covered the ground. I lifted myself up and grabbed my pen off the nightstand. I lifted my hand and added another tick mark to the wall. 364. I had been here for almost a full year, surviving off of the rabbits that hop along the road and the small amount of vegetation I can get in the summertime.

I slid off of my bed and walked over to the trapdoor, slowly lifting it up and leaving my small treehouse. I climbed down the ladder and went looking for a small rabbit hole. I walked for what felt like hours before finally finding a small dent in the snow. I dug it out and found five sleeping rabbits. I pushed them all into a bag and tied it shut before making the long walk back to my home.

I sat in my treehouse, gently cutting the fur off of the rabbits. I finished cleaning them and started my attempts to make a fire. My seventh attempt finally brought flame. Using my version of a spit, I started to cook the rabbits. After a few hours my dinners for the next two weeks were done. I ate half a rabbit for today while storing the rest in a separate bag. I slid into my bed and stared up at the ceiling for a few hours. Once it got dark out, I finally let myself fall to sleep. 

I woke up and looked to my clock only to see a black screen facing me. I grabbed my pen to mark day 365 only to see all of the marks are gone. I lifted my hand and brushed over the now empty wall. Confusion washed over me and I quickly got off my bed. All of my things were gone except for my bed, knife, and clock. I quickly fled my house only to see everything painted a bright white. I looked around in a panicked way only to see everything gone except for my treehouse. I heard footsteps behind me and turned to see a huge man standing behind me.

I started to back away as he pulled a knife much larger than my own out of his bag. I took another step back before turning around and running. I heard him break into a sprint behind me. Now I was feeling extremely grateful for my parents forcing me into sports when I was younger. Back before any of this ever happened, back when life was normal. I started to pick up speed as blades were thrown past my head. I saw a tall structure in front of me. I ran faster to try and reach it.

I ran up to the structure only to see that it was my treehouse. I turned back and the man was nowhere to be seen. I spun in a circle, my breathing picking up, when I heard soft growling. I looked in front of me as several wolves walked out from seemingly nowhere. They were letting out loud growls and started to run at me. I knew I wouldn’t be able to outrun them. I turned and looked at my treehouse before jumping up and climbing the ladder. The wolves jumped at my legs and tried to get to me. 30 seconds later and the wolves disappeared. I sat in silence for a short while before hearing hissing and a rattle. I felt myself go pale as I turned to see a very unhappy rattlesnake, well in all actuality, there were several, unhappy rattlesnakes. One of them lunged at me and bit my arm. I fell through the trapdoor and landed on the ground. I backed away from the tree as what seemed like hundreds of different types of snakes slid one the tree and slithered towards me. I no longer felt like I could move.

I stared in silence as the snakes slowly started to disappear. Like a wall was magically killing them. I started to spin in circles, scared of what would come next. I saw three figures in front of me. They were a far distance away from me. I wasted no time in turning and running. I ran as fast as I could, praying silently that I’d be able to escape whatever it was staring at me. I once again saw a large structure in front of me, but this time it looked strange. It wasn't my treehouse, it looked different. I heard loud growling behind me and quickly climbed up the ladder and into the structure. 

The door shut under me. Everything went black and suddenly I was back in my treehouse. I looked to the wall and saw 364 lines. I shot off my bed and gathered up my knife and an empty bag before leaving the treehouse. I was back in the snowy forest. I started to run. I didn’t know where I was running to but I knew I had to leave. I ran for what felt like hours when the sun started to set. I panicked and ran faster as the world around me started to fade into white nothingness. I started to slow my walking as my treehouse came back into view. Once again, all of my belongings were gone with the exception of my clock, bed and the two items I was holding. I felt movement at my hip. Something was in my bag. 

I lifted the bag up and glanced into it. It was filled with spiders, or more specifically, black widows. The red hourglass on their stomachs was undeniable. The bag was filled with webs and eggs. I tied the bag and threw it as far as I could. I felt an itching sensation over my body and looked down to see several spiders crawling over my body. Not the black widows, like what were in my bag, I couldn’t identify this type of spider. They crawled over my body and started to disappear right as they made it to my face.

I sat down and started crying quietly to myself. I heard deep growling next to me and turned to find myself face to face with a lion. It lunged at me and once again, I sat up in my bed. Back in my treehouse. I glanced towards my tally wall. 363. A wave of confusion washed over me as I glanced through the hole in my wall. I started to erase the tally marks. 362, 361, 360. My breathing was starting to pick up as I continued to erase the markings. 104, 103, 102, 101. I could no longer erase them. 

The lines started to form into words. “You will get what you deserve.” I moved to the trapdoor and tried to open it, only to find that it was seemingly glued shut. I tried to get it open as the spiders from earlier started to flood into the room. I sat entirely frozen as they started to build webs much faster than they should. Thousands of black widows crawled around my room when I felt a sharp pang of pain in my leg. I screamed and jerked around. Spiders flowed out of my mouth as they continued to bite me over and over again. I laid on my back as my body was hollowed out and turned into a home for the dangerous arachnids.