Swarming. Filling in the empty holes, the screams through an empty barn shed. The silk white nightgown flew in the midst of the wings flight. Breaking through the material, the ripping sound was unrecognizable by an overpowering buzz. The woman screamed in arising agony. Crowding the warm-blooded woman, her eyes widened in fear. The moonlight peeking from the chipped away barn rooftop made her blue eyes shimmer. Once to be covered away by the large black and yellow abdomens, finding their way comfortable underneath the layers of her skin. The stingers dug through her sweating skin. Tearing away the goosebumps and laying down to their death on her top layer of tissue. The pink pulsing muscle flooded by streamy blood through twitching antennas, while the other attempted to make room in the open skin as the skin quickly swelled up. Her fingers were lifted from the cold wooden planed floor. Searching for the beating palm, wrestling up into her fingers. Her slim fingers plumped up to a reaction, unable for her fingernails to hold under the stretching red skin. The blonde beauty was terrorizing sight to see, her cheeks swelled up from the many stinging pulses. Her eyes fallen out of the sockets from such pressure of the insects, leaving the holes to hold in the remaining moonlight. All was at rest now, the corpse lay releasing the remains of the bleeding heart out of her throbbing body.
“Holy s***.” Jumpin out of the bed gasping for air, touching her slim face with her sweating palms. The cream comforter was blotched with sweat as so was the right side of the orange pillow, in which she rests on. She lifts away the comforter to the figure next to her, peacefully sleeping on the other side of the bed, as she stepped out the double mattress to the cold wooden oak floor. She pulled back her dirty blonde straight hair up into a ponytail with the hairband she had on her wrist. Walked to another side of the bed and took the sheets off carefully, not to wake him up. She threw the cream comforter on to the floor and leaned over to reach for the pillow cover to the floor as well. A glimpse of a shine from her hand distracted her. She stared blankly, as her troubled eyebrows settled calmly. The silver ring, holding the skinny figure of her fingers, reflected moonlight from the large window back into the bedroom.
It’s okay. It was a dream, you have your wonderful husband right next to you if anything happens.
She creased her eyebrows and shook her head in disbelief. Her left hand started to take off the ring until the bed shifted towards her direction. Her heart dropped and she turned towards the floor to start folding.
You are cleaning these sheets, so if he asks you will not lie to him. No need for the lie test.
He lifted himself with his slim built arms, with the tan of constant hours in the sun as his hazel eyes were dozed off from the tiredness of the night. His left hand brushed across his dark brown buzzed cut hair, biting his frown away from increasing his anger too quickly.
“Get back in this bed.”
The woman was folding the last of the pillowcase until he threw off the sheets violently off his torso. Jumping off the bed, mumbling a curse word through his lips. Staring at her cream skin complexion through the silk white nightgown, remaining calm through a fight inside of her. He raised his right hand to the back of his head, slapping the left side of her face. Twisting her neck in the opposite direction towards the bed. She stayed postured, emotionless, no sign of frowning nor anger.
“I told you, to get your ass back into this damn bed.”
The woman lifted herself up from her knees, crawling up to the bed to then lay back down. The husband looked down as the damped sheets beside his feet. Flared his nostrils in angered confusion he bent down to the disgusting sight, pull up a corner of a sheet to take a closer look.
“What happened?”
The woman laid back down in the resting position on her bed, her posture was perfectly still. Crawled up her legs to her stomach, turning over the response to her question as she looked out into the window. The ring catching glimpses of the outside world.
“I put too many blankets on.” The woman struggled to get the stench out of her mouth as her hands shook from resting underneath her head on the side. Her husband noticed the hidden attitude as he glazed at her. Still holding up the comforter, he walked towards the bed. The woman began to feel her heart race.
“You want another lie test?” He hissed through his teeth, frowning at his wife in which he believed was pathetic.
“No.”
“Your lying.”
He let the comforter fall onto the floor to unfold, slashed in upwards over his wife and covered her completely. Strangling her legs to kick the force on top, trying to shorten her breath. She dropped her body onto the floor as she kicked in the wrong direction and could no longer move anymore.
She was tangled.
Lost in the moment, she could not move. The only moving thing on her was a pulse. The husband dragged her body onto the door next to his side of the bed. Opened the door wide open and kept pulling her until he closed the door on her. Locked the doorknob, then reached for a blade sitting on the marble sink counter.
“This one will be different. Since I know what you did.” The wife still was silent.
Don’t resist again.
The husband bent down and lift up her skinny body from the ground to face the smudged mirror in front of them. He attempted to keep her posture holding onto her upper waist, damp with sweat. Her body flopped around, the head leaned to the side and her body angled towards the left. Knees too weak to stand up straight, they dragged towards the floor as the husband struggled to keep her up.
“Son of a-” He slammed her head down on the sink counter within her refusing to stand towards the mirror. Her head collision made a sharp thump noise throughout the room. The wife screamed through the muffled comforter covering her. Her hands make movements around the blanket, trying to cover her forced forehead. Coughing through her scream with tears running down her face. Heated breaths could be heard from the husband that stood in front of her. Trying to maintain himself from what he has already done. Piercing his skin through his short and cut up nails from pulling out different crops during the day. Red marks formed through the palms of his large hands. His light cherry lips started to quiver at the sounds of his wife’s scream. He pushed her lightly to the side of the sink, unlocking the door was his heated palms, fogging the shine from the silver doorknob. Walked out back to the bedroom, sighing in disbelief. Carefully taking small steps of shame through the wooden floor, turning to the painted white nightstand next to his side of the bed. Staring deeply at the little silver knobs on the nightstand. He could see his anger through them, his open nostrils and piercing eyes. The woman kept sobbing on the cold tiled floor, feeling hopeless as her head swelled up from the impact. A sensation burned through her throat from the constant crying. Coughing through the struggle to keep her voice alive while suffocating her tears.
“Why do you DO THIS TO ME?” The woman started to scream. Not at her head but, at the man who did this to her. Stinging pains spread through her chest as her lungs ceased for air. Not caring about the outcome of it all once the screaming is over. Her hands dropped down from covering her sweating face and pulled the comforter up. Gripping the moist sheet, holding on to all of her fears from her husband. The stretching of her skin could be felt from her fingers, thinking of the next move to make. Forcing herself to think faster before there is no more skin to stretch. No more of this could be taken.
Bees.
With all of her strength, she threw the comforter from her body towards the back of the bathroom. Lifted her arm to reach the sink counter and pulled herself up, shaking through the process of releasing the remaining strength in her. Her fingers felt as if they were about to pop, turning red around her fingernails. She started to walk towards her husband, who was still staring at the knobs but was cautious towards his wife. Growling through the process of moving her feet across a solid floor. She placed her hands behind her husbands back, feeling his shoulder blades and muscular back figure. Light pink scratch scars from previous battles shown through his lower back. She leaned towards his right shoulder, feeling his heated anger.
“Open the drawer, kill me.” Her voice was almost gone, she was now whispering. The husband’s dark brown hair went up, goosebumps formed on his body. Fearing this new side of his wife. He opened the drawer with his left hand to be grabbed and thrown to the left. His wife started to beat him throwing wild punches on his body as he tried to cover his face.
“I SAID kill me dammit.” Screaming the first two words for a second then losing her voice completely. He was leaning on the bed in ultimate shock, he could only focus on blocking his face from being hit. No other thoughts came to his mind, he was blank, staring at his wife’s red face and tears from her bloodshot sky blue eyes. The swelling of her forehead looked like a huge purple bruise now. Her blonde hair whipping across her skin from the constant beating. Breaths from her sweating nose became deeper and deeper, searching for more air. The husband snapped out of it, grabbed his wife’s arms and pushed her head towards the nightstand. The left silver knob stabbed her neck. Red blood spewing onto the floor, as her eyes stared straight towards the bedroom floor. Her bruise popped from the top of her head, her skin was spread around her laid body and the bed cover. The flow of blood could be heard from it rushing from her forehead down to her tin peach lips. The silver knob still had some muscle tissue stretched on it, the husband just stared at the mishap. The wife flung her chest forward, opening the drawer. Blood flew onto her husband’s face and onto the light blue walls, creating a purple hue when mixing with the paint. Her hand shook violently, reaching for her husband’s. She felt her husband’s cold hands, opened her eyes to catch his attention on her face. Her eyebrows could barely lift, they were all covered in blood. Her fingertips started to stroke letters onto his palm.
“The bees,” She spelled out to her husband’s palm, drawing away from his for the last time. He focused on his wife attached to the nightstand. Reached out his left hand for the drawer full of small plastic containers. Each held a set of wings, antennas serval legs, a fuzzy abdomen and a stinger. Bees. There were about four containers, full of one bee in each one, making a small buzzing noise and hitting the container with its large body. He grabbed the closest container to him and placed it on the bed. Bent down to his wife’s level and pushed the tissue stuck on the knob to the side and pulled his wife’s neck away from the nightstand. A large throbbing gap of pierced tissue and fractured bone stood called out to him. He looked away at such the terrorizing sight, towards the bee container on the left.
“Let’s take you to the barn.” He calmly looked at her and spoke softly with a slight smile on his lips. Lift her body up, held her body with his right arm and grabbed the container with his left hand. She was lighter than usual, the husband noticed with a concerning grip. He walked out of the door, down the hall, to the right of the kitchen, then out of the kitchen door. Feeling every memory through the last steps her took holding her. The memory of the night they first bought his barn house two years ago. Ready to start a new life in Beatrice making a profit out of crops. Then the storm came in and destroyed parts of the house, along with the barn. Everything had changed. They were too poor to go back into the city of Kansas. Depression sank in. The husband shook his heading on his thoughts to the reality. The cool summer breeze of the night swept through them. The wife held onto his neck with her arms, hoping she would not fall as he carried her to the barn. Her fingers felt the of his cut dark brown hair, feeling a tingle sensation throughout her hands. He suddenly stopped in the middle of the high grass surrounding the two. Staring out into the dark brown barn that stood in front of them. Now only used for storage of crops that are to be handled by the nearest grocery market before a storm came. The man rubbed his wife’s back then kept walking towards the open doors. The wood creaked with every step he took. Moonlight peeked through the worn out wooden planks on the roof. Boxes of harvested corn on the far right corner of the barn was the only company for them. He centered them in the middle of the room, bent down to slowly lay her down on the floor. Careful to not spew a bunch of blood out onto the cold floor. She twitched at the sensation of the freezing wood. The husband stared at the box, still in his left hand. The bee was hitting himself across the plastic, attempting to get out into the open air.
“You always loved bees. I could not understand why until now.” The man paused his speech, looking now into his wife’s eyes. She laid still with blood curling the straight tips of her blonde hair. Seeping to the ends of her white nightgown, creating a pink hue. Her skull appeared through her broken skin on her forehead. Her gaping hole breathed through the empty dust on the wooden planks, the pink muscle pulsing every second. The husband smiled down at her, trying to comfort her death.
“Remember that dream you had?” The wife attempted to draw a “y” onto the freezing floor until she was interrupted again.
“It’s not a dream.” The husband froze in his speech, dark toned with every word he said. He opened the container to quickly put his left hand on top of the bee so it would not escape. His index and thumb held onto the bees yellow and black abdomen, as it managed to fly off the husband's grip. He grinned a smile as he stared at the mysterious insect.
“I now understand. You love the things that kill you. You like the stinging sensation, you would rather feel that than nothing. Your allergic to bees and that why you love them so much. You want to feel.” The wife smiled in her husband’s response, with sunken eyes slowly closing to a rest.
“So, I’ll let you feel this.” He bent down slowly, positioning the bee’s stinger to be on her resting the right arm. Cutting through her skin with the prick of the insect, causing blood to slowly cease from her irritated skin. He stood back up over his wife.
“You loved me. And that’s what killed you.” The husband looked at his wife once more, with teary eyes as he bit his quivering lip. Turned his back to his wife and walked out of the barn back into the house. The wife laid skill, her eyes sunken in tear glands attempting to sleep. Until they came.
Swarming.