The Red Death

“Fine, hide, seek, and crush it is!” Julie snarled, getting up from the bed, facial features contorted with anger. Turning, she took the sheets from her unmade bed and snapped them in the air with a crack before balling them up and dropping them on the surface. Next, she turned her attention to the clothes piled high against her half-filled laundry hamper. “Anyone here?” she asked, picking up a long sleeved shirt and squeezing it before slamming it hard against her open hand. “No?” she queried, tossing it onto the bed. “What about here?” Picking up another pair of pants in her right hand, the garment pretty much identical to the one the two little men were hiding in, she ran her left hand roughly down each leg before adding it to the pile of laundry on her bed.

Dropping heavily to her knees, she began systematically sifting through every article of clothing on the floor, often pounding her hand down on the clothes just to make sure before adding it to the growing mountain on top of her bed. “I will find you,” she chuckled under her breath, tone filled with murderous intent.

Julian looked at the ground between the pant legging and the edge of the shadow beneath the bed wondering if maybe they shouldn’t try and make a run for it.

Shaking his head, “No,” Josh hissed able to divine Julian’s intent. “I don’t think we can make it.”

“We need to do something because we can’t stay here for too much longer,” Julian countered, lopsided grin on his face. “It might be our only chance.”

As much of a heightened risk as it would be to cross the broad expanse and as much as he didn’t particularly like the idea, Josh knew the slender man was right. Nodding slowly, he took a long measure breath. “I think if we go, we do it together,” he offered.

“I agree, we do this as one, you know, like the musketeers right? All for one and one for all,” chuckled Julian. “Go on three?”

“On three,” Josh replied.

Counting down together, they bolted out of the pant leg simultaneously, though with Julian’s longer legs, he was slightly ahead of Josh. Julian got away clean, Josh did not. The shorter man caught his foot on a folded loop of elasticated fabric and tumbled unceremoniously to the ground as Julian darted across the floor, creating distance between. Julie suddenly sat back down on her bottom in such a way, Josh felt for sure she was now in a position where she would be able to detect him in her periphery so he scurried back into the safety of legging of her exercise pants. His intuition was correct, she did see something, except it wasn’t Josh she spotted, it was Julian nearly halfway across the open plain toward her bed.

“Aha!” screeched Julie triumphantly, whirling quickly on her knees and spinning her body before scrambling on her hands and knees toward Julian. In an effort to capture him before he reached a semblance of safety under her shadowed bed, the enormous redhead launched herself forward, hand extended. Crashing forward she easily caught hold of the tiny man in her hand, her body crashing to the floor as she rolled over onto her back and held him at arm’s length above her torso.

For Josh, he heard the clamorous noise of her huge body landing on the carpeted floor and as she rolled, her left foot came down hard on the pant leg concealing him, sending a flash of hazy pain through his little body. Rolling quickly onto his side, he was sure the ribs on his left side were broken making it difficult to breath.

“My, my, my, looked what the cat dragged in,” Julie chortled, lowering the pinned form of the tiny thing wriggling in her hand.

Cradling his injured side, Josh started to crawl forward, the fresh wave of pain nearly making him pass out. Sweat streaming from his body, he paused, breath coming in ragged gasps. Grimacing, Josh pushed open the fabric slightly and tried to peek out to better see what was happening.

Squeezing the little thing in her hand, Julie sat up on her bum with her knees pulled up, bringing the red faced captive near her face. Long pink tongue snaking out across her full ruby lips, eyes glittering with delight, “So you are one of Faith’s little favorites?” she asked, lips twisting into a malevolent looking grin.

Julian couldn’t breathe, it was like being caught in the coils of a massive powerful anaconda. It felt as if at any moment, the force might force his eyes to physically eject themselves from his head.

Julie looked back toward the closet, shuffling closer on her bottom, “You all by yourself or you bring your little friend along?” she asked, relaxing the pressure of her fingers enough to allow his to breathe but still be immobilized while she patted the clothing with her free hand.

Gulping in a fresh breath of air and quenching the fire in his lungs, Julian glared at her, “You psychotic ginger cunt,” he wheezed defiantly,

Julie’s smug expression darkened as she curled her finger more tightly around the reed thin man and squeezed him anew, “You stupid little thing!” she growled, showing him her pearly white teeth.

Trying to support his injured side, Josh inched forward, able to just peer out at the side of Julie’s huge thigh. The pain in his side was excruciating, forcing him to gulp air raggedly.

Switching her hold on the tiny thing, she held it by an ankle, shaking it back and forth. “I am going to get imaginative with you my new little pet,” Julie promised as she rose to her feet.

In the distance Josh could hear the sound of someone screaming, more animal than human. Julian

Another scream peeled out followed by the girlish chuckle of amusement. Josh’s blood ran cold.