Cog
I
It was a bitter cold Christmas Eve, the Grime family was ecstatic for what tomorrow morning brought. The gifts, stockings, jewels, and currency increase. They skittered to bed as the chimney spewed its last bit of smoke.
The night seemed peaceful, they were all resting in deep comfort. A group of unspecified spiders skittered along the outskirts of Rick and Lori's bedroom. Autumn gossamer hung from the outside porch. No infestation.
Rick rolled over to Lori awaking after hearing what sounded like a gasp. Hands embracing around her lungs. Sexual discomfort being whispered in her ear. Rick's tension increasing then the world collapsed. It was just a dream. Glancing now at his wife whom appeared comfortable. Closing his eyes he faded back into sleep.
Through a small pair of binoculars a fresh pair of eyes feasted contact on a young boy. He licked his lips, fresh food. Children were easier to decease as their fight back wasn't as intense. With a sarcastic grin he made his descent from his hiding spot toward the home.
Sneaking a neighbor's abandoned steel rustic ladder that was left laying diagonally in their yard, the man placed it up towards the boy's room. As the man ascended he refrained from making much noise. He leapt through the window, which was mistakenly left unlocked the day prior when they were painting.
The man groped the child's hair as his body flinched, springing upward awakening from deep sleep. A silent scream let out, no parents awoke. The intruded with a small needle and thread sewed his eyeballs diagonally, stretching and bursting all forms of sight. The child now in dire pain let out his final screams as footsteps, running, came to the door. The intruder escaped sliding down the ladder leaving the child alive to suffer.
Rick grabbed his son's hand, Lori on the opposite side of the bed. A family doctor came to house as he had always done when the Grimes fell ill or were injured. He unsewn the stitching as the pupils detached and the eyeballs fell onto his white sheets. The child in shock would take his last breath and an intruder would go hungry.
II
The room with the cog machine with its ostentatious design. The murderer sat in starvation. He was unsure how his victim was doing, probably dead he figured. He knew he had to go back to get revenge on those fuckers who awoke during his procedure.
Revenge comes with prices
like flickering Christmas lights
they shined delightfully but with
each flicker you feel you lose their beauty.