The Mary Shelley Club by Goldy Moldavsky (ebook reader for manga TXT) 📕

ate his cereal, she’d see a fly crawl over his earlobe and he wouldn’t even be bothered. At night she couldn’t sleep because Frank slept with his mouth open and anytime she closed her eyes, she imagined the flies pouring out.”

Thayer opened his mouth, letting his jaw drop low, stretching it as far as it would go. No flies came swarming out, of course, but he held on to the pose, staring us down. I could feel Saundra squirm next to me. When he clamped his mouth shut with a click, a few of us startled.

“Greta couldn’t stand it anymore,” he continued. “One day she took a meat cleaver and swung it right into Frank’s neck.”

Saundra gasped dramatically.

“She was trying to free the flies. But she just ended up killing Frank. And when Greta saw that there weren’t any flies, she offed herself next. And the scariest part of the whole thing is that Frank and Greta were”—Thayer made his eyes go wide and lowered his voice to a whisper—“registered Republicans.”

I snorted, but nobody else seemed to find it funny.

“Okay, that was a joke, but the rest is totally true!” Thayer went on. “It was a week before anyone even discovered their bodies. Neighbors heard buzzing at all hours of the day and it just kept getting louder and louder. Someone finally called the police, and when they broke down the door, guess what they found?” The pause was dramatic. “Flies. Hundreds of thousands of them, crawling all over the house—and the bodies.”

“You’re full of it,” said one girl, but beside her, a guy swatted his neck and shivered.

“So what, are we gonna, like, try to talk to the people that died here?” Lux asked. “Don’t we need a Ouija board or something?”

Another girl, Sienna Something, cleared her throat. “I’ve been part of séances before. I know what to do.” She made a show of sitting ramrod straight and locking hands with the people on either side of her.

I didn’t know whether I was supposed to be impressed or disturbed, because séances, plural? But I didn’t have time to dwell on it as the girl next to me grabbed my hand.

“Go on, then,” Thayer coaxed, amused. “What do we do next?”

“We have to concentrate on nothing but also open our minds and souls to all the possibilities that the universe presents to us,” Sienna said, sounding like a YouTube wellness guru. She raised her chin toward the broken chandelier in the center of the ceiling and took a deep breath. “Greta, we come to you with love and concern in our hearts. Your death was untimely and, like, totally brutal and stuff, and that sucks. And we’re aware that you had that small issue of killing Frank or whatever, but I also believe in giving women the benefit of the doubt and I know he was probably buzzing all day under his breath to tick you off. We’re here for you and we love you. If you can hear us, send us a sign.”

My mind and soul were open and all that, but a deep crease formed between my eyebrows. The only thing I knew about Greta was that she was one hundred percent a made-up person in a made-up story. But I seemed to be the only one to take issue with this.

Around me, everyone closed their eyes, the only sounds in the room the quiet strains of people trying to stay still or hold their breath. Definitely no signs from Greta. And yet we waited for what felt like way too long a time. I thought about sneaking out, but I didn’t want to be the one to break the spell. I was pretty sure that wasn’t what Saundra had meant by finding my people. But thankfully, I didn’t have to do anything because someone spoke up for all of us. “Okay, this is obviously—”

A thud in the ceiling interrupted him, and more than a few heads snapped up at the noise. It was loud and strong enough to make the chandelier crystals chime like this was a breezy day on a North Carolina wraparound porch and not an abandoned house in Williamsburg.

“Is there someone upstairs?” somebody hissed.

“It’s Gretaaaaa,” Thayer said, his voice vibrating spookily.

“Greta, is that you?” Sienna asked. “Tap once for yes and twice for no.”

Everyone waited again, listening closely for more sounds. After a moment, another thud. “Greta,” Sienna said. “Are you okay?”

Another moment, another thud. And then, just in time to make Sienna’s smile flicker off, a final thud. Two taps.

“She’s not okay,” Saundra whispered.

There was a moment of restless silence as we all snuck glances at each other, looking to see who was scared and who believed.

“Greta, how can we help you?” Sienna asked.

“That isn’t a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question. How’s she supposed to answer us?” Lux said, rolling her eyes.

Then a new noise came from above. Not another thud, but more of a rumbling, like a bowling ball being hurled across the floor. Dust fell from the popcorn ceiling. Then all at once other things started to happen. It wasn’t just the ceiling now, it was the walls too, knocking, pounding, as if the house was coming alive. The candles went out and I heard a piercing crash. The mirror had fallen, spraying us with glass.

Screams broke out, loud enough to match the growing cacophony of the crumbling house. Saundra’s scream was shriller than everyone else’s and she yanked my hand suddenly, pulling me up so fast that my feet slipped as I scrambled to stand. The sounds of people rushing around in the dark mixed with the thunderous roar still coming from the ceiling and walls. And then the noise morphed into something else.

Something much closer.

A swarm.

A buzzing.

As though a hundred thousand flies were crawling all over us.

The screaming started in earnest then, particularly from one person. “Get them off me!” she screeched. “Get them off me!”

The bright fluorescence of the construction lights flickered back to life and illuminated a totally