On the carpet of the entryway there was a stain of a long thick curvy line, almost serpentine in nature starting with a bulbous head and tapering to a thin tail. It has been there since Chandler brought the house, never leaving, but never changing just as any stain should.
It wouldn't have been so bad if the stain were someplace out of the way - say under the bed or in the lightly used closet. Unfortunately, the stain was directly in front of the door, invading the house. Chandler walked past that stain every night when they come home from work or a night in town.
Nothing got rid of it. It was always present, a slightly darker spot on an already dark navy carpet. To date, the only way Chandler thought it would go is when they change the carpet for the next owner in however many years before they sell the house.
Chandler had just got a job promotion out of state, so it was time to pack up and ready the apartment for sale. This of course means filling the little nail holes that used to hold up paintings with spackle, giving a fresh coat of paint to every room, scrubbing the kitchen and bathroom counters to an inch of their life, fixing the flickering lights, and, yes, replacing the carpets in all the major rooms, especially the front entry way.
Chandler had stopped by the home improvement store on the way back from work to pick up paint and rug samples. Paint was relatively easy to decide on as Chandler just picked the same off white cream that the flat came with, but the rug was harder. There was no common theme to the carpets in the house. The closet had the same carpet since the flat was built, the bedroom had a shaggy knotted carpet, and the rest of the house had a threadbare crisscrossed carpet. None of the carpets were still in production.
It was an easy decision to decide to replace all carpets with just one finalist. The decision was which carpet? It all depended on the entry hall. Chandler favored the light rug color, but for so long the entry hall had the dark navy carpet that Chandler was not quite sure how it would look with beige carpet. Chandler placed the sample at various place in the room, gauging how it would look with the freshly painted wall, the old trimmings, and the ostentatious wooden door.
It was when Chandler placed the sample next to the head of the serpentine stain that Chandler noticed anything amiss. The stain slithered closer to Chandler's hand. Chandler yanked back. The slithered followed. Stationary, the stain was hard to pick up immediately, but in motion, it stood out like a bump in the carpet.
It was relentless. Chandler backed away, bumping into the wall. Surely, it was just a trick of the eye?
If it was, it was real enough to be fooled. Chandler ran out of the room hoping it was just the odd lighting in the room. Chandler turned around.
The stain looked more detailed now, bigger too, and it was slithering closer. There was a sound of ripping velcro. The carpet jerked and popped as whatever the stain was ripped the old glue that kept the carpet secure. Chandler stumbled further, turning around and running for the acrylic kitchen floor.
Chandler turned once they reached the safety of the kitchen floor. For extra precaution, they readied to jump onto the kitchen counter. The stain reach the transition from carpet to acrylic. It couldn't get through. Carpets were more throughly secured anyplace where there could be a tripping hazard, it should be like a fortress to get through.
The stained bulged stopped for a second at the entryway to the kitchen. Then it turned and slithered away. Chandler hardly dared breath for a second, but upon not seeing a reappearance, Chandler released their breath. It had to be a trick of the light in the room and the stress of moving to another state. That had to be it. Maybe it was the paint fumes making Chandler’s mind see things.
Riiip!
That was the only warning Chandler got before a high speed navy streak lunged for their throat from a gaping hole in the carpet. The last thing Chandler saw was black scales, a triangular head with red beady eyes and large fangs dripping with venom.
~ll
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