Land Fought Over on Four Sides
He undid the last button at the front of her blouse, and the white shirt slid from her fragrant shoulders onto the bed. A low moan rose from deep in her throat, and she let herself fall back onto the mattress.
Seven feet away, on the large worktable, the servers gave off a low steady hum. The monitor had not been turned off. The screensaver alternated between exquisite wallpapers from School Mate, while in the corner great stacks of Big Comics Superior were piled high.
Her arms were crossed over her chest, her waist bent into an S-curve, the arches of her feet drawn taut. He did not hurry to press the attack. Standing astride above her, he reached toward the bedside drawer. “Remember?” he said. “Last time it was here. The time before that too. And the time before that.”
Our land fought over on four sides, she thought.
The room was lit only by the bedside lamp, casting an ambiguous orange glow. As he pulled open the drawer, his hand knocked over a glass syringe standing on the nightstand. It fell onto the hard gray floor tiles, imitation metal in color, and broke with a crisp sound. Dark yellow liquid slowly spread out.
He took from the drawer a transparent specimen box, inside which something living writhed. It was a kind of diplopod insect, twenty centimeters long, its body made up of paired segments. The segments were black or white at random, so that it looked like a moving barcode. In fact, if one were to open the drawer now, one would find dozens of identical specimen boxes inside, each containing a differently patterned diplopod. And if one were to compare the creature in his hand with the barcode on a certain fetish magazine, one would be startled to discover a perfect match: 10037055.
He opened the specimen box and poured the insect onto her lower belly. Her skin was smooth and pale, the flat curve of her abdomen at its most alluring. The insect’s mouthparts made a faint sizzling sound. After pausing briefly at her delicate navel, it set off downward on its seventy-two nimble pairs of feet.
She closed her eyes tightly, waiting for the moment of ecstasy. A little later, however, a scream of utter agony rang through the room.
He smiled in satisfaction.
Rules
- Choose any one of the following idioms as your title. The chosen idiom may appear directly in the text, or only its meaning may appear.
- The story must describe a fictional insect.
- The nine idioms may serve as a sexual position, a prop, a character, or a descriptive phrase. If you wish, of course, you may also use their original meanings.
- No limit on length. No limit on genre.
- Post it to the “[Nine Stories]” group, then publish it on your own blog and add links to the other participants’ entries.
- Deadline: December 7. Do your best. Amen.
- This season of Nine Stories may be used to assemble the mysterious underground periodical Asphyxia.
One Fragrant Herb, One Stinking Weed
The Union of Two Surnames
A New Bride of Three Days
Four Hooves Drawn Together
The Five-Ram Grandee
Six Horses Forget Their Fodder
Sevenfold Returned Elixir
Eight Sounds Fall Silent
Nine Scholars, Ten Beggars