"Aunt Edna" by PD Alleva

Aunt Edna

by PD Alleva

Aunt Edna sat on the couch on Christmas morning with a present on her lap and wearing the most God-awful shit-eating grin I’d ever seen, her jaw stiff, her yellow teeth on full display. Disturbing, to say the least. She said nothing about the gift that arrived late last night. Instead, she sat and watched while the rest of the family-my wife, twin daughters and mom-opened their presents. Aunt Edna looked nervous, as if she’d inhaled a heavy dose of cocaine and couldn’t piece together a single word. Stuck! Her beady eyes carried a thousand-yard stare. 

“Aren’t you going to open your present?” I asked. 

Her fingertips grazed the top of the pastel-blue candy cane featured wrapping paper with the red ribbon and bow. She was shaky; her lips quivered trying to get the words out. “Now’s not the time.” 

My eyes narrowed at her odd reply. Christmas morning seemed like a natural time to open a present. Aunt Edna had always been strange. She lived her life in solitude. Never married. According to my mother, Aunt Edna had always been a loner, detached from society. Detached from humanity. I can see it in her eyes now, watching the kids opening presents and not one word from the old lady as if she was incapable of showing emotion other than the disturbing shit-eating grin. When Mom said she was coming for the holidays, I was shocked. Why did she suddenly decide to spend time with the family? And-more importantly-what was in the frigin box? 

She sat on the couch, ignoring me. Maybe not seeing me either. Not seeing the kids. Dissociated. Detached. Her bony fingers glided across the box as if its contents were precious, requiring a gentle touch. Even after the presents were opened she never moved from the couch. Just sat there, staring. 

Now night has arrived; everyone’s asleep. All except Aunt Edna, still in her pajamas and pink robe. Still sitting on the couch with the box on her lap. 

I hid in the hallway on the second floor, watching her on the couch with the lights off and Christmas lights bathing her in a twinkle of reds and blues. I knew Aunt Edna was strange, but this is some next-level shit. 

Wait! She’s getting up. The box in her hands, she lifted off the couch with gentle ease.

“You want to see what’s in the box?” Her voice was a whining creak. 

Is she talking to me?

“Come. I’ll show you.”

She gave no look up the stairs. No acknowledgement that I was there. She simply walked into the dining room, put the box on the table and started humming. I took slow, cautious steps to the living room as she unraveled the ribbon, then unfastened the tape with slow precision. My heart thundered against my ribs. 

“It’s for you anyway.”

I froze. Is she referring to me? 

“Come. Satisfy your curiosity.”

She returned to humming. A melodic tune, as if she were placating a baby. I took a step closer, still not knowing if she was talking to me. 

“Who else would I be talking to?” Then more humming. 

My eyes narrowed. She had the wrapping paper folded over the sides. Aunt Edna opened the top of the box, but all I could see was darkness. A dark pitch like a black hole. 

“You’ve got to keep them warm.”

My voice stuttered. “W-w-what is it?” I couldn’t take my eyes off the box. She dipped her hands in, cupping her palms.

Imagine my surprise when she retrieved an egg.

“There are four more,” she said, turning to meet me eye to eye. The egg was fluorescent green and beating with a thump as if whatever nested inside it had a thunderous heartbeat. Twice the size of a jumbo egg with a shell that seemed to come from outer space. I’d never seen such an egg before. 

“Hold it.” She pressed the egg into my palm when an immediate heat warmed my hand. I looked at Aunt Edna, and my head shot back. Something curled inside her nose. “They choose the host. It’s a symbiotic relationship.”

The egg shook in my palm and then cracked.

“What is it?”

“The new life!” She started humming again, returning to the box to retrieve the others. “One for every member.”

I was distracted-watching her retrieve the eggs-when I felt a pinch in my palm. It stung like a bee. A spot of blood beaded on my palm from the thin antennae extended from the egg. 

Aunt Edna kept humming, placing the eggs on the table. “For the family. Yours has chosen.”

My throat closed. Difficult to breathe. My hand went numb. My entire body followed, and I dropped to the floor with a thud, the egg jettisoned from my hand. 

“Good thing they numb you up before possession.” Edna’s eyes were maniacal, wide and anticipatory. Something slithered beneath her eyeball.

I could say nothing. My scream was in my head, looking at the antennae curling in and out of Aunt Edna’s nostrils. 

“There will be a lot of blood.”

Her countenance blurred into the backdrop when the tiniest screech arrived from my chest. My eyes narrowed, observing this thing on my chest. It was tiny, no bigger than my pinkie. Looked like an opaque slug. It opened its circular mouth to reveal sharp teeth as the tail-if it is a tail-stretched above its head. Three antennas-on each side of its cylindrical body-stretched and clasped behind my neck. 

“A symbiote. Welcome to the next evolution.”

She grinned that shit-eating grin from ear to ear when the symbiote slithered into my right nostril. My head shook, shuddered, trembled as this thing inched its way up to my brain. Blood flooded out of my nostril. I could taste iron at the back of my throat, feeling this thing wrap around my brain.

My eyes rolled in their sockets, watching Aunt Edna carry the eggs up the stairs, humming a soft melody.