The Dust Man

Tabitha Longheart was something of a perfectionist, keeping all of her belongings in perfect order. Her locker at Liberty High School was immaculate as was her car. Her parents never questioned her habits, although they sometimes joked and gave her a hard time, to them this was simply how Tabby was and would always be.

One fall evening, two days before Halloween, Tabby arrived home after dark which was not unusual given the time of year.

There were unusual happenings underway, however, but Tabby wouldn’t know that just quite yet.

She strolled into her bedroom, clicked on her television and fell onto her bed. The dust that billowed up around her choked her and she began to cough.

Fury welled up in her when she noticed her window had been left open.

“Terrance!” she shouted, knowing she was home alone. “Ugh! Stay out of my room!”

Her younger brother Terry had been snooping in her room, made evident by the open window and the plethora of dust caused by logging traffic on their secluded dirt road.

She never opened her window for exactly this reason.

“Why is the picture so terrible?” she asked herself, rubbing her red eyes while looking at the tv. “Great. Just great. There’s dust coated on everything.”

She opened her closet to remove a spray cleaner and cloth, because she was the type of person to keep supplies on hand in her bedroom, and began to clean her room.

After wiping down her dresser and television, stripping the bed and vacuuming the carpet, she knelt to check under the dresser.

Her heart skipped a beat when she thought she saw a face looking back at her.

“Get a grip.” she told herself, “You’re freaking yourself out. You’ve been watching too many horror flicks lately.”

She laughed it off and bent down again to find the mess of dust and cobwebs staring at her, eerily resembling a face. She slowly prodded at it with a broom handle and to her absolute horror, watched as the mouth crept into a sly grin, the hollow eyes narrowing wickedly.

Tabby jumped back screaming, slamming her back into her bed frame and falling to the floor. She scrambled backwards and watched, gripped with terror, as the semblance of a man, formed out of dust and cobwebs, crept out from under her dresser in the corner of her room.

The creature spoke, its voice like echoes in the wind.

“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Now that you’ve seen me, I’ll do what I must!”

“What are you?” she asked, trembling.

“Why, I’m the Dust Man, have you never heard of me?”

Tabby shook her head, still sitting on the floor of her room. “What is it you must do?”

“Consume and multiply!” it breathed, drawing out the words like a snake’s hiss.

“Get out of my room!” roared Tabby.

“Never!” it shouted as it drew itself into a dresser drawer. “You’ll never get all of me! I’ll drive you mad! Over the edge! Try as you might, I will always be with you!”

Snatching up the bottle of cleaning spray in one hand, a micro-fiber towel in the other, Tabby stared the Dust Man down like a knight heading into battle.

The Dust Man sprang at her and she met him, blow for blow. For every punch he threw she shot a jet of plant-based cleaner, for every swirl of dirt he kicked up, she wiped it away with a swipe of her cloth.

Finally, after their dance, the Dust Man relented.

“You win this one but rest assured, you haven’t seen the last of me Tabby!”

As he dissipated out the window he called her name again, “Tabby!”

“Tabby!”

“Tabitha!”

Tabby cracked open one eye to see her father standing in her doorway.

“Sorry to just barge in but dinner is ready and if you sleep all evening you’ll be up all night.”

“Sorry dad.” she said groggily. “I didn’t even realize I fell asleep. Oh, and I had the strangest dream.”

“Is that so?” he asked, “Well you can tell me all about it at the table. And shut that window, it’s freezing outside.”