Along Came a Spider Ch. 02

When Tabitha rounded the corner, Luke was knelt down in front of her register, inspecting the area beneath it. She could hear the rustle of plastic. Pointedly, she plunked the handheld scanner onto the counter, and he shot her a baffled look before rising to his feet.

"Why are you looking through my groceries?" she demanded. Luke went pale.

"I didn't know---" he began quickly, but Tabitha silenced him with a moody look.

"They're right where I usually put my purse," she said. She winced as she heard the snap creep into her voice. She was more mortified than angry, but the sleep she had lost over the past two days was finally starting to catch up to her. In the past four hours, she had somehow misplaced the barcode printer, nearly locked herself out of the bookkeeping room, and---in a daze of worry and exhaustion---completely ignored a customer who had been trying to get her attention for several minutes. Still, she had managed to survive the majority of her shift without screaming at anyone or passing out on her keyboard, and with only thirty minutes left on the clock, she was determined to keep her streak going. "I'm sorry," she sighed. "I'm a little tired."

"It's fine. I shouldn't have snooped." He glanced tentatively at the two bags that were crammed beneath the register, and when he looked back up at her, he lifted his eyebrows. "I just don't think I've ever seen someone buy that much...garlic...before." Tabitha cast her eyes down and tried to fight away the heat that was rising to her face.

"I'm making lasagne," she mumbled.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Luke's confused expression fade into concern. "...Okay."

"The labels are done. Any chance I could leave early?" she continued, stuffing the equipment back into a drawer and looking anywhere but at her boss. Luke cleared his throat awkwardly, but bowed his head after a moment.

"Sure. I guess I still owe you one for staying late on Thursday."

"You owe me a lot of ones," Tabitha said, turning to give him a light smile that he quickly returned. But then her eyes strayed to the area beyond the front window, where someone was entering the bar across the street. "Did you ever hear about what happened to that guy? Er...Bob?"

"No idea. I offered to buy him lunch on Friday, he never called me back," Luke grunted. Tabitha nodded idly as she stooped down to gather up her coat, and his face suddenly lit up with realization. "You know, if you're not busy later---"

"My friend is coming over tonight," Tabitha yawned. Her fingers flew nimbly over the keyboard despite her exhaustion, and she watched with satisfaction as a familiar pattern of LED asterisks appeared on the register's display.

"Right." Luke's voice sounded a little dull. "The lasagne."

Tabitha felt her brow crinkle in barely-lucid confusion, but then she blinked. "Oh. Yes." He watched her in amusement as she heaved the bags against her chest, and she felt her heart sink when she observed the produce bag that was nearly spilling out of her arms. It was a lot of garlic. Not for the first time, she wondered if she might have gone overboard. "Lots of lasagne," she concluded gloomily.

"Sounds like a party. Have fun," Luke offered, and she rewarded him with a weary smile before clomping towards the exit.

As she exited the bus, Tabitha was beginning to realize that nearly two pounds of garlic and a very densely-packed box of salt did not good traveling companions make. She had knotted the grocery sack's handles tightly around the bulbs that were threatening to spill forth, and the sharp corners of the salt box were beginning to protrude slightly from the confines of the flimsy plastic. Grimacing, she heaved the box into one arm and cupped the base of it in her hand. She had about half a mile more to walk, and she could only hope that the bags would hold for that long.

"Hey!" someone called from behind her. Tabitha kept her eyes cast forward and quickened her pace, praying that the stranger was signaling to someone else. "Hey, you! Lady! Lady with the brown hair!" The pattering of footsteps was growing ever-louder, and Tabitha quickly broke into a hurried sort of waddle, still cradling her mass of groceries. "No, wait! I have your---"

But exactly what the person had of Tabitha's was lost to the wind as her heel hit a sheet of ice and skidded. Her rebellious legs slipped and flailed all over the sidewalk, and after what seemed like a decade of struggling, she was pitched forward with a yelp.

Papery-white bulbs exploded in every direction as the sack hit the concrete and burst. Sharp pain flared to life in Tabitha's knees and palms as she crashed to the ground, then dwindled to a steady throb. The sounds of footsteps slowed as the stranger came to a halt behind her, and a low whistle pierced the night.

"Oh, fuck," a voice sighed. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," Tabitha croaked, and then a shoulder was shoving itself under her left arm and pulling her crumpled limbs up and back into a standing position. The woman's body wobbled as Tabitha struggled to regain her balance, but when she did, she looked down into a pair of very wide blue eyes. The skin around them promptly contorted into an annoyed squint.

"Am I really that terrifying?" the woman said accusingly, and then she held up a bright rectangle of glass and white plastic. "Or do you really just want to ditch your phone? I can take it off your hands if you do." Sufficiently mortified, Tabitha immediately pried the phone from her hands.

"Oh, God," she groaned as she stuffed it into her coat pocket. "I'm so sorry. Thanks, it's just---"

"I get it. The night is dark and full of creepers." Her pink lips split into a contagious, cherubic smile. Now that Tabitha was really looking at her, she could see that this woman was quite possibly the least "terrifying" thing she had ever seen. She was short---at least two inches shorter than Tabitha---and was wearing a black hoodie over worn blue jeans. Her pert figure, (and the woebegone black sneakers on her feet), spoke of a person who had recently moved into the deep city and sworn off motorized transportation, and her peroxide-pale hair was shaggy in the way that a pixie cut grows after several months of neglect. It framed her heart-shaped face in a feathery mop. "Let me help with that," she continued, stooping back down onto her knees and reaching for a bulb of garlic, and Tabitha shook her head frantically before joining her.

"It's really fine," she protested, but the strange woman was already gathering the fallen globes in handfuls.

"Don't worry. I'm not gonna steal your..." Her button-like nose wrinkled. "...garlic?"

"Making Italian," Tabitha grumbled, wondering how many times she was going to have to tell that particular lie before she made it home.

"Neat. I can barely boil water---I think it runs in my family. Oh, here." After fishing around in a small leather satchel at her hip, the mystery girl pulled out a crumpled cloth sack and began to deposit the bulbs. "This'll probably hold up a little better."

"I don't want to---"

"They're like a dollar. Don't worry about it."

Feeling more than a little flustered, Tabitha took the sack that was being thrust out towards her and crammed in the remaining garlic bulbs. "That's terribly nice of you," she finally managed to say. "I owe you. Really." The girl cocked her head to the side in thought.

"I guess you do," she said. Tabitha lifted her eyebrows, but the other woman had busied herself with hoisting up the tattered bag containing Tabitha's box of salt. "My place isn't for another couple of blocks. I could walk with you," she offered, hugging the box to her chest and replacing the satchel's strap over her shoulder. The pensive look on her face had vanished so abruptly that Tabitha found herself wondering if it had ever been there at all.

"Sure," she said. "But I can carry---"

"Stop worrying so much," the woman laughed, dodging Tabitha's grasping hand as she reached for the box of salt. "It's really no big deal." She pitter-pattered forward into a hasty trot, and Tabitha followed her gingerly. Her knees were still tender. The slick sidewalk glittered beneath her feet, hidden here and there by lumps of old snow.

"So...what's your name?" Tabitha tried after several moments of rather awkward silence. The woman's face seemed to brighten with relief at the sound of her voice. Doubtlessly, she thought, she had been anticipating several minutes of radio silence. Not for the first time, Tabitha wondered if there were classes on the subject of human interaction that the whole world had just taken without her.

"Lex. Like Alex, but travel-sized. Do you have a name, too?"

"Tabitha." Somewhat emboldened, she let herself smile. "Like the Beatrix Potter stories."

"The what?"

Her courage dwindled back down. "...Never mind."

"Sorry---I've just never been much of a reader. You just get off work?"

"Yes. I work at a bookstore."

"That's pretty neat. You like it?"

"The people there are nice." Her eyes skimmed her new acquaintance, with her ambiguous dress and shabby shoes, and she cocked her head to the side curiously. "Where are you going?"

"My shift starts in half an hour. Heading there now."

"Do you...work late a lot?"

Lex snorted. "Every night."

Tabitha tried to hold her tongue as they scurried across an intersection. She really did. It was rude to pry. But at this point, she was nearly at her wit's end from all of the vague answers and strange characters that had suddenly invaded her life without any sort of warning at all, and when they reached the other side of the street, she felt her mouth open on its own accord.

"Doing what?"

Lex stayed silent just long enough to make Tabitha regret her question. But then, her shoulders rolled in a casual shrug. "Oh, you know," she mused. "Herbal solutions?"

Tabitha blinked. "Herbal---wait, like...like tea? Or something?"

"Yeah, just like that. Here." Lex came to an abrupt stop next to Tabitha and thrust the bag of salt towards her, but before Tabitha had a chance to blurt out an apology, she gave her a big smile and jerked a thumb towards the alley behind her. "This is my stop. It was nice talking to you and stuff. Maybe if you're around again we can be walking buddies."

Tabitha took the bag of salt with more than a little uncertainty. "Oh. Yes. Thank you---really."

"Hey, no problem. Be safe; don't concuss yourself or anything."

Tabitha's cheeks burned red as Lex traipsed through the alleyway and vanished into the dark. Don't concuss yourself. With Lily's pity-sleepover, Luke's perpetual worrying, and this new stranger's concern, she was feeling more and more like a helpless child people were trying to stop from wandering into a busy intersection.

She was still fuming slightly when she clomped up to the second floor of her apartment complex. The apartment next to hers now seemed almost sinister, hiding behind an air of blandness and shiny brass numbers, and she watched it warily for several seconds before taking a deep breath and marching towards her own door. Her heart leapt into her chest when her key missed the lock a couple of times, but she eventually stumbled into the safety of her apartment and shut the door behind her. After a moment, she deposited the groceries on the counter next to her sink and flipped the switch on her coffee machine. Lily would be arriving shortly, and she was already half-asleep.

She paused in the middle of moving her massive bag of garlic into her bedroom, waiting for any telltale thumps or footsteps from next door, but the entire building was completely silent. Doubtlessly, its inhabitants had better things to do on a Saturday night. And maybe, just maybe, her strange neighbor had slunk off to 'work'. Daring to feel a shred of relief, she plunked the bag next to her bed and began to wriggle out of her clothes.

Her vanity mirror caught her eye as she rummaged through her dresser, and when she glanced at her reflection, her heart sank. A terrified woman stared back at her, unsteady with nerves. Her brown eyes were enormous in her face, and the familiar hint of pink in her complexion had been swallowed up by an anxious pallor. Her collarbones jutted out just a little more than usual, and the slope of her shoulders was rigid. Her lips thinned. She needed to get a grip.

After she had pulled a thin camisole over her head and swapped her slacks for a pair of old jeans, she glanced back down at the bag of garlic at her feet. "What do I do with you?" she asked it. The garlic did not offer up an answer. She brought a bulb of it into the kitchen with her and placed it gently atop her doorframe, where it sat like a fat little sentry, then poured herself a massive mug of coffee. Cradling it to her chest and clutching a woolly sweater, she padded quietly towards her sliding glass door and walked out onto her meager porch.

The frigid air played over her bare shoulders, and sparse, half-formed snowflakes glittered around her porchlight like fireflies. She stared out into the world of lights beneath her, feeling the flakes kiss her skin and melt into wet little specks. Despite its near-pleasantness, her interaction with James the night prior had left her feeling more baffled than comforted. All day, she had found herself replaying the scene again and again in her brain; scrutinizing his movements, searching for any malice in his words. Maybe it was all some sort of horrible trick he was playing on her. Halloween was just around the corner---really, every two blocks you could find a store selling those blister pods of fake blood---and for a moment, Tabitha found herself wondering if all of it could just be explained away by some sort of immature prank that she had fallen for in the very worst way.

She took a sip of coffee and wet her lips nervously. There was just something about him, though. Something...different in his voice, his skin, the way he moved.

A crisp flicking noise suddenly pierced the night as a lighter bathed the porch to her right in a flash of orange. Tabitha immediately jerked her eyes towards the source of the noise and saw James leaning pensively over his porch railing.

His long body was engulfed in that black jacket and dark jeans, rendering him all but invisible in the gloom of the night. His dark eyes stayed fixed on her as he brought the flame towards the tip of a cigarette that dangled between his lips. Panic immediately flared to life in her stomach, and it only grew as his gaze flitted briefly to observe the bare pane of skin beneath her neck with faint interest. Her face burning, she wrenched her eyes away from him and slipped back through the doorway, hugging her sweater against her chest...

...And then hands clad in dark sleeves were clutching at her shoulders, pulling her in.

Tabitha's heart spluttered to a stop, and for a moment, the whole planet was spinning in slow-motion. She writhed sluggishly against the fingers that were digging into her shoulder blades, and her fitful struggle for survival sent the mug flying from her hands. A hopelessly quiet yelp burst from her lips, and---

"Tabitha!"

The mug hit the base of the doorframe and shattered. Hot drops of coffee spattered across Tabitha's ankles. Her eyes crawled upwards and settled upon a wide, hazel gaze, and she swallowed. The woman in front of her stayed still, her grip tight on Tabitha's shoulders.

"...Lily?" she said softly. "W-when did you...?"

"Your door was unlocked," Lily said, pale as a ghost. She was sporting a long, black wool coat tonight, the hood drawn up over her mop of pink hair. The smell of cigarette smoke was still wafting in from outside, and Tabitha shakily pulled the door shut. "I-I'm sorry, I guess I should have knocked. Are you...okay?"

"I'm..." Tabitha coughed, and then, to her horror, felt hot, fresh tears well up in the corners of her eyes. "Oh, Lily," she blurted out. "I think he's trying to...I think he..."

"Who? Babe, I need you to slow down---"

"I...I think he killed someone---"

"What?"

"---and now I keep seeing him and he always looks at me and I think he knows, he knows that I know, and he---he wants me to come to his place, and he has an X-Box," Tabitha babbled frantically. Lily only stared at her, and Tabitha pressed onward, feeling syllable after syllable of pure nonsense trickle out from her lips and wondering if she could ever possibly stop. "Or maybe he doesn't, it could be a trick---I don't know---"

"What are you talking about?" Lily said sharply, silencing her with a jerk of her shoulders. Tabitha stuttered weakly for a moment, then crushed herself against Lily and burst into tears. After a moment, Lily's hands dropped down to Tabitha's shoulder blades and began to move in a pattern of hesitant strokes.

"I don't know," Tabitha sobbed against Lily's breasts, her voice thick and ugly with tears. "I just don't know."

"It's okay," Lily said awkwardly. "It's fine. You're fine."

"I'm not," Tabitha wailed into Lily's coat before dissolving into another fit of pathetic sobs. Lily hushed her in what was probably supposed to be a soothing voice, but she made it sound more like a command. Lily had never been terribly good at soothing anyone.

"Look, if you can calm down for like five minutes---five minutes---then maybe you can tell me what's going on and we can figure out a solution. Right?" She pulled Tabitha away from her chest and held her shoulders tightly. "Five minutes? Then you can freak out again?" she added hopefully.

"F-five minutes," Tabitha echoed, breaking off in a sniffle. She rubbed hard at her nose, then took in a deep, quivering breath. A few thuds sounded from the apartment next door, and she kept that breath trapped in her chest as she heard a door creak open and slam shut. Footsteps pattered, long and slow, down the hallway, and once they had vanished, she emptied her lungs in a shaky sigh. "Okay," she whispered after a moment.

"Okay," Lily said, pulling the two of them down cross-legged onto the carpet across from one another. "Now will you tell me what the hell is wrong?"

"You're joking," Lily said---a little too gleefully---and Tabitha frowned up at her.

"I'm not," she retorted moodily. Once Tabitha started talking, she found herself utterly incapable of stopping. Her tears had dissipated after the first several minutes when she could really grasp the absurdity of her reasoning, but spurred on by adrenaline and the need to prove herself to Lily's unwavering mask of concern, she babbled on and on until Lily's expression faded from worry to disbelief, then to amusement, and now, apparently, to utter delight.

"But there was blood on his face?" Lily repeated, the corners of her lips twitching into a manic smile. Tabitha scowled. She should have known Lily would lose her mind. Lily, with her dark fairy clothes and wild, rainbow hair. Lily, whose Anne Rice phase was still going strong well into her twenties. But then her face fell and she steepled her clawed fingers in a pondering sort of way. "It might have been a prank, though..."

"I know," Tabitha mumbled. "But he's creepy. I wish you could have been there for...well, everything." Lily pursed her lips, but then her eyes lit up.

"And you haven't, you know...looked around?" she offered innocently. Tabitha's jaw dropped.

"Are you completely out of your mind?" she stuttered. "But really...are you? I mean, I just told you that he showed up covered in blood, and you...you want to---"

"I'm more surprised that you don't want to." Tabitha let out a low moan of protest and Lily rattled her shoulders. "Come on. Haven't you ever seen an eighties vampire flick? Only good things can come from snooping. Besides, I only heard one click when he left earlier," she added smugly. "That means his place is unlocked."