When he woke up Austin�s head felt like someone had cut it off and used it to play basketball with. A severe migraine would have been an improvement. He stood up slowly and rubbed his eyes until the room came into focus.
Foggy but persistent memories from the night before filtered into his already confused mind. He remembered hanging out near the highway with his best friend Aaron, waiting for their dates to show up. Tammy was Aaron�s girl. She was very short and petite and they really got along well, so well in fact that they had even begun talking about marriage and a family.
Angela was his date. She was a thin beauty with a silken mane of flowing jet black hair that framed her face perfectly. Her eyes were a bright baby blue and grabbed his heart immediately. He knew he was falling in love with her although he hadn�t worked up the nerve to tell her yet.
Aaron had introduced them to each other during a party at his house. That was when he had found out she had two daughters. Their names were Eve and Kate and they were the spitting image of their mother. They also shared her gentle personality and sweet, enticing smile. Normally he shied away from women with children but in Angela�s case he found himself making an exception. And besides, he was crazy about them as well.
As the room came into focus more he was able to fully grasp his predicament, and it was as confusing as it was frightening.
He was in a large, empty room. The walls were made of some type of metal and painted a featureless gray, as was the ceiling and floor. There were no windows of any kind and no source of light despite the fact that the room was illuminated well enough for him to see. He was all alone in a room with nothing but cobwebs to keep him company.
But there was one thing that caught his attention�the doors. Or more accurately�the outline of two doors on the far wall. Although they didn�t exactly appear to be doors. They were not made of wood or metal but of the same material as the walls and the hinges and knobs were so faint he could barely see them. There was only thin, nearly imperceptible lines framing the curious openings.
Austin rubbed his eyes, stood up and waited for his head to stop spinning. He knew his options were extremely limited so after letting loose several shouts for help he approached one of the doors.
There were two of them about the same size, roughly four feet high by two feet wide. Approximately five feet separated them from each other. He cautiously bent over and examined one of the doors in closer detail. What he saw sent waves of confusion and fear through his body.
The doorknobs and hinges were made of cobwebs!
Too afraid to think, he reached out and touched the handle. It felt solid enough but in a surrealistic type of way, like feeling something in a vivid dream. He hesitated for a moment.
It could be a way out. It could lead to freedom and safety.
He started to turn the knob.
But it could also lead to certain death�or worse.
He released the handle.
His dwindling options danced around in his head. Should he try to open the doors or simply sit back and wait for help? Neither choice was too appealing but he realized that sooner or later he would have to do something.
Fear eventually won out and he flopped to the floor with his eyes glued to the doors for any signs of danger. His head still ached and he could only pray that he would not pass out.
She came to him in a dream. Her soft, baby blue eyes entranced him and her silky jet-black hair swirled all around, wrapping him up in its delicate and yet firm embrace.
�Austin,� the dream voice asked. �Do you love me?�
Austin searched for the source of the words but he couldn�t find it.
�Yes,� he heard himself saying as if from a distance. �Yes, I do love you.�
A short pause was immediately followed by a soft giggle.
�Good. Very good,� Angela replied. �I will see you very soon my love. Very soon.�
Austin jerked awake and rubbed his swollen eyes. The strange dream had taken a toll on him, further weakening his condition and tapping into his small reserve of sanity. His head ached even more than it had before and hunger and thirst were beginning their assaults on his mind and body. He knew waiting for help was fast becoming an option he couldn�t afford.
His eyelids were heavy and speckled with sweat and dust. Lifting them proved to be more difficult than he ever thought possible but he forced himself to, he didn�t want to fall asleep again.
The two doorknobs gradually came into view. He stood up and stumbled over to one of them. The little voice of reason in his head was promptly pushed aside by hunger and thirst; he must try to escape or he would surely die.
A thick, dry creak leaked out as the door swung open. A solid wall of darkness greeted his tired eyes and refused to reveal what secrets it contained, forcing his imagination to construct possibilities.
�Hello? Is there anybody in here?� he asked not particularity wanting a response.
Silence.
He began to close the door when a small, almost indecipherable sound stirred from the darkness. It sounded like someone, or something, drinking. It froze his feet to the ground, regardless of the prospective danger.
And then he noticed a pair of eyes.
They shone with the reflection from the room behind him and were unblinking. And worst of all�they were looking directly at him. Six more eyes then joined the first two and rapidly focused on him.
By now his fear was hindering his ability to think straight, and he strained to see anything else he could in the darkness.
He saw the outline of something that looked like a basketball, only not as rounded and a little smaller. It was lying on the ground about ten feet away from him. His stomach convulsed when he realized it was a head, a human head�Aaron�s head. Or more accurately, what was left of it.
He stumbled backwards and kicked the door shut with all of the strength he had left. Whatever was beyond the door pushed up against it violently. The sounds reverberated throughout the room, hurting his ears and shattering yet another layer of his sanity.
But he thought quickly and brushed away the cobwebs lining the door, thus erasing it from existence. The other door was removed immediately as well.
Standing back, he surveyed the now empty wall. It was as plain as it had been when he had awoken in the room but the thought that what might be trapped behind it frightened him beyond words. The crashing noises had quickly subsided but the ghosts of their echoes still rung in his ears. He fell to the ground yet again, a victim to exhaustion and hunger, and passed into an uneasy sleep.
When he woke up all was the same. The two doors were still erased and his head still pounded. He reached up to rub his eyes and realized that he could hardly move his arms! Something bound them in place securely in his lap. He tried to break free but his weakened condition simply would not allow it. More disbelief came over him when he noticed what was holding him down�cobwebs!
�Austin, do you love me?� the familiar disembodied voice asked.
�Angela? Is that you?�
�Do you love me?� it repeated.
�Angela get me outta here!�
�DO�YOU�LOVE�ME?�
He didn�t want to answer; it might make his already dire situation even worse. He struggled with his bonds even more but still could hardly move.
And then he made the mistake of looking up into one of the corners of the room. Cobwebs were gathering together right before his eyes as if they were insects realizing that mates were nearby. He watched in horror as they began to drift down silently. Their descent was fluid and smooth but with purpose. They definitely had a specific destination.
Austin watched the cobwebs fall towards the floor. Some turned vertically, forming perpendicular lines to others and eventually settled on the opposite wall, forming the outline of a huge door.
Austin�s stomach was in knots. He knew what was happening to some degree but not how or more importantly why. He also knew that whatever was behind that
door was probably going to be very happy to see him�but in the wrong way. He rolled over onto his side and frantically tore away at his bonds. They felt like steel cables despite their fragile appearance.
And then he looked up at the ceiling again. Three more strands of cobwebs were drifting down from above. Two thinned out and turned vertically and one rolled up into a type of ball. He knew right away what they were�hinges and a doorknob. He watched in horror as they attached themselves to the door.
Further attempts to dislodge himself only succeeded in tightening the cobwebs on him more. And furthermore they began fastening to the floor, leaving him more vulnerable than ever.
The door creaked as it slowly opened, filling the room with its threatening echo. He could only crane his neck slightly to one side, which was not enough to look away from the door.
�Austin, do you love me?� Angela�s voice asked from the void.
�Do you love me?� it asked again but in a more ominous tone.
Austin�s mouth was the only part of his body not covered with cobwebs. The thought that that was not an accident crossed his mind.
�I�I can�t move. Please let me go.�
Something shifted in the darkness, something massive and confident in its strength. �It would be better if you told me you loved me,� Angela�s voice slurred. �So much better. You would taste so much better.�
�Angela, pleeeeaase! Let me go.�
He could only pray for it to be quick. He struggled to think of happier times. Times when he was a young boy frolicking around in his backyard. Times like hitting his first home run or his first kiss. Times like hanging out with his friends�friends like Aaron who was now undoubtedly in the belly of some inhuman thing behind a non-existent door made of cobwebs! And he could still hear the things violently slamming against the wall where the doors had been. He surmised that little Kate and Eve were still very hungry, even after they had finished with Aaron and Tammy.
He focused on the black square of darkness behind the large door. The face that was beginning to materialize from the darkness was growing larger by the second. Eventually its visage was clear.
It was Angela.
He felt relieved in a way to see her although he knew it wasn�t the same girl he had been seeing. She glared at him with four pairs of baby blue eyes. The compassion in those eyes was conflicted sharply with their real intent. Austin�s heart was in his throat when Angela scuttled out into the open room.
�Hello Austin,� she hissed through nine inch fangs.
�An�Angela?�
�Yes, it�s me,� she answered while straddling him with her eight hairy legs. �Did you miss me?� The mockery in her words was plainly evident.
Despite his situation, despite what she really was, he could not deny to himself that he had loved her, that he still loved her. Perhaps that was why she had kept him around for so long. Maybe her past boyfriends, her other meals, had never actually, truly loved her. It was possible that she had never experienced actual love before and was having difficulty dealing with it. He decided it was his only chance.
�Angela, I know you�re in there,� he moaned to the abomination. �I can feel it. Tell me it�s really you.�
The creature paused for a moment, pondering Austin�s words. The inner conflict in its mind was reflected on its face.
�Austin, do you love me?�
A tear welled in Austin�s eye. His heart ached for the creature to be Angela again, to be the woman he loved again.
�Y�yes Angela, I love you,� he managed to whisper. The sharp pain in his side was causing him to become disoriented but he wanted to say the words before he blacked out. They just might save his life.
And then his world went dark.
Angela squatted back on her bloated abdomen and gazed down at Austin. Se had truly loved him and she knew it. But she also knew that one needed more than love to survive. One also needed food.
She clicked her fangs together and waited for the venom to begin its work.
