The Untimely Demise of Alicia Leigh Willis

Alicia opened her eyes and stared out her bedroom window, blinking in the morning light. Running her fingers through her hair, she slid out of bed and walked to the kitchen to prepare a light breakfast before heading off to work. As she warmed up a pan, Alicia carefully chose an egg out of the refrigerator and two strips of bacon.
"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day," she murmured, sleepily.
Pouring herself a cup of coffee and sweetening it to her liking, Alicia poked her head out the window to watch the passers-by on the street below. A smile spread across her face as she felt a breeze blow through her hair.
"It's going to be a nice day," thought Alicia, and sipped some of the hot coffee.
She tried to mumble "Oh God" as she spit the coffee out the window without thinking. She poured what remained of it into the sink.
"That just ruined my appetite."
Alicia extinguished the flame from the oven and left the oil hissing on the pans. She walked to the bathroom.
Looking at herself in the small mirror over the bathroom sink, Alicia began to look herself over closely, forgetting completely about the coffee. Often, she would go about the apartment naked, but last night had been chilly and her heater had not been working properly, so Alicia had slept in an oversized T-shirt and boxers. Now, in front of the mirror, inspecting her figure through the thin shirt, she had a desire to strip herself naked.
Pulling off her T-shirt, Alicia stared at her face in the mirror, slowly becoming aroused. She let the shirt drop onto the cold, tiled floor and stared at her bare breasts, large and perky, her hands inching around them and sliding down to her crotch.
Suddenly, the doorbell rang, and Alicia jumped. She sighed and made her way to the window. Peeking through the blinds, she saw that it was her friend, Susan, and she opened the door.
There in the cool morning stood the thirty year old woman - tall, red-haired, professionally dressed. She always reminded Alicia of Agent Scully.
"May I come in," asked Susan. "Or are you ... busy?"
Susan sized Alicia up and smiled a strange smile. It always unnerved Alicia when Susan smiled that way. It was sort of what she imagined a Black Widow would smile like before it ate its prey, if it could smile. It was a half-intrigued, half-indifferent smile. Too casual and relaxed to be human.
"Come in," said Alicia. "I was just changing for work."
"Oh, yes. How are things at everybody's favorite General Hospital ? It's been a while since I've seen you. You told me you'd been having trouble with one of the directors."
Susan sat down on Alicia's big leather couch, a little too casually, just like everything else about her. She was too at ease. It didn't fit her demeanor and it never failed to make Alicia nervous, as much as she liked her friend.
"Jerry. Yeah. He ended up quitting or something. Want some coffee?" Alicia walked over to the coffee pot and poured Susan a cup. She didn't turn around. She knew Susan was watching her - focusing on her smooth back and round bottom, on her long, athletic legs. She could feel Susan's Black Widow eyes watching different parts of her body, all at once, taking it in and loving it. But what could she do? She was, truth be told, afraid of Susan. Alicia remained Susan's friend through strange times when anybody else might have forsaken her, and Alicia liked to think that it was because she really liked and cared for Susan. But there it was again, at the center of their relationship, rearing its head: fear.
Alicia breathed in softly and turned around, giving her best "doing great" smile.
"So how have you been? It has been a while since I've seen you." Alicia handed the cup of coffee to Susan, who lightly brushed Alicia's fingers with her own as she took the Cinderella mug into her hands.
"Very busy these days." answered Susan, judging the coffee momentarily. "Business has been good. But I have missed seeing you. I've been thinking that we should have a weekend away from town and from our jobs, just the two of us. My uncle owns a cabin up in Colorado. It would be perfect."
Alicia smiled broadly. She knew Susan was just putting on a front. She had something more devious in mind than simply getting away, and Alicia knew it. Not consciously, but the fear was there again.
"That would be great," she replied. "But I don't know if they would give me any time off right now." Oh no.
She had said it.
"Oh?" asked Susan.
Alicia stammered, "I mean, well, they might. Then again, I dont know if I can go. A weekend getaway sounds nice, but I would just miss home too much, I think."
"Oh?"
Alicia smiled, nervously.
"But hey," she said, "if you really want to -"
"Oh, it was just an idea. But if you're not going to enjoy it, there's really no point in going."
Alicia fidgeted. Quietly, she said, "Susan, if you really want to go, I'll go. And I'll enjoy it. I'll be with you after all. You've been such a good friend."
Susan smiled.
"How about this weekend?"
Alicia was taken aback.
"So soon? I'll have to talk to some people first, see when their schedules allow me to go."
Susan looked at Alicia.
The Black Widow stare.
"I mean, they'll probably give me some time off. It's near my birthday and I can use that time for this."
"Good," Susan replied.
After a moment, Susan got up and said, "Give me a call when you find out. I've got to get going."
"Yeah, all right."
"So long, Alicia."
"Bye, Susan."
Alicia couldn't believe she and Susan were driving up to Colorado by themselves. There she sat in the passenger seat trying not to fidget while Susan no doubt was fine-tuning her plan.
That was the worst. Susan had a reason for wanting to go up to Colorado, and Alicia was aware of it, but she forced it to the back of her mind. Still, she was horrified to find herself breaking the silence by asking, "So why do you really want to go up to Colorado?"
Susan looked at Alicia and smiled slightly, but didn't say a word. Alicia stared straight ahead at the road winding through the mountains and tried to steady her breathing.
Softly, in the back of her mind, the chains that bound the ideas she had about Susan began to break, and Alicia found herself sweating the rest of the way to the cabin.
"Here we are."
Susan, dressed so casually that Alicia had momentarily lost the fear for her friend when she arrived to pick her up, stood at the front door of the cabin and dropped her bags. She turned around to watch Alicia who was still grabbing her bags out of the backseat and said, "I've got an idea."
Alicia felt her blood run cold. Then she remembered.
I've got an idea.
Susan had said that in Alicia's dream. I've got an idea.
"What is it?"
Susan walked along the front porch of the house and looked around to the side of the cabin. "There's some fire wood there."
As Alicia walked up to the cabin, Susan walked towards her.
Alicia dropped her bags. "What do you want, Susan?"
She was scared for her life and didn't know why.
Susan seemed perplexed for an instant, and then, picking up Alicia's bags, said, "Find five good pieces of firewood over on the right side of the cabin. Bring them in. I'll have some beers for us and then we can relax."
Alicia felt like crying as Susan marched up to the cabin and slipped inside. What was it? What was this fear? Where were its roots?
What was she planning, God damn it!
Slowly, Alicia walked to the side of the cabin and felt a dark emotion, something terrible. She thought she saw, for a moment, somebody run behind the cabin. But she was distracted when she noticed there was no firewood by the side of the cabin. There was no firewood where Susan said there would be. This lie was something that was in a way worse than anything Alicia could imagine Susan would do to her.
To her!
Oh my God.
Fear gripped Alicia and she leaned against the side of the cabin. Susan was going to do something to her. There was no firewood where Susan said there would be. Someone ran behind the cabin.
Dear God. Yes, someone had run behind the cabin. Thoughts came and went, unable to be controlled in Alicia's mind. She turned and looked to the back of the cabin, but she saw nothing, no one. There was no movement, she heard no sound. It had all been imagined.
Suddenly, Alicia realized that all her worrying were silly. Susan had been her friend for a long time and for her to do something to her would be unlikely.
To her.
Long time.
Silly.
Behind the cabin.
There was someone there, dear God. There was someone there. I heard it, I know I did.
Softly, her feet moved her to the back of the cabin.
"I don't want to go there," she thought. "I don't want to."
But she could not stop. She moved as if she were being moved.
"I'm floating," she said to herself.
Dear God.
That was all she could say.
What was it? Who was there?
Then she remembered the dream again. In it, Susan had waited for her in her apartment, waiting just around a corner.
It had been a large spider, but Alicia knew it was Susan. She had woken up screaming. And there had been blood on her breasts.
Now, in Colorado, Susan felt what she had felt in the dream. It was more than terror. It was a feeling of betrayal. She had felt forsaken. Her hand reached up to her breast and she though she felt blood soaking through her shirt.
Alicia turned the corner and
Nothing.
There was no one there. Nothing there. Just firewood. Firewood and a back way into the cabin. Quickly, Alicia grabbed some wood and opened the back door. Inside, it was dark, and she became aware that it was Susan she had been afraid of, and whatever was crawling around outside the cabin was irrelevant. It was probably a fox or something.
"Susan?"
Alicia felt herself choking.
"Susan?"
She dropped her firewood and ran through the cabin in the dark. "Susan!" she cried in pure terror. She had run into someone. Someone who wasn't Susan.
The lights came on and a crowd of smiling people yelled, "Happy Birthday, Alicia!"
But Alicia was on the floor, apparently unconscious, with blood soaking the front of her shirt.
"Jesus," someone said.
"What happened?"
"Alicia," called Susan. "Alicia, are you okay?"
Susan bent over Alicia and felt for a pulse. She looked up at the stunned group of co-workers and acqaintances.
"She's dead."