Stranger's Web

Stranger’s Web

As Olivia opened the door to her office, she dug through the debris in her purse, searching for her desk keys. Stepping across the threshold and absently flicking the switch, she raised her eyes looking for the stack of flotsam that her assistant would have left on her desk last night.

Catching her breath and taking a quick step back, Olivia took a moment to realize what had happened to her small cell on the ninth floor of Givens and Son. The room was filled with a maze of string. Directly in front of her, the end of the room-sized knot dangled with a note tied to it. Confused, but curious, Olivia opened the note and considered its contents:

“I was amazed to find you here. Can you find me?”

Olivia did not recognize the hand that had left the note. Who was it? Why did they do this? Pondering, she slowly began winding the string up. It twisted around chairs, through handles in file cabinets, over the fluorescent lamp in the corner. While trying to pull the string from under the foot of her utilitarian desk, a rather loud, “Ahem!” echoed behind her. Realizing that her bottom was aimed nicely at the door, Olivia jumped up and twirled to face…

“Mr. Givens! Oh sir!” Slightly breathless and quite worried about what the boss would say, Olivia tried to stammer out a reasonable explanation. Nothing came to mind. So, she stood there with her mouth agape and hands flying out in an expression of futility.

Mr. Givens gave his Senior Office Executive a smug stare. “Having more trouble with the cleaning staff?", he questioned. "You said you hired a new agency last month. Perhaps, it was not such a wise choice.” Turning away, heading towards the elevator shaft, he continued, “I expect you’ll deal with it, Miss Hudson? I shouldn’t expect my office to ever be in such a state.” The waiting elevator door slid shut behind him.

Olivia glared at the empty doorway with her lips pursed and hands on her hips. Heaving an irritated sigh, Olivia returned to the now tiresome task of winding up the maze. Mr. Givens always managed to catch her at the most inopportune moments; at the Christmas Party fending off Harry from receiving, in the cafeteria searching through the trash for her gold bracelet, in front of the building exchanging information with the idiot who had rear ended her new Hyundai. It wasn’t fair.

The end of the string lay in the breast pocket of her hound’s-tooth blazer that hung on the back of her door. Wrapping the string she gave it a final tug. It wouldn’t come free of the coat. Sighing again, Olivia jerked on the string, only to have the entire coat fall to the floor. Olivia snatched up the jacket.

“OW!” A sharp object pricked her thumb. Inspecting the coat more circumspectly, she found that the end of the string was tied to a small sharpish object. Pulling it out, she saw that it was a single blood red rose bud with the thorns still intact. Sitting in her chair, Olivia considered the rose and the large ball of string. She placed them on the desktop next to the clock, where she could properly consider them.

However, the curious start to the day was shortly dismissed from Olivia’s mind as the demands of her job overtook her desk. Olivia's day flew by as she signed purchase orders, approved time allotments for the network, scheduled deliveries on the bottom floor, reviewed Express Deliveries and acted as referee for the inmates of the Ninth Floor.

She finally closed her office door at 6:30PM. Then, for the first time in her nine years at Givens and Son, she locked it. Wearily she headed for the elevator. As usual she was the only employee remaining. The doors slid shut with a quiet bong. Olivia studied her feet, reviewing what she would need to do tomorrow.

Suddenly the elevator jolted to a stop and the light went out. No, not all the light. A black light filtered down and reflected off some faint writing on the door.

“I remember you. Do you remember me?”

Olivia screamed. Almost immediately the lights came back on and the elevator resumed its course to the ground floor.

Breathing much too quickly, Olivia stared out into the lobby as the doors slid open. Cautiously shuffling to the threshold, she waited and listened. Nobody appeared. She heard no sounds of scraping shoe leather, no creaking, no strange shadows. Tentatively she stepped out into the lobby.

“Olivia!”

She quickly jumped back into the car and beat at the buttons. The door didn’t close. Olivia pleaded with the elevator. “Please close, please!” At last the doors slid shut and the car began to climb. It stopped on the Ninth Floor.

Walking out onto the floor, Olivia considered her options. Call 911 that made sense. She headed for her office. She heard a door open. The Stairs! Footsteps followed. Olivia ran to her door, cursing the lock, dropping her keys, knees knocking. Finally the door swung open.

A large hand settled on her left shoulder. Olivia froze.

“Don’t you remember Olivia?” the hand caressed her arm. “You’re meant for me. Such a beautiful girl.” The hand’s voice was silken, tall, with a frightening edge of determination slithering about his words. “You lived upstairs. You always had a small rose in your window box, and you hate spiders. I can’t believe I found you…”the hand continued to trail down.

Olivia’s terror broke. Great purpose replaced it. Her years of karate kicked in. Two sharp blows had the horror writhing on the floor. His right eye already purple and he held his groin, moaning. Now in action, Olivia reached for the ball of twine sitting on her desk. Breathing fast, with a hard glint in her eye, she quickly bound and gagged her enemy.

Convinced he was no longer a threat, Olivia stood up and surveyed her handiwork. “One more thing I think,” reaching over him to the desk.

Smiling as she placed the red rose in his teeth, she told the maniac, “Incidentally, I love spiders. It's fascinating to see what kind of destructive creatures get tangled in the webs. And, as you know, once the creature is caught, it will surely be killed."