Isolated in Silk

It began like any other late July day in southern Georgia. Warm, but mostly humid. It didn't help a young college aged woman named Lisa Stene that she lived in a backwater called Homerville of all places. Not unheard of, but off the beaten path of the metropolitan centers like Waycross, Homerville was mostly woods and marshes. It was mostly a quiet place, not too terribly populated if you didn't count the snakes, lizards, and god knows what else either slithering or crawling in the backyard.

Given a choice, Lisa wouldn't have lived here. Too rustic and the town was economically poor for the most part. But it was free, granted to her by her late loving aunt Margaret. She had her freedom for the most part and when you're young, little else matters so much. The house could have used a bit of maintenance and upgrading to the modern day at this point, but it was two stories, more than enough for her.

Lisa celebrated her 23rd birthday just the other month, but it was a lonely occasion. All her high school era friends were up north or began splintering away to undergo their own paths in life. Lisa, for her part, was taking medical transcriptionist classes during the day and working part time as a department store clerk a few miles away at night. Neither was particularly interesting, but hopefully the former would pay off so she wouldn't have to keep doing the latter.

It was Saturday morning. She had been over an hour out of the covers of her ground level bedroom and was already done with shower and breakfast. She had nothing particularly going on today. Food shopping perhaps, but she was feeling a bit lazy. All this heat and nothing to do was making her bored and apathetic. Maybe tomorrow? She decided to check out her friend's pages on their social networking accounts. People living more exciting lives than hers. For the moment.

The TV was on in the background, set to nothing in particular. A little sound chased away the frustration of dial up internet. At this time, the news from Atlanta was running. Half heartedly listening, she heard something about some kind of dumping scare in Okefenokee Swamp, a major federally protected piece of swamp that bordered the backyard of her property. She gave it the briefest notice and continued scanning online. She had little business back there. It was more for fishermen and hunters. Heck, she didn't even bother mowing the backyard if she could help it. She remembered her aunt mentioning the occasional gator or black bear might wander by occasionally, so nuts to that, she thought.

Time passed and by evening, Lisa decided to go out to Waycross for a night at the town to meet a few co-workers for some drinks. It wasn't the best plan, but it was all she had to do. Dressing in a trendy white shirt with a rabbit imprint, stiletto boots, and matching black leather skirt, she would at least look good. Her hair, a light cinnamon brown, was put up with escrima sticks.

Well, fun was had but time passes quickly and Lisa had to return home. A bit tipsy from one too many apple martinis and her coworkers begrudgingly drove her back in her car before bidding a good night.

Lisa looked at the old blue painted house leading up the soft dirt driveway. Back here again, she thought to herself. The property was dark and mostly unlit save for the moon, Lisa sighed as she fumbled in her purse for the keys. She meant to get an outside porch light set up or even those solar powered driveway lamps, but again, she procrastinated and resigned herself to this.

Glancing down and fumbling with said keys, Lisa walked to her door when suddenly something caught on her face. And shirt. And skirt, and so on. "Wh-what?" she mumbled, confused over what she walked into. It felt thin but soft, yet oddly stretchy. Squinting, she could barely see anything out of the ordinary until she glanced upon her hand holding the keys. There were numerous fishing line-like strands sticking to it and the rest of her on better notice. Lisa winced. Ugh. A spider web.

This wasn't the first time Lisa blundered into one of these beauties. Georgia, particularly the marsh and woods area she lived in, was thick with these large yellow and black spiders they called Nephilas. They were orb weaving spiders, common, mostly harmless, but unpleasantly large. But their webs, which they set up or repaired at night, could be quite sizable, between some three and six feet in diameter. Fortunately, their acquisitions mostly consisted of flying bugs, but she had seen a rare catch of a small lizard or hummingbird in one. It gave her the creeps, but fortunately cute brunettes were not on the menu.

Still, not wanting to be bitten, Lisa growled and pushed through the web sheet, tearing it down around her. Now it coated her and she could feel every sticky fiber. What a nuisance. One thing to give credit to these Nephilas was the strength of their silk. Having blundered into a few in her time out of clumsiness, pulling the stuff off had a tangible feel. Even now her fingers were a bit gummy.

Web strewn, tired, and a little drunk, Lisa closed the door behind her and drew the shades. Worn out, she turned on a table light (bright lights weren't good for her eyes right now) and begin to remove the sticky mess. With any luck, it wouldn't stain her clothing much. That reminded her: she needed to hit the Laundromat soon too.

The process took a good few minutes, particularly trying to get it out of her hair. Removing the web in pieces wasn't helping. Eventually, she decided this was something better dealt with in the morning, so she stripped her clothes down to a cutoff white undershirt and her yellow/orange sherbet patterned bikini briefs. Pulling out the foldout couch, she collapsed wearily with a Hello Kitty print pillow, exhausted. It was too hot to need a blanket but she didn't have a fan in this room, so she mentally noted the screen windows let in a little breeze behind the shades. Good enough.

What Lisa didn't take note of was a visitor had followed her, albeit unintentionally. The orb weaver nephila who's web she wreaked had been dragged along on the back of her white dress shirt, now laying on the carpeted floor. With bad lighting and mild drunkenness, she hadn't noticed the thing...

Sunday.

Lisa yawned and stretched, waking up fortunately without a hangover but a good sense of grogginess and a taste of a brewery in her mouth. She blinked around hazily at the soft light peeking through the shades. Maybe she would get something done today. Maybe.

Stretching one more time, Lisa got up, still half awake, and made her way to the bathroom to wash her face. Always helped her get moving enough to make some coffee. Waking up was a full time job around here.

Passing through the living room into the adjacent hallway, Lisa found herself smack dab into another seemingly invisible obstacle suddenly. Well, it was hard to see, but she wasn't paying attention regardless. A bit slow in the morning, Lisa needed a minute to process this. She walked into something that felt like a nylon sheet stretched out across the hallway entrance and it was sticky vigorously to her. "Huh? What... oh damn, not again. Seriously?" Lisa grimaced, fidgeting in the sticky web as she came to terms. A spider had tricked her twice now, in less than twelve hours none the less. Only this time it was indoors and she was literally caught in her underwear. "Nngh, I can't believe this."

However, she was still a bit weak from waking up and with this, the web felt stronger than any previous time. She tried to push through but found herself repulsed after a mere inch or two. The web wasn't letting her through. Her arms raised before her, she began to feel how aggressively it was holding onto her as if trying to keep her from going anywhere. A strange primal cold swear went down Lisa's brow. This sensation was entirely unknown to her. And it was a little scary.

Lisa began to squirm, trying to step back out and free herself but the web stubbornly would only stretch and then pull her back into an awkward position. What was going on? Why was this happening? Spider webs can't trap humans... right? Lisa thought to herself, pausing to admire in a sense of confused horror the radial artistry of the web she was sticking to.

The girl gasped a quick cry in growing anxiety and fussed harder. With the exertion, her muscles began to wake up from their lethargy and the web began to tear quite easily. She simply hadn't been trying before.

Stumbling backwards, she landed on her butt, draped in fallen webbing and strands. Wide eyed, she looked back to the hallway entrance where just moments ago she was certain she had been actually restrained. Maybe she only had her own sleepiness or laziness to blame... but it felt real. And her she was with the remainder. How did one of them get in here?

Soon in the bathroom, Lisa again began to preen herself. The webs did not seem half as sticky or taut now. Was she hallucinating over their strength? Picking the strands and silk off with toilet paper, she through the sticky stuff in the garbage can and looked at herself in the mirror. Her face was completely that of beleagurement. That was a Nephila web, no doubt. Which meant one of them was loose in the house somehow. This was a first. She'd seen smaller spiders in the corners, but never anything on their scale.

Realizing she had to get it together after that shocking wake up event, Lisa calmed down enough to continue her morning routine. Another shower, she figured, couldn't hurt after a double run in with webs.

Things evened out for a while. She stepped lightly about the house, keeping her eyes peeled for the yet unseen spider, nothing else was terribly strange. And so the day would continue in this way. Lisa did not do her laundry or food shopping again, but she did not locate her eight legged visitor. Maybe it left, she thought.

Monday.

Another morning, this one a bit overcast. Time for stenography training. The thoughts of the spider incident a bit behind her at the moment, she dressed in a grey business casual suit and sped off for vocational school. Just another day.

Late afternoon time, she stopped off at home before work and did some quick Tae Bo aerobics. It was a thrice weekly activity done so she wouldn't lose too much shape. Being a transcriptionist and clerk didn't allow that much exercise. Although it certainly felt that way.

Night time, things got a little interesting. Driving her Toyota Camry, she stopped just before the dirt lot when her headlights reflected off of that of Georgia's pride: an American alligator lounging in her lot. Cursing, she casually back the car up a bit and placed a call to animal control. This was the first time this happened at her house. At the very least, she never saw one beyond the edge of her backyard, but it wasn't an impossible event to happen in Homerville.

Within two annoyingly long hours, animal control showed up and with three able bodied men, got the alligator on the bed of a pick up truck for transport back to the swamp. "Don't worry, miss. These things happen. Big sonuvabitch, though. Getting a lot of calls about these kinda things lately, you know?" Lisa nodded, mostly glad to get back in her home, despite being a mere 10 yards away the entire time. Briefly, she noted there was a lot of gauzy white cobwebs on the nearby bushes. Were the spiders having some kind of baby boom this month?

And still, all was quiet in the home.

Tuesday.

Lisa awoke unusually well rested. Looking out from her bed, she realized why. The power went out during the night. Her trusty digital clock merely flashed 12:00. Screaming an obscenity, she leapt quickly out of bed and went to get dressed. No telling what time it was!

Hurrying, she hustled through that familiar hallway when suddenly something snagged on her dress pumps. Stumbling out of control, a portfolio in her hand went flying on ahead while she tumbled on her side towards the floor, twisting her ankle in the process. She landed with a loud 'thumpf'!

"Oww..." Lisa winced, rubbing her kneecaps. She glanced behind her. There, by the doorway, her feet had entangled on a series silken trip lines haphazardly strewn across the floor. "That spider again!" she said aloud to herself. With a quick yank, she freed her feet and brought herself back up. "I don't have time for this. But tonight, spider?! You and I have a date with a bottle of insecticide."

Still having no idea how late she was, Lisa made for her car, pausing after a few steps to note the sheer amount of new white spider webs decorated her yard. There were even webs strewn across her Camry's antenna to the ground. She could see all sorts of spiders keeping watch on their traps, many of them between two and four inches. It was like a macabre winter wonderland. "Okay. This is getting weird."

Even across the street and the pockets of nearby trees deluged were with these spider webs. She could see one elderly neighbor knocking them down with a web strewn broom. Shaking her head, she fired up the car and headed out. Better tardy than absent.

At the department store, they were sold out of insectide and bug traps, or so she heard. People seemed to be in an equally weird mood today. Something was apparently going down. She wondered if that event in the swamp on Saturday had anything to do with it. With so many customers and even another power outage for about a minute, Lisa worked overtime that night. Not that she had a choice if she wanted to keep the gig.

Driving home, things grew from weird to surreal. Webs... everywhere! White and noticeable even in the headlights of passing vehicles. It was all over town, like some kind of invasion. Cars and trucks drove by with trailing gossamers. Lisa could feel in her bones, something was deeply wrong. Her anxiety rising, she hastened for home.

Fortunately, there was no particular increase that she could note of outside her house. Holding a hand in front of her, just in case she walked into another web, she made it up to the door and went inside.

All along the way home, she hadn't heard anything interesting on the radio about this. It was mostly just the usual music and a brief mention of a 'spider bloom'. Was that normal? She'd been here for 2 years now and never saw anything like this.

Remembering her promise from earlier, she dug out an old can of hornet killer, thinking poison is, well, poison. And with a change into her pj's, searched around the first floor of the house for the eight legged invader. While she did find a few smaller webs and tinier spiders, she couldn't find her culprit. There was always the upstairs... it was a place she largely ignored. Renovated from an attic years ago, her aunt was said to have passed away up there, so the rooms were largely ignored except for storage. And then, there was the basement. It did not take her long to think of how little she wanted to explore that at 10pm.

Resigned to find the spider another time, with the unceasing humidity she soon stripped her stifling pjs back off, and slept in a satin flower print thong.

Wednesday.

Somewhere in the middle of the night, Lisa began to stir in a broken sleep. She was having a dream in elementary school where a boy named Bobby was poking her with a pencil for fun. Every time she made him stop, the teacher would come by and slap her hand instead of his. It felt very unfair and she didn't understand why. But eventually, Bobby's pencil jabs to her side began to hurt and her sleep went uneasily.

When Lisa opened her eyes, it was still dark. Or at the least, dim. She couldn't quite tell. But something was very wrong. She couldn't move. Her eyes widened as her vision cleared from sleep. There were a large amount of spider webs draping the ceiling, particularly the corners and walls. As for her?

Lisa glanced left to right and with strain, forward. She lay upon her back, utterly covered and bound in sticky silk to her bed. With the exception of a few open pockets of skin and her eyes, she was completely cocooned. Her arms were bound behind her and her legs webbed together. Even her mouth was covered, as she would find herself barely audible with a muffled scream. Reddish marks vaguely visible along the side of her waist indicated something else. She had been bitten and thereby, probably poisoned by a spider who clearly did this to her. Probably what she imagined Bobby's pencil jabs in the dream were.

But more curiously? There was disturbing writing on the wall. In red, possibly with blood. Often obscured behind swaths of silk, it looked like a mad person wrote it.

-SACRIFICE- In vaguely feminine handwriting, over and over again, one ominous word.

Scared badly, Lisa whimpered, and struggled in her cocoon. But it was tight and impossibly strong. And her limbs wouldn't respond very much. No doubt spider venom had seriously weakened her muscle control. Feebly thrashing, she caught a glimpse of two horribly obsessed yellow eyes with tiny black pupils staring back at her from the very wall itself as if something was camouflaged like chameleon there. The eyes were feral, yet intelligent looking, but too strange to call human. They said nothing nor broke their glance. Merely, staring unchallenged at her bound web strewn body.

Spiders began to climb down from the ceiling from unseen cracks and descended upon poor Lisa. Try though she might, she was too weak and tied up to escape. Her helplessly thrashings only served to exhaust her as the many tiny legs landed upon her and crawled over her helpless flesh. Lisa screamed in her gag again and felt tiny fangs piercing her skin. It was about then she passed out.

Sometime later, Lisa arose from bed. It was warm, more or less sunny through the blinded windows, and most noticeably, no spiders or webs anywhere in her room. Another dream? No. A nightmare, yes, but scarily brought in from another dream. It was so unsettling. And that word, 'sacrifice'. Lisa felt uneasy and vulnerable and for some twenty minutes more, huddled in her blanket before even feeling brave enough to step off the bed.

The power had gone out, yet again. But poor Lisa didn't care. Too disturbed to work or learn, she called out of both today with ground line (which was on a separate grid), finding she in fact had not overslept this time all the same. Interestingly, the receptionist for the school mumbled something like, "Not another one," when Lisa made mention of her absence today.

In an uneasy sweat, Lisa finally began to start her day. She looked about the room and hallway to the bathroom uneasily, but saw nothing new. A hot shower would do her good, she thought, so she slipped off her underwear and started up the faucet. But instead of a normal cleaning ritual, Lisa found herself merely sitting down in the tub while the water poured down, huddling and shivering.

It was afternoon by the time Lisa decided to stop being an anxiety ridden prune. She opened the blinds to find... white. Everywhere. She could feel her very heart skip a beat. White webbing over everything, all over the place, blotting out the landscape like a sinister snowfall. And spiders crawling about them. All bigger nephilas and swamp spiders. Her eyes continuing to run the landscape behind the obscurement of silk, there were multiple cocoons in the webs, of what looked to be birds. There was no way this was natural.

Lisa went to the back of her house to look at the backyard. Same thing. Except one web surrounded by several striped legged spiders held a dead opossum in it! Very unnatural. And it was then that Lisa realized she was sealed inside her house. "This isn't happening... it can't be."

Trying to absorb this, she considered the television. Surely there would be some report on the news about this. However, every channel was static. Cable was completely out. Were the recent power outages a foreshadowing of this?