Spider

34

Marine Park, Brooklyn, New York Lu Zagalsky's fears rise as she hears the thump of his footsteps coming down the wooden basement stairs, then the click of the key in the lock of the heavy door at the bottom.

It's been six hours since she's seen him, but without being able to look at her watch, it's seemed even longer. Pain and exhaustion eventually helped her slip into a fitful sleep, which has done little to numb the agony of her broken nose, her scorched throat and aching body. Her sense of night and day is already starting to fade.

'Hello, Sugar,' he says cheerily, almost as though he were greeting an old friend.

Lu notices the bandage on his hand, blood staining the side. In his other hand he holds what looks like a drink and a newspaper that she recognizes as a copy of USA Today.

Spider sees her eyes darting all over him. 'I've been out,' he explains. 'I needed a breath of fresh air to calm myself down after what happened between us. I brought you back a vanilla milkshake; I thought you might like something cool and soothing for your throat.'

He lays the newspaper on the floor, as though covering a damp spot, and sets the shake down on the edge of the bondage table. 'I'm going to slacken the chains a little so you can sit up again and you can have the drink,' says Spider, adding with a touch of black humour, 'but not as much as last time, eh? Old Spider has learned his lesson, and I'm afraid you won't be free enough to bite the hand that feeds you.'

Lu's head roars with pain as he manoeuvres her into an upright position and blood pumps back through her body.

'Sip it slowly,' he says, angling the straw her way and putting it to her lips.

She sucks hard and the ice-cool liquid slips comfortingly down her raw throat. Her shrunken belly growls and rumbles its surprise at finally having something to digest.

'Good, good,' says Spider, taking the shake off her. 'Now, let's lie you down again.' He pushes her forehead back and dips below the bondage table to re-tighten the restraining chains.

Lu feels better for the drink, and allows herself a moment of brief optimism. He just fed you, Lu. If he's feeding you, he plans to keep you alive, at least for the time being.

Spider leans over her again, pulling at the chains, checking their tautness. 'That shake should make you feel a little better. It will help you settle down for a while now – while I'm gone.'

Gone? The word sizzled, as though he'd branded her with it.

'That's right,' he says, noticing the change in her eyes. 'I'm going to have to leave you now.'

Leave me? For where? For how long? Why?

Spider bends close to her face and points a finger upwards. 'Look closely at the ceiling and you'll see a camera.'

Lu stares at the blackness above her and finally spots the camera lens. A red light is blinking near it, like the eye of a rodent staring down at her.

Spider twists her head to one side. 'And over there, there's another little camera eye watching you.' He lets go of her. 'In fact, there are cameras all over the room, watching you all the time. And guess what? Wherever I am, I'll be watching you too. Isn't technology a wonderful thing?' He takes a small black device, about a quarter of the size of a cell phone, out of his pocket.

Lu can see that there's a blue light flashing on it and that it has three different coloured buttons, like the red, green and blue ones on a TV remote.

'This is a blue-toothed trigger device. As I leave here, I will activate several pressure pads on the outside of this basement. Should you try to escape, or should anyone try to get in while I'm gone, the devices will explode and this whole house will become a fireball. Even better than that, no matter where I am, I can dial in a number and press this little red button here and kaboomb! No more Sugar.'

Lu feels her face drain of what little colour she had left.

'I hope that milkshake was good, Sugar, because it is the last thing you will ever taste. You're going to get hungry soon. Then you're going to experience what starvation feels like. And then, after a certain period of time, your body will literally start to eat itself to death. And all the time, I'll be watching, right up until your last breath.'