Good morning. Had a hot toddy before bed last night and slept a lot better. Actually I slept like someone hit me with a brick. Which isn’t a bad thing. I just didn’t dream and I always find it strange when i don’t dream. It is not my normal and tends to throw me off balance. But the prompt should make me more balanced. So timers set and off we go.
Oh I am adding more time on the timer and going for a second run in a few minutes. I need to see where this is going before I start my day. Especially if I plan to get anything else done.
Thursday, November 20th: She squeaked like a startled mouse.
She squeaked like a startled mouse. Andy sighed.
“Good grief Mags, it’s just a spiderweb.” He rolled his eyes and Maggie felt heat creep to her cheeks.
“I wasn’t expecting that is all,” she said. She swallowed hard, hating the squeaky sound that came out of her. It made her feel young and silly. The fact that she was younger than the others didn’t help. She saw others roll their eyes and one of the older girls, Deanna whispered, “Grow up,” as she walked past.
The two words were loaded with such scorn that Maggie’s cheeks flamed brighter. She clamped her lips shut and when the others passed her and were no longer looking, she scrubbed the spiderweb remains from her face. She was sure it was still in her hair, but to get everything out she would have to take down her ponytail and at least comb her fingers through.
Then she would have to put it back up again and it would be messy. Messier than the other girls would accept. They all had neat ponytails with hair that was blown out at the salon and expertly styled. Maggie’s was a home job and it took her nearly two hours with the blow out brush, curling iron and various products to achieve the same look they paid others for.
She couldn’t afford to pay the salon as often as they could, so she put in the time herself. But now it meant that until she could get to a bathroom mirror and carefully remove any traces of web, she was stuck with it. She tried not to think of any spiders that might still be attached.
‘Surely they would have run,’ she thought. She imagined the vibrations of her footsteps on the floorboards would have alerted them of the incoming disaster and they would have fled to the corners of the room before she could walk into the web.
‘Besides it was just a strand as the spider moved across the room, not actual webbing. Just a spider zipline.’ She doubted spiders hung out in the middle of their ziplines.
‘Not like Aunt Fran last summer.’ She thought. Her aunt hadn’t kicked off hard enough or been heavy enough to make it from the top to the bottom on her own when they all vacationed and slowed in the middle stopping until the management could tow her the rest of the way down.
‘I doubt spiders do that,’ she thought. It was a silly thought but cooled her cheeks and let the embarrassment of the squeal fade. Her steps slowed as they moved ahead of her. They were already going into the other room. Maggie hurried forward.
The door closed behind Gina just before she reached it. She knew it was intentional as Gina tossed her a nasty grin before pulling the door shut. Gina hadn’t been happy she was invited, so Maggie wasn’t surprised. She rolled her eyes at the closed door and reached for the handle. She turned but the door wouldn’t open. It was locked.
Maggie rattled the doorknob certain that someone would hear it. No one did. She looked at it. The door knob was old. One of the houses they lived in had doors like it. Without a key they would sometimes stick and she could usually pop it open by using her hip.
‘Worth a shot,’ she thought.
Maggie turned and knocked her hip into the door. It was enough to get it open. The door swung open and she stepped through, not realizing until she did that she was stepping into a completely different place. The others were gone and this room looked like it belonged to an entirely different place. She jumped as the door slammed shut behind her.
Ten til Midnight 