Fissure

1

Bree was having a pleasant lunch, until her friend said something insane. 

"I clean out this cobweb every day." Shelly said.  With a nod, she stared off at the busy intersection.  Dark brown hair cascaded over her shoulders.  "Same corner.  Every morning."  

"Every day?" Bree asked, incredulous.  "You have a tiny place.  Haven't you had it sprayed for spiders?"

"Yeah."

"But there's a spider web every day?"  She wrinkled her nose at the cigarette smoke wafting over.  Bree shot an annoyed glance at the smoker before focusing her attention back on Shelly.  

"Cobweb."

Is she serious?  "Cobwebs form from old spiderwebs.  They don't happen overnight."  Bree flipped a cheap plastic pen in her fingers, windmilling it one over the other and back.  

Shelly shrugged.  "It's there.  Cobweb.  Not a thin gossamer spider web."

"If you say."  Not knowing what else to say, Bree took a deep sip of her blackberry iced tea.  

"Are you still staying over tonight?"

"The whole weekend.  If you want"  It's my turn anyway.

"Then I'll show you."  

Bree shifted uncomfortably under Shelly's distant stare.  

---

The buzzer screeched, loud and grating in the still night.  Bree looked around uncomfortably.  A few figures approached, cloaked in shadows made deeper by the old street lights.  They flickered, struggling to stay lit.  The feeble light was further distorted by the yellowish orange stained light covers.  Those shadowy forms were fifty yards or so away, but getting closer at a brisk pace, the only sound the clack of hard soles on wet concrete.  

She brushed at her hair nervously.  The humidity made her normally straight blonde plates go wild.  Leaning on the buzzer again, Bree muttered to herself. "Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck."

"Sorry."  Shelly's voice came through the speaker tinny with heavy static in the background.  

A different buzzer rang in her ears and Bree jumped.  She snatched at the door handle and pulled it open.  Hurrying inside, she cast one last look back through the glass front.  The figures continued past without breaking stride.  The one closest to the street looked in her direction.  They were far taller than the others, towering over their heads.  She couldn't make out any features, only the deep inky blackness under the hood and distant pinpricks of light for his eyes.  

Everything smelled and looked new but had an undertone of mildew.  Bree used the polished metal walls of the elevator to fix her hair and frown at the fear in her wide eyes.  The elevator stopped twice on the way up, doors opening to empty corridors.  The pen flipped erratically over her fingers.  "Come on."  She was uncomfortably her reflection would quip back.  Bree bit her bottom lip and scraped  it along her teeth as she watched the floor lights tick away.  She exited at floor 23 and navigated the grid of hallways to the corner apartment.  

2334

Her hand was raised to knock when the door swung open.  Shelly looked at her with tired eyes, the flesh beneath slightly discolored and puffy.  The green iris looked sickly.  "Hey."

"Hey."  Bree tried to smile.  It was wide and showed too much teeth.  

Shelly nodded, swaying slightly as she stepped out of the way to let her friend in.