Page 37 of Justified Lies

Just before she opened the front door, she stopped herself—the alarm—remembering at the last possible second. She pulled her phone from her pocket and opened the home security app. Punching in her passcode, a new alert popped up from last night. It was a notification that someone was at the front door shortly after 2:00 AM. Unfortunately, there was no video footage to accompany the alert.

She was disappointed in herself for even considering that perhaps Gabe came to talk things out. Shaking her head, she pushed Gabe to the back of her mind. A latte was currently calling her name.

A delightful breeze rushed in as she opened the door. The cold air was a welcome slap to the face, immediately refreshing her. Jogging down her front porch stairs and up the driveway, the leaves crunched under her feet as she took in the pretty autumn morning. This fall was turning out to be beautiful. Crisp, sunny days and foggy but warmer evenings. By the time she had gotten her coffee from the quaint café and taken a few sips, she began feeling human again.

The caffeine pumping through her felt so good she decided to take the long way home. Savoring the warm liquid, she power walked up and down the hilly landscape. The sunlight filtered through the tall evergreens, as the seagulls and crows cawed their greetings. By the time she reached the driveway her mood had done a one-eighty.

Pausing, she smiled at the picture her home made. A beautiful, two-story traditional Pacific Northwest house, with white painted brick and towering wooden beams. Three happy, and a little sloppy-looking, Jack-a-lanterns welcomed her back home. She would be shocked if the pumpkins made it until Halloween, as one of them was already beginning to cave in on itself. Harris’s wore a giant bug on the side.

Approaching her front porch, she noticed her letterbox was open and a sheet of paper stuck out. Striding towards the box, she transferred her coffee to the other hand and reached in. As Lianna pulled out the folded paper, something slid onto her hand and down her wrist before dropping to the ground.

Jumping back with a gasp, she looked down in search of what had just been on her. A spider the size of her clawed hand lay on its back unmoving. Letting out a high-pitched squeal, sheretreated a step and felt a crunch under her shoe. Spinning, she saw the leaf she had stepped on earlier was moving.

As she looked around the front porch, she noticed them—half a dozen giant spiders either dead or barely moving. Out of the corner of her eye she saw another one fall from the letterbox that she had just put her hand in. Shrieking, Lianna hightailed it off the porch and sprinted over to the garage. Quickly punching in the code, she jogged in place waiting for the door to lift. She couldn’t stand still, couldn’t stop moving.

After an eternity, the door opened enough for her to slip inside. Throwing her empty coffee cup down, she flailed around like a fish. She rubbed her hands up and down her body, then around to her back as far as she could reach. The sweatshirt she shucked lay in a pile at her feet. Lianna took out her hair, then bent upside down to shake it out. She was still tap dancing and shrieking when she realized there were no spiders on her.

“Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit!”

After closing the garage door, Lianna tore into the mudroom to wash her hands. She withstood the scalding water for as long as it was bearable, washing up to her elbows as if she were preparing for a surgery.

“Oh, my God.”

Lianna’s heart raced at a million miles per hour. On occasion she found the odd Hobo spider around her property, but had never seen that many huge ones together. Trying to calm herself, she recalled they were harmless, but they were so freaking big it wasn’t helping.

Lianna’s entire body involuntarily shook. Spiders were her kryptonite. Bracing both hands on the edge of the sink, she took calming breaths, gathering herself. She needed to get rid of those nasty monsters before the kids came home. It was an appalling task, but they weren’t going to clean up themselves.It was unnerving to guess how many more could be in that mailbox.

After considering her best course of action, she grabbed a jacket. It wasn’t all that cold outside, but she felt better with the extra layer of protection. Next, she tracked back through the garage, grabbing bug spray and the broom. Armed for battle, Lianna cautiously headed outside and for the porch.

They are smaller than you, and you can run faster than them.

As soon as their hideous shapes came into view, she considered turning around. Groaning instead, she tiptoed forward, scared she would wake them. Mercifully, they appeared to be all dead, with only one still making uncoordinated, jerky movements. Raising the bug spray, she aimed at that one first, then gave the others a thorough dosing for good measure.

She retreated from the porch as the fumes cleared, remotivating herself to finish the job. After several minutes she used the thick broom to sweep them off the porch, and as deep into the surrounding bushes as possible. Out of sight, out of mind.

The thought of lowering her head to get a look inside the letterbox was unconscionable, so instead she also gave it a thorough spray. Whatever lay inside was the mailman’s issue now. She’d leave him a nice little gift at Christmas.

Glancing around, she sighed, mission accomplished. As she descended the front steps, a glare from the white sheet of paper that had been in her mail caught her attention. It lay just ahead on the grass. In her initial hasty flee from the porch it slipped her mind. Grabbing the paper, she headed inside. After discarding her tools, she again washed her hands and wearily headed into the kitchen.

With the job completed, she tried to stop thinking about it. There was a full day’s worth of errands to complete, with onlya few hours until Annie and Harris came home. Unfolding the paper, her hand froze halfway to the garbage bin.

Written in sloppy, red ink were the words,You’ll be dead soon too.Gasping, she read the words again, as if they would make more sense the second time around. She had seen that handwriting before, similar words were written in all caps on her garbage bin accompanying the dead raccoon.

Rage coursed through her.Why?Why me? Crumpling the sheet in her fist, she threw it in the garbage. A throaty yell escaped her as despair edged out the anger. Her eyes burned with the tears threating to break free. And then they did.

Lianna pressed the palms of her hands against her eyes, but the tears kept coming. Her body trembled, as rivers of snot and tears ran together, before dripping off her chin. She sank down onto the wooden floor and tucked her knees into her chest as she let herself cry. At some point, the release that came with her sobs felt almost good, so she welcomed them.

Sitting there until her body felt devoid of water, Lianna’s breathing hitched when she made herself stand up. Finally on her feet again, the pounding in her head was back in full force. Lianna knew she wasn’t tough enough to shake this off and go on with her day.

Feeling like a failure, but too emotionally drained to care, she searched the kitchen for her phone. Lianna couldn’t do this all on her own, and it was high time she stopped trying. Grabbing her cell, she called her best friend.

“Hey, girly, what’s up?” Isabela answered, sounding high on life.

“Hey, Izzy, you busy?” Lianna tried to talk through a hiccup but failed.

“What’s wrong?”

“I had a really bad morning. I’m sure you’re busy but I need to vent.”

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