text: Did you know, in some species of spiders, after mating, the female will cannibalize the male? Funny isn't it? How betrayal seems to lurk even beyond the human race. The library is empty, it feels dead. A place once occupied with breathing and beauty now filled with existential dread. My phone continuously buzzes in my pocket. I don’t need to check it to know who’s desperately trying to reach me, or maybe I’m just too scared to check. The librarian scowls at me as I pull my phone out to silence the device. I can’t help but glance at some of the words on the messages sent to me. “PLEASE” “HURT” “ANSWER” “SORRY” I push each message bubble back into my brain, but the word ‘hurt’ plagues my mind. I pull out my phone and decided to finally check what was said. 11:59 pm “I’LL HURT YOU” I feel vomit creeping up my throat, desperate to kiss my lips. 12:01 pm “RESPOND. IT’S NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE.” 12:03 pm “I HAVE YOUR LOCATION.” My heart stops beating. I quickly click the contact, the silence doesn’t feel so quiet now. ⇨ ‘David <3’ “Stop Sharing Location?” I quickly click the button, stopping him from seeing my location. The silence mocks me, leaving dead echoes asking ‘were you quick enough?’ 12:05 pm “DID YOU REALLY THINK TURNING THAT OFF WOULD STOP ME?” I throw my head in frantic circles, like an owl who can’t get its head to turn 360. The librarian is gone, I’m too scared to check behind her desk. I never thought he’d be capable of something like this. My mind takes a moment to escape to the past, clutching each decision I've made through time as if it would bring me back. 9:30 pm 3 HOURS PRIOR. The air outside was cold, crisp even. The air in itself simply felt like the crunching of fall leaves. I walked up the steps to a big door, bringing my fist down to knock. A few seconds later, a friendly familiar smile welcomes me in. “Hey Dana! I’m so glad you could make it. Welcome in!” The tall man in front of me ushers me in. He takes my coat as I nervously walk further into the giant house. “You failed to mention you live in a castle” I exclaim jokingly. He lets out a phony laugh and leads me to his dining room. “Hey guys this is Dana. She’s not like us so you play nice now you hear?” He lets out another one of his fake laughs and so do the rest of the people sitting at the table. “It’s nice to meet you Dana.” A woman, with dark brown hair and piercing eyes says to me coldly. “It’s nice to meet you too.” I almost whisper back. “And you are?” The look on her face shows me she isn’t too happy I don’t know who she is. “You don’t know me? Really?” There’s silence before she answers. “In that case, my name is Marie De Chevalier. I’m David’s girlfriend.” I smile at her, ignoring her obviously ply to make me jealous. “That’s a beautiful name.” She gives me a reluctant smile back, the same way a butcher smiles at a pig. “Okay well you’ve met Marie, let me give you an introduction to everyone else.” The tall man speaks. “You already know me from work... but in case you forgot, my name’s David.” I let out a giggle and Marie gives me a soul piercing glare. “This is Tom, Becca, Ray, and Claire.” They wave one by one as David goes down the line. Each person looking more rich and bitchy than the one prior. Six snobs sitting at the table in front of me. My parents always taught me to never judge a book by its cover, but that’s hard when the cover is wearing Gucci and smells like Coco Channel. Silence fills the air and David leaves to get the food. A blonde girl who goes by the name of Claire wearing a white flowy shirt and a black formal skirt speaks up. “So, Dana, where do you work?” I try to relax into my chair and decide maybe I’ll try to get into this book, even if it does have a Louis Vuitton bag attached to it. “I’m currently employed at a restaurant.” They all make, what they think to be, sly glances at each other. My face goes red as I speak again. “I-I get to make my own hours, and the tips dare really good!” Another girl with red hair and the shortest green dress I've ever seen, snickers. “No, no, that's really good. Maybe one day I can hire you at my dads car company. We always need more cleaners.” My head scrambles as I try to find a way to quickly change the conversation. “I thought there was supposed to be six of you?” I say. They all fall silent. A boy with slicked back brown hair, and an outfit that resembles something you’d see Leonardo DiCaprio wear clears his throat. “Yes, unfortunately Aaron was not able to attend our gathering tonight.” He pauses and nibbles on his lip. “I’m afraid he’s feeling rather, ill.” The silence that lingers is clearly filled with lies. I don’t push for answers. “Will you give him my regards? I hope he feels better.” Each word bounces off the dart of an eye. No one makes eye contact with me. The room feels empty, suffocating, until finally David comes back with drinks and food. “Whoah who died in here” he laughs, but this time his friends don’t laugh back with him. “Aaron clearly” I joke. David’s hand slips, sliding over the glass martini. His hand gushes blood as the drink leaks all over the carpet. “David!? Are you okay?” I yell. Quickly standing up trying to find something to clean the blood. His friends stay seated, and David looked frozen in the air. A man with black hair, beady eyes, and a freshly shaved beard speaks. “David, it’s okay. We told her he was sick .” The emphasis on sick almost makes me puke. What did he mean? David lets out a breath I didn’t know he was holding. “Oh.” He quickly clutches his hand, the pain seeming to have just now hit his nervous system. “Shit this hurts.” I pick up the broken glass shards, and place them into the trash. “Where’s your bathroom? I’ll go get you a towel.” His once friendly demeanor is eaten by a demon of anxiety and irritation. “Down the hall to the left.” His friends still don’t meet their eyes with mine. The hall is dimly lit, there seems to be rooms with every turn of my head. I walk into the first room I see on my left. Red light hit my eyes hard. Photographs hung on a line, I had entered a dark room. My feet turned to leave, but my mind inclined me to stay. I walk around, looking at the different locations and faces on each photograph. “I wonder who took these” I thought to myself, admiring the photography skills of this very skilled artist. I turn each photo around and see a date and time each piece was taken. I hang the photographs back up and finally decide to leave, that is until I catch a glimpse of thick black liquid. “What the fuck is this” I whisper to the strangers in each photos. Inside the liquid seems to be photographs of some sort. My mind attempts to rationalize with me. Telling me it’s just the substance that processes the photos, but I know better. I’m smarter than myself. “Oh fuck here I go.” I take a deep breath and grab the photographs out of the black sludge. It’s cold, cold in the same way organs are when they die. The mysterious black ooze slides off the photographs. “What the fuck.” my breaths come out shakily. A little white photograph sits in my hand. The girl in the photo isn’t a stranger at all, in fact, she’s me. I quickly reach for the other photographs and pull them out. Me going into work, me working at my restaurant, me smoking a cigarette outside. My breaths get heavy as I hear a voice call for me coming from the other room. “Hey Dana, you okay? Do you need some help?” I throw the photographs back into the sludge, some of it sticks to my hands. I take a minute to breathe before I give him my reply. “Y-yeah sorry. I was just looking for some, uh, antibiotics.” I hold my breath, listening for the sounds of expensive shoes coming down the hall. I close the door to the dark room, and pinch my fingers as I walk back to the dining room table. Confirming this isn’t a dream. “There you are!” David smiles. “We thought you ended up like Aaron for a sec!” he and the rest of his friends let out a phony laugh. I laugh nervously, sweat creeps down my back. “H-hey so, my mom actually called me and she- she’s not feeling very well so I- I need to go back and make sure she’s okay.” My hands stay planted behind my back as I talk. “Oh okay I get it. Do you need a ride home?” He takes a step closer to me, I fight every urge to take a step back. “It’s okay, I can get a cab.” I grab my bag and hurry out the door quicker than I should have. I wave down a yellow taxi. “Take me to the downtown library please.” The driver nods his head and I look out the window up at the giant house. Through the window, I swear my eyes see bony, pointy hands peeking through the silk curtains. Marie’s hands. 12:06 pm “I KNOW WHERE YOU ARE.” My hands race to his contact again. “Block This Caller?” I click the button and shut off my phone. I take a deep breath that gets sucked into my chest when I hear the creak of a library door. I quickly, but quietly stand up and run behind a shelf surrounded by murder mystery books. Great. “Dana? I know you’re in here.” Each foot step mimicke the sound of my racing heart. I whip my head around looking for a way to exit the building. All the way to my right, straight across the library, is a void filled room. It’s pitch black, and it seems to be my only option. “Dana?” His voice calls again. We play a game of cat and mouse and I go behind each library shelf filled with different genres of books. He goes to the very back of the library, and I pull my shoes off to creep across the open war ground, i’ve got a red target painted on my back. One step. No sound. Two steps. A creak, no David. Three steps. I rush behind a bookcase and hear the sound of shoes still creeping along. I enter the room, my hands feeling around for a light switch. “SURPRISEEEE!!!” “AH WHAT THE FUCK” I scream and flail my arms around, fighting the air and bullying the wind. “DON’T HURT ME, DON’T HURT ME.” Face around turn into a frown. I crouch down throwing my face into my knees. “D-Dana?” A soft, familiar voice speaks. “Dana it’s me, what’s the matter?” I stand up and spin around. My eyes meet Davids as he stands in the doorway holding a chocolatey cake in his hand. “Please don’t hurt me!” I shout again. He has a look of confusion on his face, genuine confusion. “Dana no one’s gonna hurt you, this is a surprise party.” He speaks sadly. I finally look around noticing what I hadn’t before, the face of all my friends. “But, but the photos.” David cocks his head. “What photos?” “When I went to get you a bandage, I saw photos of me.” I say breathily, still shaken up. “Oh Dana, thats for your present. I knew it was creepy guys!” Everyone shakes their head assuredly. “No, no David just wait until she sees it!” I turn in every direction, scared and confused. “What about Aaron? You got all shaken up when I said he was dead?” David takes a breath, that’s because we planned a murder mystery for your birthday. I thought Marie had snitched. I whip my head around making eye contact with Marie. “Why was she scowling at me then? And being so mean?” Marie walks up and takes my hand in hers. “I’m so sorry about that Dana, I’m really bad at keeping surprises. That was just the face I made trying to contain my excitement. If I had talked to you any other way I knew I would burst!” I pull my hands away from hers and rip my phone out of my pockets. “But the messages! What about the messages!” David pulls out his phone to see what was sent. “When I saw you went to the library, I thought you had figured out the surprise. Hence when you turned your location off, I sent” “Did you really think that would stop me?” I say, cutting him off and finishing his sentence for him. He nods. “And as for the “I’ll hurt you” it was autocorrect. I meant to say “I’ll coerce you” and before I could finish saying “coerce you into leaving the library, you had... blocked me?” He began to speak again. “I thought when you had entered the library, you would have seen Aaron with his murder mystery makeup on. Hence the “it’s not what it looks like.” My eyes meet David’s until the shame I feel forces me to look at the tips of his shoes. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry everyone.” There’s silence, until David pulls a lighter out from his pocket. One candle, two candles, three candles lit. “Happy birthday to you.” David begins. “Happy birthday to you.” Soon, the rest begin to follow. “Happy birthday dear Dana, happy birthday to you.” David laughs and adds “Anddd many more where you won’t think i’m a killer!” Everyone laughs, including me, and David smiles. Thank You guys. This was an interesting birthday for sure, but a great one now nonetheless. The rest of the night is filled with laughing, cake, and games. And even a dumb blanket, custom made, filled with the silliest candid photos of me in my most special moments.