Cassie stood in front of her bedroom window.  She could not see out of it but she couldn't escape the feeling that something was watching her through the window.  She knew no one could see into the window because it was covered with a double layer of black cloth, over the closed blinds that had hung there when they bought the house.  Her husband liked the room to be dark at night, and so had hung that cloth.  No sunlight came into the room, not even in the morning when the sun rose.  If it wouldn't be for the clocks, she'd mistakenly think it was still nighttime when she awoke each morning.

But tonight, she felt uneasy whenever she passed by that window.

She backed out of the room, and turned down the hallway.  As she passed by each of the kids' rooms, she flicked on the lights and quickly checked their rooms for anything out of place.  A little silly, she knew, but all those years alone raising her children alone had taught her to be very cautious and protective.  She wasn't alone now that she had remarried, but that caution had become a habit.

Neither of her children were home.  Her son was visiting his friend's, practically living there for the summer.  Her husband Matt often joked that their son needed to start paying rent for storing his belongings in their house.  And her daughter was visitng an aunt in Houma.  An annual summer visit, but very important since this aunt was her children's last contact with their deceased father's family.  Cassie only wished that her son would attempt to maintain contact with them.  Family was more important than friends.

As Cassie walked into the living room, her eyes checked the door.  Yes, both locks were locked.  She walked to the couch, and looked through the dining room at the back door.  It was unlocked.

Cassie knew that Matt was out back smoking.  She knew this was his routine every night, or he would be sitting in the recliner.  Cassie didn't smoke, and Matt was considerate of that, so he had promised he would never smoke in the house.  While that helped her sinuses in the house, it wasn't a complete fix.  He would come into the house after smoking, drenched in the smell of cigarette smoke.  It clung to his body, his clothes, and his hair.

Cassie couldn't shake the feeling of caution from standing in front of her bedroom window, so she walked towards the back door.  She had to make sure that the door was unlocked because Matt was smoking.  As she passed the garage door, she flipped the hinge lock across the door.  Matt had locked the doorknowb, but Cassie felt safer with the hinge lock on.

Again, Cassie told herself that she was being silly, but her mind answered back, "Better to be safe then sorry."

Cassie quietly walked across the floor and grabbed the lead pipe that leaned against the wall near the door.  Matt had wanted to throw that away and often tried to convince Cassie to do so, but Cassie wouldn't part with it.  She had protected herself and her children with that lead pipe all those lonely years.  It still had some years of service in it.

The pipe felt cool in her hand, but it also felt firm.  Firm enough to do some damage, she though.  Cassie knew full well that she couldn't overtake an intruder, but she always promised herself that if necessary she would make an intruder regret threatening her and her children. 

Cassie forced herself to breathe as she reached for the doorknob, but the knob turned in her hand.  She clutched the pipe and stepped back, away from the door.  She held her breath, telling herself, "Get ready.  Swing hard!"

And then she saw the wristwatch on the hand on the doorknob.  It was matt's.

As Matt snubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray by the door, Cassie quickly returned the pipe to its proper place against the wall.

"Oh, Honey.  You startled me,"  Matt laughed.  "Are you going out?"

"No, I was just checking on you," Cassie replied sheepishly.

"I'm sorry I worried you," he said, shutting the door and flipping the dead bolt into lock poistion.  "It's a beautiful night out there.  The moon is bright and large.  I could see the fireflies fluttering about the trees."

"Nothing unusual then?" Cassie asked.

Matt cocked his head at her.  "No,  I could see past the neighbor's yard.  No boogeymen."  Matt leaned down and kissed her on the forehead as he squeezed her shoulders.  "I just love this neighborhood."

And it was for that reason mainly that Cassie and Matt had bought this house, she thought.  It was like a little sanctuary in this busy, noisy metropolis.  The main highway was just a block away from the houses behind their house, but a visitor wouldn't know it.  Occasionally, when they would sit on the patio in the quiet of the night or early morning, they could hear the traffic on Airline Highway, but when the birds and squirrels were awake, no one noticed the drone of traffic.

And we certainly don't hear it in the house, Cassie thought, on her way to the couch.  She cast a glance at all the doors and double-checked their locks.

The realtor had told Cassie and Matt that it was a nice family neighborhood.  And it was.  There were several families with children, ranging from babies to teenagers.  In fact the next door neighbors had twins that were the age of Cassie's daughter.  No loud music thumping at night.  And everyone looked after each other, and their houses when someone was gone away on vacation.  The neighborhood was safe enough to let the young children play in their yards and ride thier bikes in the streets.  Cassie had thought she would never see that here in a large city like Baton Rouge.

And Cassie felt safe here.  Often Matt had left her alone here while he was away on buisness trips.  Not once did she feel scared in her house, not even when the children were away and she was alone at home.  And she knew that the house was always locked up--windows and doors.

But tonight in front of that bedroom window she could feel the eyes watching her.  That presence did not make her afraid of a breakin.  Instead, she felt the presence was only ... how could she explain it?  The presence was just [i]there[/i].  Even though she she wasn't afraid of a breakin tonight, she knew it didn't belong there but didn't know what it was, and that's what bothered her.

Matt and Cassie finished their night's ritual--flipping through reruns of their favorite detective shows.  When tired of watching them and ready for bed, they they made their last glass of tea, that would sit on their nightstands during the night.  Matt waited behind Cassie and flipped off the last light in the living room.  She knew he followed her down the hallway to their room, could see his shadows on the walls.  As Matt took his medicine, she changed into her nightgown-- but not in front of the window, in their bathroom instead.

"Oh I forgot to lock the back door," Matt said as he left the bedroom.

As she walked to the bedroom, she passed in front of that dark window.  That presence -- that feeling of being watched--was still there, and growing stronger, but she only felt it in front of that window.  It was hard to esplain the feeling, but she knew it was only watching her, nothing more -- yet.

Matt returned and beconed her into bed, and so Cassie climbed under the covers and snuggled up against him.  Wrapped in his arms, she felt safe.  When the hall nightlight shut off, Cassie forgot that presence, closed her eyes and fell asleep.

 

Cassie stretched and felt for Matt in bed, but he had already gotten up.  A glance at the clock and she knew she had overslept.  How could she oversleep, she laughed.  It was summer break, after all.  Cassie got dressed and took care of her morning beauty routine.  Each time she passed in front of her bedroom window, she felt the eyes upon her--but only there.  She didn't feel it anywhere else in the room, and certainly not in front of Matt's window. 

She thought a few times that she would peek out the window, but as she got closer to it, the feeling of uneasiness would strengthen.  Whatever it was, it scared her.

Matt liked the room dark so he could sleep better, he said.  The windows already had blinds on them.  But he said the blinds weren't enough to keep out the light during the early mornings, and so would wake him up too early.  He covered the blinds with a double layer of thick black sheets and tacked them along the sides, too, so that the light wouldn't leak through.  They certainly kept the light out of the room.  They needed a nightlight so they could see at night to walk to the bathroom, and so Matt had installed a motion nightlight in their room, and also in the hallway.  But they apparently were also good at keeping other things out as well.

Cassie inhaled slowly and carefully reached over to remove two of the tacks from the black sheet.  She leaned in close to the walk and slowly and quietly parted the sheets and then the blinds and peered out.  Nothing.  Nothing but sunlight.  She turned her head as best she could, and she could make out Matt's legs on the patio.  He seemed to be sitting in his smoking chair. 

Cassie replaced the tacks and straightened up.  The feeling of imminent danger was still there as she stood at that window.  Cassie didn't understand why she felt like the window was watching her, but she did.

Cassie left the bedroom to go find Matt.  He wasn't in his reclinder, so he was still outside.  She walked to the back window.  Spreading the blinds, she peeked out.  There he was, sitting in the lawn chair, smoking.  Cassie decided to join him.

"Morning, Honey," he said glancing as she stepped out onto the patio.

"Morning, Sweetie."

"It looks like another hot day."

Cassie looked off the porch at the back yard.  It was a bright, sunny day and the birds were already loving it.  They were singing from the trees.  Every now and then one would fly down to the ground, chasing an insect that would be food for its young.  Cassie noticed that her gardens were doing well.  The yellow flowers bloomed again.  She followed the hose that was on the ground by the garden, up the yard, and passed her window. 

"I see you've already watered the plants," she commented.  Perhaps it was Matt crossing by the window that she had sensed.

"Nah,"  Matt replied as he crushed out his cigarette.  "I watered them yesterday.  Forgot to put away the hose.  Sorry, Hon."  He stood up.  "I've just been sitting here enjoying nature."  He hugged and kissed her.

Just sitting here, she echoed in her mind.

Cassie looked at her bedroom window.  it was only five feet from where Matt would sit and smoke.  He certainly would know if someone had been peeking into her bedroom window.  From here she could see there was no one there.  From here, she could still sence the presence.

Cassie studied her window.  There was something suspended in front of her window, something that hadn't been there yesterday when they were working out in the yard.  She walked over and realized it was a spider web.  Dead center was a huge spider, one Cassie had never seen before.  Its golden-brown elongated body was about 2 inches long.  Each of its eight black legs had bright yellow stripes on it.  It kind of reminded her of the fruit spiders that would build their webs in the fruit trees by her great grandma's house, but it wasn't quite the same.  It  guarded several egg sacs, and as Cassie stared at it, fascinated by a spider she had never seen before, she could feel that feeling of being watched emanating from it and she knew at once that this large spider was the source of her being stalked.

"Sweetie, there's a spider over here on my window.  I've never seen one like it."

"Oh yeah?"  Matt peered at the spider.  "It certainly is different."  He turned to walk away.

"Uh... Honey, the spider?"

"What?  Do you want me to kill it?" he asked, smiling at her.

And in that instant Cassie knew that this was no ordinary spider.  Her gut told her--begged her... It had to be destroyed!

"Yes!  Kill it!"  she could hear her voice growing shrill.  "I don't want it on my window."

Cassie couldn't believe she was reacting this way, panicking, but that spider had to go.

So Matt walked over to kill the spider, her brave knight.  He took a swing at the web with his arm. 

"Don't touch it!"  Cassie screamed.  "It could be poisonous!"

Cassie didn't know if it was poisonous enough to kill a human, but her gut knew it was dangerous.

So Matt took his shoe off, sung at the web, and splatted the spider on the ground.

"There!  It's dead,"  Matt said, wiping his shoe on the grass.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure," he hugged her.  "Would your knight in shining armor lie to you?  Now let's have breakfast.  I'm starving."

He held the door open for her, but Cassie paused in the doorway. 

"But what about the egg sacs, Matt?  Did you kill them, too?"

"I guess I did," he shrugged.  "They're not there anymore."

But  Cassie knew that spider sacs could hold hundreds of babies.

And where was the spider's mate?