Make Willing the Prey (Dreams by Streetlight) by Luna Lindsey Page A

cheek as well. 
Panic arose in her such as she had never felt before.  She pushed against her
bonds, pulled, flexed.  She had to run, get away, flee.
    A spider stalked across Jina’s
forehead.  Another one on her neck.  Sandy’s face twinged.  Her neck itched. 
She could still see nothing, yet the need to scream filled her.  She could not
get loose.  Her breathing grew faster.  Her head got lighter.
    She realized Jina was no longer
conscious.  The way things were going, the same thing would happen to her soon,
too. 
    Ignoring the sensations, she took
a deep breath, closed her eyes, and tried to relax.
    It will only get worse if you
faint.  Freaking out isn’t going to help.  You’ve got to pull yourself
together. 
    A tapping noise started in the
room, but she forced her eyes closed and kept breathing.  She continued the
mantra.
    You’ll figure it out.  They’re
only spiders.  Relax, breathe, calm.  You’ll figure a way out.
    The tapping got louder but she
pretended not to hear.  She felt a presence in the room, but she ignored it.
    Nothing here so far has hurt you.   Nothing
here can hurt you.  Relax, breathe.
    Tap tap tap.
    That’s right.  Nothing has hurt
you.  That sound can’t hurt you, the webs can’t hurt you.
    The tapping seemed to slow and
become uneven.  Distracting. 
    It’s probably not even real. 
None of this is even possible, so how could it be real?
    The tapping stopped and she heard
a sharp intake of breath.  Her eyes flew open.  S.A. stood in the center of the
room, staring at her. 
    She could see his face more
clearly now.  She had expected an old man, but instead his skin was smooth.  He
had a narrow face, pointy chin, thin lips, and the arched eyebrows of a
villain.  Overall they were impish features that reminded Sandy of the demons
portrayed in historical woodcuts. 
    He had a puzzled expression, and
he held his cane poised halted in mid-tap.
    Panic filled her.  She slammed
her eyes shut again and resumed her goal of serenity.
    Relax, breathe, calm.  Nothing
here can hurt you, he can’t hurt you, he can’t hurt you, he can’t hurt you.
    The tapping resumed.
    None of this is possible.  It’s
an illusion.  It isn’t real, it isn’t real, it isn’t real.
    The sound of tapping seemed to
grow a little more distant.
    It can’t be real.  It’s all in my
mind.  It’s an illusion.  None of this is real.  It isn’t real, it isn’t real,
it isn’t real .
    With each rejection of reality,
the tapping got quieter, and soon stopped.  The thought of opening her eyes to
see that horrible face frightened her, so she kept at her mantra.  Denial
brought her a sense of calm. 
    After several minutes, she
realized something felt different.  Her skin didn’t tickle. 
    She opened her eyes slowly,
expecting to squeeze them shut again.  But S.A. was gone.  The spiders were
gone.  The webs were gone.  Jina lay in a heap on the other side of the room.
    Sandy stepped freely away from
the wall.  The nails had vanished along with everything else.
     
     

     
    “J ina,
please wake up!”  Sandy shook her until Jina opened her eyes. The light held an
orange tint as the sun hung low in the sky.
    “The spiders!”
    “It’s ok now, Jean.”
    “Did they bite me?  Is that why I
passed out?”
    “No, I think you
hyperventilated.  I almost did, too.  Listen, I’d feel a lot better if we found
the stairs.  Can you walk?”
    “Yes.”
    “Come on.  I looked in the room
we came from, and we missed a door on the far side.  Let’s look through there. 
I don’t think S.A. will be coming around for a while.”
    “Yeah, let’s get out of here,”
Jina shuddered.
    They went back one room, where
Sandy had looked out the window and where they’d first met S.A. 
    “You’re right Sandy. How did we
miss that door before?”
    “Not sure.  Let’s check it out.”
    The first thing they noticed when
they stepped through was the dark wooden railing at the other