Page 3 of Spinning Out of Control

I had to roll that around in my head for a minute until I stepped inside and made the connection. His house was two stories but was very open, with tall, vaulted ceilings. And there were spider webs everywhere. Along the walls, strung across the ceiling, attached to the stair banister. My mind immediately went to several movies with giant monster spider lairs full of webs. I half-expected to see human-shaped cocoons hanging from the ceiling, and I was relieved that there were not.

“May I take your coat?” Teracht asked. His words sounded uncertain, like he wasn’t sure if he was supposed to say them out loud.

I turned to him, swallowing hard. Taking off my coat would reveal my missing hand, and undoing my scarf would reveal my face. I couldn’t stay wrapped up in my protective coverings forever. If he was going to be upset with me and thinking I was kittenfishing him, better to get it over with now before we had done more than say hello. “Hey, um, before that…” He looked at me curiously, and I swallowed again. “There’s something I have to tell you.”

Teracht gazed back at me. I didn’t think it was possible for eight eyes to look confused, but all of them did. “Yes?” he asked.

“I, um, was in an accident,” I said slowly.

Teracht immediately looked concerned. “Are you all right?”

“No, it… not on my way here,” I said quickly, and he looked relieved. “Months ago. And the picture of me on the app is from… before that.”

Teracht continued to gaze back at me, and I realized he was waiting for me to explain. I hesitated before slowly reaching up to undo my scarf, letting it slip down around my shoulders to reveal my scarred face and neck.

Teracht’s many eyes were still unblinking. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking with that deep stare. I slowly pulled my right arm from my jacket pocket, letting the empty cuff hang down. I watched the connection form in his mind before he lifted his eyes to meet mine again. “Does it hurt?”

I wasn’t sure what I had been expecting him to ask, but that wasn’t it. I exhaled sharply, my left hand automatically flying up to touch the puckered skin at my jawline. “Um… a little?”

“I’m sorry,” Teracht said. His voice was hesitant. I waited for him to say something else, maybe to tell me that I should go, or thanks but no thanks, or that I looked nothing like the image on my profile. But he only gazed back at me, his head tipping slightly as if studying me, all eight eyes unblinking.

I shifted a little under his gaze. Why had I ever thought this might be a good idea? “Sorry. I can go,” I said, reaching for my scarf to pull it back up.

“Oh. Do you want to?” His voice was so quiet, I could barely hear him.

I blinked. “Uh…”

His most human-placed eyes lowered to the ground, though the other six continued to gaze at me, and that felt very weird. “Am I not what you expected?”

“I… what?” How in the world had he interpreted my offering to leave as him being the one at fault?

Teracht looked up at me again, though his head stayed ducked a little. He might have been looking at me through his eyelashes, if he had any. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No!” I said quickly, both of my arms coming up as if to stop his words. “No, you’re just fine.” I had really not given him much thought since I walked in, too focused on what he would think of me. “I meant… if my face… bothers you?”

Teracht blinked all of his eyes. “Your face doesn’t bother me.”

“Oh.” I felt heat rush to my cheeks. “Um…”

We stared at each other for what felt like an uncomfortably long time before I slowly said, “Okay. Sorry, I totally made this awkward.”

Teracht just stared at me for another moment, looking uncertain. Every moment of silence felt like a needle in my back, so I took off my coat and scarf, holding it out to him where he still stood between me and the door.

At the proffered coat, Teracht seemed to shake himself out of whatever had caused his silence. He took my jacket and hung it up in a little closet by the door. “Would you like to sit?” he asked, gesturing to one of the only pieces of furniture in the entire room. It was a cream-colored couch, made with some sort of soft fabric, and there was not a single mark on it. No dents in the cushions, no crumbs or hair on the fibers. “It’s new,” he said, as if reading my mind. “I do not have a lot of furniture.”

“You got a couch specifically for me?” I asked in surprise.

Teracht’s cheeks colored a little. “Yes,” he said.

I wasn’t sure how to feel about that, suddenly feeling like an inconvenience if the spider creature had bought new furniture just because he was having someone come over. I gingerly sat down on the edge of the couch as if I would break it. Teracht watched me closely. I gave him a small, forced smile. “It’s nice.”

He looked relieved at my comment. “I’m glad.”

“Why don’t you have furniture?” I asked, glancing around the open floor space.

Teracht’s cheeks were still dark as he replied, “I sit on my web, so I have no need for it.”

“Oh.” Of course, that made sense, I supposed. His web was so dense in the open space and came down so far in some places that I would have to duck my head to not catch my hair in it.

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