Title: Spider Web
Rating: PG
Summary: Ryan is caught in a web.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. :(
Notes: This is dedicated to Anna for all her wonderful reviews. You give me more praise than I deserve. Truly. I would email you a thank you note, but my email account is temperamental at best.
I'm not sure everyone will get the allusion of the spider, but hey I tried and even if you don't, I think it still works.
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Ryan Atwood has nightmares.
He can remember the day he was born or at least some hazy dream of it. Doctors might sum that up to made-up sensory images because there is no way to explain remembering your own birth. They prefer strict details, carefully chosen facts and neat, boxed-up solutions.
But he remembers the torrent of bloodstained water that washed his skin clean and the cacophonies of sound that erupted from his lungs when he could finally breath.
He bolts up in bed. White cotton clinging to him like a lifeline, tangling his legs in a net of distress.
It takes a minute for his eyes to focus and when they do, he concentrates on a spot on the wall. A black, beady-eyed spider mocks him with her crystal-fine web of judgement.
Chlorine and guilt make his damp sheets reek.
Fiery walls close in on him. The heat never really tapers off in California, it just goes from tolerable to not. Torrid embers of shame stick to him like soft grains of sugar. Coating his skin in sweet, forbidden candy.
Luke is in the hospital with a gunshot wound and he knows it could have been Seth.
His eyes stay on the black widow. Her web lacks shape; does not take up a form and yet he knows she has spun him a deathtrap.
She has such a strong weave; such a fine silk. She could hold him in the apex of her nest for an eternity and he still wouldn't be able to break a strand.
Then she would bite. The first would go unnoticed, but she would strike again and again until he was immobilized. She'll get under his skin. It may not be fatal, but it will sting. Burn. Prickle.
His head hammers with pain. His eyelids feel heavy. He closes them for only a second, but it is precious time.
The arachnid is gone. She has vanished; gone back to her mate, but has left behind a trail of venomous spit. The capricious little devil leaves him guessing where she will turn up next. He doesn't know when she will make him her victim. When her teeth will sink into his saccharine skin and extract his lifeblood.
He waits. A requiem on his tongue for when she shows herself and he must pray for salvation.
Her fangs are hollow, but her bane is potent.
Ryan Atwood has nightmares.
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end.
