The Impossible Basement

Part Two

Still puzzled, Jane wandered back into Ashley's room to see her alone. All thoughts of that strange doctor and the giant rat completely left her mind. Ashley looked so small on the bed, more like a child than a mid-twenties adult. The irony of this situation would not stop beating around Jane's head. Ashley was older than her by a few months, but had always looked and acted much, much older. She, in some respects, was always more of an older sister than a best friend. She was always there for Jane for everything, from the broken hearts to the broken bones to the broken cars. Now it was Jane's turn as the caretaker and, quite frankly, it had her terrified.

Not that she would ever admit it.

So, she did what she had to do. She put on her best smile and pretended that the sight of her friend did not petrify her.

"Hey gorgeous," Jane said as she slid into the chair next to the bed.

Ashley, looking a very, very peculiar sheen of light green, opened her eyes. She gazed at Jane, queasy. Recognizing her best friend, she forced a tight, strained smile. "Hey," she said, voice dry. Her eyes drifted back closed. "Where's your Snickers?"

Jane's mind flashed back to the big rat and the boot wearing doctor. "They were out," she lied.

She didn't quite know why she was lying, but it seemed easier than explaining what had happened. Plus, the doctor had asked her not to tell anyone and, for some unbeknownst reason, Jane felt that she trusted him. She didn't know him, but... well, he's a doctor. Doctors know best, right?

Ashley didn't say anything else. She probably drifted off. The chemo made her so nauseous, it was easier to let her sleep. Jane pulled her little notebook out of her purse and, settling into the incredibly uncomfortable chair, she clicked her mechanical pencil.

She worked on the sketch of the man from the train, correcting her lines, erasing little mistakes, wringing her mind for that crinkle in his cheek when he grinned. The eyes were the hardest part. Clearly, the man looked young, possibly not much older than Jane, herself twenty-five, but something about the eyes... She closed her own eyes, trying to picture him. But she had barely had a chance to really look at his face, so this had to be her imagination. There was no way that eyes on a face so young could be so old.

That's when Jane realized that she wasn't thinking about the man on the train at all. No, she was again thinking about that strange doctor who stole her Snickers, who chases giant rats when he should probably be prepping for surgery or something.

Something in her brain wanted to click, but, as usual, her thoughts were interrupted by the need to draw. She sketched furiously, lost in her own mind and on the image she was creating.

Someone behind her snorted.

She looked up, blinking, eyes strained in the horrible hospital room lighting.

Douglas Fairbanks stood behind her, a sardonic smile twisting his harshly handsome face. He wore his usual uniform of suit and tie; today, it was tan with a white and pink striped shirt and a light pink tie. His perfectly sculpted light brown hair annoyed her every time she saw him. He probably spent more time in front of the mirror than she did.

She didn't like him. At all.

"Trying to draw yourself a man, plain Jane?" He smirked as he stepped between her chair and the bed, bending down to kiss Ashley. "Hey babe," he said. After his disparaging comment, he was perfectly happy to ignore Jane. Her fingers clenched around the pencil in her hand, imagining that instead of a stick of plastic, it was his neck. It started to creak and dig into her flesh painfully before she decided he wasn't worth a wasted pencil.

Ashley's eyes fluttered open and a wide smile spread across her face, reaching even her tired forehead. Despite her own annoyance, Jane noticed that Ashley had brightened considerably. It was obvious that Ashley cared for them both, and was oblivious to their mutual dislike of each other. So for her sake, Jane tried to behave herself. And not start a shouting match.

Most days, anyway.

"Hey hon," Ashley said, voice just a bit stronger. "Jane saw a funny guy on the train this morning. He was wearing a bow tie, isn't that silly?" Jane tried to keep her face carefully blank from the daggers she had been busy staring into Douglas' back as he turned around.

"Oh, so he's real then?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

Since things had ended so badly between Jane and her ex, and Ashley had inevitably told Douglas all the uncomfortable details, like the fact that they still lived together, her new found singleness had become something of an amusing joke to him. He was just kind of a jerk like that.

Douglas turned away, dismissing Jane as if she were his servant."Well, don't let us keep you waiting. I can take it from here." He settled himself next to Ashley on the bed and brushed back the hair from her face.

"That's fine. I can stick around too." Which was a lie. She needed to get going if she was going to make it to Marshall's by three. He had a conference on Saturday in New York, so he had asked her to watch the kids over the weekend. As far as brothers went, Marshall was pretty laid back. In fact, he would probably laugh if she explained her tardiness was because she had been busy screwing over Douglas.

"I was going to take her home," she added.

"What, on the train?" Douglas was barely containing his laughter. "Come on. I've got a car. I think it'll be better if I give her a ride."

Jane's face started to flush. Maybe she could just stab his neck with the pencil.

"It's alright," her best friend whispered. Ashley's cool grip on her hand snapped her out of her homicidal daydreaming. "I'm about ready to take off anyway. Besides, I don't want you to be late for Marshall. Tell those kiddos I say hi." Ashley gave a weak smile.

That was just a painful reminder of the times they had spent watching the kids together. Now she was always too tired, too sick.

Jane had no idea how to go about telling Aaron why Ash never came around anymore. Sophie was, thankfully, entirely too young to have noticed. She seemed just as happy to see Jane as she had been to coo at Ashley. Babies were cool like that.

"If you're sure?" Jane asked, resisting the urge to glare at Douglas. She wanted him to know he had nothing to do with the decision.

"Yeah. Got my guy. Got a ride home. I'm good." Ashley nodded.

"Alright," she said, hesitant. "Call me later. See you, Ash." Jane hugged her goodbye.

After sticking her notebook and pencil back into her purse and refraining from hitting Douglas with said purse, Jane left the hospital room, glancing back only once, her stomach churning at the adoring look Ashley was giving Douglas.

She thought he was bad for Ashley from the start, but only said something once, after the first time they met, which lead into a huge fight, culminating in two weeks of silent treatment. They had invited Jane and her now ex-boyfriend for a double date to some fancy restaurant that Douglas claimed was the best in Boston. Jane wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt for Ashley's sake, because Ashley had told her that she thought that he was The One after the first date. As Ashley didn't actually believe in love at first sight, Jane knew she must be serious.

But... when Jane and the ex met them at the restaurant, which was far more fancy than either of them had been expecting or dressed for, the look on Douglas' face when they were introduced... Fleeting. Unimpressed. Completely dismissive. As if she didn't matter.

Now, Jane was used to men barely giving her a first glance. She wasn't a complete mess or anything, but there was nothing special about her, either. Her nose was a tad too wide, her lips a little too thin. Her height was average, her weight always just below average, but not in a model or actress kind of way, just in a "two-by-four with small breasts" way. Her hair was thin and a nondescript brown, which she usually wore either down or in a ponytail, depending on the weather. She tended to not wear makeup, as she was always running late and never had time. In a word, Jane was plain. Cliché, yes, but true.

A fact that Douglas had been quick to pounce on.

Her looks rarely bothered her, though, especially now that she was out of college. She was usually too busy drawing or giggling with Ashley to really care, but every once in a while, she became very self conscious about the size of her feet or her long fingers or the constant pencil, ink, and/or charcoal stains on her hands.

Meeting Douglas was one of the few times that she cared. But Ashley cared for him, and then grew to love him, so Jane put up with him for her sake.

Usually.

Hiking up the strap of her purse, Jane stepped out of the hospital and into the warm spring day. She walked the short distance to the T, pulling her monthly pass out of her wallet, flashing it against the ticket reader as she entered the station. As the sliding doors beeped open, someone bumped into her, causing her to stumble through the gate. She tripped over her own feet and fell, dropping her purse, causing her stuff to tumble out and spread across the floor.

"Oops, sorry," someone said behind her. She recognized that voice. It was that doctor, the one who was chasing after the giant rat.

She turned around, surprised to see that not only was is that doctor, but it was also the man from the train, the one she had sketched, the one in the bow tie. No wonder those shoes were familiar.

He tucked a leather wallet into the inside breast pocket of his tweed jacket, then stooped down to help her gather her things. The rest of the world walked by as if they didn't exist, though they did grumble that Jane and the man were in front of one of the ticketing centers.

Jane just stared at the man as he picked up her pencils and cell phone.

"Forgot that you can't just walk through the ticket scanners," the man was saying. "Not yet, anyway." He shoved the stuff in his hands into her purse. Then he picked up her notebook. Oh no. She was so busy staring at him that she forgot to pick it up. He glanced down at it, then back up at her. Grinning, he held it up.

Oh god, she thought, mentally smacking herself. Please let the earth open up and swallow me whole.

Her notebook had opened up to the drawing of him.

"Very nice," the man said. He looked at the picture again. "Beautifully done. Well, you have a very handsome subject here and quite a bit of talent, so why wouldn't it be amazing?" Winking, he closed the notebook and handed it to her. Mute, she took it. She was pretty sure he could have roasted marshmallows with the heat radiating from her face. His eyes, a peculiar green, she noted, flashed with recognition. "I know you! You were at the hospital!" He stood up, offering his hand to help her do the same.

She found her voice, finally. "You stole my Snickers," she said as she placed her hand in his. She couldn't help noticing how cool and dry it was. He helped her to her feet.

He had the courtesy to look sheepish. "Right. Sorry about that. Bit of a thing. Taken care of now. I think." He leaned close to her, raising his eyebrows. "Arachnids love sweets," he said, voice hushed. As he leaned back, he looked down, as if noticing they were still holding hands.

Jane pulled her hand back, maybe a little too harshly. "Right..." she drawled, hoisting her purse again. She noted the mirth in his eyes, the sparkle, as if he held the secret of the universe. She committed it to memory for later. "Well… bye," she said, face still burning. She took off, practically running down the stairs to the train platform.

She had the unpleasant feeling he was following behind her as she stood among the other passengers waiting for the arrival of the train. During the second she was forced to loiter, she saw that he had followed her, and he was standing right beside her.

She turned to glare at him, but he wasn't looking directly at her, pretending, instead, that he was just casually waiting for the train. But she couldn't shake the feeling that he was watching her from the corner of his eye, and she was certain he was smirking at her.

He finally turned to say something, but the train arrived, and the doors opened, spilling passengers out onto the platform. She jumped on immediately, the man close behind her.

They stood beside each other, awkward. Jane tried not to look at him, even though the instinct to do so was very strong. Instead, she braced herself as the train started to move, and she looked away, toward the wall.

Her brow furrowed. There was a weird black thing, much like what she saw before, almost like an over-sized rat. A rat with... eight legs. It was clinging to the wall at eye level. Gasping, Jane took a step back.

"What?" the man asked.

She pointed. "There's another of those things."

"Oh, right." He frowned. "Wait. No. You can see them?" He peered at her closely. "I mean, sure, look at you, you're staring right at it. That's strange…"

She took her eyes off it, reluctantly. Actually, she didn't like looking at it. It seemed all wrong. The edges were blurry and shadowed, like, somehow, it wasn't really there. She knew if she sat down to sketch it, she'd have a hard time doing more than a rough outline. The shapes were all confused. He didn't seem bothered by it, in fact, he was still looking at her curiously, and it was starting to make her uncomfortable.

"I saw it at the hospital too." She said in an effort to ease her awkwardness. "You didn't think it was strange then."

"Well, sure.," he shrugged, oblivious to her effort to maintain her personal space. "Anyone can see things out the corner of their eyes. But this is different, you're actually seeing it."

She couldn't maintain eye contact with the man. He kept looking at her like there was something wrong with her. If anything, she should be the one giving him the strange look. But instead, she fixed her eyes elsewhere, away from his probing eyes. She looked back to the wall. The creature was gone.

"Um…" Her eyes flickered back and forth, the hair against her neck starting to make her feel squeamish. "It moved." There, she found it. It was delicately slinking its way down the wall, already nearly to the floor.

"Right. Okay. That's not great." His tone sounded more like he meant "That's terrible."

She wasn't afraid of spiders, they were harmless, and excellent mosquito control. So in the logical part of her brain, she was unconcerned. But as she saw it's unnaturally long legs probe out and glide across the floor where it blended with the shadows beneath the seats, she knew that the logical part of her brain had checked out for the day. Whatever this was, she wasn't ready to label it "harmless."

"Is it coming toward us?" She asked, her voice raising an octave.

"No no. I'm sure it's just, going for a stretch." He said in a tone that was almost reassuring. Except he had pressed his arm against her and was slowly pushing them back toward the far end of the car. That was the opposite of reassuring. Although she wasn't going to complain, she had no desire to be within any kind of distance of whatever that thing was. The rest of the passengers seemed oblivious to it, even when one of its dark legs reached out and delicately touched an older woman's foot. She had the sinking fear that it was stalking deliberately toward them.

"It doesn't seem to be hurting anyone, maybe it's…fine?" Jane asked the man hopefully as they reached the far wall. They were all alone in this corner and she was suddenly left wondering when she had decided to go along with this lunatic. He was, after all, wearing a bow tie. That should have sent up all sorts of red flags. As the creature reached the end of the current row of chairs, it hesitated in the brightness of the artificial lights. Maybe it was stuck.

Instead, it scuttled to the next set of chairs in a squeamishly quick rush of dark limbs. She wasn't proud to admit it, but she jumped back. And possibly squeaked.

"Well…" He was busy keeping an eye on the creature while also trying to look reassuring. "Yes. That could be possible. Or it tastes the void particles attached to me…and possibly you. And it's decided to come feed on them."

"What?" She squawked like a rather pale and short ostrich.

"Or maybe it's fine." He turned and smiled at her. "Oh look, a door!" he said cheerfully, looking over her shoulder and producing that same small flashlight she had seen him with earlier. Except it didn't really look like a flashlight up close. It looked like some kind of really amped up laser pointer. It hummed as he directed it at the door, and she heard the latch pop open. A gust of stale air rushed in through the opening, and a few of the passengers grumbled irritably.

"How did you-?"

"It's alright," he announced to everyone. "I work here. See," he flipped open his leather wallet. "See? Cable car inspector extraordinaire. Just…checking the emergency exits. Making sure they open properly." With that, he turned his attention back to the door, stepped outside to the gap between the train and aimed again. The other door swung open and they suddenly had an escape plan. It just involved jumping between two cars. Two rapidly moving, bouncing cars.

"Okay," He said to her, motioning toward the door. "Go ahead."

Her eyes glanced from the doors to the creature, still slowly advancing under the cover of the hard plastic chairs. She looked at him like he was crazy. With the open doors, she could hear the metal wheels screaming as they churned down the track. She wondered what it would sound like if one of her limbs came between the wheel and the railing. Probably not good.

Sure, she should be able to jump the gap with a large step, but with it bumping and rattling around like this, she certainly wasn't willing to risk both her feet leaving the ground. What would happen if they turned the corner and instead of landing in the open doorway, she smacked against the unyielding metal side? Then she would be falling.

"Off you go." He shooed her, giving her little choice in the matter. She made sure her purse was strapped securely to her back before facing the door. Her clammy hands gripped at the sides so hard she could feel her heartbeat in the tips of her fingers.

Just one step. She told herself. Just one really long step.

"Quickly would be ideal." The man suggested in an impatient tone. She swallowed and took a step onto the black metal that linked the two cars together. She knew it wasn't shaking any more than it had been, but it suddenly seemed like she was trying to tightrope her way between two bucking broncos. Scrunching her eyes shut she practically threw herself at the opposite door, stumbling as she landed. When she opened her eyes, she was relieved to see that she had made it.

With a sharp snap, the door whooshed closed. Looking through the window, she saw the other one had too. Leaving the strange man behind with the creature.

"What are you doing?" she shouted, even though she knew he couldn't hear her any more.

He mouthed a series of things to her and gestured wildly with both arms, none of which she understood. He rolled his eyes and then put up two thumbs, grinning like a maniac. Then, with a surprised look, he jerked out of sight. She slammed her palms against the windows, but he didn't emerge again. When the doors hissed open at the next stop she pushed and shoved her way, rather rudely, out of the car and back onto the one she had seen him last. But he had disappeared.

And so had the unsettling creature.