Spiderweb - 136 Up Close

The idea didn’t sound so bad. Her will to execute it, did.

She wasn’t in the mood for any pestering secretaries after she got down late and honestly just wanted to get to her meeting as quickly as possible. She hated the walls of the place she co-owned herself.

They gave her an eerie feeling, like their existence was just threatening enough to get on her nerves. She couldn’t put her finger on why they set off goose-pimples on her skin. They never dared to near her, never dared to close in on her but yet gave her a stifled feeling. Like she was being constricted to one little place where she wouldn’t be able to escape from.

She hated that kind of feeling the most. The feeling of being watched.

Her eyes skirt to a camera that was hiding in plain sight, like a little bug attached to the ceiling peering down at her.

A thought breached her mind and she flinches, nearly stopping her stride to look head-on into the lenses of the camera. She wanted to guess who was behind that camera. It wasn’t a guess, it was a confirmation.

She knew who was the most likely to be behind that camera but she wanted to test it. She wanted to know just why in the world he would think he still had the power to peer down at her while he sat behind bars. Her jaw slightly clenched but she made sure to keep her emotions in check.

First came the stagger in her movements. Then later came the scratching of her eyes and more staggering.

She walked down the hallway in a drunk/weak manner, her eyes running up and down the walls to spot a camera that would get the most perfect view of the situation. When she spotted it she continued forward, slowly making her movements get looser and looser, and finally, she fell to the ground limply, her eyes shutting tightly.

There she laid on the ground for a moment, her eyes shutting after she twitches and tried to move from her position. She passed out.

At least pretended to.

The ground was cold. It felt frozen, something a hall that held 250 people should definitely not be feeling. The air hung in silence and had this very intense chill in the air. She couldn’t figure out what it was.

Somehow, in those brief moments of her being on the ground, she realized something.

In the distance, she could hear footsteps approaching her. They were quick and heavy, clearly rushing to assist her from her position on the ground. Strong arms wrapped around her and lifted her up gently. With stable steps, the person walked down the hallway and into the elevator pressing a button.

She pushed away those thoughts and laid comfortably in the person’s arms. She would lash out the moment she reached her location with the person that was holding her. For now, she was going to make use of the fact that her eyes were closed. She was going to sleep.

A few seconds before she drifts off to sleep, the thought hits her again. The coldness of the 5th floor. She had a sickening feeling that if she tried to dig deeper into why the floors of the place felt so cold, she would get an answer she would have predicted.

It wasn’t the floor that was cold, but rather her.

*

The first thought Mrs. Cloud had when she awoke was of the work she had yet to do that she left on her office table. Her eyes search nervously for them and a hand pushes it in front of her.

The hand was muscular, just like its owner.

“Here are your assignments,” the voice called out.

Mrs. Cloud’s face turned into a scowl as she turned up to look at the man. “Well look who came to see me.”

The person grinned, leaning in closer to Mrs. Cloud. “It’s always stunning how many times I have to remind myself of who I’m looking at.”

Mrs. Cloud frowned, her face showing genuine displeasure. “Straight to the compliments aren’t we now? Aren’t you tired of tasting honey every time you talk, Mr. Cloud?”

The man grinned. “Not if it’s about you of course,”

“If you think you can sweet-talk yourself out of this, then you’ve met a big challenge for yourself,” Mrs. Cloud growled.

“Hm?” Mr. Cloud cocked his head “what challenge?”

“The fact where I’m not going to be letting you get away with whatever shit you think you can own because of your title,” Mrs. Cloud spat.

Mr. Cloud smirked, a playful grin forming on his face. “Oh really now?”

Mrs. Cloud nodded her head honestly. “That and the fact that you think you can dare you to poke your head into the matters of the company without my consent.”

Mr. Cloud pouted. “But I thought you said we’re partners?”

“If you want to be partners then work your ass out of that jail cell,” Mrs. Cloud snapped back.

Mr. Cloud frowned, pretending to cry. Mrs. Cloud looked away. She wasn’t going to entertain his childish ways.

“I’m guessing a little petty argument over the way I’m speaking to you is not the reason why you came to me like this right?” Mr. Cloud asked, his smile wiped off his face. “Did you do that on purpose?”

Mrs. Cloud didn’t flinch. In fact, she had seen this coming.

From the moment he picked her up she had already figured out every way he was going to react to her.

Mr. Cloud didn’t need to be told her answer. He already knew he had fallen knees deep into her plan but he didn’t care. It was too late to step out of it anyway. He always liked that about her, the fact that she was able to catch him with simple actions each time and how he always figured it out after he already fell for the trick.

Mrs. Cloud turned to Mr. Cloud, her eyes locking with his.

That was another thing he liked about her. Her gaze, her intimidating and fearless eyes. They were beautiful.

“What are you trying to do?” Mrs. Cloud asked.

Mr. Cloud stared at her blankly for a moment. “You’re not going to ask where this is?”

“Why would I? I know this is the inside of your room,” Mrs. Cloud shrugged.

Mr. Cloud stared at her blankly for a moment before nodding. “You haven’t been sneaking around here recently ri-”

“What are you trying to do?” Mrs. Cloud asked again, her annoyance building up. She was getting sick of trying to keep up a conversation with him. She hated being in his presence already. It was worse now, that they were one on one. She didn’t want to be near him, especially not after what he did.

“What do you mean?” Mr. Cloud asked. His eyes ran up Mrs. Cloud, inspecting every piece of her body. She was clean, untouched. He let out a sigh of relief. Her fall hadn’t hurt any piece of her body.

“Those cameras are individuals aren’t they?” Mrs. Cloud asked. “The ones that are on the 5th floor.”

Mr. Cloud wasn’t paying attention to her words in the slightest bit, but he was intensely focused on her. Her long blank locks, her piercing violet eyes, her petite features, and big eyes. It had been a while since he was able to stand or be around with his wife alone.

He hated it so much. The fact that he was kept in this tiny room and asked to call his ‘house’ was simply demeaning. If he wanted to, he could wipe out everyone in the building and get away with it so slickly. But he restrained himself and simply due to that, people have started to forget his position in the business he was in and his influence in business as a whole.

His eyes sink into Mrs. Cloud’s eyes. It was all due to this woman. The one who adopted his last name was the same one who had reduced him to the position he was in.

‘And yet the first meeting that we’re had in months and this is the first words that I get?’ Mr. Cloud thought to himself. He was annoyed.

How could she always get her way? He wanted his way too.

“Hey… did you realize that it’s been a while since I got to see you this up close?” Mr. Cloud standing up from

“Yes, it has,” Mrs. Cloud replied, her eyes not wavering in the slightest bit. “But that has no true connection to the thing I’m talking about right now.”

“But it has everything to do with something else,” Mr. Cloud smiled, leaning into Mrs. Cloud.