he kept meticulous notes in the small black book in his jacket pocket, written in code only he knew the cipher to

to the normal person it would seem random dots and squiggles

but to him it was the key to everything

the secrets of the universe, of god, of man

and of terrible hunger

he sat at the coffee shop in the mall and watched people all day, sipping a cold coffee he didn’t taste and jotting notes

the baristas called him the spider

his slight calculated movements, silent and staring as if feeling for vibrations in the invisible web only he could see

little did they know how apt the description was

she walked past with her face staring at her phone

he clicked his pen and slid it and the notebook into his pocket and casually stood

he slowly followed her as she roamed throughout the stores picking up items and placing them back on the racks

she was unaware of him but every now and then she felt a tingle on the back of her neck, a sense of unease

but the fly rarely sees the spider before it is too late

and she is more butterfly than fly

but prey is prey, pretty or not in the eyes of the predator

she leaves the mall and makes her way into the parking garage

she pull the fob from her purse and the lights flash on her car as the doors unlock

before she can grab the handle an arm snakes around her chest and another holds a cloth to her face

she tries to fight but breathes in the fumes of the rag and the world grows fuzzy

with efficiency she is loaded into the panel van for the last ride she will ever take

weeks later her remains will be found in a park in the outskirts of town

two days later he will be back at the mall, making strange marks from the couch of the shop, sipping cold coffee and waiting

watching the threads of the web, and waiting for the vibrations of suitable prey that falls into the right parameters

until then he waits, as the hunger and need grows, he is patient, so very patient