SpiderMoth Lives!

Tales That I Remember (pt.2)

"What's the earliest thing you can remember?" Angel asks again. Vaggie thinks and taps her chin. "I can't really remember what came first, but... The first thing that comes to mind that I can remember is..."

...

A young woman stood in front of a store. Or, rather than a more typical store, it was more so a cluster of fruit and vegetable stands. She glanced around, and shoved her hands into her pockets. With her head held low, the little lady began to weave her way through the moderately sized crowd.

"Con permiso." Repeatedly, she mumbled this as she slipped by. She was trying to get somewhere, somewhere important?

But, where exactly was this place?

She turned a corner. A young boy adorned in ragged clothing and bearing dirt on his body reached out to her. He grabbed a hold of her clothing --was she wearing a coat, or?-- it was hot that day; the boy was shivering(?). He was begging to her, and she turned up her nose at him, and snatched her clothing out of his frail hands. She got dirty look from a woman. It was his auntie(?). She wasn't related to him(?). She was some batshit crazy lady, screaming at her. She wanted to fight, and it was definitely considered, but then again, there was somewhere important that she had to be. She had to be there. It was an irrelevant place. She had to be there, or else. (Or else?)

There was a moment of darkness. Then, the sound of cars rushing by and honking at each other. Then, there was light.

Then, she was passing through the doors of a convenience store, a bag in hand. It was a little heavy, she had a lot of stuff. A car was waiting for her. She was by the window of said car, and a face was poking out, but she couldn't remember what they looked like.

Then, it was super hot. Some strange men were laying her down, and she was crying and in pain. Then, there were corpses lying around a bed, and she stood in a corner opposite to them. A woman burst through the door, and looked around at the murder scene in horror. She looked to ... and then made a face of disgust.

And then, ... was running, panting and crying as she did. She didn't remember where she was going or why, but she was. And then --

"Puta de mierda!"

...

Angel tilted his head a little. "Wait, so what happened?" He asks. Vaggie shrugged. "I don't know..." Her gaze trailed away for a moment. "Was there a gunshot, or an explosion or something?" Angel asks, probing further. Vaggie grunts. "No --no? I don't know, I don't really remember. I just know that something really bad happened there, at that time. I don't know what it was, but something went down." Vaggie briefly rubbed her neck. "I think that was probably the last time anything went down and I was alive." Angel and Vaggie took a moment of silence. He coughed a little. "Uhm, well, uh..." Angel scratches his head. "Something else you remember?" Vaggie nodded. "Sure." She thought a little harder. "Other than that..."

...

She was looking out of the window. It was bright and sunny outside, with a gorgeous blue sky and not a cloud in sight. It was a picturesque view of a waterfall falling over the opening of a cave. She was looking at the postcard in her hands. It was dark and storming outside, lightning flashing and the ground crackling under the pressure of the bolts tearing through the clouds and into its mass of matter. She was in a tank top and shorts, on a boat with some other passengers --mostly tourists-- and was taking a picture of this beautiful waterfall. She was one of the five other people in the small convenience store. The man working the register watched her carefully. He probably thought she was a thief of some sort --but guess what? Fuck him! Profiling isn't an honor to be a victim of, so if one would profile they'd better be correct! The old man next to her was being strange. He kept making these weird faces and smiling and saying things in some other language. English, it would be. But she didn't speak English, so all she heard was weird blabber aimed at her. She ignored him and focused on the waterfall they were passing. She went over to a stand near the register and got a small umbrella. She went to the register and finally bought everything. She hated walking through the rain, but she'd have to make due. She couldn't wait to see what kind of sites would come up next! She was looking at the postcard in her hands. It was sunny outside. It was bright inside --and she was inside a convenience store.

...

"Or, I think I was still on the tour, or... wait, did I even go on a tour? I don't even think I actually went on a tour, I think that was just something that I've always wanted to do whenever I could save up enough to do so! Um, but I can't remember who that French guy was. Or, wait, was it English? Um..." the gears in Vaggie's head were clearly turning, and she was clearly struggling.

"You don't remember, do yah?" Angel suddenly asks. Vaggie seems surprised.

"What do you mean?" She asks. "I do remember, I just... I just can't remember the order. But, I do remember!"

"No, no you don't, toots." Angel says. Vaggie begins sputtering, trying to think of a way to defend herself, but Angel persists. "You just went on for a good ten fucking minutes about..." He stuttered a little. "Well, shit --I don't even know! Something about a store and a postcard!" Vaggie huffed. "And a tour!" She adds, and Angel scoffs. "Okay..." He trails off. He hesitates to ask, but decides to do so anyhow. "What about the men?" Vaggie's lips pursed for a moment, but she then made a blank face. Then, she gave a slightly awkward grin. "What men?" Angel prodded further. "You were a sex worker before, right?" He asks. "So... the old geezers, I mean. Remember anything about them?" Vaggie frowned. "I don't..." She looked away, seeming almost embarrassed. "I don't think I want to talk about that, Angel." She says slowly. Angel holds her closer, and nuzzles her. "Thanks for sharing, then. Sorry to bring it up, babe." Vaggie clutches to him a little tighter. "It's fine. I don't think I'd remember much anyway." The atmosphere gets a little stuffy.

BANG, BANG, BANG!

Vaggie shrieks and hops away from Angel. She stares at him in some kind of disbelief, her one good eye twitching. "Angel." She stuttered. "Just... why?" Angel sat there innocently, his large gun pointed at an opened window. He flutters his lashes. "Oh, whatever do you mean?" Making a devious face, Angel then says, "Just tryna lighten the mood, doll." Vaggie growls and jumps to her feet. A spear magically appears in her hand, and Angel already knows what time it is. Agile as ever, the spider rolls out of the way as the spear stabs the carpet. Angel bursts through the door and into the hall of the hotel, Vaggie being hot on his heels. Magical weaponry kept blasting through the air, Angel somehow avoiding them all the way to the elevator.

"Stop right there, Angel!" Vaggie is preparing to throw another spear, but after mashing the "close" button enough times, the elevator finally shuts just as the spear's about to hit. Angel exhales and slumps down. With a stupid grin on his face, he mutters in wake of his (temporary) victory: "Fuckin' love pissing her off."