Cackle

When Annie gets ready for work on Monday, she examines herself in the mirror to consider what students might make fun of her for. She feels there’s nothing she can do to appear less “birdlike.”

When she goes to Oskar’s coffee shop, Good Mug, Rose greets her warmly, telling Oskar that Annie’s a “sweetheart.” Annie takes his coffee recommendation, and Oskar says something about small-town hospitality. She feels better.

Everyone behaves in her first few classes of the day. In final period, however, Chris Bersten starts chirping when Annie’s back is turned. She wonders if she’s so ugly that he just cannot help himself. Suddenly, Chris begins to retch. Turning bright red, he expels a giant black glob from which a large, live, spider crawls. As the spider crawls off the desk, other students start screaming, but Annie tells them not to kill it. She orders another student to walk Chris to the nurse. After class, she cleans the desk and checks to see if Chris is okay, but he never went to the nurse. Madison and Beth, her friend, call it “poetic justice” when they see Annie after school.

On her way home, Annie stops in the liquor store for some wine. A woman introduces herself as Alex, and Annie asks if she works with Sophie. Alex “flinches when [she hears] Sophie’s name. She touches her cheek like [Annie] just smacked her” (94). She says Sophie doesn’t work there. Annie goes home, thinking about the spider and Alex’s face when she mentioned Sophie. She remembers Sophie’s offer to curse the students. Sam calls, and Annie tells him what happened at school. He doesn’t believe her but eventually suggests that it was a prank. Annie gets sad again and finishes the bottle of wine.

In the morning, Annie is hungover, but she has just enough time to hit Good Mug. At school, she asks about Chris, who is absent. He doesn’t come to class all week, so Annie goes to see the vice principal, Jill. Jill says that Chris requested a transfer out of Annie’s class, that he was probably embarrassed about the vomiting incident.

When Jill asks about her weekend plans, Annie says a friend is coming to dinner, but she doesn’t ask about Jill’s weekend because she doesn’t care. A little voice in her head tells her to “spare” herself; that voice sounds like Sophie.

When Annie gets home from work, Sophie is there with a big wicker basket full of food. She can tell Annie is sad. Not only does Sophie prepare dinner, she also does Annie’s dishes, and brings Annie a homemade candle. She pulls so many items from the basket that it reminds Annie of Mary Poppins. When Sophie offers Annie a slice of apple, however, Annie feels the room start to close in and she rushes to open a window. Sophie realizes Annie doesn’t trust her, and she acknowledges that she is not an “easy person” to trust. Annie tries to deny it, but she does feel “like something’s off,” though she’s determined not to let her own “weird paranoid bullshit” ruin the potential friendship (105). When Sophie pours herself a drink, Annie notices her hand shaking, and Sophie says she has something to tell Annie, something she thinks Annie already knows. The warmth in her face is gone, and her eyeballs seem to bulge.

Sophie is afraid to tell her the truth, as it’s been a long time since she had a friend. Annie assures her that they’re fine, but Sophie opens her fist, revealing a massive spider. Sophie says she wants to make things better for Annie. Annie tries to get up, but unseen hands on her shoulders push her back down. The spider crawls to the switch on the wall and turns on the lights. Sophie says she’d never hurt Annie, that she doesn’t like hurting people unless they deserve it. Annie can see Sophie’s vulnerability and desperation to be believed.

Sophie promises that Chris is fine, but she did curse the students so no one will misbehave again. She pets the spider, which is in her lap now. Sophie asks if Annie still wants to be her friend, and Annie says she does. Sophie vows she won’t cry, that she hasn’t cried in over 100 years, but the spider offers her a handkerchief, and this makes Annie laugh. Sophie starts laughing too, and even the spider seems to laugh.

Annie asks if the town knows, and Sophie says they do. Sophie used to live in the hut in the woods, but moved to her current home 90 years ago. Annie knows Sophie is weird, but it’s hard to make new friends, and Annie thinks she needs Sophie. She asks if Sophie’s house is haunted, and Sophie says it’s not. Annie has always thought she was ordinary, but now she wonders if she is special and just needed someone else who is special to show her that.

When Annie wakes up the next morning, her kitchen is spotless, and she finds an assortment of homemade soaps and lotions in the bathroom. Annie takes a shower and marvels at the appearance of her skin after applying the lotion. On the way out, she sees a spider and says hello; it waves back.

She heads to the market to meet Sophie. They order the same coffee to make it easier on Oskar, who seems sad or angry—Annie can’t tell which. She notes that he’s less friendly when Sophie is around. They walk to a baked goods booth, where Sophie greets a woman named Deirdre, who “jumps a little” when she hears Sophie’s voice (119). Rose also seems less friendly around Sophie. Deirdre fills a box with muffins and doughnuts for Sophie, but her hands shake. Rose seems to “cower” behind Deirdre.

Walking through the woods, Sophie points out the well the townsfolk threw her down a couple of times. She looks at the circle of headstones and says they were “old friends.” When Annie gets a text from Sam, Sophie insists she put her phone away, saying that Sam is ruining their lovely time by reminding Annie of his existence. Annie compliments Sophie and is struck by how much Sophie enjoys being complimented; it seems to validate Annie’s own desire for validation.

Sophie gives Annie a ring she made with a small pink stone; Annie loves it. She goes upstairs to put on a swimsuit, and when she hears a door close, she tells herself it’s only a draft. She acknowledges the “useful[ness]” of suppression. In the indoor pool, Annie feels something pull her under. Opening her eyes, she sees a ghost, then screams and kicks away, smashing her foot against the side of the pool. When Annie tells Sophie what happened, Sophie admits that she lied about her house not being haunted, but that she wanted Annie to come back. She fixes Annie’s foot and says she’ll take care of the ghosts; she thought they’d leave Annie alone.

Sophie also admits that she hung the mistletoe above the stairs at Annie’s house. It brings peace, she says, and she sensed Annie needed peace. Sophie shows Annie her room, and they go into the closet so Sophie can get Annie some clothes. As Annie heads back to her room to change, she remembers how scary the house is when she’s alone, and she thinks of her phone downstairs. She sneaks down to grab it, but Sophie catches her. Annie promises she wasn’t going to text Sam, but it’s a lie.

That night, Sophie walks Annie home, and Annie checks her reflection. She looks great in the clothes Sophie gave her. She gets a text from Sam, but she adjusts her ring and doesn’t respond.

Annie develops a routine, and the weeks pass. At work one day, Jill asks if Annie is single, and Annie says she is, lamenting her inability to set boundaries. Jill wants to set Annie up with Pascal, a friend of her husband’s, but Annie says she’s not ready to date.

Later, Sophie asks Annie if she would consider dating now, and Annie says no. Sophie says she thinks dating is like setting oneself up for disappointment, admitting that she thinks men and dating are a waste of time. Annie says she understands Sophie’s perspective, which is a lie. She thinks no one wants to be alone, and Sophie is the one exception.

The next day, Annie and Sophie go for lunch at Tom’s diner, and Annie wonders if Sophie is getting sick of her. Tom doesn’t charge them, and Annie says he’s the person who’s “most terrified” of Sophie. Annie stops for a bottle of wine and doesn’t bother with a glass when she gets home. She knows she shouldn’t talk to Sam, as ignoring his texts for the last week or two has helped her. She dreads Valentine’s Day, and when she feels a panic attack coming, she calls Sam. He thinks she might have called because she saw a picture of him with a girl on Facebook: He’s dating, and the girl tagged him.

Annie opens her laptop, finds the picture, and it feels like a bomb in her gut. She gets angry and raises her voice. He says he told her as “a courtesy,” which increases her anger, and then he takes umbrage at her sarcasm, claiming she was never that way with him before. When she apologizes, Annie feels a huge spider on her hand; it waves at her, shaking its head as though it disapproves of her apology. When they end the call, Sam tells her they’re still friends, and nothing’s changed. Annie outwardly agrees but wonders how he can be so “dense.” Hanging up, she wonders if she’s being unreasonable—after all, they’ve been broken up for six months. She begins to cry when Sophie appears at her door, ready to comfort her.

Later, Sophie brings her a cup of tea and tells Annie to drink it. Sophie is leaving, but she says the tea is her own blend of mushrooms and that it’ll make Annie feel better. Annie feels like a burden, but Sophie says this is what friends are for. Sophie leaves, and Annie feels the tea begin to warm and soothe her. Soon, however, she begins to hallucinate, seeing herself as “a creature, an amalgam of bones” that is “rearranging” (151).