Member-only story
31-DAY CHALLENGE
Day Thirty: Your Scariest Spider, Snake or Pest story
My cat may have saved my life.
Spoiler Alert: The eight-legged beast had to die.
Her eyes affixed, and her whiskers twitched. Her tail swished slowly. If I wasn’t the object of my cat’s attention, who was?
It wasn’t unusual that I was writing in the wee hours of the morning. Nor was it odd for Skye to rest in her cat tree near my desk. While listening to her gentle purrs, my creative musing found me. Then suddenly, without warning, inspiration struck, and my computer keys pounded faster than my fingers could type. But that was neither here nor there. I’ve got spellcheck, and I was on a roll.
I was at it for hours. The condo was quiet. The roads were empty, and the rain was gone. It was the perfect scenario for creating. It was a writer’s dream. And I had peacefulness around me to prove it.
Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw her. Skye had wakened and sat, assuming a quizzical expression. Now upright in her cat tree, she stared at the wall, so I turned my gaze. I couldn’t see anything. Our chandelier cast shadows, so I wondered if that caught her eye. Perhaps it was a flickering bulb. But after checking out the light, I saw nothing out of place. Skye had now crouched and entered the attack position. What did she see?
I jumped up from my seat as a dark spec moved. Upon closer inspection, I watched as a spider moved into the light and then paused. I had never seen this kind of spider. It looked menacing, even dangerous. I’m not sure we have any poisonous spiders here in Canada, but this spider didn’t look right.
I was unwilling to use my hands to kill it, although letting it live was not an option. If the species was of the common household variety, I may have caught it in a jar and put it out onto the balcony, but this ominous spider needed eradication. So, I did what any arachnid-fearing woman would do. I went and got my shoe. Just as I swung at it, it dropped to the floor, and then it disappeared.
Now, I was frantic. The nasty pest was somewhere under my desk, close to where my bare feet stood. There was no way I could go back to writing while waiting for him to reappear, so I…
