Black Widow

Written by Kaura Grande

She didn’t know where she was or how she got there. All she knew was she fell asleep in a tent in the forest and woke up in a bed in an old house that didn’t seem to have any occupants. The house was covered in dust and old cobwebs, dead bugs littered the floors, and an aching feeling began to form in the pit of her stomach. She meandered through the house, afraid to call out, hoping her footsteps were as quiet as she thought they were. When she reached the front door she was surprised to see that the door opened out instead of in and was surprised at the ease in which it moved.

It was still dark outside so when she opened the door it took her eyes a minute to adjust to the flickering dim light from the porch. When they finally did she saw sticky, silver intertwining webs decorating the entry way and lining the floor. It formed a blockade attaching from the wall to the gate to the planter, crisscrossing back again and again, intricately forming the circular pattern created to trap its prey. There were pieces of dead bugs sticking to bits of the web, trails of what could have been blood moving in various directions. It was obvious that whatever was here was large and had acquired several victims before her.

The fear that came was almost instant and she grabbed at the door only to realize that it was jammed open with webbing and deceased bug carcasses that lay limp, drained of blood, but still wrapped expertly in a tight blanket of web, like a final caress before the bitter end. She thought about turning and running back into the house, but something told her that with the door stuck open it would do her no good. 

She stared intently all around the entry way searching for signs of movement, taking tentative steps towards the front gate. I’ll just swipe it down, like I would do with any other web…she thought, underestimating the strength of the trap that had been laid. Another slow, cautious step and then…she realized her foot was stuck. The web was sticky and no matter how hard she tried to yank it away, it wouldn’t come free. In a panic she started thrashing her arms out, only to have them become stuck too. She tried to let out a scream, but found that her throat was too dry to do more than whimper.

Ever so slowly, silently, with subtle, but purposeful movements a  large black spider emerged from the darkest corner, alerted to new prey by the vibrations of the web. Helplessly she watched as its eight black, barbed legs climbed toward her with exceptional ease. She stood perfectly still, completely mortified, as it got closer and closer, revealing its red hourglass as it raised its two front legs and gently, softly, pet her down her face. In that moment her whole body came alive, she found her voice, she screamed, she thrashed, she cursed, she spit, she only made everything worse for herself.

The Master of the web wasted no time once it realized it had live prey, and a large one at that. Master whipped around with ease and began to put out silk weaving it meticulously with its back legs around and around its feast. If Master could have laughed at the prey it would have, thrashing around like that only made things worse for it and more fun for Master. In less than a few minutes the prey had been wrapped beautifully in a silken blanket and Master delivered a first kiss.

Whatever hope she had had left the moment Master of the web bit into her. She felt her body flood with the poison and screamed louder with fear and pain. The cage that wrapped around her body made it impossible to move and realizing it was futile she silenced herself in protest. Tired, dizzy and weakened she noticed her limbs become numb, beginning to succumb to the poison that the Master had given her.

One…

Two…

Three…

bites later and she was dazed, numbed, fully aware that she was dying, but absolutely unable to do anything about it. She felt herself falling asleep, slowly, lightly, almost peacefully embraced in the silk that constricted her, until to add horror to horror she felt the most insurmountable pain she had ever felt in her entire life. Her insides were turning to liquid. So this is how they drain their captives and leave only a shell behind.  A horrible way to die. She managed to give the Master one final glare before she closed her eyes, succumbing to her fate.

It took four bites for the poison to work and liquefy the captive’s insides. Once the Master had finished cocooning her, it bit feverishly and excitedly into the meal and began its glorious feast. When the body had been drained the Master dropped it carelessly on the ground, pulled the door closed like it had dozens of times before, and clambered back to its hiding spot, patiently and silently waiting for its next victim.