mellifluous

arachnophobia

true fear

the kind that sends your heart pounding until

you think it might beat out of your chest

and makes your breath go shallow

thinking you might collapse within seconds

begins with the feeling of something wrapping

around your ankle as you walk and

pulling you backward

despite how you fight to continue

and upward

so slowly you aren't even aware

of how it came to be that your feet weren't on the ground.

before you know it

you're suspended in midair

by an invisible thread

that's shifted from your ankle to your waist

wondering when you're going to fall

willing yourself to wake up from this nightmare

and praying that's all it is.

lost in thought while

a spider that could ensnare the sun in the web

it managed to catch you in instead

sneaks out of its lair to see its new pray

wrapping you in its silk with long, delicate legs

comforting you as it pins you down.

"hush, my dear, it's only a blanket."

until it opens its mouth to take you in and

you realize that

your blanket is a straightjacket

and your mouth is full of silk

so nobody can hear you scream.