My Short Stories

Arachnid Payback

"Today you, tomorrow me," Sina noted to the spider she had just saved from almost being eaten by her cat Noel.

The spider crawled around on the piece of paper Sina used to pick it up, It almost seems thankful... She walked towards her back door, carefully admiring the spider to make sure it doesn't fall off or crawl on her. It was a fairly large spider, about an inch wide. Its body was brown, with little black spots on its legs.

"You are an interesting little bloke," Sina stated as she set the paper down, tipping it a smidge so the arachnid could get off safely. "There you go, little buddy. Stay safe out there," She added. Closing the door behind her so the air conditioning didn't escape too much, Sina walked back to her couch and continued watching some new crime show.

A few days later another spider got into a bit of trouble in her house. It was caught between the glass of her window and the screen, unable to get back out of the small hole that it probably had come in through. This spider was much smaller than the one Sina had previously saved; it had longer legs though, giving it a much creepier look to it. Ralf, as she just named him, was a dark gray, almost black color.

Sina went over to the latch on the window and twisted it to the left, unlocking it. She pulled up on the ledge of the window, the hot and humid summer air filling in. Sina reached through the gap and opened the screen by pulling upwards on the tabs of it. She extended her hand and nudged the little spider with her finger, hoping it wouldn't bite her.

"Today you, tomorrow me," Sina affirmed once again. The arachnid skittered out the window and down the side of the house. Glad that she was able to save another innocent 8 legged buddy, Sina put the screen and the window back up.

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As the years flew by, Sina kept helping any spider that needed assistance around her house, her friends' houses, or at school. Now she was a grown woman, well, not really. Sina was officially 21, completely legal to do anything she wanted, anywhere, anytime. Though she had so many student loans to pay off and she hadn't even finished university yet. Sina decided to major in Arachnology, the study of spiders, since the little creatures fascinated her so much.

"Sina, don't freak out, okay, but there is a really big spider on your shoulder." Avery, Sina's classmate, pointed out a little shakey.

"Hmm?" Sina was thinking about what to say in an essay about how to make antivenom from a spider. She was almost finished, after providing examples from the milking process of the Sydney Funnel Web Spider. She looked to her left shoulder and didn't know what Avery was freaking out about. There was an arachnid a little larger than the size of a quarter that rested on top of her shoulder.

"Oh. Hi, there little buddy." Sina grabbed the little creature gently using her opposite hand and let it wander and walk across her palm. It was a Golden Orb Weaver, one of the common spiders of her lovely home, Australia. Thankfully, it wasn't a danger to Sina if she was bitten since it didn't have any dire consequences like the Redback would have. It scattered along her whole palm and around to the back of her hand, Sina turned her hand as the spider crawled so it didn't fall off.

"How are you doing that right now? Seriously mate. What the hell?" Avery sputtered, freaking out at the transfixed Sina as she calmly walked the spider. He knew of her major but didn't know that she was okay enough with spiders to let it touch her. "It's huge, and it could be venomous. Put it down, dude. Please." Avery was begging Sina at this point, extremely terrified of the harmless arachnid in Sina's possession.

"Yeah, I heard you. Relax, this little girl is perfectly safe. She isn't very venomous, so we're good. Plus, look at her," Sina gestured to her hand as the spider danced upon it, "she is having a lot of fun." Sina affirmed this data to Avery, who was a very big arachnophobe. He looked at her as she stated this, not getting the least bit comfortable or okay with her being that close to a spider, let alone giving it free rein on her body.