The Spider Bride

had just stepped into my apartment, carrying a shopping bag with the dress I’d been dreaming about for weeks—the dress I would wear the day Daniel finally came to set the date for our engagement.

Excitement bubbled inside me. As soon as I entered my bedroom, I tossed the bag onto the bed and sighed with relief, imagining the moment I would try it on.

Then—*ding, ding*.
Two messages in a row. My heart leapt. I had set a special notification tone for Daniel’s chats.

I grabbed my phone quickly, smiling as I opened the messages. But what I saw wiped the smile straight off my face.

The first was a picture of Daniel’s hand. His veins were bulging, darker than I had ever seen them. But that wasn’t what terrified me. Crawling across the center of his veins was a spider—huge, black, its legs stretching unnaturally wide, as if it were living inside his skin.

My breath caught. I closed the image immediately, but the second message popped up beneath it:

*“Do you see the veins in my hand when I get angry, Lena? This is what they look like now.”*

A nervous laugh escaped me as I typed back:
*“Okay, that’s creepy. Nice trick. Now remove the toy spider, it looks too real.”*

He didn’t answer right away. For a full minute the screen showed “typing…” Then finally, his reply came:

*“Remove it? I’m not joking. I told you—this appears when I’m angry.”*

My blood ran cold.

I typed furiously:
*“You’re messing with me, right? This is just some sick joke because you don’t want to set the engagement date? Daniel, this isn’t funny!”*

I sat frozen, waiting, my heart hammering against my ribs. After several minutes, another message appeared:

*“Why would I joke? It started the day I asked you to marry me.”*

I dropped the phone onto my lap, staring at the shopping bag on my bed. The dress inside, once a symbol of joy, now looked like a cruel mockery. My happiness twisted into dread.

*“What do you mean it started that day?”* I typed with trembling fingers. *“What are you trying to tell me?”*

This time his reply was quicker:
*“I’m serious, Lena. Since the moment I decided to propose, I’ve felt something gripping my hand, squeezing my veins. And whenever I get angry—or even think about you—the mark appears.”*

The phone almost slipped from my hand. My breathing grew uneven.

*“That’s not normal! You need to see a doctor,”* I wrote desperately. *“Maybe it’s some circulation issue—”*

His response cut me off, longer this time:
*“I’ve been to doctors. They found nothing. They said I was perfectly healthy. But I know something is wrong. Every night, I dream of a massive spider crouching over my bed, whispering in a language I don’t understand. When I wake up, there are marks on my body—scratches, as if something touched me.”*

Tears blurred my vision as I typed:
*“Daniel, you’re scaring me… Don’t ruin this for me. Don’t make me hate the moment I’ve been waiting for.”*

The next message made my entire body go numb:
*“I’m not trying to scare you. But maybe… you’re the reason.”*

I froze.
*The reason?*

Before I could type, another message appeared:
*“An old woman told me last week… she said there’s a curse on you. She called it a ‘demon lover.’ Anyone who gets too close to you will suffer. The moment I decided to marry you, it chose me.”*

My hands went limp. The phone dropped onto the floor. My chest felt like it was caving in.

When I finally picked the phone back up, my fingers were shaking.
*“Daniel, are you serious? You’re listening to some fortune-teller? This is nonsense, witchcraft! You can’t just believe this and dump it on me!”*

He replied almost instantly, as if he’d been waiting for me:
*“I didn’t believe it either… until this started happening. You don’t see the scratches on my arms? You don’t see the spider that crawls out of my veins? Lena, I’m not crazy!”*

I pressed my palm over my mouth, fighting back a sob. My room suddenly felt suffocating, as though invisible threads were tightening around me.

*“Then what do we do?”* I finally typed.

Minutes passed before his answer came:
*“There’s one way. The woman said the only way to break it is to confront it together. If I leave you, it will stay with you forever and hurt you worse. But if we face it… maybe it will let go.”*

The word *confront* sent shivers down my spine. My body trembled violently, but a deeper fear told me there was no escape.

That night, Daniel begged me not to sleep alone. He asked me to come to his house. His parents would be there, he said—it would feel safer.

I agreed. My parents came with me, but the unease never left.

We sat in their living room. His mother and mine spoke quietly, but I barely heard them. My eyes stayed on Daniel. His face was pale, his eyes distant, as if he were listening to something no one else could hear.

Suddenly—the power went out.
The entire house plunged into darkness.

Gasps echoed around the room. My heart slammed against my chest.

Daniel grabbed my hand, whispering:
*“It’s here.”*

The air grew heavy. My nostrils filled with the smell of dust and rot. Dim light from our phones illuminated the room, revealing silvery threads stretched across the furniture—spider webs, fresh and glistening.

Then came the skittering sounds. Dozens of tiny shadows darted across the walls. His brother shouted in terror:
*“What the hell is that?!”*

But before anyone could move, a colossal shadow appeared on the wall beside us. A spider—larger than a man, its eyes glowing red like embers.

A voice, thick and unnatural, vibrated through the room:
*“She is mine…”*

Screams filled the air. I clung to Daniel, paralyzed.

His hand burned in mine as the veins glowed crimson, the spider-mark pulsing like it was alive.

His father’s voice broke through the chaos:
*“Recite the Scripture, Daniel! Now!”*

Daniel’s voice rose in a trembling shout, chanting verses he knew by heart. His words cut through the suffocating silence, and the spider shrieked in rage.

The webs tightened around me, wrapping my arms and legs like prey. My mother screamed and tried to reach me, but invisible threads dragged her back.

Daniel lunged forward, seizing my hand with both of his, reciting louder, his voice steadier. His veins glowed brighter, as though light itself was burning through the curse.

The monstrous shadow convulsed, its form breaking apart. Its glowing eyes flickered and dimmed. The webs dissolved into dust.

Then—silence.
The lights flickered back on.

The room was as it had been before. No webs. No shadow. Nothing.

Everyone stood frozen, pale and trembling. My mother clutched me in her arms, sobbing.

Daniel collapsed in front of me, his face white, his body trembling. But when he looked up, he smiled faintly.
*“It’s over. It can’t hurt you anymore.”*

I grabbed his hands, tears streaming down my cheeks.
*“This is all my fault. You suffered because of me.”*

He shook his head.
*“No… it was a test. And we faced it together. Love won.”*

I looked around the room, still half-expecting the monster to return. But everything was ordinary again.

Daniel’s father whispered, his voice shaky:
*“We’ll never forget this night.”*

Daniel turned to me in front of everyone, holding my hand firmly.
*“From now on, there’s no more fear. Our engagement will happen, Lena. Just like we dreamed.”*

Through my tears, I managed a trembling smile. For the first time since this nightmare began, I felt something stronger than fear—hope.

The demon had tried to claim me.
But instead, it had proven that nothing—not even darkness—could tear us apart.