Threads

Crumbling walls, moisture,

gleaming eyes shining through gloom–

the spindly legs stand poised, limber,

awaiting their prey from below.

A mother and father, their sniffling daughter–

myself in this nightmarish haze–

trek across the moss and dripping rocks,

cautious not to slip, lost in a daze.

They are on a family outing,

and I look on third person omniscient,

I can hear the pitter patter of spiders closing in

yet my warnings to the travelers are incoherent.

A pool of water appears before them,

and they excitedly dip there feet in the shallows,

the cave is dark, but the water glows

and forms a frothy bath for their weary toes.

They eventually swim in the water,

and as an onlooker, my fear bubbles up–

now they are vulnerable, having too much fun,

oblivious to the danger being spun.

On que, my fears come to fruition–

a grotesque, pale spider emerges from a crack in the cave wall.

It looks at the daughter, and she spots it back,

her eyes widening as it scatters toward her fist, balled.

It makes it to her hand, tries to bite it in its pincers,

and she shrieks, tries to flick it away–

but it's the size of her hand, its cleverness apparent

as it calls more of its kin out of the grey.

In seconds, the walls are moving,

covered in legs, spiny hairs, and red eyes–

they surround the family, the daughter still screaming,

while her parents ignore the new threat and her cries.

From every nook and cranny, thin threads begin to erupt,

shooting across the space over their heads.

All is quiet for a second, until one lands on the mother's face

and a blood-curdling scream escapes her lips, fueled by dread.

The thread sticks to her cheeks, then sizzles

as the flesh begins to melt away from its touch.

The mother's eyes roll back in her head, blood pouring from her teeth

as more threads dissolve her gums, nose, leaving nothing but sludge.

Now the father is aware, though it is too late,

and he too succumbs to the threads–

the daughter made it out of the pool, now on the move,

running from the death that now descends onto her parents' heads.

"Leave me alone!" She cries,

darting this way and that as the threads follow her every move.

"Why are you doing this? I don't want to die!"

But the spiders keep following, zeroing in on their food.

Terrified and filled with adrenaline,

she reaches a dead end.

Desperate, she starts to climb the wall,

not daring to look back, drowning out the futility she can't comprehend.

"You're not gonna eat me," she whispers,

climbing higher and higher,

but with every inch she gained,

she could feel herself growing tired.

I'm still watching from outside,

still gaping at the chaotic scene,

all I can do is watch as the daughter

struggles to escape the cave and be free.

Some of the spiders follow her intently,

as the rest feast on the corpses left behind,

finally one speaks, its voice twisted and raspy

its vocal chords dusty and unkind.

"Running is pointless, stay here with us,"

it pleaded with the girl as her head spun,

"we don't want to eat you at all,

we don't want to eat anyone."

The girl whimpered as her fingers began to the slip,

the moisture of the cave walls winning the fight,

"I don't believe you, you killed my parents,

you're eating them now, I saw the blood and the bites."

"You have us all wrong,"

the sickly pale spider insisted,

"they are not dead at all, little one."

The girl didn't like how the spider persisted.

The girl hesitated a moment–

how she wanted it to be true,

but her parents couldn't possibly be alive

she hated admitting it, but deep down, she knew.

Exhausted, the girl stopped climbing,

merely clung to the wall,

but the spiders were at the bottom, the top, and either side of her,

just waiting for her to fall.

Without her realizing it,

one crawled right onto her shoulder,

and perched beside her ear,

making the surrounding air feel colder.

She felt a prick for just a second,

and she glanced behind her,

her neck had been stung by the spider,

and a welt formed, growing ever larger.

"You will not be eaten, young one,

we just want you to sleep,

dream your fears away,

and climb down from this wall that is so very steep."

The girl shook her head no,

but could feel her limbs going numb,

the poison from the spider sting

spreading to her ears, toes, and thumbs.

Her eyesight was blurry,

her hands tingly and frail,

suddenly her legs gave out

and she dropped off the wall with a soft exhale.

She landed in a web,

watched as the spiders tied her down,

her hands first, then her legs,

then her head, the web wrapped like a sticky silk crown.

"Sleep now," said the spider,

as beady red eyes closed in around her,

"your parents are already tucked in,

now it's your turn."