Day 25: Fears - What are you afraid of?

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 25: Fears

Everyone is afraid of something. Fear of heights, fear of enclosed spaces, death, illness, public speaking, water, fire, the list goes on and on.

Ask 99% of women what they are afraid of and among other things they might mention spiders. I happen to be one of them.

I’ve read up on the subject and some say that the fear of spiders is hereditary. Which is interesting really. So does that mean that our parents are responsible for our fears? If they had given us a spider as a pet, instead of a kitten, a puppy or a bunny, would we have grown to love spiders?

Personally, I can’t imagine such thing. Can you? Can you imagine sitting with a spider on your lap and cuddling it? Curling up with it in bed? Proudly sharing pictures of it on Facebook ... I didn’t think so.

I often wondered why spiders were created in the first place. Some might say that they play a valuable role in nature and I understand that, they probably do some good. What I don’t understand is why they have to be so ugly.

When spiders were created, why couldn’t they be made to look like hamsters, koala bears, pandas or even squirrels. I can’t think of a single person who is afraid of these creatures. For one reason or another they might not be fond of them because they are dangerous or carry diseases, but nobody goes running, screaming, when they see one.

And believe me, I’ve done my fair share of screaming. As afraid as I am of spiders, they seem to be very fond of me. My mom, dad, or brother never came across a spider, but if there was one in the house, I would be the one to find it.

When I was growing up, I regularly saw them. I saw them in the basement, in the hallway, in the bathroom, or their personal favorite, in my bedroom.

Every night when I went to bed, I switched on the light of my bedroom and did a thorough inspection of the ceiling, walls and floor. If my folks heard a scream, mam would instruct dad to go upstairs, armed with a shoe.

The worst case ever was when I literally came face to face with a huge spider who was sitting next to the light switch on the wall. She had one of her eight legs on the light switch and another on the doorframe. As I flipped on the light my nose was literally less than an inch away from the monster and in addition to an ear- piercing scream, I stopped breathing. 

As I was told later, by the time my dad and brother came upstairs and found me on the landing, I was turning blue. My brother had to slap me out of it.

Since that time, I’ve encountered a number of family members of the spider, from babies to grandfathers, and they all give me the creeps.

Two years ago, I thought there was hope for me yet when I met Karen. She told me that she too had suffered from a severe case of arachnophobia until she decided to do something about it.

“And what did you do?” I asked her.

“Hypnosis or something?”

“I adopted a spider,” Karen said. “I bought a tarantula, I placed it in a glass case in the living room, and I observed it every day.”

Was the woman out of her mind! She was afraid of spiders and she invited a spider to live with her! A tarantula no less! Never, not even in my wildest dreams would I even consider living with a spider under one roof. No, no way, absolutely not!!!

Karen invited me for a visit, so I could observe the spider, how it ate, drank, washed itself and slept. I politely declined. Not a hair on my head even considered this.

When she offered to bring the spider to work, so we could all have a look, Brian strongly advised her not to do this.

“Why not?” Karen asked.

“Because I say so,” Brian told her. “If you do, I go straight to personnel and file a complaint against you. I’m not kidding. Don’t you dare bring that thing in here.”

Hmm, it would appear women are not the only ones who are squeamish about spides, some men are too.

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The spider

Halloween is coming, so for the next three days my blog entry will be scary.  Halloween used to be about ghosts, goblins and witches, bats and crows.  Lately though, spiders have been added to the cast, which gives me the creeps.

I do, however, have good story about a spider, but for obvious reasons there will be no accompanying picture today.  I suffer, and I do mean suffer, from arachnophobia.

The following is a true story my grandmother told me ...

It was 1929, and my grandmother's neighbors had found a spider in their house. But not just any spider, this was a creature of monstrous proportions. If rumors were to be believed, this beast was the size of a dinner plate.

The neighbors, unable or unwilling to kill the spider, had caught it and deposited it in an empty aquarium. They even turned it into a little business. Whoever wanted to see the amazing spider had to pay a small fee.

At first my grandmother had claimed to have no interest in the spider; but finally, curiosity got the better of her and she, too, went off to have a look at the monster. After paying the fee, she was admitted to the parlor where the spider was in residence.

Grandmother, a woman who was not easily shaken, came back shivering all over.

"It really is a monster," she reported to all willing to listen. "Black and hairy, and so big it wouldn't fit on a dinner plate. And it has eyes and a mouth."

"Well of course spiders have eyes and a mouth," one of her listeners said. "How else would they see and eat?"

"Knowing that they have eyes and a mouth is one thing," grandmother said. "Actually seeing those black beady eyes and black thin mouth is quite another."

"You saw the mouth?" another listener asked.

"Well, I didn't actually see the mouth," grandma confessed, "but a pencil lead was dropped into the tank, and the spider bit it in two. I swear it! I saw it with my own two eyes."

By now more people wanted to see the spider, but the very next day the neighbors had bad news ... the spider was gone.
"WHAT?" was the general reaction.

Suddenly the whole street, neighborhood, and city lived in fear.  Most of them were not afraid of a spider, but this was no average spider, this was a creature of horror. Everybody searched high and low, but the spider could not be found.

Meanwhile in a local pub, Janet, one of the customers, reported that she had been hearing the sound of a bell, but when she went to open the front door, there was nobody there.  At first she smiled, thinking the neighborhood kids were playing a trick on her, but after the 5th or 6th trip to the front door, the game wasn't funny anymore.

"Take me to your house," a man dressed as a sailor commanded the woman.  When she spluttered in protest the sailor held up his hand and went on "Madam, I have a strong suspicion that the spider that was discussed earlier is in your house."

Janet didn't need telling twice.  She immediately made her way home, with the sailor and several others in tow.  At the precise moment that Janet and the sailor walked into the house, a wall mirror that was suspended at an angle by an inch thick twine cable came crushing down.  On the wall at the other end of the cable sat the incredible spider.

Once again the sound of a bell chimed through the house, but this time the sailor commanded Janet to remain where she was, not to move an inch, and not panic.

Meanwhile he slowly produced a knife and in one fluent motion threw the knife in the direction of the spider. The knife hit and pinned the spider in place.

As the sailor explained, the spider must have been there for weeks as it had bit by bit chewed its way through the thick twine cable.  Chiming like a doorbell was its way of communicating fear and frustration.  As long as it was hidden by the mirror, the spider had been at ease, but once exposed the spider had chimed in anger and would have jumped and could have killed someone.

When asked how come he knew so much about spiders, the sailor confessed that it was probably his fault to begin with that this spider had ended up in civilization.  A few weeks ago he had returned from South America, and he guessed the spider had been a stowaway in his suitcase.

The dead bug was taken away by the fire department and donated to the zoo where it was put on display.