Swarm of Spiders

It was my first night in the new house. Stefan had left on business the day after our wedding, leaving me to move into our new house alone. As tiring as the whole process was I still found myself laying awake, unable to make the transition from our world to the dreamland. Maybe the insomnia was due to the uneasy feeling this house gave me. It was a beautiful house of course, a two story, Spanish-style place nestled on one acre over looking the Gulf of Mexico. Florida itself was always beautiful if you could get over the awful heat and humidity.


I can't quiet understand, let alone explain why the house made me feel so odd. I lay there awake for a while wondering why I felt that way, why my heart beat faster and my palms sweat. After countless minutes of wondering, my brain finally came to the conclusion that there was nothing to worry about. My heart slowed, my palms dried and I no longer knew if I was dreaming or awake. All the day dreams weaved their way into the regular dreams. I felt an itch on my ankle, but I was too tired to move and scratch it. Then sleep took over unable to resist any longer.


The first rays of hot sunlight made their way through the lace curtains around six-thirty. The heat soon made it too hot to sleep any longer. I opened my eyes slowly, feeling ill and disoriented. I tried to swallow, with no success, probably due to my extremely dry mouth. I sat up slowly and pulled the covers back. What I saw made me forget all about getting a drink. Dozens of large black spiders were speeding around all over my legs. The blood curdling scream lasted from the first moment I saw the spiders until, after frantically brushing off every inch of my body, I ran down the stairs to the kitchen.


As tears ran down my face I went to get some water. I sat down at the kitchen table and sipped it slowly trying to calm down and regain control of my shaking hands. After the cup was empty and I could breathe regularly again I pulled up my pajama legs to see of any of the spiders had bitten me. Somehow I had escaped bite-free. The very thought of something with all of those legs and all those eyes made my very skin crawl to the point where I had to check and make sure there weren't any more spiders crawling on me. I got up from the table to cross the kitchen where the phone was. I would have to call Stefan's cell phone and leave him a message explaining that I was going to go to the hardware store to buy a few bug bombs to rid our new home of the infestation of spiders. He knew that I was terrified of them and that I would not return until they were gone.


After I made the call I rummaged through a few of the boxes still left unpacked in the living room. Luckily I found a box of clothes that never made it to the bedroom. Once I had extracted an old pair of sweats and one of my husband's too large T-shirts, I hurried to get dressed and as far away from the infestation as possible. Once inside my car I was introduced to the breathtakingly hot, humid Florida heat. As I rolled down the passenger window I spotted the neighbor walking across her lawn toward my car. "Great", I thought, "I look like a total wreak, I haven't even showered yet." But as I took in her appearance, I started to feel slightly better. She had a mass of salt-and-pepper hair that fell to the sholders of her extreamly tattered looking housecoat. I put on my most convincing smile as she approached the window, I extended my hand and shook hers.


"Hello, my name is Jennifer Clark. My husband and I just bought this house last week." I pulled my hand back into the window, and sat waiting for her to reply.


She looked at me as if she could see through me. After several seconds of silence she smiled and said "Hi, I'm Esme Perkins from next door. I've been meaning to talk to you about the house but I figured you would be busy unpacking and all."


Her voice was raspy, sounding as if she had smoked two packs a day for many years. She seemed nice enough and I was curious to see what she had to say about the house, but that could wait until the bombs were set and my house was bug-free.


"It's nice to meet you Esme but now is not a really good time. I'm off to the hardware store to buy some bug bombs. There is a terrible infestation of---."


"The bombs won't help with the spiders Jenny."


I was momentarily stunned, why wouldn't the bombs work? On second thought, did I even mention the spiders?

"How did you know about the spiders?" I asked looking at her suspiciously.


"I am a seer of future and past. If you would just give me a moment of your time I can explain everything."


Now I was completely confused. Seer of future and past? How did she know about the spiders? Did she see it in her crystal ball? After a few seconds of consideration I decided I needed answers. Five minutes later I was seated in Esme's living room with a cup of cool iced tea in my hands. After a few sips I mustered up the courage to ask the questions I needed answered.


"Esme, how did you know about the spiders?"

"I know about them from two different resources. The first is an old Indian legend belonging to the Mikataw Indians. The second is because I saw something in a vision before you moved here."


She looked at me as if gauging my reaction. The fact that she claimed to have a vision was completely ridiculous and I wasn't about to encourage her behavior but, to be polite, I ignored the part about the vision and asked about the legend. She smiled, pleased that I seemed to be taking her seriously and began to tell me the legend.


"Many years ago when this land was home to the Mikataw Indians there lived a man whose name I do not know. He was rumored to be a great chief, I belive. Anyway, he was a very promiscuous man, he stayed single for years laying down with various woman every night. One day in the village he saw the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on, and or course, that night it was her who he lay with. Not knowing of his reputation the young woman was shocked and angry the next morning when he told her to leave. She caused a big scene and lay a curse upon his home in front of the entire reservation.


"She left after that, but the next morning the chief's body was found in his bed, he was covered in millions of spider bites."


After the story I politely excused myself, walked to my car and laughed all the way to the hardware store. How could someone possibly believe that rubbish? As I bought my bombs and rode home to set them my mind was on the legend. Was there any possibility that it could be true? It certainly sounded fictitious. The bombs required you to be out of the house for two hours after you set them off, so I spent the next two hours working in my new garden. After I was finished I went up stairs to take a shower confident that all the spiders would be gone. As I opened the bathroom door I was proved wrong. Millions of the disgusting creatures were running all around in my bathtub. Somehow this time when I ran I ended up at Esme's house.


She opened the door and saw the terrified expression on my face and said at once "I told you that the damn bombs wouldn't work. Now do you want my help?"


I graciously accepted and thanked her as she bent over the kitchen table writing on a pad. She handed me the paper after a few seconds.


"Now go home. So what the paper says and you will be fine."


"And if I'm not?" I asked suddenly even more terrified than before.

"You will be, I promise. It will work." With that she pushed me out the door and I broke off in a run toward home.
The instructions were simple. Light a black candle, so I did. Then I had to repeat seven times "I banish all negativity in my home. Break any and all curses. Set it in stone."


After I was finished everything felt exactly the same. No big flashes or bangs or anything of the sort. I was suddenly very tired and walked over to the couch to lie down. After all. I'd never seen spiders down here. Just as the day before the sun woke me with scorching heat on my face. Praying that the spiders would be gone I still maintained the fact that it was scientifically impossible so they probably wouldn't be. So when I opened the bathroom door I was surprised to find it spider free. Still not completely convinced, I jumped with joy when the bedroom was rid of them too. I ran all they way to Esme's house to tell her the good news.