Short Story - Fear

Is it still behind me? Please may it not be behind me. She leaned onto the door frame to catch her breath, closed her eyes and swallowed, then opened them again. Alright. On three. Taking deep breaths to try and calm herself down, she counted, One. Two. Three. Halfway through the last word she turned her head and witnessed the beast. She screamed at the top of her lungs at the sight of its red eyes and darted toward the kitchen in an attempt to escape.

With nowhere to go, she picked up a frying pan and raised it, ready to strike. The creature set its eyes on the pan and tilted its head – it was the most enormous spider she had ever seen. Its fangs dripped with saliva and terrified her. This horrid thing with eight red eyes had spawned in her bedroom as she slept. Good thing it knocked over that vase and woke me up, she thought to herself.

Lucy’s worst fear had forever been spiders. Of any size. Standing face to face with a spider so big it could barely make it through the door made it all that much worse. Her knees were shaking, her breath short and her mind blank with panic.

“That’s right, you better get back!” Lucy swung the frying pan a couple times.

Instead of retreating, though, the creature only crouched, salivating, and jumped. With a single thrust of its hind legs it made its way to the kitchen counter, right on top of Lucy, pinning her extremities to the ground with its many legs.

“No! Get off me!” Drops of saliva dripped from the beasts fangs straight onto Lucy’s forehead as she tried her best to save herself from its grip. “No! Get off!” But the creature didn't move. It stood atop her as if it enjoyed watching her struggle.

Then, with a strike of its claw, it slashed her neck wide open. Squirts of blood painted the walls red.

With Lucy still conscious, the spider began to shrink in size, growing smaller and, until ultimately turning back into Lucy’s cat Roxy.