Into his web

I wake up with the light coming through my window gently caressing the room with its rays. As I stretched and rubbed my eyes of sleep, something felt off. I slipped out of bed,

my feet reached the cold hardwood floor...I walked towards the living room.

I pushed at the door...and what I saw...made me freeze. My breath caught in my throat.

Webs-all over the damn place.

Fine silk strands fill every surface...hanging from the ceiling in shimmering threads, through the plants, draped across the furniture. They filled the room like the work of a

thousand spiders overnight. The once-known room felt strange, transformed into something totally out of a nightmare.

My mind was racing with a thousand thoughts and questions; my heart was hammering away. How could this have happened? My cozy little living room, now a veritable maze of ghostly webs.

I hesitated before letting my fingers touch one of them: a silken strand that felt cold and sticky against the flesh of my skin. Literally, my skin crawled.

What on earth had possessed my house? I said to myself ... but when I turned around ...something caught my eye. There, right on the back of the door where it was just a couple of feet away, sat a little spider. No bigger than a coin...its body was a vibrant yellow that almost seemed to glow against the dark wood ....

I froze, my heart jumping a beat. It wouldn't move; it just hung there with its eight tiny legs perfectly still, watching me.

I wished I could look away, but my eyes were locked on it. It was something uncanny, how calm it looked surrounded by all the mess that it had made. I felt as if I was pulled in, inching forward, looking for a better view of this tiny intruder who had, in some mysterious way overnight, seemed to have changed my home wholly.

He was just an inch relaxed then, lonely with this small yellow spider amidst the room swarmed with his cobwebs. I gulped, feeling the tightness in my chest get worse. What

was it doing here? Had it spun all of these webs on its own?

While the rational part of my mind fought with itself, saying it was only a spider, an insect doing insect things, others could almost feel that shocked, awakened preconscious part of it disagreeing: this wasn't right. This wasn't natural. This was

something different.

I snapped out of the tension that had been building inside me. It seeped through the fear, making anger bubble up, irrational and hot. I kept moving closer to the little yellow spider; my voice was low and trembling with frustration.

-Why did you do this? Why did you fill my home with these webs?

The spider didn't move, didn't so much as twitch a leg, but something still seemed to change. In that room, it was as though everything else held its breath. My anger roared higher.

-This is my home. I continued, voice raising, the words spilling out before I could stop them. You can't just take over like this!

I know how ridiculous it was, talking to a spider...expecting an answer from a creature that small. But at that moment, with all the webs around me and that unnerving the yellow spider resting on my doorframe, I needed some explanation, something to explain an invasion of my space.

I felt the need to leave this place, I needed to think. But even as I turned to leave the room, I couldn't shake the feeling that the little yellow spider was still watching me, somewhere from within its tangled fortress....but as I reach the exit...I hear a voice:"..."

-Don't leave. The voice whispered softly.

My hand froze just above the doorknob. My heart was pounding while the room seemed to grow smaller with each passing second. As soft as the voice may have been it still ran shivers down my spine. Slowly, I turned back to the room, my eyes wide with disbelief.

The spider...Its legs started to sprout out, getting longer and fatter, assuming a more human appearance. Its body elongated, stretching and forming until I could not make out the body of a spider anymore. It was disgusting and fascinating all at once. The small body of the creature stretched into something large and tall, something like a human and in moments where the spider had been, there now stood a man...a man with the same creepily bright yellow eyes.

He was a tall man. His body was... a masterpiece of muscular definition; every muscle was extraordinarily defined and flexing under smooth, sun-kissed skin. Broad at the shoulders and tapering down to a narrow waist, his torso formed an impressive V of pure power.

His hair was deep golden blond in color, thick, and slightly tousled, trapping light on every subtle movement. He had a firm jawline with angles that went very well with his high cheekbones and full lips, which carried a natural smile.

His features relaxed into a slow smile that did not reach his eyes.

-This is my home now he murmured, his voice glowing softly in the room. And you are my guest.For a second, his words almost left me dizzy. Something in my gut told me to run away from this house and not turn back, but my feet felt as if weights were attached to them. I could hardly breathe or think straight for that matter.

-What...what are you? I finally managed to speak. My voice was barely a whisper.

He jerked his head to the side, and I got a better view of those eyes: yellow and sharp as shattered glass.

-I am that which you see, he answered... You invited me in, after all. When you let your fears grow, when you let them fester in the dark, they become something more. And now, here I am.

This whirred in my mind. It couldn't be. I was dreaming. This was some sort of twisted nightmare, yet the cold, tacky feeling of the web still clung to my fingers. I was awake, and this... creature... stood right before me.

-Please... I whispered, my voice quivering. What do you want of me?

he man smiled mischievously

-What I want, is for you to stay. he said, advancing a step. A web is nothing without

something... or someone... to trap, after all.

The webs which covered the room heaved, tightened, drew close, as though in response to my will. I felt them brush against my skin, pulling me deeper into the room, closer to him, as he spoke.

-No! I gasped, panicked running down my body, as I tried to resist the invisible draw. But it didn't work. The more I struggled, the more the webs encompassed me with very tight bindings: arms and legs all bound up.The man reached out, fingers brushing against my cheek tenderly .

-There's no need to struggle, he murmured. Soon, you'll see... you belong here, with me.

I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound came out. The room spun; dizziness overwhelmed me as the world seemed to come upon me...the webs tightening further, drawing me into their cold embrace.

Then, just like it started, everything went black...

I wake up later on my bed...I see the man standing next to me...before I can even think he speaks

-You were out for quite a while. I figured you'd need a more comfortable place to sit...

I was terrified but...at the same time something about him made me feel strange...safe? No, this can't be I'm going crazy, I said to myself...he reached to touch me and I immediately pulled back but then he looked at me with a sincere expression

-I won't hurt you...I would never hurt you

he was unexpected...gentle...he caressed my cheek with his thumb holding my jaw...without a warning he slid his finger into my mouth, making me suck on it...the gentle man from a few moments ago was gone...now his eyes darkened and his breathing was ragged...

-You're so pretty like this...you know that?