It was the first school morning after summer vacation for Tyler Pappis, a senior at Coshocton High School. How he managed to wake up that morning was a puzzle to him, being that he had been out at his friends house all last night partying, not getting home until well past four A.M.
       He sat up groggily as the earsplitting alarm went off next to him, and he slammed his fist down on it as he got out of bed. He yawned as he grabbed a towel out of the bathroom closet, then walked across the living room and down the cold basemen t steps toward the shower as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He felt grim, since the first day of school was also the first day of testing, something he loathed deeply.
       He flipped on the basement light and his eyes flinched in annoyance, and set the towel down on the washing machine before taking off his pajama pants and walking toward the tall, dingy rectangle in opposite corner that served as a shower. He turned the water on cold, forcing himself in quickly to force out the tiredness. The icy water struck his skin and he almost yelled out in shock at first, then a second later he sighed happily in relaxation. That trick always worked in the morning.
       As he washed, he thought about the past summer, and all that had happened to him. He and his girlfriend had shared their first kiss on the fourth of July, as they laid on the beach watching fireworks with their friends. Also, he had gotten a call from his first-choice college, accepting him as a student and granting the benefit of a week-long early visitation to learn his way around the campus with a group of other honor students from around the state. He felt it was about time his 4.0 GPA had paid off, and in a bigger way than imagined at that.
       His happy thoughts were interrupted as he felt something crawl across his foot, and he looked down in surprise to find a large black spider moving quickly toward a crack in the wall, moving it’s legs in what Tyler considered to be eerie precision. He stopped soaping his hair as he looked down at it in disgust, taking a step back on reflex. Ugh! He hated spiders! He looked behind him and grabbed a bottle of hair conditioner from  the hanging rack on the shower head. Snapping the nozzle open, he knelt down as it tried to scurry away and upturned the bottle, squeezing it hard and covering the spider in the thick liquid.
       He smiled as the bug struggled to get out, only to find that it was stuck and sinking itself deeper.. Tyler raised the two-pound bottle a foot or so above the suffering creature, and bit his lip in excitement before swinging it down harshly. At this second, he felt three things happen: The bottle denting from the applied weight, the spider smashing into small gory chunks, and the hair on the back of his neck standing up in fear from what he’d just done. His smile disintegrated, and an unexplainable chill brushed past him.
       (It’s nothing, just hurry up and get out and go get dressed!) his mind told him. He re-placed the bottle and turned off the water, then pulled back the shower curtain and-
       On the small cement stoop between the shower and the floor sat a spider, standing still as it faced him, as if it had been waiting for him to come. He gaped in awe at how perfectly identical it looked to the one he had just crushed, and he looked behind him curiously, knowing it was a ridiculous thought.
       The spider behind him was still there, and still dead as hell. He shuddered, and looked back in time to see the new spider crawling toward him, seeming to target him as an enemy. It stopped and stared at him, twiddling it’s front two legs in waiting. He cocked his head at it, suddenly feeling a little spooked out.
       (oh it’s only a damn spider! Get your ass in gear and go around it!)
       He nodded , and began to step cautiously next to it, and it didn’t even move. He sighed in relief, and bought his other foot out, stepping quickly and running toward his towel. He grabbed it and wrapped it around his waist without looking, staring only back at the shower to make sure the thing hadn’t somehow followed him. He smiled, and laughed privately to himself when he saw it was still sitting there looking at him, twiddling it’s front two legs at a faster rhythm than before.
       (see I told you so! Now go upstairs, get dressed, and-)
       “Ow!” he cried out, his hands reaching for his thigh as he felt something bite him suddenly. He grabbed the towel and ripped it from his waist, and looked down to see another spider attached to his upper leg. It bit him again, and he smacked it off of him quickly, watching it crawl away toward the other one on the cement step. He growled at them, and looked at the two stinging red lumps that were left on his leg. He touched one, and flinched almost immediately in pain. His face turned dark in rage, and he stared at the two disgusting bugs.
       “I’ll show you little pricks!” he yelled at them through clenched teeth, and their only answer to him as he limped away was more incessant clicking from their legs.
       He went as fast as he could up the basement steps, still in the nude, and headed toward his bedroom.
       (ok, so maybe I was wrong about a few things, but aren’t you going a little far with this? Why not just forget about it and let it go?)
       “No.” he answered to himself simply as he walked in. He opened up his closet door and reached for his baseball bat, clenching it tightly in both hands.
       (oh, come on! A freaking bat to take care of a spider? You really are loosing your mind, aren’t you?)
       He ignored that thought and continued limping, feeling the pain grow quickly as he approached the stairs. He knew spider bites, he’d had plenty of them in his life, and he knew this one was far from ordinary. It felt as if it were growing, not just swelling.
       Halfway down the steps he felt a sharp surge of pain coming from his leg, and the bat fell from his hand as he fell off balance, grabbing the railing just in time to prevent a nasty spill downward.
       (come on, your going to get yourself hurt for Christ’s sake! don’t go any further or the pain could get worse.)
       “Shut up.” he said to himself, struggling back up in spite of the pain. “All I’m going to do is kill a few spiders, and then I’ll be done with it.” He walked slowly back down, and grabbed the bat that had tumbled down noisily. The pain was now rising steadily, and he felt the lump move up his leg. He gritted his teeth as he raised the bat, and walked toward the corner that led to the shower. Somehow he was able to negate the sound of clicking that filled the room, and just how close it was.
       He walked around the corner with his weapon ready, and gasped at what he saw, dropping the bat to the ground once more.
       All over the shower walls, crawling on the ceiling, and coming out of floor cracks in droves were black spiders, chattering like mad as they drew closer to him. His eyes were frozen as they stared in shock at the metal drain cover in the center of the shower floor. It was being popped up from below!!!
       (run!!!)
       Yes. He turned quickly and stepped forward with his good leg, but only fell forward when the other one remained frozen to the floor. The two big lumps that he had so wrongfully assumed were only spider bites started to shake madly beneath his flesh, making him scream loudly. In the blink of an eye, two tiny black legs erupted from his skin, and tears rolled from the excruciating pain. The two emerging spiders bit and tore their way out with sharp ended legs, leaving a pair of bloody holes in his leg as they jumped to the floor.
       He screamed again with wide eyes of fear and clawed his way across the floor as more clicking spiders made their way on to him, clawing and biting as they moved up his legs. He rolled over and crushed a few of them, but more covered him in heavy blankets. Before he could turn back around and crawl for his life, he saw a long hairy black leg protruding from the upturned shower drain, at least half the size of one of his own legs.
       (don’t waste time looking at it, just go! Oh, man, I SO told you so!)
       He would have yelled at himself like he did before, but his mouth was too preoccupied battling off  the arachnids invading it, and his tongue became numb from their stinging bites. One of his fingernails ripped off as he tried desperately to pull himself away, and a legion of spiders swam through the blood that spurted out. Muffled by what was crawling in his ears, he heard eight heavy ticking sounds moving in unison across the floor, coming toward him swiftly. He knew that sound! It was-
       (a big-assed spider! You’re really screwed now, Ty!)
       And he was. He pushed through the pain and tried to get himself to his elbows, intrigued by the horrifying creature behind him, too afraid to even look at it again. Not even able to, since his eyelids were now covered in blinding bites. He felt something hard and sharp drive into his calf, and he knew exactly what it was. He opened his mouth to scream, but only spiders came pouring out of him rather than sound. He turned his head, and more spiders ripped their way out from beneath his skin. He got one good glimpse at the monstrosity perched on top of him, and if he had lived long enough, it was one he would have never forgotten. The giant black spider sunk another of its pointed legs into his back, and he went limp as more of them exploded from inside him.


       (From 2007 World Encyclopedia, pg 52, “The Black Death Spider”)
       
       The Black Death Spider originally came to America from English immigrants in the late 1400’s. It may be one of the rarest and least found spiders in human history, but it is also the deadliest. These spiders usually travel in small families, and prefer to nest in small damp areas. A fully matured Black Death Spider can grow from 24-48” in length.
       Usually, they mind their own business around people, but when provoked, they become extremely territorial. They tend to attack in large forces, and kill their prey slowly by sometimes laying their eggs inside with a special sort of bite. With good warmth, these eggs will hatch rapidly.
       They aren’t to well known for living in human homes, but if approached by one, use caution! They aren’t too well know for showing any sort of mercy on victims. These spiders can be recognized by their two clicking front legs, used to show inhospitality.
       The latest sighting was in 2005, by one of the less fortunate human victims, who was found dead in a pool of blood, with over two hundred of these spiders weaving in and out of every orifice in his body. The rest of the houses inhabitants were taken away my medical doctors to be checked over, and every house on the block was gassed out. The only tip available to prevent this from happening to you is this: if you see one of these spiders, DO NOT attempt to kill it. Call your local police station and evacuate the house carefully.

The End