* WARNING - you've probably guessed from the title and graphics, this story is about SPIDERS.*

Diana Lynch loved Halloween. She loved dressing up in pretty, sexy costumes, and decorating the house and having tons of people over, and playing hostess-it was so much fun!

The best part was the shopping. And this was shopping she and Mart could do together. Mart loved Halloween too, and the ooky, spooky, scary things he could get to terrify his sister and kid brother.

Mart set the emergency brake on the car and they got out, locking the doors. As they held hands, walking into the big Halloween store, Diana couldn’t help but smile. She had already ordered her costume, a sexy Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz costume. Mart was going to be the Tin Man.

As Mart held the door open for her, Diana saw the giant display of spiders near the inner door and repressed a shudder. She hated spiders, especially giant, furry looking ones with glowing eyes.

And ever since she had squashed that giant, hairy spider near that back door last week, she was positive she had been seeing them everywhere, scuttling around, out of the corner of her eye. She had even had a nightmare the other day about the spider’s ghost coming back to haunt her.

So now, she purposely turned her head so she wouldn’t look at them, she walked through the inner door, Mart right behind her, and under the arch.

The giant spiders lunged out at her and Diana screamed, starling a child nearby and causing the employees to burst into laughter.

“Di!” Mart grabbed her and pulled her away from the giant spiders that were waving their legs, and retracting back, eyes flashing.

Di couldn’t breathe, her lungs constricted and she waved her hands in front of her face.

“Breathe, my beautiful, breathe. Hey, can one of you dunderheads get over here with some water, please, before I call 911?” he shouted.

One of the employees, looking worried, hurried over. “She okay?”

“Does she look okay?” Mart snapped. Diana’s lovely face had gone ashen, her eyes glassy.

“Johnny, get me some water from the vending machine!” he called over his shoulder. “Here, she can sit over here.”

Five minutes later, with a cold water bottle half finished, Diana’s breathing was slower and her color back to normal.

“I’m awfully sorry about that, miss. No one’s ever reacted that badly.”

“Not funny,” Diana murmured.

“Do you want to go?” Mart asked gently.

She shook her head. “No, we have shopping to do. Is there anything else like that around here?”

The employee shook his head. “A couple of small things but that’s the biggie.”

A few moments later, they were browsing, picking out decorations and planning for the party.

***

That evening, worn out from the scare and their shopping trip, Diana stretched out on the sofa for a nap. The terrifying incident at the store had left her shaky, even after a burger and milkshake at Wimpy’s, and she wanted to just relax for a while. Her twin brothers were with Bobby over at Crabapple farm, and the girls were over a friend’s, so Di had the house to herself.

With a smile at the quiet, she quickly fell asleep, telling herself she would only sleep for a few moments.

When she woke, the house was dark, and quiet. Sitting up, she stretched, and turned on the light.

Out of the corner of her eye, something skittered into the shadows, and Di jumped. She shook her head, clearing it of sleepy thoughts.

Standing up from the sofa, Di started towards the kitchen when a noise caught her ear. She paused, listening, then dismissed it. She was just jumpy after the spiders at the store, she told herself.

Continuing into the kitchen, she decided it was time for a snack. Maybe some grapes and Havarti cheese. That should hit the spot.

Flipping on the light, she whipped her head to the side when she again spotted something out of the corner of her eye. Frowning, she reached for the refrigerator handle and pulled.

And gasped when she saw the large black spider sitting in the fridge. Slamming the door shut, she closed her eyes and counted to ten.

“I’m imagining things,” she muttered. “That damn store! I’m going to call their corporate headquarters tomorrow. This is ridiculous; they’ve got me shaking like a little girl!”

She opened her eyes and opened the refrigerator again. There was no spider. Exhaling with relief, she removed the grapes and cheese and took them to the counter. Stepping to the sink, she sprayed the grapes with fruit wash and rubbed them gently before turning on the water.

Three small spiders crawled quickly out of the sink and Di dropped the grapes, backing away from the sink.

“No way,” she whispered.

They crawled up from the sink onto the counter and stopped, watching her.

“Get out of my kitchen!” she squeaked in terror. “I haven’t done anything to you!”

The spiders ran down the side of the counter and disappeared.

Trembling, Di didn’t move for several moments. What in the world was going on? Why were there suddenly spiders in the kitchen?

Gingerly, she reached into the sink and picked up the grapes. She rinsed them thoroughly and set them on a paper towel to dry. Removing a knife from the knife block, she began to slice cheese, but she wasn’t even sure she was hungry now.

Her snack on a plate, she carried it back to the living room, and sat on the sofa carefully, looking around. Picking up the remote, she turned on the tv. Immediately, she changed the channel when she saw the documentary on spiders. Next channel was that god awful movie from the 90s about spiders. Another documentary about spiders. And a B movie. What was going on?

She turned off the tv, and felt the panic starting to rise in her chest. Maybe she should call Mart over. They could cuddle on the sofa, and she’d feel better. He’d soothe her worry, use some big words, and everything would be okay.

“Diaaaaaaanaaaaa…” she heard the soft hiss.

As she reached for the phone, she heard the skittering noise behind her, and she froze. Barely breathing, she finally moved, slowly, and turned, looking over the sofa edge.

Diana screamed louder than she had ever screamed before at the giant, three foot spider behind her sofa. It was big, it was black, and it was hairy. With red glowing eyes, it opened it jaws and clicked them at her.

Screaming, Di bolted from the sofa and ran for the kitchen. She slammed the kitchen door behind her, shoving chairs in front of it. She knew it wouldn’t hold. A spider that big would be strong.

Diana wanted to puke. What sort of horror movie was she trapped in? She looked down and gasped. Miniature spiders were flooding into the room. Thank God she had her shoes on still. She began stepping on them, ignoring the miniscule squeaks as she crushed the tiny bodies. But they kept coming.

And down the hall came the clicking, the skittering, and some sort of hissing and wheezing noise. The big one.

“Diiiiiiiannnnaaaa…” it hissed.

Diana ran to the knife block and pulled out the big cleaver. She’d give anything for Dan’s axe right about now. Preferably with Dan attached to it to swing it. Or Jim and his shotgun. Any of the boys, with any weapons. Ragan, Tom, she didn’t care which one. The phone was on the other side of the kitchen, near the door. She didn’t have time to call anyone; Spiderella was at the door, trying to push its way through.

“Ssssquassssh me…my children eeeeeeatsssss youuuuuu…”

“Go away!” she shouted. “Get out of my house! I have nothing for you!”

“Feeeeeasssssssssst on yourrrrrr flesssssshhh…”

“No, you won’t!” she shouted.

The tiny spiders were swarming around her feet. She resumed stamping and jumping on them, but the floor was rapidly turning black with their tiny bodies.

Diana opened the cabinets and grabbed the floor cleaner. Uncapping it she began pouring undiluted Lysol on the floor. It helped; the spiders that weren’t washed away in the stream began retreating. Di’s eyes stung from the powerful fumes. She grabbed the bleach. She hated the stuff but she’d use it.

As the door began to open from the strength of the spider, she found a bottle of Raid. Perfect. She set it on the counter. What else was in here? She pulled out everything and set it on the counter. If she blew up the house, insurance would cover it.

One large, hairy black leg came through the space in the door. Bravely, Diana ran forward, wielding her cleaver and struck at it, severing the limb. The giant spider screamed as its leg was severed, and retreated.

“…my chillllldren will avennnge meeee…eeeeeatsssss you…” the ghostly voice continued.

Diana’s victory was short lived, as this sent the smaller spiders into a frenzy towards her. She darted back to the sink, opened the bleach, and dumped it on the floor. She was saving the Raid for the big one.

She began opening drawers, looking for more potential weapons. Matches, lighter, she tossed them on the sink. More knives, large serving forks, those could be useful for stabbing, she thought. A small butane torch for making crème brulee sugared tops. Diana set it on the counter.

The door crashed opened and the giant spider barreled in.

Diana screamed. She couldn’t help it. The spider was bigger than she first thought, its missing leg was dripping blood and its red eyes glowed with hatred at her. It had to be five, maybe 6 feet long in the body itself, she thought dimly as it came towards her.

She grabbed the can of Raid and held down the trigger, spraying it right in the eyes of the angry arachnid, whose jaws were clamping in fury. The spider took it in the face and mouth and stopped, hissing furiously, its eyes blinking, and it cringed back.

“Get out!’ Di shouted. “Out, out, out!”

Spiderella hissed louder than ever and lunged at Di. She dodged it, slipping on the pile of dead spiders and wet floor. She crashed into the counter and knocked over the butane torch. She grabbed it, clutching it tightly.

Frantic, her eyes fell on the Raid, on the other counter. The spider was advancing, its multiple legs waving.

“…avenge meeeee….avenge meeeeee…” the voice continued around them, and the giant spider in front of her gave a loud hiss.

She lit the torch and the spider balked. Di edged along the counter and grabbed the Raid.

“Last warning, pal,” she said, raising the can and the lighter.

The giant spider lunged.

Diana lit the torch and held the trigger on the can.

Whoosh! The fireball exploded in the spider’s face, and it caught, searing the spider’s flesh.

“Yeah! Take that, bitch!” she yelled gleefully. “Burn, damn you!”

“Nooooooo!” the ghostly voice shrieked as its giant offspring began to roast under the flames.

Diana kept the flame going until the spider was fully engulfed and burning on its own, before she let up on the Raid and the torch.

Diana watched with a mixture of horror and fascination as the spider screamed, writhing and thrashing in pain as it burned in front of her. The tiny spiders that were still alive in the kitchen stopped moving.

The smoke was filling the kitchen, so Diana made her way to the back door and opened it before the alarm could go off.

Leaning against the door, she picked up the phone and dialed the number.

“Hi, Mart? Can you come over? I’ve got an awfully big mess I need some help cleaning up. And could you bring Bobby and the twins? Yes, I think we’re going to need their help too. Actually…I probably should just call the fire department.”

She smiled to herself as the arachnids burned.