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"Don't be a ninny! It's just a spider," Martina Schuler yelled at her flustered ten-year-old daughter, Becka. The little girl wriggled, stomped her feet and fluffed her flowing skirt to get rid of the spider that had fallen on her as she and her mother cleaned out their basement.
At Martina's sharp voice, Becka stopped and glanced at her mother with tears in her eyes. Martina burst into laughter and quickly sat on a counter stool to stop herself from falling.
"Alright, I'm sorry. Don't look so sad…"
"You know I hate spiders," Becka said as tears rolled down her cheek.
"Hey, hey," Martina kneeled in front of her daughter, wiping away the tears. "See, spiders are just like other insects they won't hurt you, okay? You are a Schuler witch and we…what?" She prompted Becka.
"We fear nothing, nihil timemus," Becka mumbled in Latin as she'd been taught.
"Great!"
Becka turned to take the stairs back into the house. "Uh, young lady, we are not done yet," Martina called out but her daughter was long gone.
Becka went into her room and curled up in bed. The sun was slowly setting as rays of reddish-orange hues streamed through the slightly parted curtain to touch her face. She replayed the scene of her mother laughing at her in the basement over and over in her head until it became dark.
The full moon stood high in the starless sky streaming down its light straight into her room, just as the sun did earlier. Becka stood by her window, gazed at the silver orb and whispered,
"Schuler's fear is real
Moon, show what I must see
Silver light, reveal."
That same night as Martina Schuler turned off her bedside lamp and climbed into her bed to sleep, she had a sense of foreboding that something unpleasant was about to happen. Debating within herself whether to act on the feeling or shrug it off, her late mother's words came vividly to mind: "Never disregard an uneasy feeling. It is a message from your spirit to your conscious self. Heed the warning."
Martina flipped her bedcover to the side, stood up and almost ran out of her room to check up on Becka. Her instinct was never wrong. A flash of lightning brightly lit up the dark hallway leading to her daughter's room.
But there were no rain clouds that night, Martina wondered. Where did the lightning come from?
Reaching Becka's room, another lightning flashed revealing something dark and huddled in a corner close to the door. Martina gasped and froze. She watched as the dark form uncurled itself and slipped under the door into Becka's room.
"No, no, no!" Martina whispered harshly. She flung her daughter's door open with a bang. The dark form stood tall over Becka's bed like a gigantic spider. Its legs were spread out around the bed and the spherical underside exposed to Martina's gaze was reddish-yellow.
A black widow spider.
Martina's skin immediately bubbled with goosebumps and her hair stood on end. Her breath came out in short gasps as her eyes fixed on her beautiful daughter who was tucked in her bed, her rebellious curls framing her oval face as she slept peacefully and unaware of what was happening.
"You vile creature! Stay away from my daughter," Martina yelled.
Becka woke up with a start at the sound of a voice that seemed frightened and strange. She turned and paled at the sight of her equally pale and terrified mother. The sight of the shadowy, gigantic spider beside her bed made her eyes bulge.
She watched in slow motion as her mother ran from the door, fear, anger and determination etched on her face as she jumped on the shadowy spider. Her fingers were curved like claws, poised to tear the dark figure into irreparable pieces.
Becka began to gasp for air as she broke out in a terrible rash. There was another flash of lightning followed by a clap of thunder just as her mother crashed against her bedside table. The lamp on it fell to the floor and broke. The shadowy figure merely disappeared.
Martina quickly stood up and glanced around. The entire scene felt like a figment of her imagination. She sat on the bed and held Becka to herself to stop the poor girl from shivering. As raindrops pounded against the windowpane, she realised then that it was raining.
"Are you okay, Becka?" She cupped her daughter's face and looked into her eyes.
Becka nodded. "I'm so sorry, mommy. It's all my fault…"
"What do you mean?"
Becka halted for a second before spilling the truth. "You said we feared nothing but I don't think it's true. So I cast a spell before dinner to know what you feared."
Martina withdrew her hands from her daughter, stood from the bed and gaped at her in shock. "Why would you do something like that?" She whispered.
"I thought something was wrong with me, being scared of spiders and all. Now I know you fear losing me. Oh mommy, please forgive me."
Martina was quiet for a while as the rain pounded against the window, filling the room with its sound. Then she gently sat back on the bed and held Becka's hands.
"I should be the one to ask for your forgiveness. I thought I could make you stronger by denying a part of you that's real. That's the way I was brought up. I see now it's not right. Losing you is my fear and no, there's nothing wrong with you. It's okay to be afraid. That's what makes you human but also work towards conquering your fear. Okay?"
"Yes, mommy."
Mother and child huddled under the blanket and fell asleep in each other's arms as it rained all night, their fears conquered.
I hope you enjoyed reading this short story. It is my response to The Ink Well Prompt #107 inspired by the prompt "The Things That Go Bump In The Night".