The Spider’s Comedy
It was an emotional day. Mrs. Brown gave birth to her son, and she couldn’t be happier. Then he died. None of the doctors could explain what went wrong. Her new baby simply stopped breathing.
The situation was hopeless until without warning her son started breathing. It was as perplexing as the initial death. Mrs. Brown accepted the event as a miracle, and did her best to move past the event.
Malcolm was ten years old when he decided to fly. It was his birthday, and he was worried if he didn’t fly today, he never would. After putting on a cape for good measure, Malcolm went outside to find a tree. His plan was simple, but effective. Malcolm was going to climb up a tree, and then jump. He felt confident the flying part would happen sometime after he jumped.
It rained the day before, and in another time, this might have stopped Malcolm. However, with the courage granted only to children on their birthdays, he pressed on. To his credit, Malcolm reached the top of tree, before falling. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t remember reaching the top, but his mother would later assure him he did.
Frank and Oliver were celebrating the worst day of Oliver’s life. It was also his birthday. They had spent the day drinking and laughing. After a while, the two of them decided to head back. Oliver couldn’t explain what happened next. It might have been fate, or maybe they drank too much. Whatever the reason, Frank drove them straight into a lamppost.
Frank died instantly. Oliver was hurt, but he was also lucky. His survival had been nothing short of a miracle. That’s what everyone in his life (and outside it) told him afterwards. At the moment, Oliver didn’t know any of that. He was unconscious next to the man who had been his best friend.
Amanda decided that today was going to change everything. Okay, maybe not everything, but it would be a start. That’s all that matters, she told herself, all we need is a new start. After all, Thomas was her soul mate. As with any relationship involving soul mates, their marriage was dying a slow and painful death.
None of that mattered. Today was his 50th birthday, and it was going to be perfect. Nothing was going to destroy the fabrics of Amanda’s marriage. She simply wouldn’t tolerate it.
Amanda went into their bedroom with a plate of scrambled of eggs and a few slices of bacon. She was hoping breakfast would set the mood for the rest of the day. Slowly, she entered the room.
“Thomas.”
He didn’t answer. Smiling, she put the plate down, and went to wake him. She tried again and again, until her previous joy changed to panic. Amanda grabbed her phone, knocking the plate down in the process, and called 911.
Thomas woke up to the sound of a screaming baby. After picking up the baby in a failed attempt to calm him down, he looked around. Thomas was standing on a large rock. Four pillars made from oak stood on every corner. As far as he could see outside the rock there was complete darkness.
The darkness appeared to be surrounded by thousands of webs. However, after looking closer, Thomas realized it was only one web. He couldn’t see where it began, or where it ended. Wherever the darkness was, the web followed. It was infinite.
“Do you know where we are?”
Thomas turned around and immediately recognized Malcolm and Oliver. This was strange because he had never seen them before.
“No, idea,” Thomas answered.
Oliver walked toward him. Malcom grabbed his hand and pulled him back.
“Wait don’t go,” he said softly.
“I can’t exactly go far,” Oliver replied.
Thomas was about to walk toward the others himself when he stopped. Something was wrong. Malcolm looked petrified. He pointed toward Thomas, and Oliver turned pale.
Slowly, Thomas turned back around but saw nothing. Then two golden lights flashed in the darkness. He quickly backed up with the others. As he moved, the creature followed.
It was a spider as big as a house. Compared to it, they were flies unable to escape. Before long, the Spider caught up to them. For some reason, Thomas wasn’t afraid. He stared into Spider’s golden eyes, and waited.
“Will you say nothing old friend?”
Thomas searched for something to say, but couldn’t find anything. He didn’t know this Spider, or any giant spider for that matter. Still, there was something familiar about him. Spider looked like every forgotten dream or nightmare Thomas ever had.
Malcolm was the first to speak. “Who are you?” he asked.
“I am the one who teaches children to fly,” Spider answered, “And, I am the one that pulls them back down.”
Oliver hesitated before asking Spider what he wanted. Spider didn’t answer him at first. He remained silent, waiting for something. After a minute, he sighed.
“My sacrifice. Nothing more and nothing less.”
“I don’t know what kind sacrifice you want,” Oliver said. Truthfully, he was a little worried Spider wanted to sacrifice him. He didn’t want to be rude, but he wasn’t sure how giant spiders usually feel about human sacrifice.
“Only because you have forgotten,” replied Spider.
As soon as it finished speaking, the Spider crawled back into his web. Before long, he disappeared from sight entirely. He wasn’t worried. Spider had seen this story play out for centuries. He would have his sacrifice. All he had to is wait, and continue his web.
For a moment, the three of them were silent. The only sound was the baby who was still screaming.
“What do we do now?” Malcolm asked.
Oliver frowned, “I suppose we owe Spider a sacrifice.”
It didn’t occur to any of them not to give Spider a sacrifice. They weren’t offered anything in return. That didn’t matter. Refusing Spider a sacrifice wasn’t an option.
The problem was that no one knew what needed to be sacrificed, or even how to sacrifice it. Malcolm was worried Spider wanted his cape. Thomas thought this idea was ridiculous. Oliver agreed, but since he didn’t have any other ideas, he demanded Malcolm give up his cape.
Thomas did his best to ignore the others. He was confident Spider didn’t want a kid’s costume. All of this felt familiar. Thomas felt like he had been here before, but couldn’t remember why; that’s when he realized he didn’t need to.
Thomas moved, trusting his body to remember what his mind couldn’t. He handed the screaming baby to Oliver. Oliver started to protest, but then stopped. He looked at Thomas, and nodded.
“Hey Malcolm,” Oliver said.
Malcolm looked back at the potential thief next to him, and said “You’re trying to steal my cape.”
Oliver shook his head, “Don’t worry about it. I just need to you hold him.”
“Please,” Thomas added, “It’s important.”
Malcolm slowly took the baby. In an instant, he could see everything. The world of webs was clear to him now, and he wasn’t the only one. The baby stopped screaming.
As the others watched, Malcolm walked over to edge of the rock. Spider was waiting. Malcolm kissed the baby’s forehead, and dropped him into the darkness. The baby was now another part of Spider’s web.
Waking from his dreamless sleep, Thomas realized he was in a hospital. Standing next to him, was a very pale nurse.
“Doctor Suzanne!”
“You can’t scream like that,” the Doctor said as she entered the room, “You might scare the patients.” She sighed, “I didn’t realize we already had someone new.”
She turned toward Thomas, and froze. “Not possible,” she muttered, “It’s been over an hour.”
Thomas never told his wife what happened that morning. He tried a thousand times, but couldn’t find the right words. Eventually, he gave up. Time passed until, as always, the memory of the Spider passed from his mind.
