• After It Rains
• I'm Jesse
      • My Birthday?
      • You Remembered!
• Pool? Animal Style!
      • Dumplings w/Neptune
• Sicilian Sculptor
• The Golden Years
• Human Hangers
• Just a Barista
• I Need to Dance
• Can't Stop Looking Up
• Be Careful What...
• The Collection
• Into the Light
• A Perfect Interview
• The Abbey
• Who You Know?
• What's This Life For?
• Unexpected Talent
• Just a Dog's Day
• Chester
• Darren
      • Darren and the Circus
• Voice of God
• Aaron
• 5350

Shorts
• Resurrection
• Private Dancer
• Eye Contact
• Bullying
• The Surreality of It All
• Sound of Silence
• 31 Days of Christmas
• Giant!
• Fear or Comfort?
• You're Different
• Another One Bites...
• Stroll with the Clouds
• Walking with Banshee

Giant! (11/30/20)

Shortly after I had fallen asleep one night, I was jarred awake by an odd noise at the front door. I laid awake for a few seconds waiting to hear anything further, but all I heard was silence. Yet my brain told me I needed to get up and see if I could find what made the noise.

So I staggered out to the front door, flipped on the light in the hall… and my heart stopped. There on the door was this giant spider.

Understand, I am a serious arachnophobe, and here I was standing only a foot away from something that I could not figure out how it had gotten into the apartment. All the hair on me stood straight up as I backed up as far as I could and started looking around for something to catch that giant.

Well, catch is an incorrect term for what I was going to do. I would beat a hole in the door if that is what it took to ensure that thing was gone and not in the apartment.

But I had to move slowly. What if it jumped out at me. Or worse, what if it quickly scurried like they always do to someplace I could not find it. I would never be able to sleep again.

I noticed the broom to my left next to the door, and slowly moved my hand over to grab the broom. In a swift, smooth, panicked move, I picked up the broom, smashed it against the door and crushed that giant spider into oblivion!

I checked to make sure my efforts resulted in a carcass on the end of the broom, opened the door, and thumped the broom outside to ensure the smashed remains were all outside.

After all that trama, I noticed there was a box that had been leaning up against the door, apparently delivered just a few minutes before. I brought the box into the hall, closed the door, and went back to bed. It took a few minutes to get back to sleep, but after the adrenaline dispersed, off into dreamland I went.

The next morning I woke up, and went to stick my head outside the front door to see what the weather was like, saw the box, and remembered the giant spider. Would it’s carcass still be where I left it the night before? There it was, squished as I had left it.

Then the rational part of the brain kicked in. The noise I had heard that night was not this giant spider sneaking its way around the apartment—it was the box being delivered and set up against the door.

And that giant spider? Well, it was about a ½ inch in size. My irrational fear of spiders had kicked in and sent my brain spiraling, over something that was more than likely more scared of the crazy human with a broom! I did grab the broom and make sure the evidence was swept off the balcony and back down to the grass where it belonged.

When others woke up and asked what all the rukass had been during the night, I humbly explained what had happened and how I overreacted.

With a big smile, I got the “You, overreact because of a spider? Nah!”

#spiders #overreact #noisesinthenight #phobias