Nest of spiders

A week ago, after several years of staying out of my family home, I came back. What I was doing, who I am, and why I was there is not important now and doesn't affect THIS event. Anyway, my private life is nothing that would interest someone. I must also say that I never was afraid of spiders before. I didn't pay close attention to them. No matter if it was those on the walls behind furniture or in nature. I want to say that what happened to me and what I felt wasn't ordinary fear of these creatures. It was something more, incomparable to the usual fear of spiders, like what an arachnophobe feels. Until now, I had no reason to fear them...

That day's morning was so ordinary, routine... Throughout my previous stay at home I quite rarely left the house, I did only short trips to the store or old friends. I live in a small village, and life in it is not very entertaining, but then again, on the other hand, I can finally calm down. It is very good after a long time spent in a busy city. I decided that I will spend this day alone, walking in the woods located quite near my house. I have many memories of this place, mainly from the period of my childhood, before I left home. A lot has changed over the years. The neighborhood has become more desolate. Many of the houses that were once inhabited, now stood empty. One of the things that upset me most was the appearance of the forest. Areas that were overgrown with various plants became a place where people were throwing out their household rubbish. Despite this fact, the area looked just as I remembered it. The same narrow and well-trodden path leading between much-higher-than-before trees. I remembered also that in the middle of the forest lived a forester, with his wife and two sons. Both of them were older than me, but as kids we got along pretty well. I quite frequently saw them. Their house was extraordinary, almost all made of wood. This wasn't a new building, so plants such as ivy and moss began to grow over him, which gave an amazing effect. The house was of medium size, and had one floor. Next to it was a huge barn, also made of wood, which was used for the storage of sticks and wood, as well as storage the equipment needed to work in the forest, such as a saw, an axe or a sickle. The courtyard of this house, even though it was in the middle of the forest, didn't have trees, and was covered only by low, cut grass. My friends and I frequently spent time near this place.

I decided to try to find this house and see what state it is in at the moment. I didn't have plans for today anyway. It's possible that even residents of the lodge moved out long ago. I just wasn't sure that I could again find my way to this. I didn't remember in which direction I had to go to get to it. I decided that I would rely on luck and loiter around the area. Fortunately I took a camera with myself, so I had the opportunity to make a few photos as a souvenir, and also to give attention to something on the off-chance that exploration went wrong. After half an hour spent on walking and taking pictures, I noticed that I luckily had gone in the right direction. Far away from me, I saw the familiar shape of the building. In addition, I realized that since an hour ago when I stepped into the woods, I haven't met any person. People living in places like this must feel so alone. Ultimately the closest house to them is about half a kilometer away. Besides, this is not one of the safer places to live. In the event of any accident or other unfortunate event, it's difficult to get help.

After some time, the singing of birds also died down, and the area seemed to be really empty. I slowly approached the lodge. The building, besides a fragment of a destroyed fence made of wood, didn't have any fences, so anyone could easily get into the yard. The first thing that caught my attention was the windows of the house. They had a cracked glass, or no glass at all. Moreover the building almost hadn't changed, only in some places the already-old wood chewed by termites was beginning to crumble. I went up to one of the windows and looked inside. The interior looked like no one had stayed there for at least a few years. Lots of dust and dirt covered the furnitures inside. Additionally, everywhere I saw cobwebs. I had never before seen them in such large quantities. But that didn't surprised me much, after all, creatures such as spiders or insects could easily get there. Another piece of evidence that indicated that the house was abandoned for some time was everyday objects randomly scattered throughout the room. I thought that was very strange, because if the family would have moved out of there, they would've taken all their belongings with them. Also, it seemed highly unlikely to me that anyone could live there. Not in these conditions. The longer I stared at the interior of the building, the more I wanted to discover what was invisible at the moment for me in these places. I looked around me again to be sure that no one was watching me and... In this moment came the sound of my cell. I picked it up and found out that my mother wanted me to come home soon. I decided that, if only I could, I would come back here tomorrow. Until then I'd try to find out anything I could about this place. I headed in the direction from which I came. Behind me I heard the sound of repealing doors so I quickly looked back. The doors of the barn located opposite the house were softly ajar and slightly twitching. Unfortunately, I was standing too far away to be able to see anything which could be in that building through this interstice, and I detected only darkness. Admittedly, I didn't look very thoroughly there, but I thought it was only a light breeze, even though today, the summer weather was completely windless. However, a strange feeling came over me, that for a moment I could make out in the dark the shape of a human form. I picked up the camera and looking through the zoom lens I viewed more closely, so that I could see how this place looked like up close, without unnecessary approximation to it. What appeared to be empty blackness from a distance changed into the fragment of the interior of the barn. There was nothing except a concrete floor, on which was scattered sawdust, surrounded by wooden walls. I decided that today I would resign from the examination of this place, moreover, at this time I didn't have time for this, so I should get back. Especially that my mother was waiting for me, and the road back wasn't particularly short.

Getting back home took me a while, especially since I wasn't acquainted with the terrain. Still I was accompanied by a strange feeling that I was being watched. However, all the time I carefully looked around and didn't see anything suspicious. I don't know what I expected. The only thing worrying me was slightly moving grass. Every time I turned to look at it I detected movement. It looked a little like an invisible character followed me. Behind my back I could clearly hear the sound of rustling. I speeded up my steps, and in my mind I told myself that it was just my imagination. After all, in the woods there are plenty of animals that could run near me unnoticed. However, anxiety didn't want to leave me until I got to my house.

After returning home, until the evening, there was nothing worthy of attention. I managed to get some information about forester's lodge. My mother was clearly surprised by what state it currently was in. She said that she didn't remember hearing about the disappearance of lodge's residents or that anything happened to them. She remembered that even five days ago, she saw the forester's wife doing her shopping at the grocery store. In her appearance and behavior she didn't notice anything unusual. My mother clearly demonstrated interest in this whole situation, so she promised that tomorrow at work she'd ask if anyone knew anything about it. Well... My mother isn't one of those people who are interested in local gossip, it often happens that she doesn't know news from the neighborhood or hears about it later. After talking with her and making a couple of activities that she asked, I went to my room. It was the holidays, so I could afford to sit late into the night. I sat a little and browsed the internet, then I looked through the photos that I took today. There were quite a lot of them. In this area there are many species of plants and animals, so people interested in nature have here a lot of activities.

The next day I got up later than usual. I bustled a bit about the house before I went out. I took only a flashlight and a cell phone with myself. I got on the bike and headed in the direction of the mysterious place that I had today to explore. This time biking to this place didn't take me as much time as when I'd gone yesterday. The weather was conducive to me, and this was perfect for this type of action. It wasn't too hot and it seemed like it wouldn't rain. When I got there, I found that the regular appearance of the place hadn't changed , apparently no one was there by that time, or so I thought. Today I also could feel the emptiness and loneliness of being in this place. To be honest I felt a strange fear of the unknown; who knows what might be in the middle of this house, after all, there was no trace of the the family who lived here. But on the other hand, I definitely wanted to search the mysterious, abandoned place. If the opportunity presented itself, my curiosity took over. I went to an empty window, only one wasn't obscured by with curtain, the same one through I looked inside yesterday. It was positioned quite low, so I entered the building with no problem. I think I entered into what had been someone's bedroom. On the wooden floor lay a lot of leaves, blown by wind through the empty window, and many items, most likely dropped from the segment and shelves located in the room. I picked up a few books and started flipping through them one by on. Bored, I put them in their places and headed toward the closed door. Behind it was a further part of the house. I hoped to find in it anything what would explain a little the mysterious circumstances of the disappearance of the family who lived here. I pulled the handle and pushed the door. But it didn't budge. Only now I noticed a hole for the key. I resigned from opening the door. I didn't want to bother with this door, since I didn't have the necessary equipment to open it. I looked down and saw something looked like the remains of a rodent, probably a rat. They were completely dried out, and what was left from the animal was bones surrounded by a thin layer of skin.

Suddenly I heard quiet murmurs and squeals echoing over me. Something fell on my hair and began to writhe in it. I quickly grabbed it and I looked up. It seemed I had clenched hand too tightly, since the result was a loud crunching sound similar to the sound of crushing an insect. After that my hand froze. On the ceiling where the murmur came from was a swarm of spiders. They looked like millions of ants scurrying around their nest. I had never seen anything like this done by these animals, and I doubted it was their natural behavior. The longer I looked at them the sicker they made me. I started to retreat. Millions of small spider eyes, all the time directed at me, seemed to follow me gazing. Could it be that the dried animal that I just saw was their doing? I didn't even at what was in my hand; I wiped it with a disgust on the curtain next to me and quickly jumped out of the window. I strayed a few meters away from the lodge and slowly tried to calm down. But I wasn't going to leave this place so soon. But the behavior of these creatures was... disturbing. I tried to remember if it is possible that these animals were able to suck blood, or other liquids from their victims. I used to read a lot about animals, especially insects, but spiders had never particularly caught my attention. To do something else I walked around the house. I also checked for a second similar window devoid of glass, through which one could enter. I found nothing.

I thought that if I couldn't see the whole house at this moment, I'd look into the barn. While I was entering into this building I didn't see what was inside, so I had to light the flashlight. I wanted to leave the door ajar or open, but each time it shut. In addition, I noticed that the batteries in the flashlight I haven't been exchanged, so it shone very poorly. I had seen only a small part of that what was in front of me. The barn was huge. Going straight ahead, a couple of times I tripped on the scattered pieces of wood. I heard the rustle of sawdust underfoot. At one of the walls were stacked many boxes. I looked into one of them. Inside I found nothing but grain. I looked around, but unfortunately I wasn't able to illuminate a larger portion of the building at the time, only individual items. My eye was caught by a pile of miscellaneous equipment. Probably they were moved out the lodge, moved into this place because of they were unusable or were too old. I walked over to them and began to browse. There was quite a lot of mostly useless broken lumber. The only useful thing I found was a bent metal rod. I thought that it might serve as a crowbar, helpful in opening those doors. Suddenly my flashlight began to flicker and then went out, leaving me in the dark. The only source of light was a pair of narrow slots in between the planks forming the wall of the barn. I began to hear the same sound as in that house, this time much louder and enriched with sounds reminiscent of quiet whispers. I was able to differentiate among them so many voices speaking at the same time. I didn't understand any of them, because they didn't sound as it belonged to people. It seemed to me that they come from above, where there were only beams supporting the ceiling of the building. I felt that there was something over me. I became completely paralyzed. I couldn't move even one step further. My heart was beating very fast. I turned around quickly. A few feet in front of me I had a way out. I do not know how or why, but the closed door was all covered with cobwebs and a lot of bustling spiders. There were so many of them that I almost couldn't see anything beyond them. In addition, I felt someone's presence, and in any case that wasn't by way of the spiders.

I slowly looked back. By the vertical beam behind me, something was moving. From surprise and dismay I dropped my crowbar, and after a collision with a concrete floor it made a loud sound. I couldn't seen much in the darkness, I detected only a shape resembling a human, slowly descending down. On its back it had two additional pairs of legs that look like spiders' legs, which facilitated its movement on a vertical surface. Chills passed me. Knowing that I hadn't anywhere to escape intensified my fear, and I started to strongly feel dizzy. The character had already touched the ground and begun to straighten. It stood like a man, upright, on two legs . However it stood as motionless as I. It stared at me. I was stuck in silence for a few minutes, which seemed to be an eternity. I breathed slowly and heavily. In addition, I was too scared to bend down to the dropped object I could use to defend if necessary. Immobile, I waited for further development of the situation.

Suddenly, in an act of desperation, I grabbed my phone located in the pocket of my sweatshirt. It was my last hope, i wanted to try communicate with someone and ask for help as soon as possible. However, my hand paralyzed by fear refused to obey and and dropped the phone. This fell with a crash to the ground illuminating me and this thing beside. The light thrown by my phone wasn't too spreading, but it was enough for me to see what was in front of me. It looked like a tall man. He was wearing dirty and torn clothes, nothing special about them except that they had a lot of cuts and holes, and on his head was black tousled hair. On his back, as I mentioned earlier, stuck out two additional pairs of spider legs. however, the worst was its face, though I don't know whether or not it was just a mask, since it was difficult to distinguish anything in such low light. On its face were four pairs of eyes, two large eyes in the middle and six smaller on each side. Below them were two pairs of jaws, the same as those of the repeatedly mentioned animals - spiders. Lower down, the character had a "human" part of the face; that is, a regular mouth curved into a smile. Additionally all was covered in bustling spiders and cobweb.

The light went out. I couldn't even budge. My heartbeat quickened. I didn't know what to expect after that. As I looked ahead, I tried again to collect my thoughts and find a way out of this paralyzing situation. Suddenly, the thing moved. It turned its head, and then spoke in a calm, human voice: "Are you afraid of us?" It smiled. "There's no need to be." The character started walking in my direction. The only thing I could think of in that moment was an escape into the other end of the building. Contrary to appearances it wasn't easy. Because of my fear my legs rebelled and made it difficult to move. I was sure that thing would do something to me or would start to chase me, but it stopped and slowly turned toward me. It behaved like it wanted to tell me that no matter what I did, it wouldn't help me.

On one of the wooden walls of the barn I saw a crack through by which the measure fell into a stream of light. I thought it might be possible to escape through here. This gap could indicate some damage to the wall or rotten wood, which could be used to make a larger hole in the wall. Maybe through it I could escape from here... I grabbed the board and with my last ounce of strength I tried to move it so it could break and enlarge the hole . Unfortunately, I felt that on my hands something started to move. On the skin I felt much of cold stings like something began to pierce at it. I dropped the board and tried to get rid of running spiders. It didn't help. When one of them collapsed to the ground, it immediately rose and moved toward me. I quickly looked around. In the darkness I couldn't seen anything that would be situated more than four meters away from me. I looked at the ground, and in the place where light from outside touched down I made the horrifying discovery. I saw a wizened hand. It was very dark, almost black, and very skinny. The dried skin strongly adhered to the bone. Beyond its surface something was moving. I remembered remains of that animal in the lodge. I guessed that these shapes that I saw in the darkness were the rest of the body in the same condition as hand. I wasn't entirely sure, but there was something else lay as well. My eyes slowly began to get used to the darkness, but of course it was still too dark to give me a clear distinction of my surroundings. In this time I was brushing down moving spiders. There were more and more of them. Ahead of me I again saw the same human shape as before. It was getting closer. It extended its hand to me, and the spiders stopped moving. Now they stood motionless, like they were waiting for something. I also couldn't move, once again engulfed in paralysis. I couldn't understand what was happening here. The weird behavior of the animals in the lodge it was now possible to understand. The ceiling could be covered by something that attracted them in such large quantities, but what was happening in that moment was for me too weird and sick. How could that thing control all the spiders? And whatever was that thing?

"Your fear is unnecessary, don't be afraid of us. We will try to desensitize you with fear. We believe that the best way to overcome your fear is to measure it, but I'm not sure if my 'friends' wish to treat you just like others. Well, they unfortunately manhandled the other three people quite badly." The character began to laugh quietly and pointed corpses next to me. I quickly opened my mouth wanting to say something, anything, but I couldn't make any sound. I didn't know what I wanted to say in that moment or whether it would matter. Spiders on the concrete floor, motionless in one moment, started once again to run and climb up my clothes, their every movement putting me in pain, digging their feet in my skin, piercing even through the clothes that I was wearing. They were everywhere and every minute there were more of them. I suddenly couldn't see, because many of spiders on my eyelids. If you know how annoying it is when insect walks along you, imagine how awful must be a swarm of moving insects on the skin entering your ears or mouth. I fell to the ground, I ran out of air, I hardly could breathe as a lot of them started to block me the opportunity to do so. I was choking. I didn't even have the strength to chase off the spiders, and the whole time I had tremors all over my body. In that moment I was strongly exhausted not only physically, but also mentally. I was sure that these loud sounds echoing in my head would leave behind a lasting impression. The character standing above me obviously was enjoying abusing me. Probably the others, now only remains in this barn, had ended a similar way. Suddenly I heard a loud crack. The character suddenly glanced behind, then retreated and vanished somewhere in the further part of the darkened barn. The spiders began to disperse. The deafening squeaks and noises stopped.

In an instant, all stopped. I was overcome by the darkness, silence and tranquility. I lost consciousness. When I opened my eyes I saw my mother and one of my friends, but only very vaguely. They stood with their backs to me. They talked, but I was still stunned by what had happened, so I couldn't understand what they were saying. I guessed that one of them had noticed that I hadn't come back after a long time and predicted where I was. My friend said goodbye after a short conversation with my mother and went out. After a moment, my eyes closed themselves and I fell asleep involuntarily. After a few hours I woke up again, this time alone in my room. Night had fallen. The light in my room was extinguished, but through a slightly ajar door came a small light from the illuminated corridor. I lay there staring ahead, stuck in paralysis. I rested there for a long time. I didn't hear sounds or silence, only the constant quiet hum mixed with a squeal. In the absence of activities I started to looked around corners of my room. It wasn't too big or interesting. In it were only the most necessary things. My eyes stuck on the door of the room, which was half open. I stared at it for a few minutes in the hope that some acquaintance would come in. After that what happened I didn't want to be alone. The whole time I had a bad feeling that something just might happen, even though I was lying safe in my home.

Suddenly I became aware of a disturbing fact. I wanted to get up, but the weakness and pain of the bites had still not disappeared. I had to go down, go to my family, in order to warn them to stop what could come soon. I realized that the first day I went to the lodge and returned straight to home, unknowingly I had done something terrible. It reminded me of what I was thinking on the way back to home and that I felt watched. Unfortunately, at this point, every single move was making me hurt. This could be likened to a thousand needles stuck in the skin that with every move were stabbing deeper and deeper. In addition, I was still deafened and I wasn't able to say anything.. In this moment I could only lie and wait...Then the door started to vibrate slightly with a quiet creaking noise. For a moment, I hoped that it would be just like I'd wished, but the sight of a small black spider hanging around crookedly to the door frame brought me to the ground. I watched it accidentally fall and flee in panic to the corner of my room. At the the very sight and awareness that it was near I was engulfed in shivers. For a few minutes I was looking anxiously at it and I watched as it climbed up the cupboard in front of my bed and began to weave a cobweb between things on it. With every its move I was feeling more and more sick; increasingly restlessness seized me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement on the door frame, it was another spider. After it there were more, one, then after two or three more, the entire swarm diverged into my room. At this point I knew what was about to happen. The spiders were so many that they almost completely covered the yellow walls of my room. They began to climb into my bed. Unfortunately, I was unable to get away from them. I could only lie idle and wait until they covered me completely and finished with me. I thought of my family, who probably all this time were all here at home. I hoped that this same thing didn't happen to them, that the thing spared them and came only for me. All this happened because of me, and only I should be punished for my curiosity. Spiders again began to obscure my eyes, and through it I saw a human shape. I knew to whom it belonged. Again I heard the deafening squeals and whispering voices. Among them I could distinguish only one humanly speaking. "Unfortunately someone interrupted us, I believe he was your friend? He messed things up a bit by calling the police. Because of this we can't stay any longer in that place, since now all the time there are some people and investigators or something...They make only unnecessary confusion, and we couldn't stay at our home... But it's okay, thankfully you showed us previously the way to yours. We easily got here and and perhaps we will stop here for a little. This home will be empty now anyway..."

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