Fears & Phobias

• Audrey Guadalupe Jones, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2015

This morning I woke to a blood-curdling scream. A scream I will never forget. The most horrific scream I have ever heard. It was the sound of an oldish man having a meltdown. I felt my blood running colder, and colder. It was painful to my ears. I felt shivers down my spine. I heard a crash on the back door. Then, for the first time today, I heard silence. You could hear a pin drop in the room. It felt like the whole world was scared stiff. It was almost as if the air was exhausted. So I stopped breathing. It was a feeling no one would ever forget. Suddenly I felt something. I felt stiff. I tried moving my ankles and wrists into the air, but I was too startled. Then the silence ended with a moan. A moan and then a heavy footstep. Then I heard something that stopped the hot tears rushing down my sweaty face.
This is what I heard:
“Audrey, Audrey help!”
Then something clicked. That voice was familiar. I waited and waited until I heard this:
“It’s Dad!”
I rushed to the back door at top speed, knowing if I didn’t get there in time, anything could happen. I saw the flyscreen door and reached out my hand. I opened the door only to find….
A spider. A spider about the size of my pinky nail crawling on dad’s terrified face.
I guess after that experience I felt both ecstatic and furious.
I fell back to sleep…