The Spider

• Lewis Armstrong, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2017

“We will never make it, not to the door on the other side of the library,” James cried.
“What? Why?” Josh questioned.
“There’s no time to explain,” James answered frantically.
One of the massive legs was unfolding, a three clawed foot descended slowly towards James.
“Just trust me,” he whispered sharply. “On three,” he added.
“But,” Josh yelled angrily.
“One…” James interrupted.
The claws spread revealing a bristling array of tiny spikes.
“Two…” James whispered.
All eight eyes rolled to look at him. They didn’t narrow, or glare or blink, there was nothing but cold assessment. The claw swiped.
“Three!” James screamed with fear as he ducked.
The spider leg swept over his head so close that he felt the breeze, and then he was running across the sticky floor of the library as though his life depended on his speed, which it did. A nip from one of the tiny spiders now seemed like nothing. This beast would crush him between its massive fangs and swallow him, mouthful by mouthful, but only if it caught him. So he and Josh ran dodging around the piles of books, fallen shelves and ropes of silky webs, which hung down like vines.
He could hear the spider gaining on them. Its claws tapped the ceiling with terrifying frequency. It moved as fast as a bicycle, maybe even a car. James was too slow. He had made a terrible mistake coming here; any second now it would snatch them up and eat them. But no the spider swept over them like a low flying UFO and over took them. It can’t jump off the roof. He realised it needed to climb down a wall to get to the floor. He could feel Josh slowing down behind him. Now that the spider was up ahead he wanted to turn back, but if they did they wouldn’t last long. The spider reached the floor and was racing back towards them.
“The door!” James screamed.
Josh opened the door and James raced through. Josh slammed the door shut on one of the spider’s legs. It screeched in pain.
[GAME COMPLETED] flashed before their eyes.
“Oh yeah! We did it! We did it!” James yelled with excitement.
“It still has seven legs,” Josh said with cheek.
“Game on,” James said with determination.