I wrote this on August 11th, 2005, for a different journal. But it's always good to recycle, especially when it saves time.

Everyone is afraid of spiders. It's a natural human thing. Anyone who isn't afraid of spiders is by definition a freak, but not in a bad way, of course. Even Steve Irwin, the crocodile hunter, claims to be scared of spiders even as he holds one of those huge bird-eating spiders right up to his face on a little wedge of wood without flinching. Some people claim to be arachnophobic, but I believe there is a little arachnophobia in everybody. That is why so many stories involve spiders as a symbol of fear. And a story is just what I'm going to tell you.

Chapter 1: Creature of the Night

I was right here at my computer when something caught my eye. I looked up to see an uncomfortably large spider rapidly descending from the ceiling about a foot from the upper-right corner of my flat screen and a little behind it. I flinched: really flinched. A shiver reverberated through my entire body. I felt quite a shock there, but that was the extent of my feelings of weakness.

I decided right then and there that I would not be afraid of this spider. Long had I been boasting to myself that I had conquered fear, that I was a fearless warrior, capable of braving the greatest of dangers for whatever cause was at hand. No, Evariah, not even spiders can scare you. I had been telling myself this for a great while, and now was my time to prove it. My heart was stoic as I reached out to that spider.

It was a very decorated bug, while still being for the most part black. It was skinnier than an orb weaver with approximately the same leg-length but fatter than a daddy longlegs. It had a simple pattern of white ridges on its back, almost mimcking a skeleton. Its fangs were protrudent. It was scary.

But as it climbed across my hand, I wasn't scared at all. At this point I had been quenched of my fear. Never before could I remember handling a spider of this size, yet here I was. It crawled over both sides of my hand and I held it up to my face to examine it, and then I proceeded to walk with it through the hall.

It was already night and the lights were out, but I didn't bother to turn them back on. I walked through the darkness and lost sight of this frightening wisp that tickled my skin. But I in a way could consider the spider my friend, so I didn't care to keep it under surveillance any longer. This dark spirit was united with an instrument of dark emotions, a creature of fear. We ruled the night, the spider and I.

To get the most out of the fear-crushing experience, I gave the spider a path to my face to let the spider crawl upon it, but the spider didn't seem interested. So I let the spider go outside and we both went our separate ways. That harmless little bug had done me a great service this night. I have completed my initiation as a fearless warrior... of death.

THE END.

Evariah is one of my aliases. I didn't feel like calling myself Rickey at the time. You'll also notice that I refer to myself as a dark spirit. I suppose a certain sort of character went along with the alias. And I was writing for a younger audience.