THE INTRUDER

Sheri encounters a very unfriendly nightmare in her home.

    There wasn't any light in Sheri's apartment when she entered. She recalled turning on the light when she left so as to avoid having to walk into a dark place. Sighing she stepped into the dark front room and ran her hands along the wall to feel for the light switch. For some reason she couldn't find it.

     “S**t.” She muttered. She had several heavy packages and doing a balancing act wasn't so easy nor comfortable. “To hell with it.” She walked further into her apartment heading toward the couch, moving slowly to avoid bumping into anything that might be in the way that she'd forgotten about. Or maybe she wasn't heading in the right direction, being off by an inch could cause her to bang into a coffee table or something she'd left on the floor.

     It was quiet, no sounds from her neighbors or any outside noises. As she inched toward the couch she thought she heard a soft but sharp scuttling sound. That's weird, she thought but wasn't too concerned. Strange and odd noises often happened, pops and clicks that she couldn't explain. These noises never caused her any alarm nor sounded threatening in any way. She reached the couch and dropped her heavy burden of shopping bags onto it, making sure nothing rolled to the floor. Then she sat down beside them and opened her purse, hoping to find her little flashlight.

     The scuttling sound came again. She froze with her hand in her purse. What the hell is that? The sound came again. Now Sheri felt the first stabs of fear. The sound was weird and it was differently coming from inside her apartment. She decided to try and find the lamp she had on an end table beside the couch. She scooted in the direction and reached out her hand hoping to connect with the lamp. She was very careful because she didn't want to knock it over.

     The scuttling sound came again and it was very close. Now Sheri felt threatened by what ever was making the sound. She tried frantically to locate the lamp but for some reason she just couldn't find it. Her apartment was too dark for her to even make out the shadow of the lamp. She made a little fearful whimpering sound when she heard something clawing at the couch. She shot up off of it, a little scream escaping her.

     Something was crawling along the couch toward where she had been sitting. She heard it crawling over her shopping bags.

     “God!” She headed in what she hoped was the front door to her apartment. She still had her purse and stuck her hand back in frantically looking for her little flashlight. Behind her she heard what ever was in her apartment drop to the floor with a light thud. Then the scuttling sound was coming toward her.

     Her breath coming in shallow gasps now Sheri crossed her front room. She wasn't being careful anymore, fear and desperation making her careless. She crashed into a recliner and fell forward just enough to put her off balance. She dropped her purse. “F**k!” The scuttling sound was right behind her. I'm going to die! I'm going to die!

    As she started away from the recliner she felt something cold and pointy touch her leg. She heard her nylon rip. “God!” She stumbled forward, her heart pounding painfully, hardly able to catch her breath now. “God! Help me someone!” With her hands out before her she continued in what she hoped was the direction of her front door.

     The thing was clinging to her leg and moving up her body. She shook her leg, kicking it out, hoping to dislodge what ever it was. She couldn't shake it loose, it hung on tightly. It was big with sharp pointy legs. It crawled up her leg until it reached her waist. She pushed at it, trying to dislodge it. It felt cold, smooth and very hard. Her breath came in gasping sobs. Her journey to her front door had ended as she tried to get what ever it was attacking her off her body.

     Sheri felt something sharp pierce her stomach. She screamed. She knew what ever it was had bitten her. She screamed and screamed. The pain was terrible. Quickly it became like fire. It spread rapidly from her stomach to her arms and legs. She felt the pain of another bite. She screamed, feeling light headed, feeling like she was going to collapse. She was moving in little circles in her front room, still trying to tear what ever it was off her body. But it held on with a powerful grip that Sheri couldn't do anything about.

     Suddenly the light came on, flooding the room with its stark brilliance. She heard a voice. She thought it might be her neighbor but she wasn't sure. She felt so dizzy and sick, like she was going to collapse and vomit.

     “Sheri, what's wrong? I heard you screaming? Oh my God! What is that? It looks like a giant spider, for God's sakes!”

     Sheri looked down at what she was holding onto, at what she was trying to dislodge from her body. To her complete and utter horror she saw that indeed it was a giant molten colored spider. It's body shone brightly with the light in the room. The sight of it clinging to her stomach was just too horrible to contemplate. The next instant she tried to scream but vomited instead. I'm going to die. I've got spider poison in me. A great wave of blackness rushed up to engulf her.

Reviews

[Black Cat Fever]

This story truly did fill me with horror. MY hair is standing on in and I've got that scream back in my head!!!!! HORROR!

[Wolf's Dark Song]

Boy, this sure is very creepy and down right chilling! Superb horror here!

[Star Wolf]

Wow, this is frightening in the extreme! This is so chilling it made me feel creepy long after I read it. Awesome writing!