

THE SPIDER DIARIES

PART 1

Written by

Isobel Archer
"THE SPIDER DIARIES, PART 1"

Copyright © 2015 by Isobel Archer

All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental. All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

The right of Steven Jenkins to be identified as the author of the Work has been asserted to him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Published in Great Britain in 2015 by Different Cloud Publishing.

ISBN: 978-0-9932836-2-8
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Prologue

Bateman's Diary

The Bedroom Wall

Velcro's Pain

The Chain of Command

General Raimi

Fight or Flight

The Lone-Wolf Spider

Monsters

Confessions

The Glass Jar

Carmen

The Pipe

The Eight Commandments

Parker's Diary

Mother Of God

The Interrogation

The Double Dare

The Firing Line

Raimi The Second's Diary

Envy

About The Author

Other Titles

# PROLOGUE

There is something very wrong with the house on Gilbert Green.

There's dust everywhere, and the wallpaper has more bubbles than a salted slug. Everywhere you turn you can see half-eaten pieces of food--which is surprising really, seeing as The Fat Family owns the house.

Of course, that's not their real name, but everyone calls them that. They seem to consume most of their food while watching TV in bed. Usually, when they rise in the morning, millions of food crumbs fall off the bedcovers and onto the carpet, which they happily leave there to rot and to attract the annoying ants.

Mr. and Mrs. Fat, also known as Lucy and Malcolm, appear to be a reasonably happy couple. Sure, Mr. Fat shouts a little when his food isn't on the table on time, but that's not too unreasonable for such a fat man. Mrs. Fat is the slimmer of the two, but she certainly isn't the most attractive. At least he has a glimmer of good looks, lost forever in his baldness and obesity, but she, well, she's another story altogether. She has white greasy hair, which makes it almost impossible to tell whether she's as young as twenty or as old as sixty.

Despite living in such a bug-infested house, Mr. and Mrs. Fat both suffer from arachnophobia, which, of course, is bad news for them--but great news for the house spiders, the true owners of the house. Most of the time the hairy little creatures keep to themselves, trying to avoid being seen by crawling through the many cracks in the floors and walls.

But every-so-often they like to spend their time scaring the pants off their fat tenants.

Mr. and Mrs. Fat have two children, a boy and a girl. The boy is called Richie. He also suffers from severe arachnophobia. He's fat, ginger, and ridiculously ugly. The daughter, well, she's a completely different species. She does share the same love of food as the rest of the family--and she is extremely ugly--but for some, unfortunate reason she doesn't seem to suffer from arachnophobia. In fact, she thrives on torturing and tormenting the poor, defenceless spiders. Many have died needlessly. That's why they call her The She-Devil.

She's every bug's worst nightmare.

It can be a treacherous place for the hundreds of spiders that dwell in the house on Gilbert Green; however, there are much worse things to fear than The She-Devil.

But once again, that's another story altogether.

# BATEMAN'S DIARY

## THE BEDROOM WALL

God I'm bored, I thought, as I sat on the wall of Mr. Fat's bedroom. I had been sitting there for nearly four hours, and three of my legs had gone to sleep. I decided to try and wake them by tapping them on the wall, but of course that did absolutely nothing. It didn't matter though, because I was too preoccupied with Mr. Fat, who had just woken up and seen me almost immediately. I could feel his terrified eyes burning into my fur. Mrs. Fat was nowhere to be found, so I thought that this was a good time to pester my fat friend a little. After several minutes, I slowly moved a few inches to the left; his staring eyes followed me closely. I stood still again for a couple of minutes, just to give him a chance to calm down, but after a while I thought it would be amusing to sprint to the corner of the wall. Mr. Fat was shaking in fear, and sweat was now dripping down onto his chubby face. I continued to observe his staring eyes--he somehow had the ability to avoid blinking for several minutes at a time. I began to wonder whether or not I should move a little closer to his bed, but then I would run the risk of a frantic slaughter by a Stephen King book or something. No, this was just as much fun.

I took a deep breath and sprinted as fast as I could to the other corner of the bedroom. This proved simply too much for our over-weighted hero to handle.

"LUUUUCYYYYYY! HEEEEEELP!"

Hearing a grown man--who's twice the size of me, times about ten million--screaming for assistance is quite a satisfying experience, especially when the assistance is in the form of his dear wife.

Mrs. Fat burst through the door looking extremely hot and bothered. She didn't offer much help. Instead, she performed a crazy gorilla dance in an attempt to scare me away. After failing miserably, she reached behind her and picked up a weapon.

Her weapon: A rolled up copy of Diet and Fitness Monthly.

Her target: A tiny House spider.

Her plan: To hit the wall as many times as possible with her eyes shut tight.

The result? An even more terrified husband.

I started to wonder how long I could stay in one position without being hit. But as the shockwaves from the striking magazine flowed towards me, I soon began to realise that it wasn't such a good idea after all. Each hit came closer than the last as if the more practice she had at hitting the wall, the better she became. Either that, or perhaps she'd had the sense to open her eyes. I had to get a move on. Panic set in and I started to think I was about to get seriously hurt--or killed--and be forever immortalised as another stain on the bedroom wall. And just as that thought popped into my head, I was hit on my two back legs, propelling me off the wall and onto the carpet below.

All I could see was the darkness of Mrs. Fat's foot from above. My rational thinking had taken a holiday, and I was left with a newfound ability to freeze. As the dirty white sock approached me, all I could hear, besides the muffled cries of: "Kill it!" was the familiar voice of a Spider shouting, "Bateman! Over here! Quickly! Get up!" I swiftly turned my head to see the face of the caller, but I could only make out two Spider legs poking out of a crack in the wall. Ignoring the pain in my legs, I scrambled to my feet. Her foot came crashing down onto the carpet, missing me by mere centimetres. She then lifted her foot off the ground and attempted yet another brutal stamping--and this time that smelly sock had my name on it!

With every ounce of strength I had left, I sprinted towards the crack in the wall. Unfortunately, the gap in the wall was a good two or three metres away, so Mrs. Fat's foot had several more attempts to squash me into the carpet. I knew the odds were stacked against me, so I focused on the crack in the wall and tried to forget about the sound of bombs being dropped behind me.

"Come on, Bateman!" the voice called out. "You can do it! Move those legs! You're nearly there!" The words of encouragement spurred me on, and I managed to reach the voice in seconds. As I entered the wall space, out of breath and panicked, I saw that the voice belonged to Velcro--my father.

Just perfect!

## VELCRO'S PAIN

"What on earth is the matter with you, boy?" my father asked, shaking his head in astonishment. "Didn't you learn your lesson last week? How many times do I have to tell you: don't leave The Wall! No matter what!"

"Yeah, yeah," I said, sarcastically, not even looking at him. "Whatever you say."

"Why do you do it, Bateman?" he asked, grabbing me by the face, forcing me to look at him. "Why do you persist in disrespecting my authority by breaking The Eight Commandments?"

"I don't!"

"Yes, you do! You clearly broke two just a minute ago!"

"What's the big deal, Dad? Everyone breaks them. Even you."

"That was a long time ago. And you know exactly what happened that day," he said, grinding his teeth.

I decided that I was getting nowhere with the argument, so I started to limp away towards some colourful wires.

"Where do you think you're going, boy?" my father asked, running behind me, trying to catch me up.

"I'm going to see some friends. You have a problem with that?" I cheekily asked, still walking away from him.

"Yes, as a matter of fact I do," he replied, catching me up and grabbing one of my back legs to stop me. "I thought your legs were hurt."

"They are," I replied, pulling my leg free from his grip.

"Well come home then, and I'll try to fix them."

How could I say no to that? They were hurting like hell--and bleeding. So I painfully swallowed my pride like a gulp of Fly-Pus and grudgingly followed my Dad home. I thought it might've been a good idea to walk some distance behind--close enough so he'd know I was still following--but far enough so he'd know I was still mad.

We always do petty things like that (well I do, anyway), but somehow, no matter how bad things get between us, I always find myself coming home to him. I guess that deep down I like taking care of him just as he takes care of me, probably because of what happened all those years ago. I suppose it's been a good few years since anyone has even mentioned it. I think people are afraid of his reactions. But no one even tries to talk to him about it--or me for that matter. I'm just as affected and hurt as he, and maybe even more so.

I used to remember what happened, but as time goes by I keep getting confused and forgetting things, and adding things to the story. So in the end it's always easier to just go by my father's account of what happened to Sheena

My mother.

He used to tell me that it was a day he would never forget. I couldn't have been more than a few months old, and my father and mother had been together for a good three years. They were always together. They never fought once (or so he claimed). He never cheated on her (yeah right). He was never late in meeting her (that was probably true since he is the most annoyingly punctual Spider in the world). My father would always be first in protecting her from other Spiders, and any other potential threats each day would present. I guess he believed it was his duty, or something.

With the building of the new bathroom underway, my parents thought it was a good idea to take a look. But unfortunately so did Clio, the stupid Daddy Long Legs from next door. He was always mooching around our house looking for trouble. He had no family or friends, so he used to walk from house to house simply to cause mischief. Everyone hated him--especially my parents--so when he showed up next to one of the pipes where my parents were sitting, my Dad started to scream at him, to frighten him away. But this only fuelled his love of mischief, so Clio decided to push my father towards the bath pipe. My mother tried to stop the fight, but by this time it had enraged into a full-blown fistfight. My Dad was clearly the stronger of the two, but Clio was an extremely tall Spider and was very good at hitting and not getting hit. My mother screamed at them to stop, but when two male Spiders fight (or two of any male creature for that matter) there's very little anyone can do to break them up. And my Dad and Clio were no exception. On and on it went, getting bloodier and more pointless with every kick to the head and body.

My mother was trying her hardest to break up the fight, but an unstoppable fury had kicked in. Then, with all her efforts to put an end to the madness, she was suddenly forced backwards, hitting a rusty pipe. My father saw, in the corner of his eye, my mother get up and run inside through a crack in the pipe, probably to escape further injury or simply to find help. But then he suddenly realised where the pipe led.

It led directly to Mr. and Mrs. Fat's bathtub.

He quickly pushed Clio to the floor and ran in the direction of his beloved wife. "Sheena, wait! Don't go in there!" he cried out. But it was too late--she was out of sight. He sprinted into the pipe, still calling to her, but she had clearly gone up onto the surface and into the dreaded bathtub.

"Get back here, you Bluebottle, and fight like a real Spider!" Clio shouted, clearly out of breath.

My father, still tired from his battle with Clio, reached the entrance of the bathtub and cautiously peered inside. He could see his wife, at the very end, shaking and staring up at something in complete horror. He slowly raised his head a little further into the bathtub and could see why his wife was frozen in fear. There, crouched down at the side, peering in with a face of intrigue, was the very young, but very cruel, and clearly very non-arachnophobic, She-Devil.

As she peered down at my mother, my father noticed that she was holding something in her hand. It appeared to be an empty glass jug.

"Sheena, don't panic!" he called out. "Stay still! I'm gonna come get you!"

"No! Stay there!" she shouted, completely terrified. "There's no need for us both to get killed! I'm gonna make a run for it!"

"Be careful! It's The She-Devil! She's crazy!"

"Tell me something I don't know."

Then, out of the blue, The She-Devil just walked away.

"She's leaving!" my father yelled, with a sigh of relief. "I'm coming in to get you!"

"No, I said! Stay there! It's too dangerous! I'm gonna make a dash for it!"

"Ok, but be very careful! She could come back any seco--"

And just before he could finish his sentence, The She Devil returned with the jug, filled to the brim with water. She raised it and began to pour the water into the bathtub, hitting my mother in front of my father's very eyes. He tried to scramble into the bathtub to save his wife, but something was stopping him. Something had a strong hold of his back legs. He was pulled backwards down the pipe. As he was being dragged, he managed to turn his head to see what or who it was. Of course, it was Clio, still not finished with his stupid fight.

"Noooooo! Clio! Stop!" my father cried. "You don't understand!"

"Yeah, I think I do," Clio replied. "You're gonna be sorry you ever crossed me."

The argument was interrupted by the loud noise of water, gushing down towards them. Both Spiders dived through the crack in the pipe to avoid being hit by the speeding water. The sound of roaring water raced through the pipe as they both stood, staring in relief.

The water soon stopped flowing, and my father climbed into the pipe to face the inevitable. It was empty apart from a few remaining droplets of water. Then, to his utter horror, he saw in the distance, the body of a Spider. He ran frantically to it, still praying it was not his dear wife, but knowing full-well it most definitely was. "Sheena?" he sobbed, as he stood over her soaked body. "Sheena?" He knew it was her. How could he ever forget her face? The face he fell in love with all those years ago--the mother of his only son. It was clearly too difficult for him to bear, so he just stood silent and watched my mother lie on the floor. His legs finally gave way to grief, and he collapsed next to her, sobbing uncontrollably, knowing he had just lost everything because of a pointless fight.

That is all I know of my mother's death. The part about Clio's strange disappearance remains a mystery to this day, but every Spider knows that my father killed him outside that pipe all those years ago.

But no one would ever dare mention it. 

## THE CHAIN OF COMMAND

My father and I finally returned home after a painfully long and silent limp. Every House Spider in this huge, dusty house lives in a place called The Wall. Hundreds populate it. It's a part of the house where no members of the Fat Family visit. It's a place where all insects and other kinds of Spider are prohibited. Our home isn't the greatest of homes, but it's still home. It has plenty of legroom, and it's probably one of the safest and darkest cracks in the entire Wall. The best thing about our home is the window. Well, it isn't really a window--it's more of a hole which leads into the garden--but it's a great source of light, and it can be covered up in seconds with webbing to escape detection from any unwanted guests.

And believe you me, there are always unwanted guests in this house.

"Let's fix those legs of yours then," my father said as he carefully sat me down. Dad's always been able to be volcanic angry, and then completely switch off and be the nicest Spider in the world. Me? Well, it takes a little longer for me to forget. It takes me days--sometimes weeks--just to look at him again. But it's always very difficult to stay mad at someone who is so kind. It just makes me feel like the bad bug.

I thought I was due to say something meaningless to him, just to break the ice a little. "So where's Raimi then? Haven't seen that great lump in a while."

"That's Uncle Raimi to you. Don't ever disrespect him. He's a good Spider."

"What? Are you serious? How can you say that? He's a jerk!" And as I said it, I knew that it was a mistake that would start yet another argument. But it's just so difficult not to argue over Raimi. After all, he's a complete loser, psycho, and uncle all rolled into one giant bug.

"I tell you, boy, life would be much harder if it weren't for your Uncle Raimi," he said, as he spun light webbing around one of my injured legs.

"All he has given us is grief! Ever since he came here! Ever since Mother died!"

"You're wrong, Bateman. He's a saint! Don't ever forget that."

"No, Dad, he's a bully. I don't know why you defend him so much. He pushes you around all the time."

"No, he doesn't. How dare you say that! He's been there for us since day one."

My hatred for Raimi is no secret amongst the other Spiders; in fact, my unashamed loathing is clearly contagious, as pretty much all the young Spiders hate his stupid guts now. And we have good reason to hate him too. He's a bully. No, he's worse than that; he's a monster! He parades around The Wall claiming to be my uncle, but everyone--including my father--knows that he is most certainly not. Maybe in some strange, deep-rooted family tree fantasy he is, but in the real world he is not a blood relation.

And thank God for that!

Raimi is the Spider General, leader of the vicious Spider Army. He runs the entire Wall. Anything Raimi wants to eat, drink, marry, or kill, he gets. Without question. If he wants to be my father's stepbrother he can be. Everyone just has to like it or be fed to the birds. So it's not all that difficult to see why everyone despises his stupid ugly face. Sometimes he's pleasant, but most of the time he's a complete jerk. And the only reason he's ever friendly is in order to fool you into a false sense of security to get his wicked way. God only knows why my father loves him so much, because no one else does. It's probably because he was lonely and needed someone around--someone adult--after my mother was killed. But no matter how my father feels about The General, I still hate him with a great passion.

I wish he were dead!

 "How are your legs now, Bateman?" my father asked.

"A little better, thanks," I quietly replied.

"Best get some sleep, yeah?"

"Ok Dad," I replied, yawning.

"You have a very busy day tomorrow. Raimi said that he'd come visit and take you out somewhere nice."

"What?" I asked in utter shock, almost leaping out of my skin again. "I'm going nowhere with that psycho!"

"Yes you are, boy," my father replied, nodding and grinding his teeth again in anger.

"No, I'm not. I've told you time and time again that I would rather be fed to the birds than spend a second with that Spider!"

My father took a deep breath to calm his anger. "Please, Bateman. For me? You know how much you both mean to me," he said with sadness and a look of panic at the thought of letting the dear General down.

"Ok," I said, reluctantly. "But I'm only doing it for you."

I had no intention at all of going anywhere with The General. I knew that my father would be out fairly early in the morning, and I could easily fob Raimi off with a story about how my legs were hurt and that I was unable to walk.

I limped to the corner of the house and tried to get some sleep. I was exhausted after the bedroom wall ordeal and the constant arguing. I was fairly certain I could deal with Raimi in the morning.

Boy was I wrong.

## GENERAL RAIMI

"Get up, you worthless bug! On your feet, soldier!"

Who has the courage to wake me up at this hour? I asked myself, as I slowly opened my tired eyes. Who has the nerve to call me a worthless bug? And while my eyes were slowly getting used to the morning light, I soon realised it was the voice of Raimi.

What a wonderful start to the day!

"Hi Raimi. How are you?" I asked, clearly mocking him.

"Don't get smart with me, boy! And how dare you address a superior Spider with that tone. It's General Raimi to you! You got that?" he demanded, using the stupid military jargon that no one took seriously--except my father. "So, when are you gonna get your act together and join my army? How long are you gonna be a baby and live in your father's shadow? Get a life, bug!"

That was it! I was tired of his worthless talk, his bad breath, his weird legs (clearly an inbreed of a Daddy Long Legs), the strange white patch on his backside, and his goofy teeth, decayed with age. And, of course, I hated the fact that he was somehow a part of my life. Wasn't it enough that he lived in the same Wall as me? No, of course not. He had to be my step-uncle.

"What are you staring at, boy? You got a problem with me?" he asked, with a smirk on his ugly face.

"Yeah, maybe I do," I bravely replied.

"You do? Well then, you and I both have a problem. You see, Bateman, I don't like disobedient little bugs--especially when they're related to me. This is an act of mutiny. Do you know what the punishment for mutiny is?"

"I'm not one of your brainless soldiers, Raimi. You can't push me around. And I'm certainly no relation of yours."

Raimi just stood there staring at me with a face twisted in rage. He was foaming at the mouth, with two of his legs twitching, ready to pounce on me after every word I uttered. He took a deep breath and menacingly moved his head just inches from mine, before he whispered, "I'll say it again: do you know what the punishment for mutiny is?"

I foolishly moved my face even closer to his, and replied, "No, but I can't wait for you to tell me."

Raimi took another deep breath, but this time displaying his razor-sharp, protruding teeth. "The punishment..." he whispered again, "...is DEATH!" And with that, he grabbed my head, firmly, with his two front legs and began to squeeze very slowly.

"What have you got to say for yourself now, Bateman, you pathetic excuse for a Spider?"

I was unable to say anything, not even a witty retort, not even a plea for mercy. I could feel my life being taken from me as Raimi's grip tightened.

"Come on, boy. Why so silent? Having trouble thinking of something clever to say?"

I felt I was about to lose consciousness as his grip tightened even more. Everything began to get extremely blurry, and then all of a sudden I saw two Raimis (one was certainly bad enough). There was simply nothing I could possibly do to stop him from crushing my face and killing me. Then he released his grip, and I found myself flying through the air like a Crane Fly, and into the wall.

"Had enough, boy?" I heard Raimi say from the distance, as I tried but failed to get myself off my back.

He slowly walked towards me with a calm expression. "Come on, Bateman, where's your fighting spirit? Even your father has more fight in him than you. Hell, even your poor mother had more guts than you. Come on, boy, get up off your back and fight. You'll never make a soldier like that. If your dear mother could see you now, she'd be--"

Before he had a chance to finish his taunt, I leapt up onto my wounded and stinging feet and said, "Why don't you just shut up! No one wants to hear your stupid military garbage! We're all tired of it! And we're all tired of you!"

Raimi stood at the other side of the house with a strange calm look on his face. I could tell he still wanted to kill me, but there was no way on earth I was going to give him the satisfaction. Sure, he was five times the size of me. Of course he had the entire Spider Army on his side, but there was still no way I was going to let him get the better of me. I waited for him to reply to my insult, but he said nothing. I waited a little longer--but still nothing.

My rage began to subside with the thought of his rage also subsiding. I knew he was still pretty mad, but I thought there was a possibility that he might try a different approach of attack, perhaps a non-violent one instead. And as I pondered it, The General started to smile. But not the kind of smile you see when pleased with something--like catching the first Fly of the day. Not even the kind of fake smile you might pull when visiting old relatives. This smile was indeed very different. This smile was in fact one that signified that Raimi was about to walk over to me, very slowly, very calmly, pick me up from the cold, dirty floor and snap my brittle body in two.

Sure enough, he did pick me up off the cold, dirty floor.He attempted to snap my brittle body in two, but the difference was that this time, I was totally prepared for him. I reached up to his face with my two front legs and pushed his head back, forcing him to release his grip with a loud cry of pain. I dropped to the floor and quickly ran towards the entrance. Raimi didn't move a muscle. All he was able to do--with his pride in shatters--was stare at me, breathing heavily, his mouth dripping with rage.

As I came closer to the entrance, I could see him, from the corner of my eye, slowly walk towards me. There was no way he was going to catch me. As I reached the entrance, I foolishly decided to look back to see his position, but as I began to turn my head, I crashed hard into something in front of me. It bounced me backwards in the direction of Raimi, sliding me across the rough floor. I came to a stop and then quickly leapt to my tired feet and noticed that it wasn't the wall that I hit--it was my father, returning home from his morning hunt. He stood there, clearly unhurt by the collision, glaring in shock and confusion at the two of us, holding a large Bluebottle and a broken matchstick. Both Raimi and I seemed almost as shocked as he, and I suddenly forgot why we were fighting in the first place.

## FIGHT OR FLIGHT

"What's going on here?" my father demanded, eyes wide open in bewilderment.

"Raimi's trying to kill me!" I cried.

"What?" He paused for a second, looking at Raimi in disbelief, and then at me again. "What are you talking about, Bateman? Why would your uncle be trying to kill you?"

"Yes, Bateman, why don't you tell your dear father why I would ever want to hurt my favourite little nephew?" Raimi asked, pretending to be civil.

"Look at my neck!" I said, lifting up my head to reveal it. "Just look!"

My father moved a little closer to see the blood and large bruises around the front of my neck. "Now do you believe me?"

Raimi walked over and stood beside my father to take a look. "Oh, that's nothing. A scratch. Just a scratch. Wait 'til he joins my army, Velcro, and I promise you that that nick on his throat will be laughed at." He turned to me. "Come on, Bateman, you know as well as I do that we were just fooling around. You know, play fighting. Isn't that right, buddy?"

My father was speechless, still not quite sure of what to make of the whole situation.

"What is the matter with you?" I asked, furious. "You tried to kill me! The last thing I would ever do is join your stinking army!"

"What did you say, Maggot?" Raimi asked, grinding his teeth.

"You heard me. And you can cut out the stupid act right now. No one's buying it."

"Bateman, leave it," my father said, stepping in between us both.

"What do you mean, 'leave it'? Leave what?" I said, astonished at his disloyalty.

Raimi started to smile in his usual smug and sinister way and moved closer to me. "Yes, maybe you should 'leave it', Bateman." He put a friendly leg on my father's shoulder. "Just run along now, like a good little Spider, and let your father and I talk about grown-up things."

I could see my father's temper lift to the roof, which was pretty unusual for him seeing as he almost never gets angry (except with me of course). He grabbed Raimi's leg and threw it from his shoulder. "Get out of here, Raimi--and leave my son alone!"

I was at a loss for words. Completely and utterly shocked. My father had never in his life spoken to Raimi like that--let alone defended me from him. A wave of happiness and relief hit me, but at the same time an even bigger wave hit me--a tidal wave, in fact--of panic and regret. Raimi was clearly a bigger Spider than he, than most, and if my father turned against him, then who would protect us from his Spider Army? Certainly not me. I couldn't even if I wanted to. No, my father and I would be in great danger, and totally alone.

"Leave?" Raimi said, with anger building in his face once again. "I don't leave. This is my house. My Wall. I don't leave. I go where I want to go. Who are you to tell me to leave? If it weren't for me, my army would have crushed you and your Money-Spider of a son a long time ago. Leave? I think you're forgetting that I give the orders around here. I tell Spiders to leave." He paused for a moment and moved his ugly head closer to my father's proud but petrified face. "You got that?"

Things were bad. What had I done? I had endangered our lives more than I could've ever imagined. I had made it impossible for my father and I to remain in The Wall.

"Listen, Raimi," my father said. "Don't threaten me. I know my rights, and you have no right to my house. If I want you to leave, then you'd better. Or else."

Two razor-sharp teeth slowly emerged from Raimi's mouth, dripping with hot saliva. He began breathing deeply again, and now all his legs were twitching. The house fell silent. All that could be heard was heavy breathing. I knew that I had started something extremely serious. My father's face was filled with fear, but at the same time it was plagued with an unnecessarily forced courage.

Or maybe it was simply stupidity.

The silence finally broke, and Raimi opened his mouth. It was still dripping with angry saliva, but he spoke more calmly this time. "I gave you and your worthless family a chance, Velcro. I put up with your good-for-nothing son, even though he continued to disobey my authority. I even put up with your sad little wife." Raimi smirked. "Before you let her die that is."

"What did you say? Let her die? How dare you say that! You know what happened as well as I do," my father angrily said.

"Well, Velcro, we only really know what happened to her that day by your account. No one knows for sure. For all we know, you murdered your precious wife because you knew that I was a potential threat to your marriage. You knew that I loved her. And you knew that she still loved me."

"Don't listen to him, Dad," I said, unsure whether or not Raimi was telling the truth. "He's just trying to make you mad."

"It's a lie. She didn't love you," my father insisted. "She didn't love you when you were together. She told me. She hated you. And she hated your stupid army. Why do you think she left you for me?"

"Shut up! You don't know anything about what we had. She lied to you. And that's why you killed her. That's why you killed Clio too. He was your only witness. You had to kill him."

"If you hated our family so much, then why did you bother helping us in the first place? An act of kindness perhaps?"

"Kindness? Far from it. I only stuck around to bring you down and turn you into the worthless Spider that you have become so that you would let your son join The Spider Army."

"But that's exactly what Sheena didn't want."

"Exactly."

My father stared at Raimi for a few moments, shaking his head, trying to think of something valid to add. "You make me sick. Get out of here, and never come back."

"I thought I'd made myself very clear on the subject. This is my house. So why don't you and your stupid son take your worthless possessions and get out."

That was it. Raimi had crossed the boundaries of being reasonable. Too much had been said. My father had to fight for his family's reputation and home, even if it meant his demise. He slowly opened his mouth to show his jagged teeth. They were not quite as razor-sharp as Raimi's, but sharp enough to do some real damage. Dad raised his two front legs and wrapped them around Raimi's throat. Raimi had awesome strength though, and he managed to break free from the hold almost immediately. Instantly, Raimi's two front legs were wrapped around my father's throat. My father struggled to remove them, but it was no use. I had seen Raimi in a killing frenzy before, and it was not a pretty sight. The struggle for life and death moved to the floor, with Raimi above my father, squeezing the life from him. My father, trying to pry Raimi's grip from his throat, managed to place his six remaining legs under Raimi and lift him off the ground, throwing off of him and onto the floor. My father then leaped to his feet, rage pumping through his body, and quickly kicked Raimi as hard as he possibly could, square in the mouth. Raimi screamed in pain and frustration, and then got to his feet and ran into my father, knocking him into me, forcing us both back toward the doorway.

Raimi walked towards us in sheer madness and rage. "You think you can kill me? I'm gonna make you and your worthless son wish you'd never been born!"

My father was hurt, almost unconscious--and on top of me. I struggled to push him off me, but it was no use; his body was too heavy. All I could do was desperately try to wake him. "Come on Dad! Get up! Now!" But it was too late. Raimi grabbed my father by two of his legs, picked him up off the floor and started swinging him around the room like a piece of webbing.

"Let him go!" I yelled, more scared than I had been previously. "Please Raimi--I'll join your army. I'll do anything you want. Please let him go." It was a stupid thing to ask for in the current circumstances, because with that, he granted my request and let go of him, propelling him into the hard wall at great speed. My father lay there, lifeless, not a single movement or sound. Is he dead? I thought, frightened to my very soul. No, he couldn't have been. He was my father and was too strong to go out like that. Raimi moved slowly towards him to finish what he'd begun. There was no way I was going to let him kill my father, so I ran up to the broken matchstick my father was holding earlier, and picked it up. I looked at its sharp end for a moment and then at Raimi, who at that moment had reached my father's helpless body and was about to rip him to shreds. I secured the broken matchstick, took a deep breath and ran towards Raimi, with the sharp end pointing towards his large back.

"You're gonna be begging for me to kill you after I'm through with you, Velcro, old pal of mine," were Raimi's last words, if you didn't count the agonizing squeal he let out as the sharp wooden end pierced his muscular body. Before he could turn to see his killer, he fell to the floor, eyes still wide open. But only for a moment. I looked down at my father; he was now awake and staring in a state of horror.

"Son?" he said, not quite sure of what to say in the circumstances.

"I had to," I quietly said, trembling. "He was about to kill you. I had no choice."

My father slowly got to his feet with great effort and pain. "You have to go now, Bateman."

"What?" I said, shocked by my father's words. "Why?"

"You must. They're going to come for you."

"Who?"

"The Spider Army. You know it. I know it."

"No. I'm not leaving you."

"You must. They'll find you here. I can't protect you."

"How will they know?"

"They'll be looking for him. Especially Raimi's son."

"No. I'll hide the body."

"Where?" my father asked, almost surprised at what I'd suggested. "In here? Outside? Next door? There are Spiders everywhere. He's just too large to move without any suspicion. You have to go. Run. Leave The Wall."

"No. Not without you."

"Together we'll be caught--easily. I would only slow you down, and I can hold them off better without you. You have to leave. Alone."

"No," I pleaded, now in tears. "It doesn't have to be this way."

"It does, Bateman. You know it. I know it. I'm sorry."

I stood there staring into my father's worried eyes, then down at Raimi's body. Words could not describe the way I was feeling. I was falling down a dark hole, and there was no ground in sight.

My father was right. I had to leave. No family. No friends. I would be alone. But that's exactly what I had always dreamed of: to be a loner, a free spirit. But now that I had to leave--it felt pretty hopeless and depressing.

"Velcro!" someone shouted from outside the house. Both my father and I looked at each other in panic. This was it. This was what we had feared would happen. But did it have to be so soon? We hadn't prepared anything.

"Bateman," my father whispered, "it's time."

Sadness and panic were clouding the inevitability of the situation. Tears streamed down my face. I could tell my father was holding back his deep sadness by putting on a brave face. But anyone could have seen that it was killing him inside.

It was time to leave.

Then there was the sound of someone walking around outside the house.

"Velcro? You in there, buddy? Hello?"

"Go now! Please," my father begged.

"Okay," I said, in defeat.

"I'll find you," he whispered, holding onto my front leg. "When it's all calmed down. I won't forget you. I promise."

I gave a painful nod and ran towards a gap next to the window, which led to the staircase, climbed through and didn't look back, not even to say goodbye.

It was just too difficult even for someone like me.

There were so many places that I hadn't seen in this large old house, and now I would have the opportunity to explore every inch of it. This was my dream. But now that my wish had been granted, all I wanted to do was turn back and go home.

Life has a funny way of kicking you in the teeth.

## THE LONE-WOLF SPIDER

The wall space can be a lonely place, especially at night. So many times I had left my home before, wanting to venture forth to unknown lands and adventure. Well, sometimes I did venture forth to strange and mystical lands--such as the kitchen. I found the kitchen to be a little too loud. It was probably due to the fact that Mr. and Mrs. Fat were always occupying it, cooking up God knows what under the grill. Sometimes the smell was unbearable, but other times the smell was a little tempting. But I think I'd prefer sticking with flies and perhaps the odd cricket.

I have never left the house in my entire existence. My father used to insist that it was for the best. He told me that there were other Spiders outside that would happily tear me to pieces. Foreigners. I suppose he was right as always. It has to be more sensible to stick to your own kind. Not much point mixing with others. They stay outside, and we stay inside. Maybe that's why we're called House Spiders and not House, but Sometimes Live Outside Spiders. No, for once I totally agreed with my father.

I missed my Dad. I missed him more than I ever thought I could. I had only been gone from the house for five days, but it seemed like a lifetime had passed. I hadn't spoken to a single Spider in all that time. Not even a worthless Insect. Anything would have done, just to pass the time. I would have even spoken to a Slug. Not that there ever were any slugs in the house. Perhaps the odd one would, for some reason, accidentally find its way into The Wall. But usually they pretty much stayed outside.

I was so tired. I had been walking for almost five days straight. My legs were still throbbing from Raimi's attack, and my head was pounding. I was kind of relieved that I hadn't bumped into anyone--especially any Spiders--because, by now, I was probably a wanted Spider, and Raimi The Second would be looking for his father's killer, followed closely behind by his precious Spider Army.

My Confidence Boosting Options:

1. Return home and face The Spider Army's fury.

2. Stay put and inevitably face The Spider Army.

3. Go outside and face the Garden Spiders, and then if I managed to escape, maybe retreat to the house to face The Spider Army.

Most promising.

I crawled through a small crack in the wall, which led into darkness. It brought me into a room, probably a storage cupboard. Up ahead, there was something I had never seen before. Slightly lit by a faint ray of light that came from the distance, stood a huge bronze-coloured object. It had rusty pipes connected to it and the sound of gushing water inside. At first I was reluctant to approach it, but being the inquisitive Spider that I am, I couldn't help but wonder what on earth it was. Almost everything else in the house I had already seen, or had been told about by friends and family, but this was something I had not seen nor heard of before.

As I approached with caution and intrigue, I noticed that there wasn't a single web in sight. This was strange because Mr. and Mrs. Fat are not only disgustingly fat and grossly ugly, but they are also extremely messy and dirty. If there had been a Spider web somewhere in the house, The Fat Family would have--without a single doubt--left it exactly where they found it. Why were there no webs? It was a perfect place for a Spider to occupy. It was dark, quiet, and there was plenty of space to run around.

I continued to explore this strange and dark place. In some areas, the dust made it impossible to walk; my legs sank into it like quicksand. I had to try and stay on the wall to avoid choking to death.

The echoed water noise from inside the bronze-coloured object was becoming louder, furiously bubbling up inside. I kept my distance, unsure of how hot or how cold it was. Then suddenly the noise stopped. All that remained were a few echoed droplets of water falling into place.

There was just an eerie silence

Suddenly, a feeling of dread clouded my emotions of intrigue and adventure. There was something wrong with this place. Why were there no webs? And why hadn't I seen a single Spider or insect anywhere for such a long time? Then, like a rolled up newspaper to the head, it hit me--hard: there was only one reason there were no webs in sight: other Spiders were afraid of something. Something lived here.

Something terrifying. 

## MONSTERS

I froze. My senses were going off the scale. Every hair on my body stood up on end. I looked back and noticed that the entrance had been lost in the darkness. I was somewhere at the centre of this unknown room, deep in the clutches of something dark and sinister. Something which all Spiders and Insects feared. My sense of adventure had gone on holiday, and my cheeky manner had followed closely behind. What was I to do? Face the potential evil that lurked in this dark land? Or run back in the hope of locating the entrance, which was now my only known exit? But for some strange reason I chose to remain still. I thought that it would be a more practical solution in my current situation (good thinking, Bateman!).

There was nothing but darkness and silence for a good ten minutes. I hadn't moved in all that time. Was my theory flawed? Was it just an overactive imagination? Perhaps there were no webs because the bronze thing was making too much noise. It must have been. But then the silence was broken by a strange noise. And as I listened closer, I could make out whispering--ghostly whispering. I could hear something fall and crash to the dusty ground. The whispering continued.

"Hello?" I said, half-heartedly, trembling in fear. "Is there anyone there?"

The whispering suddenly stopped. There was silence again. My heart was pounding against my hairy chest. Then I heard someone whisper, "Someone's here," followed by a clearly different voice, "Don't worry, they won't bother us." That was enough to send my normally rational brain into a state of frenzy. There was something most definitely here--and it was most definitely not a House Spider.

I had no choice; I had to flee. I took a deep breath, swallowed my sharp pride and slowly crept back in the direction of the entrance. Even with my surprisingly good eyes for a Spider it was impossible to see anything up ahead, only faint outlines as my eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness. I had to simply guess where the entrance was and remain on the wall, as the dust below would have surely suffocated me. As my eyes slowly adapted, I could vaguely see something up ahead on the wall--something that was not there a minute ago. Had I taken a wrong turn? Or was it a creature appearing out of thin air? I stared at it trying to make out what it was, but the longer my eyes were locked, the closer it seemed to get. Was it my youthful imagination, once again, trying to fool me into thinking that it was some kind of ghoul.

My eyes were fixed on the obstruction in front of me, but I was suddenly distracted by a strange hissing noise coming from directly behind me. Was it the strange bronze-coloured thing again, reawakening, or was it, horrifyingly, another creature, content with hounding and threatening my very existence? I turned hastily to see if I was under attack, but there was nothing there, only darkness. As I turned back to the entrance, something hideous was standing directly in front of me. It had four large fangs, dripping with saliva, and its body was green, unlike anything I had seen before. I cried out in fright at its presence and appearance and fell towards the thick dust below, burying myself deep, creating a suffocating cloud.

It took a few seconds for me to emerge from the dust. I shook the dust particles off my body and waited. I knew there was something about to attack me; it was only a matter of time. There was silence for a good minute. Then I clearly heard the strange hissing noise again, under the river of dust. It was a faint sound, but I could hear it gradually move closer. To my horror, I heard yet another hissing noise from a different direction. I had nowhere to run. I knew that if I stayed I would surely be eaten by whatever it was that was stalking me. But if I ran I would surely get lost in the dust and darkness, and possibly suffocate to death. I decided to slowly back away towards the wall from which I fell, and foolishly wait for the inevitable.

The hissing noises were getting closer by the second. I could vaguely see two mounds of darkness emerge from the river of dust in front of me. It was most certainly the creatures, licking their lips, ready to feast on my eight juicy legs. As the mounds of darkness came within reaching distance, I could see their features. It was once again the green-faced monster, with fangs dripping with saliva--soon to be dripping with blood--and the other, a little different, with a brown and orange coloured face, with teeth crooked and much sharper.

I froze. I could barely breathe. I had never before been so petrified. All my fighting instincts had departed. I faced my fate like a true Spider and closed my eyes tightly.

I waited. But nothing happened. I slowly opened them and was suddenly blinded by a massive light. It filled the room in an instant, colouring everything like a painting. The large bronze object was clearly some kind of tank, perhaps for heating water. The walls were a dirty white, the dust wasn't as thick as the darkness led me to believe, and the two fanged ghouls, who were about to eat me, were merely two Spiders--and not very big Spiders at that. One had a lime green body, and the other was brown and orange, with an extremely fat butt. I had never seen such Spiders. Suddenly my predicament didn't seem so hopeless, and my feeling of fear slowly lifted. I was still a little disorientated, but for the first time since I entered this cursed room, I felt in control. They were clearly a strange, new, breed of Spider, and their size created no particular problem, being as I was twice the size of them.

The three of us were silent, hissing at each other, not sure of what to make of the situation. The longer I stared at them, the more I felt confident I could crush their puny bodies in the blink of an eye. I lifted my two front legs, flicking dust into the air in the process and viciously flaunted my sharp teeth. They backed away slightly, obviously unsure of how to defend themselves. Just then, the reason for the sudden massive light revealed itself: a human hand raced towards me, clearly in search of something other than me. Indeed, I was about to be crushed by the rogue hand. But just as my demise seemed inevitable, something pushed me out of the way, causing yet another dust cloud to fill the air. As the dust slowly settled, I could see the human hand fiddle with an electrical switch directly behind where I was once standing. Something had spared my relatively short existence. I heard something rustle beside me. As I took a closer inspection, I could see it was the lime green Spider, still shaking off dust particles from its body.

The light disappeared, but not completely. It seemed that the hand had indeed closed the door of the cupboard, or room, or whatever it was, and forgotten to shut it properly, leaving just enough light to see everything.

"You saved me," I said, stunned at the sudden turn of events. "Why?"

"Why not?" the lime green Spider asked.

"A second ago you tried to kill me."

The brown and orange Spider walked over and cheerily answered, "Kill you? Heavens no. We were merely trying to scare you. Kill you indeed. What a ludicrous statement."

"I thought that you were gonna eat me."

Then the lime green Spider replied, "I'm sorry if it seemed that way, but me and Nelvin have got to watch our backs in here. We wouldn't have harmed you."

"I don't understand," I said.

"It's simple," Nelvin replied, "Jameson and I have to protect this room at all costs from, well--let's face it--Spiders like you."

"Spiders like me?" I snapped. "You were the ones trying to kill me."

"Once again, I'm very sorry," Jameson apologised, "but we had no choice in the matter. We are Garden Spiders. Outsiders. If any House Spiders caught us inside the house, then we'd be killed in a second."

Nelvin walked over to Jameson and placed a loyal leg on his back. "Yes, I'm sorry too. You see we've lived here in this cupboard for almost three years now. We haven't been able to spin a single web in all that time. We had hoped to spread fear and urge all travellers to stay out."

"Why?" I asked. "What have House Spiders ever done to you?"

"Nothing," Jameson answered. "But we are at risk from prejudice, each and every day we live here."

The situation became clearer. They were right; they would indeed be the subjects of discrimination if they remained inside the house. But one thing was still unclear: "How on earth did you escape detection for three years?"

Jameson stepped in to answer. "Simple: pure luck. We've used the method of frightening unwanted guests away for three years. And it has, somehow, been extremely effective every single time. But you? Well, you were lucky. That cupboard door has opened a million times before but never before has it opened when a Spider--or another creature has entered. One chance in a million. Pure luck."

"Well," Nelvin added, "what are you going to do with us now?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, you've seen us now, and you know our little secret. I mean, will you be letting the authorities know of our presence?"

"Authorities?" I said, almost offended. "What authorities? You mean the Spider Army?"

"I don't know. Yes. The Spider Army. Well, will you?"

"No, of course not." I looked over to Jameson. "You saved my life. I would never turn you in. Especially not to The Spider Army. And even if you hadn't saved my life, I still wouldn't have turned you over to those monsters."

"Really?" Jameson asked.

"Really," I replied.

For the first time in days, I felt that I had done something right.

"Thank you, sir," Nelvin said politely.

"It's Bateman. Call me, Bateman."

"Ok, thank you, Bateman."

"I know there are Spiders in here that would kill without losing a minute of sleep. And I know that not everyone is like me. But there is more good in this house than there is evil. Otherwise, what's the point? But if you see a Spider called Raimi the Second, run!"

"Raimi the Second. I think I've heard of him." Jameson said. "Well, I've heard of a Spider called Raimi, anyway."

The atmosphere had changed drastically. The events of just a few minutes ago had suddenly propelled me into this comfortable, but a little surreal, situation. I felt totally at ease with the two Spiders. For so long I had believed Garden Spiders to be different--and even dangerous--but as our conversation continued, I realised that, even though a little unusual in appearance, we had more in common than all the Spiders I had come across in The Wall.

## CONFESSIONS

"Would you like something to eat, Bateman?" Nelvin offered.

"Something to eat?" I asked. "Like what?"

"Well, we have the very popular Fly-Rare on the menu, followed by Fly-Crumble, served with a tall glass of Fly-Pus. Sound good?"

"Fly sounds great."

They led me through a small crack in the wall, which brought us into a strange room. It was cold and dirty, but they did have a large selection of Flies on display--everything from Bluebottles to Horseflies. They had been extremely busy. We sat down and feasted on the Flies. I hadn't eaten in five days, so it didn't take me long to slide two small Flies down my throat.

As we sat, bloated from the feast, Jameson politely asked, "How did you stumble upon our little hideout? You seem a little young to be wandering around alone."

"I'm not young. I'm old enough."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean any disrespect," Jameson said.

"I have to be alone."

"Why on earth would you have to be alone? I don't get it," Nelvin asked, curiously.

"Well, if you must know, I'm on the run."

"On the run? You mean you're a fugitive?" Nelvin cried out.

I quickly defended myself. "No. Not really. It wasn't my fault. I had to do what I did. I had no choice in the matter."

"Well, what did you do?" Jameson caringly asked, trying not to be judgemental.

"It's a long story."

"Well, we're not going anywhere," Nelvin pointed out.

"Basically, I had to put a stop to someone's constant bullying--but things didn't go quite as planned."

"What happened?" Jameson asked.

I paused, trying to find the courage to say the words out loud. "I had to kill him."

"What?" Nelvin shouted. "You murdered someone?"

Jameson angrily stepped in. "Nelvin, please. Don't judge him. He didn't judge us." He nodded kindly to me. "Go on, Bateman. Carry on."

I suddenly felt uneasy about telling the story. But now that I'd begun, I had to finish. "I didn't murder him. He was trying to kill my father, right in front of me! I did it to protect my father's life. That's not murder--that's self-defence!'

"Yes, you're right," Jameson agreed. "So what happened next?"

"Well, my Dad told me to leave, to avoid capture. And now Raimi's son is surely after me, and--"

"Wait a minute! Why is Raimi's son after you?" Nelvin asked.

"Because it was Raimi that I killed," I answered. "His father."

"You killed Raimi?" Nelvin asked, eyes wide with horror. "General Raimi? Leader of The Spider Army? Oh, my word. You are in big trouble."

"Of course I am! And anyways, if you're so innocent, then why did you leave the garden? Perhaps you killed someone too."

"Kill someone! I couldn't hurt a Fly!" Nelvin stated.

"What are you talking about? You're a Spider," Jameson pointed out.

"That's beside the point. I have never killed anyone in my entire life."

"Look, Bateman," Jameson said, trying to calm the discussion down, "I have to apologise for my friend's behaviour. He gets a little high maintenance from time to time. We both do. We've been stuck in this dusty cupboard for a long time."

"That's ok," I assured him.

"So, how can we help you?" Jameson asked.

"Well, you can start by telling me how you ended up inside this house."

Jameson made himself comfortable and took a large bite out of a Fly.

"Well, as it happens, it's a long story too. We were very happy living in the garden. I had everything: a family, lots of friends. And in the garden you're never short of food. Sure, you'd spend half the day making a huge web across the garden path, and some fat woman would usually walk straight through it, destroying it instantly. And sure, you'd then be thrown miles away from your home in the process. But it was worth it--every second of it. The sun. The rain. It was great. Everything was great. Until the stupid Fat Family--"

"Oh, we call them that too," I said, clearly ruining the flow of his story.

Jameson continued. "Until the stupid Fat Family decided to buy a dog. And not just any dog--this dog had a taste for just about anything--not unlike its owners. Meat, bones, plants, grass, mud, wood, stones, shoes, trees, animals, and especially Garden Spiders. Within months my family and friends were eaten."

"Your family and friends?" Nelvin interrupted.

"Sorry. Our family and friends. It was horrible. There was nothing we could do. No one was spared. The Fat Family was no problem. Most of them were terrified of us. Well, all except that little girl."

"The She-Devil," I added.

"The She-Devil?" Jameson enquired.

"Yes, The She-Devil. She's the daughter. She's not in the least bit afraid of us.'

"Yes. The She-Devil. She is a tough one; I'll give her that. In any case, life was unbearable. It was massacre after massacre, until we were all forced to live under rocks with the Insects and other strange creatures. In the end there weren't enough rocks to go around, so we had to retreat to the shed. But that got too crowded as well. Politics got in the way."

"What do you mean by politics?" I asked.

Nelvin stepped in to answer. "Everyone wanted to be the leader. We were confined to the shed for months, so everyone assumed that we needed a leader. Well, all except Jameson and I. We just wanted to live in peace. I mean, it was bad enough trying to live in the garden, but then living in the shed seemed worst."

"Yes," Jameson added, "it was too small in there, and too hostile. Spiders on power trips. It was too much for me and Nelvin to cope with. So, about three years ago, we decided to leave, and head for the house. And the rest, as they say, is history."

"And we've been here ever since," Nelvin included.

"What a horrible story!" I said, suddenly feeling a little better about my current predicament. "So, are you ever gonna go back to the garden?"

"Not likely," Nelvin said, with conviction. "Not until that stupid dog bites his last bone." He then turned to Jameson. "How long do dogs live?"

"I have no idea," Jameson replied. "Fifteen years? Who knows?"

"Well, the fact still remains: you can't stay in here forever," I pointed out.

"Why not?" Jameson asked. "We've done ok up until now."

"But you'll go insane."

"Insane?" Nelvin snapped. "Insane? Why in the world would we go insane? We've been here for three years. We're perfectly happy."

"Ok. I'm sorry. But wouldn't you like to be able to move around freely, you know, without having to watch your backs all the time?"

"Like you, ya mean?" Nelvin asked sarcastically. "And what do you expect us to do? Walk around the house freely, so that we can be hunted and killed by the first House Spider that lays his eyes on us? Or perhaps return to the garden, so that we can join our family and friends as one of Mr. Dog's favourite feasts?"

"Okay, okay. There has to be something you can do? I mean, it must get lonely living here," I said, genuinely concerned.

"Sure it does," Jameson said. "But we have no choice. And you get used to it. I mean we haven't tried to kill each other for at least a month now. We've gotten used to it. And you will too."

"No. You're wrong!" I snapped. "It'll blow over eventually. It's bound to. And my father will find me. And when he does, we'll leave this cursed house and find a place where they've never even heard of The Spider Army."

"Every wall, every house, even every garden has its Spider army. Wherever you go it'll be the same," Jameson said.

"No, you're wrong!" I snapped again. "There is such a place! And I'll find it!"

"I hope for your sake you're right," Nelvin muttered under his breath.

I decided it was time to leave. I was a sitting duck in this dusty place. Sure, they had been safe for three years, but The Spider Army was definitely on their way, and neither darkness nor the odd creepy hissing noise was going to scare the likes of them away.

"I should go," I quietly said.

"Go? Go where?" Jameson asked, genuinely shocked. "You'll be safer here."

"No I won't be. And I'll endanger you if I stay. The Spider Army could be here any day now. Any minute, even. I have to go. I don't want anyone else to get hurt."

"We're not afraid of some army," Nelvin bravely said.

"You're crazy. You're no match for Raimi and his soldiers. They'll kill you in an instant!"

"Well, when you put it like that."

"Look, don't worry about me. I'll be fine. I'm a survivor. I know this house like the back of my leg. Really. I'll be fine."

"Okay," Jameson said. "But you have to be careful. Don't try being brave or anything. Stay inside the wall space. The Fats shouldn't be a problem, but you'll have to watch out for the girl. What'd you call her again?"

"The She-Devil," I answered.

"Oh yeah. The She-Devil. Stay away from her."

"I will," I assured him. "Thank you for everything. When this is all over, maybe I'll come back to visit."

"Make sure you do," Nelvin politely demanded. "And bring some women with you. It gets a bit lonely in here."

"I will. Thanks. I'll see you soon."

I walked over to a small crack in the wall, directly opposite the entrance of the cupboard, and crawled through, disappearing into the darkness.

As I walked, happy in the knowledge that I had made some new friends, I was totally oblivious to my current situation. It almost escaped my mind that I had just killed the leader of the vicious Spider Army and that I was, in fact, a fugitive, all alone in a hostile wall. There was something that was different about today. I had come so far all alone, further than I had ever been before. Perhaps it was the fact that I had come too far for The Spider Army to find. Perhaps I had escaped. Maybe my Dad had managed to dispose of Raimi's dead body, and I was totally in the clear. All those thoughts constantly flooded my head, giving me feelings of hope and relief.

All they were doing was making me blind to the real dangers ahead because as I turned my head to see what the noise was behind me, I saw the face of evil. The evil was in the form of a little girl. She reached out, picked me up by my legs with her fingertips, and dropped me into her other hand, closing her fingers around my terrified body, leaving me in total darkness. It wasn't long before I passed out completely. 

## THE GLASS JAR

Bright light seeped through my heavy eyelids. Nothing made sense. When my eyes finally adjusted to the light, I could see that I had woken up in some kind of room. As the muscles in my legs came back to life, I slowly moved forwards in order to investigate which room in the house I was in. On closer inspection, I was stopped in my tracks by a strange force field. I moved in the other direction, but the same force field continued to block my venture forward.

Each and every possible direction was blocked. What on earth was preventing me from exploring this room? And who or what had brought me to this strange place? But as I peered up and saw a black circular object hover above me, both my questions were answered. I had been placed in a glass jar, secured by a black lid--and there was only one person who could have had the guts to pick up a House Spider and place it into a glass jar--and that someone must have been the infamous She-Devil!

I prayed that this day would never come. My father never spoke of The She-Devil after the death of my mother. But her stories were legendary. Even as a small Spider I was regaled with stories of how she tortured innocent Spiders, pulling legs off with her teeth or burning Spiders with matches. Horrible! Just horrible!

Time went by slowly. The air tasted stale. I didn't know how much air was left in the glass jar. For all I knew I could have been dead in minutes. The only ray of hope I had was the fact that she must have wanted to keep me alive to torture me. So she couldn't possibly have wanted me to suffocate to death.

I waited. And waited. And waited some more. There was still no sign of her. It was the strangest of feelings. On one hand, I prayed that she wouldn't return, but on the other I prayed that she would, so she could release me from the glass prison. What a dilemma!

After a while, I soon realised that I wanted her to return because the only chance I stood of surviving was to be freed from the jar. Then visions of nightmarish torture methods caused me to break out in a terrified sweat. Maybe it would've been better to suffocate to death instead of being slowly tortured, and finally--after hours of excruciating pain--be given the sweet release of death. What a predicament!

I had no choice. My instincts told me not to sit back and wait for death to arrive, but to fight for survival instead. I had to think of a plan--a plan that was foolproof--a plan that would free me from this jar and from the potential torture I was inevitably facing. I was pretty sure that she was going to return; it was just a matter of waiting, trying to stay focused and conserving my oxygen supply.

The Original Plan:

1. Spin a large web above to stop her hand from reaching in and grabbing me.

2. While she is trying to remove the thick, sticky webbing from her fingers, bolt up the glass jar and out.

3. Crawl down the outside of the jar, run across the table, avoiding any unforeseen obstacles, spin another web, and safely lower myself down to the floor below, and find the nearest exit. And freedom!

Foolproof!

Things never quite work out out the way you want them to.

The air had just about dried up. My vision became blurry, and I was mere seconds away from passing out. And then, just as I felt my legs about to give way in defeat, I heard loud footsteps coming towards me. I could see someone stand in front of me, studying me closely like a Spider Freak Show. It was the She-Devil. This was it! But I had totally forgotten about the foolproof plan to spin a decoy web. I mustered every last ounce of strength that remained, bent over and sprayed as much webbing as possible, in the hope of protecting me from her deadly grasp.

I could see her hand reach for the black lid that locked me in this glass prison, and slowly unscrew it. Each and every turn sent feelings of panic and horror, and also relief at the thought of being able to breathe fresh air once again--even if for the last time. After two turns, the lid popped off, and gushes of sweet oxygen hit me in waves. Now, all that stood between her and me was a pathetic layer of webbing. She reached in with her giant fingers, breaking through the webbing without any effort, and picked me up.

So much for the amazing escape plan.

I was dangling by one leg, kicking out with the seven that remained. Fat load of good it did. There was nothing more I could have done. I had to face it--I was doomed. Then something strange happened. She started to run, with me still swinging like an idiot from her fingertips. What was she doing? Was she going to torture me or not? The suspense was killing me. I needed closure on the matter. She suddenly came to an abrupt halt. I became extremely dizzy and was having trouble focusing on anything. After a few seconds of disorientation, I could see that we had stopped outside a white door. She reached for the handle and turned it slowly, opening the creaky door. She gingerly walked in. At this point, I was more intrigued than scared. Which room was I about to enter? When we were in, I looked around, taking in as much information as possible, in case there was an opportunity to escape. It was a small child's bedroom. And there, sat on a small bed, was a little boy. It was Mr. and Mrs. Fat's precious son, Richie. I had only ever seen him twice in my entire life: once in the living room and once under the stairs.

She moved the arm she was holding me with behind her back, and I lost sight of him.

"Richie," she called out, in a musical tone. "I have a surprise for you."

"What?" he cautiously asked. "Why would you give me a surprise?"

She took a few steps closer to him. "Just trust me. You'll love it."

"What is it?" he nervously asked.

"It wouldn't be much of a surprise if I told you, dummy. Trust me. Shut your eyes and I'll give it to you."

"No. I don't trust you," he said, moving off the bed and backing away from her, towards the wardrobe.

"Come on. You'll definitely like it."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Ok then. What is it?"

"Close your eyes."

He paused for a moment and then shut his eyes, still leaving them half-open.

"Close them properly, idiot!" she snapped.

He closed them tightly. "Ok. Give it here then."

"Patience. Patience. Hold out your hand."

"This better be good," he warned, holding out a trembling hand.

"Oh, it will be," she said, grinning. "Keep them eyes closed."

She slowly moved my dangling body towards his open hand, and dropped me into his palm. "Ok. Now you can open your eyes."

I looked up and saw his eyelids spring open with excitement. He looked down at his open hand with amazement. His eyes widened even further, and his jaw dropped to the floor. "AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"What's wrong, Richie?" she calmly asked, clearly mocking him. "I thought you liked surprises."

I froze. I was totally petrified, but clearly not as petrified as Richie was. Was I to be squashed with his other hand and turned into Fly-Pus? It occurred to me that I was suddenly free, and all I had to do to escape was drop off his quivering hand. It was only a little fall to the soft carpet--and he was quite short for a human. I quickly snapped out of my frozen state and crawled to the edge of his hand, ready to plunge down to safety. But as I reached the edge he launched me off his palm, crashing my fragile body against the wall at great speed. I silently fell to the floor. My face was buried deep in the thick green carpet. I was slowly suffocating in its grass-like surface, and my vision was totally blocked. My legs were motionless and hurting. All I could hear was: "Is it dead? I hate you! You wait 'til Mum finds out!"

Had I escaped death?

But then the answer was clearly no. "Let's kill it, Richie! Come on!"

"No way!" Richie cowardly replied. "It's too big!"

"Don't be stupid--it's only a Spider. Don't be such a baby."

"I'm not a baby--you are!"

I lay there motionless for a few seconds. How had I ended up here? I thought. And why? Flashes of the last few days hit me like enormous feet. And then I remembered.

My recollection woke my aching body. I lifted myself off the floor, and began to limp slowly away towards the wall.

"Quick! It's getting away!" I heard The She-Devil shout. "Come on Richie, do something!"

"Like what?" he asked.

"I don't know. Throw something at it."

I was too frightened and panicked to look back to see what they were plotting. And besides, the wall was almost within reaching distance; there wasn't much point in wasting valuable seconds looking back. But for some strange and stupid reason I looked back. Instead of seeing the two young Fats, I saw--ripping through the air like a Wasp attached to a rocket--a red toy car. Luckily, whoever threw it was a lousy shot, because it missed me, crashing into the wall, leaving a red coloured dent. A sigh of relief hit me harder than the toy could have.

But just as I believed that I was safe, something unexpected happened. When the toy car had bounced off the wall, it hit the carpet and began to roll--toward me. I started to scramble away from it, but it was no use--its momentum was far too great for my tired legs. It rolled and rolled, and then stopped on its side within inches of me. Another sigh of relief hit me. The car's shadow loomed over me and I felt, in some ways, pretty lucky that I hadn't been crushed. But how can someone who's been through so much in just a few days, be so lucky? The wall was merely inches away, and there was a large crack in it, just perfect for an escape route. I started to walk towards it, feeling that the worst was behind me. But with each footstep I took, I noticed that the shadow that gloomed over me, somehow, was following me. How is this possible? I thought. Then I looked back and saw that the car was in fact falling in my direction. I was at a loss for words for a second time that day. What a week I was having! The toy car plummeted towards me and crashed down onto the carpet, trapping my two back legs in the process. I was trapped, unable to free myself. The inevitable loomed over me, even darker than the car's shadow. I gave up hope. I was tired of fighting. I had gotten nowhere. Everything I had done had turned to Fly-Vomit. I lay back in defeat and waited for The She-Devil--or her stupid brother--to come and squash me into the thick green carpet.

After a few seconds, I heard someone say, "He's trapped! Let's get it! Come on!"

Then I heard another voice say, "I think I broke my car."

The sound of giant footsteps vibrated the carpet around me, making the toy car rattle. I didn't move. What was the point?

I was sure I had only a few moments of life remaining, so I used the time to think about all the completely stupid things I had done in my worthless life. I made a list in my head, starting from the present to the past. But my train of thought was cut short as I could feel something pull me backwards in the direction of the wall. I opened my eyes and saw my legs being freed from the clutches of the toy car. I continued to be pulled backwards at great speed. All I could see was the toy car getting smaller and smaller the closer I came to the wall. The She-Devil and her brother were looking down at me in astonishment, watching me disappeared into the darkness of the crack in the wall.

The last thing I heard The She-Devil say was, "Did you see that? That was amazing!"

## CARMEN

I felt myself slowly come awake. I could hear a sweet tune being whistled in the darkness. I found myself whistling along to it in my head. Then it stopped.

"You can open your eyes now," a female voice said. "Come on--they're gone now. You're safe."

I opened my eyes and desperately tried to focus. All I could make out was the silhouette of a Spider. Had I been dreaming? I felt a stinging pain on my butt, which reminded me that I had just been dragged across a carpet at great speed. I must be the one and only Spider on this planet to receive a carpet burn. What a week!

"Hello. Who are you?" I asked the female Spider, still a little disorientated.

"Never mind my name--what were you doing messing around in Richie Fat's bedroom? You could have been killed!" she said, clearly annoyed for some girlie reason.

"What are you talking about?" I snapped. "Do you think I chose to go in there?"

My vision slowly adjusted to the light. I saw the female Spider clearly. She was gorgeous. She had perfect teeth (though a little too sharp for my liking), perfect hairy legs and posterior, and a wonderful slender figure.

"Don't get smart with me, boy," she said, undoubtedly a little feistier than I first thought. "I don't appreciate having to rescue your stupid butt from The She-Devil! I have better things to do with my day."

"Look, I didn't ask for your help."

"No, but you certainly needed it."

"What's your problem? I've had a really bad week, and all you can do is shout at me. I mean, what's up with that?"

Perhaps I shouldn't have said anything, because, for a girl, she looked pretty mean. She wasn't butch like one of Raimi's brainless soldiers, but she did have some evil looking eyes.

"You have no idea how dangerous that She-Devil is, do you? She'd pull those puny legs of yours clean off without sparing a single thought."

"Look, I'm sorry, but it wasn't my fault. I was kidnapped."

"Kidnapped," she said, unconvinced.

"Yes, kidnapped! So you can drop the attitude right now, and you can tell me your name."

She paused for a few seconds. "It's Carmen. You happy now?"

"Carmen? What a beautiful name. My name's Bateman."

"Well then, Batman--"

"It's Bateman, actually," I corrected.

She continued. "Ok, Bateman, where are your friends and family?"

"It's a long story. My family was under attack, so I had to flee my home."

"By who?"

I paused for a moment, not sure whether or not I could trust her. Something about her made me almost want to confess everything. "If you must know, it was General Raimi."

"Oh, you're in luck then."

"Why?"

"Because General Raimi is dead. Some giant mutant Spider killed him."

"You've heard about that?" I asked, horrified.

"Of course I have. Everyone's heard about it. Every Soldier Spider is looking for the mutant killer--including his son."

Panic hit me. The game was up. Everything I had feared was true. The last few days had been hard enough, but I still had the feeling--deep down--that I was running from nothing.

"You know Raimi?" I nervously inquired.

"No, but I do know his son."

"He's your boyfriend? Or just a friend?"

"Neither!" she snapped. "I hate him. Raimi the Second is the reason I live here."

"What do you mean?"

"I used to live with my family. But one day, Raimi the Second decided that it would be fun for him to take away our home and threaten my family. Of course, I wasn't going to let that happen, and he didn't take that too well. So he said that he would get his Dad and The Spider Army to kill my family unless I left The Wall."

"Really?"

"No. I'm lying. Of course really!"

"That's horrible!"

"Tell me about it. Ever since that, I've lived as a sort of In-betweener, if you will."

"It must get pretty lonely in here all alone."

"No," she replied, clearly trying to appear tough.

"You don't mind living here with no one to talk to?"

"No, of course not. I need to have plenty of peace and quiet to plot how I'm going to kill Raimi and get my family back."

"Really. How are you going to do that?"

"I don't know yet. Maybe I'll think of a way when you decide to stop bugging me!"

I had never really spoken to many female Spiders in my life. I guess it was because of something I had heard about the female of the species being deadlier than the male (or was it the other way around?). There had never been many opportunities to speak to girls because of my Dad. He used to forbid me from playing with them because of what happened to my mother. As if I was going to fall in love with a Spider and have exactly the same thing happen to her. I mean, what are the odds?

There was definitely something different about Carmen. She seemed a little less girlish than the others from The Wall. I guess she was more like a tomboy Spider. She even seemed a little stronger than me, but there was no way I was going to let her know that. I wanted her to speak to me a little more politely, but for some reason, I kind of liked the way she spoke to me. It made me feel quite strange. Was I in love? Doubtful. Was she in love with me? Even more doubtful. What a strange feeling!

"You still here?" she rudely asked. "Haven't you got some home to go to?"

"No. I already told you this. What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? I saved your life, and you repay me with your wonderful company. Thanks," she said, sarcastically.

"You know what, I don't need this. I'm outta here. Thanks for the help. But in future, don't bother."

"Don't worry, I won't," she replied, not even looking at me.

I carefully tried to move, but for some reason, I was unable to do so. I collapsed and fell flat on my face. I could hear Carmen giggle to herself. I tried again, this time managing to limp slowly away in pain. I had managed to walk a couple of inches when I heard Carmen say, "Look, come back. Let me see if I can't fix those legs of yours?"

"Don't worry about it. I can manage just fine."

"Yeah, right," she said, unconvinced. "You won't get one metre on those legs. Now come on, let me help you."

"So you can yell at me again? No thanks."

"I won't. I'm sorry. Now would you quit being such a baby and come here."

I paused dramatically for a few seconds for sympathy and slowly limped over to her. I sat back down and stared at my, once again, wounded legs, and saw that they were heavily bleeding. She walked up to me and looked down at them.

"They don't look so good," she said, shaking her head. "I think we're gonna have to amputate them as soon as possible."

"Seriously?" I asked, shocked.

"No you idiot, it's only a scratch! Quit being such a baby."

"You're the baby."

"Look, just shut up and try to relax. I'm gonna try and stop the bleeding."

She carefully picked up one of my injured legs and placed it over her knee. She then gently spun webbing over the wound. I was struck by a feeling that I had never felt before. I felt as if I was about to fall asleep, or just float away into oblivion. I think even if she had to amputate them it still would have felt pretty amazing. It never felt this good when my father spun webbing over my wounded legs. What on earth was I feeling? Had I lost my mind? Was I still in a state of shock from The She-Devil incident? Was it love? She started to whistle that tune again. It sounded so soothing to hear.

"You look like you've done this before," I pointed out.

"A few times," she replied, not looking at me.

"With who? Friend? Family member?" I paused. "Boyfriend?"

Carmen stopped what she was doing, looked up at me and frowned. "Boyfriend? Don't be such a moron. Do I look like I need a male in my life?"

"No. I was just wondering. So who have you fixed before?"

She continued to wrap webbing around my legs. "Only my Mum. When she got hurt."

"What happened to her?"

"None of your business."

"Sorry. You're right." I paused for a second or two. "So what happened to her?"

She looked up at me again. "What's wrong with you?"

"I'm sorry--I thought you might have changed your mind."

"Look, she got hurt, so I fixed her. The end. What more do you want?"

"Come on Carmen, you can tell me. Come on. After everything we've been through."

She completely stopped wrapping my wounded legs and stood up, clearly annoyed with me. "Look, little boy, I don't have to tell you anything! We're not friends and we certainly don't have any history together. You got that?"

"Loud and clear, General!"

She grabbed my leg again and placed it back over her knee (not quite as gently as before) and continued to repair my wound. "Smart-ass," she whispered to herself.

## THE PIPE

Carmen had finished wrapping up my wounded legs. She was good. Not quite as good as my father, but my father never looked quite as sexy as she did. I would have given anything to stay a little longer, but with her current hot and cold attitude, the clear choice was to make my exit.

I thought it was best to break it to her gently.

"Carmen, thanks for everything you've done for me, but--"

"You're leaving? What a shame!" she said, sarcastically

"Well, I'll be seeing you then," I replied, a little confused by her coldness.

"I guess so."

She didn't even have the decency to look at me. She just carried on clearing away the wasted webbing from the floor.

"No kiss?" I cheekily asked.

"Maybe next time," she said, clearly lying.

I started to walk away from her towards a steel pipe. "Yeah, sure. See ya Carmen."

"See ya Batman."

"It's Bate... Never mind."

And then I left.

I followed the pipe for a few metres, not looking where I was going. I was more interested in what the dusty floor had to offer. After about an hour or two of walking, I noticed a small crack in the pipe. I looked down at the floor directly below it and saw a small pool of dirty water. There was something strangely familiar about this place. I studied the area for a few seconds. Had I been here before? I thought as I inspected the crack closer. Why did the place look so familiar?

There was no possible way I could have been there before. But then it came to me--this was the place where my mother died. It was the pipe that led to the dreaded bathtub. Suddenly, my father's story was brought to life. I walked up to the crack and put my head through to take a look inside. There was only darkness and the sound of dripping water, echoing through the rusty pipe. I suddenly felt cold and a little sad. Everything my father described in his story was true--even the pool of dirty water outside the pipe. No wonder my father couldn't revisit the site. I wasn't even present when my mother was killed, and it was too hard even for me to stick around. I slowly backed away from the pipe, then turned and walked away. I planned never to return again.

As the pipe disappeared into the darkness, I felt more alone than ever. A significant piece of my history had just stumbled into my life--and then it was gone just like that. I decided it was best to try and block it from my memory. I thought of other things instead, like songs, places I'd heard of, games, and that tune Carmen was whistling earlier. After about five minutes, the memory had disappeared. Thank goodness!

I needed to take a little rest. I was still very close to the pipe, but my legs were throbbing through Carmen's tight webbing. I must have been resting for just a split second when I heard the voice. "Help!" someone cried. I sprung to my feet and hid in a dark corner. A male Spider raced past me in the direction of the pipe. "Help me!" he called out again to no one in particular. Someone--or something--was clearly chasing him. A few seconds later, another male Spider raced past me. "You can't hide from me, Bug!" he shouted. I recognized the sinister voice. It was Raimi the Second.

I desperately wanted to help the Spider as there was a good chance that Raimi would kill him. If Raimi saw me, though, I would risk capture by The Spider Army. I had to think about myself. There wasn't much point in both of us being captured, or killed. No, I had to walk away and hope that the Spider wasn't stupid enough to think that the pipe was a safe place to hide.

"Where do you think you're going, bug?" a sinister, echoing voice asked.

"Please, leave me alone," the other voice cried.

I couldn't just walk away and allow Raimi to murder him. Maybe the Spider deserved it. For all I knew, he could have been guilty of murder himself. Yeah, right. Who was I kidding? Raimi the Second was too much like his father, except not quite as strong and a little more weasel-like.

No one else would be stupid enough to do anything to save him. As usual, it was left to yours truly. 

# THE EIGHT COMMANDMENTS

When The Arachna God created The Spider, he also created a group of Spiders called The Elders. Their role was to ensure the survival of the Spider race. They would sit on their hairy backsides all day long and come up with ways of avoiding extinction and preserving order.

When the list was first compiled, there were twenty-seven Commandments. But after much soul-searching and deep discussion, The Elders decided that there were just too many rules for one to abide by. After years of arguing and further soul-searching, they finally decided to reduce it to eight Commandments...one for each leg.

1. Thou Shall Not Enter a Bathtub.

2. Thou Shall Not Be Seen By A Human.

3. Thou Shall Not Crawl Across The Face Of A Sleeping Human.

4. Thou Shall Not Steal The Fly Of Another.

5. Thou Shall Not Occupy Another's Web.

6. Thou Shall Not Reveal One's Swimming Capabilities To A Human.

7. Thou Shall Not Leave Dismembered Limbs Behind.

8. THOU SHALL NOT KILL!!!

# PARKER'S DIARY

## MOTHER OF GOD

Mother can be annoying sometimes--especially on Tuesday afternoons. Every Tuesday she celebrates Arachna Day. But the rest of the Spider world celebrates it every year on a Sunday. She's a little crazy.

My brother, Fisk, is also a little crazy, but in a different way. He's the type of crazy that would set fire to your web while you were still on it, fast asleep. Sometimes I hate him. I especially hate him on Saturdays because he likes to pretend to help Mother with the cleaning. Then my mother spends the entire day going on about how wonderful Fisk is and how useless I am. At least I don't have to clean for her.

My sister, Grey, is not so bad, but she's a little boring sometimes. She enjoys dating boys, dumping them, threatening them with death, and spreading rumours about them. The kind of girl you wouldn't want to bring home to meet your parents. But still, she's the only one I can trust.

And as for little old me, well, where do I start? All day long I study the Book of Arachna. I suppose being brought up in such a religious family I had to believe in the legends. Well, there're no real legends, as the book has only existed for a few hundred years. It's not even really a book; it's more information passed down from family to family, and then written on the walls for reference. I suppose it's the same in every house across the globe.

Every Tuesday afternoon is a complete nightmare. Mother lines the three of us up and one by one she orders us to recite passages from the book. And if we fail, she punishes us with no food. I haven't failed in nearly three years. I know the words better than I know my own name. And now that I never go without food, I'm starting to look a little chunky. So, ironically, mother has now started telling me I need to lose weight. I just can't win.

I live--and will probably die--by The Eight Commandments. I have never been seen by a human. Never crawled across a human's face. Never entered a bathtub. Never stolen a fellow Spider's web. Never stolen a fly. Obviously haven't swam in front of a human. Haven't left a dismembered limb behind, and I've certainly never killed or will kill another Spider in my entire life. I'm guaranteed a place in Arachna Heaven.

Sometimes it's a little difficult trying to live by The Commandments--especially if you want to make friends. I have no friends at all. And it's not hard to understand why. I don't even have guts to leave the confines of The Wall in case a human sees me, or I end up in a bathtub. I've got to be the most unpopular Spider in the entire Wall. But, that's the life I chose, and that's the life I must lead.

Only once has my Mother forced me to leave The Wall. I remember it like it was yesterday. Father was extremely sick, and Fisk and Grey were out somewhere catching Flies. It was the early hours of the morning and Mother woke me up, crying her eyes out.

"What's wrong?" I asked her

"It's your father, Parker. He's dying."

"What? What are you talking about? You said everything was fine yesterday."

"I'm sorry, Parker. This is it. You have to find your brother and sister."

"Where are they?"

"Fisk is in The She-Devil's room catching Flies, and your sister is with one of her boyfriends."

"What if I'm seen? Why can't you go?"

"Because I have to stay with your father, of course. Now come on, Parker, this is serious."

I looked at the doorway, pondered the shocking thought of leaving for a second, and then looked back at my mother's anxious expression. "Ok, I'll do it."

I leapt to my feet and scrambled through the doorway, trying very much to quiet all the voices of paranoia in my head. Luckily, Grey was only a couple of metres down from our house, so I managed to find her quickly. But I was petrified about trying to find Fisk. I knew that there was a good chance I would be seen by a human. But worse than that, that human could well have been The She-Devil. She's an absolute manic.

When I finally summoned up enough courage to leave The Wall in search of my brother, I saw my mother. She was walking towards me, sobbing.

"What is it, Mother?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"He's gone, son. Your father's dead."

The worst thing about his death was the guilt I carried for the months that followed. I felt that I had betrayed him by feeling a little relieved that he had died, so I didn't have to enter The She-Devil's bedroom in search of Fisk. What a son!

My mother slowly plunged deeper and deeper into religion to block out her grief, and I followed closely behind. I knew that if I didn't then I would be doomed to a life of burning in the afterlife. I had a great deal of making up to do.

Fisk and Grey haven't been effected by Father's passing, but it doesn't matter to me. If they want to burn for their sins, it's their problem. I have my own demons to battle.

## THE INTERROGATION

Something was seriously up. Every single Spider in The Wall was panicked about something. It had something to do with General Raimi, but no one would say anything.

I had been ordered to meet with someone important for interrogation. I didn't feel overly worried because I wasn't the only Spider asked. I thought that General Raimi might have been kidnapped by The She-Devil, or hurt in battle. So many different possible scenarios filled my head as I walked calmly towards the General's house. I wondered whether or not there was a reason no other Spider would give away any information about the matter.

God only knows what they hoped to achieve from interrogating me. What could I have possibly told them? Nothing much, that's for sure.

As I walked along the inside of The Wall, past the dust and dodgy wiring, I could see the faces of worried Spiders. I couldn't tell whether they were worried about General Raimi or that they were confused about why no one would say what it was all about. I guess I was about to find out.

"Wait there," a Spider Soldier ordered, as he stopped me going any further towards Raimi's house.

I had never been there before. In fact, if I recall, I had never been further than a few metres of our house. What was the point? The entire inside of The Wall looks exactly the same. Or so I've been told.

I waited for a few minutes outside Raimi's larger than average home. The Spider Soldier stood staring at me as if I had done something wrong. I wasn't too apprehensive. After all, they were only bullies, hiding behind their general. Without him, they'd be just regular Spiders like me. Though I hardly think of myself as a regular Spider.

"What's this all about?" I foolishly asked the soldier.

There was no reply. He just continued staring at me as if I were a Fly on a web.

"Is it about General Raimi?" I asked again, knowing full well that he wasn't going to breathe a word.

I gave up asking questions and just waited to be called inside. There was only so much I could look at during the uncomfortable wait. There was the wall, the soldier, or the floor. I chose the floor.

"Send him in!" a faint but deep sounding voice called out from inside the house.

The soldier didn't say a word; he only moved to one side to let me through.

"Thank you," I said as I passed him.

Raimi's house was incredible. There wasn't a speck of dust, nor were there any pieces of broken wires or wood like most Spider homes. It was the cleanest house I had ever seen. But I guessed that The Great General didn't do any of the cleaning himself. Neither would I, if I were as powerful or important as he is. In the corner of the house, there was a stack of Flies waiting to be feasted on. There was no sign of General Raimi, but his slimy, yet terrifying son was sat at the centre of the house being stroked by two beautiful female Spiders. There was also a giant Spider stood at the far side of him against the wall.

"Ah, Parker. Come on in," Raimi The Second said, clearly being false. "Make yourself at home. Not literally of course. Ha ha ha ha."

I smiled, but I obviously was not in the least bit amused by his rubbish joke.

"What's this all about?" I asked, trembling in fear. "Where's your father?"

"What's with all the questions? Can't a Spider have a nice little chat with one of his fellow Spiders? You know, those who ask a lot of questions usually have a lot to answer. You're not hiding anything are you, Parker?"

"No, of course not. What's this all about?"

"There you go again with all the questions."

"I'm sorry. I'm just a little nervous."

"Nervous? What on earth would you have to be nervous about? You haven't done anything wrong have you?"

"No. It's just--"

"Just what, Parker?"

"It's just I don't think I've ever been this close to a General's son before."

"A General's son. Well, have you ever been this close to an actual General before?"

"No. Never."

"Well, look no further. Meet your new general."

I looked at him with confusion. Not one of the female Spiders seemed to care about Raimi's bizarre statement. But he probably gave the same speech to all the Spiders he interrogated.

"What do you mean? Your father's The General. He's always been The General."

"Well, as of this morning, I'm the new General."

I glared blankly at him, not sure of what to make of his weird statements. "What happened to your father? Has he retired?"

Raimi stood up, pushing past the females. "My father was murdered this morning."

I couldn't believe it. Even though I hated anything to do with The Spider Army, it all seemed a little too shocking to believe. Sure, there were lots of Spiders that were killed in battle, or at the hands of The She-Devil, but this was General Raimi. This was serious stuff.

"Oh my god. I'm so sorry. How did it happen?" I asked, genuinely concerned for him.

"He was stabbed in the back," he answered, looking at me as if I knew something about it.

"Who did it?"

Raimi slowly walked up to me, then started to circle me with his two front legs folded. "I was hoping that you could answer that."

"Me?"

"Yes. A little Bird Eating Spider told me that you saw the whole thing."

My eyes widened in complete and utter shock. "What?"

Then it occurred to me that he was just trying to intimidate me. He'd probably used the same ploy on every Spider he called for interrogation. I'm easily the most unpopular Spider in The Wall, but I'm certainly not the most stupid.

He continued to pace around me. "Who killed my father? Was it you? Was it that brother of yours? Oh, what's his name now?"

"Fisk."

"Oh, that's right--Fisk. Maybe he killed him. And just maybe you're trying to protect him."

I backed away from him, forcing Raimi to stop circling me. I put my two front legs up in protest. "Look, General, I have nothing except the utmost respect for you and your Spider Army, but I swear I know nothing about your father's death. Honestly."

"If that were true then why are you trembling so? If you're innocent, then you have nothing to fear."

"I know, it's just you're making me nervous."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Parker. Forgive me," Raimi said with false sympathy. "It's just I'm a little upset about my father's untimely departure to the great Arachna God. Please, can you forgive me?"

His polite intimidation was even more difficult to stomach than his angry side. But it was still only intimidation, and I had the intelligence to overcome it. There was no possible way I could get out of the situation by running or fighting, so I just had to endure his interrogation tactics and pray that the ordeal would be over soon.

Raimi began to smile at me. "How's your mother?" he politely enquired, totally changing the subject. "I haven't seen her in years. Not since your father tragically died."

"She's fine," I said, in an annoyed tone. "Never better."

He was good at interrogating. I almost fell for his sinister charms. I suddenly felt more anger and frustration than I did fear. He made me feel as if my family was somehow in danger.

"Oh I'm glad, Parker," he said, still smiling. "I'd hate for her to go through any more misery than she's already been through."

He was really good. I was on the brink of snapping at him and risking certain death. I knew I had to compose myself, but it was just so difficult. There was only one thing I could do to stop myself screaming at him, and that was to think about the Arachna God.

I took a deep breath in and calmed myself. "Thank you for your concern, sir, but I assure you everything is just peachy."

"I'm glad. Well, back to business then. So, you have nothing at all to tell me about my father's death?"

"No. I don't know anything. I promise you."

Raimi oddly turned his back on me and started to walk back towards the two females. He then sat back down and closed his eyes, while the females massaged his legs. "Fine," he said, with his eyes still shut. "Connor, you can kill him now."

And with that, the giant Spider that stood next to the far wall began to walk towards me, clenching his fists in anger.

"Wait a minute!" I pleaded. "I've done nothing wrong." But it was no use--the giant Spider grabbed me by my throat and picked me up off the floor. I could barely breathe. He rammed me against the wall.

"Please, General. I don't know anything. Please, I swear it!" I cried in sheer terror.

I could no longer see Raimi as I struggled for air.

"Why don't you just tell me what you know, and all this inconvenience can be avoided," Raimi calmly said.

"But I didn't touch your father, and neither did any of my family. I swear!"

"Well then, you have nothing to fear. For you see, I already know who murdered my father. I just want to know if you know where he is."

The grip around my fragile neck loosened, and I fell to the cold floor, coughing hard. "Then why did you accuse me?"

"It's nothing personal. But I do know that you are around the same age as him, so perhaps he's your friend, and you're protecting him. It's ok if you are. I just want to find him so that justice can be done."

I got up from the floor and composed myself. "I still don't know who you're talking about."

Raimi stood up and walked towards me. I was shaking with fear, and sweating from the struggle.

"It was Bateman. He's a friend of yours?"

"No. I don't have any friends. And I've never even heard of him."

He began circling me again. "Really? You've never heard of him?"

"Yes, really. I'm kind of a loner. I pretty much keep to myself."

Raimi stopped circling me and started pacing up and down his house as if he was contemplating whether to believe me or not--or maybe even how to kill me. I watched his every movement. I felt extremely vulnerable, and way out of my depth. I desperately needed to flee his house and return home where I knew I was safe.

He stopped pacing and turned to look at me. He started to smile falsely again. "Well, if you say you don't even know who Bateman is then I guess you're free to leave."

I almost didn't believe him, but I certainly didn't want to stay there a second longer. "Really?" I said. "I'm free to go?"

"Of course you are." He politely replied. He then returned to the females and sat back down. "Hope you find some friends soon. It can get pretty lonely out there, all alone."

I frowned at him, still not confident he was allowing me to leave. "Well then, I guess I'll go home then."

"Ok. You do that."

Wave after wave of sweet relief hit me as I walked towards the exit.

"Oh, Parker. One more thing," Raimi cried as I was almost out through the doorway. "If you're lying to me, I'll kill your mother, your brother, even your sister. And only then will I take pleasure in killing you. Have a nice day, Parker."

I was speechless. I didn't know whether or not to stand up for my family and myself. But it probably wouldn't have done a scrap of good. It would have only made matters worse. So I thought of God, swallowed my pride, fear and anger in one giant gulp, and strolled out the door.

I know I shouldn't hate, but it's extremely difficult when there are Spiders like him on this planet. A part of me is deeply sad for the death of his father, but another part of me is glad that evil General is dead! 

## THE DOUBLE DARE

"Wake up, Parker. Come on," a voice said.

I slowly opened my burning eyes and saw the face of Fisk.

"Go away," I ordered, in a croaky voice. "It's too early."

"No, it's not. Come on. We have things to do."

"Like what?"

He grabbed me by two of my legs and dragged me across the dusty ground.

"Like having some fun for a change."

I angrily kicked my legs free from his grip and stood up. He hadn't woken me up for a long time. He was most definitely up to something.

"What do you want, Fisk?"

"I just told you, Park. Come on. Let's go."

"Go where?"

"Where? Where do you think? Outside of course."

"The garden?"

"No--of course not the garden. What, do you think I'm stupid or something? Just outside The Wall."

I shook the dust and grit off my tired body and rubbed my eyes.

"I'm not going anywhere with you," I protested.

"What's happened to you, Park," he asked, shaking his head in disappointment. "We use to have so much fun together. We used to be best buds. Where did it all go wrong?"

"Fisk, you and I have never been best buds. You hate my guts."

Fisk walked up to me and placed his leg around my shoulders. "Come on, Bro. We use to be the best of buds. Don't you remember? But somewhere down the line you changed. Why, Parker? Tell me why?"

"Cut the act, Fisk--I know you're just making fun of me. What do you really want?"

Fisk paused for a second. "Ok, I'll be straight with you. Some of the guys have said that you're not Spider enough to leave The Wall to get something for me. I tried to tell them that you would do it any day of the week, but they just wouldn't believe me. You wouldn't want to show up your only brother, would you?"

I just gawked at him in disgust. Why does he constantly pick on me, and at the same time insult my intelligence?

"Look, I'm not falling for one of the childish games you and your stupid friends like to play. You know as well as I do that I'll never under any circumstances enter one of those rooms. You know how I feel about The Commandments."

"Yes, of course I do. And what you're doing now is one of them."

"No it isn't," I frowned.

"Yes it is. 'Thou shall not be a boring old fart'. You remember that one don't you?"

I walked back to where I was sleeping. "Very funny, Fisk. Sweet dreams."

I curled up on the floor and shut my eyes, and tried to get back to sleep.

"Fine, I'll just have to tell Carmen that you chickened out."

I shot to my feet. "Carmen. Is she back? Seriously?"

"Oh yeah. I saw her this morning. She was asking about you."

"Really?" I stupidly asked.

Why I believed him, I'll never know, but the thought of seeing Carmen again was too exciting to risk ignoring.

"Where's she been?"

"Just travelling."

"Well, what did she say about me?"

"Nothing much, only that she's missed you, and the only reason she came back was to see you again."

"Oh my god. Where is she? I wanna see her."

"You can't. Well, not right now, anyway."

"Why not?"

"Because she's tired from all the travelling. But she did tell me to tell you that she'd just love to catch up with you later."

"Well, I'd better get ready then."

I could smell a dirty rat, but for some bizarre reason I couldn't stop myself from wanting to go with him. A part of me knew that she wasn't interested, but I couldn't bear to take the risk. I mean, what if she did want to see me, and I stupidly missed my opportunity? That would be a great shame indeed.

I followed him out of the house and down the main corridor of The Wall towards some wires.

"So, what do I have to do?" I foolishly asked.

"A double dare. A nice easy one."

"Why do I have to do this again?"

Fisk rolled back his eyes in frustration. "I already told you this--so Carmen can see how much of a brave Spider you are. Now stop stalling and come on. The guys are waiting for you."

I stopped walking. "What guys?"

Fisk also stopped walking. "The guys--you know--The Campbell Brothers. You like 'em."

"I do not like the Campbell brothers. You like the Campbell brothers."

"Oh come on, bro--don't you want to impress Carmen? Maybe someone else will beat you to it. And maybe someone else is already planning to steal her from you. Don't you think you owe it to yourself to fight for the woman you love? I know I would."

"How can I even trust you?"

"Do you have a choice, Parker?"

I contemplated for a moment, and then realised that I had to risk it. There was no other way to get Carmen's attention. I knew that she was only interested in tough Spiders, not religious geeks like me.

I started walking again. Fisk smiled and walked beside me.

We strolled for a few minutes, passing many different Spiders, all staring at me as if I were an outsider. Little did most of them know that I have lived here in The Wall my entire life.

My brother and I said nothing to each other for the entire journey. I guess there was just nothing to talk about. Then the silence was broken by a familiar voice from behind us. "Hey, hey. Long time no see. What's up?"

I turned behind and saw one of the dreaded Campbell Brothers. His name is Fisher, and he's extremely annoying and almost completely bald. But there was oddly no sign of his fat brother, Petes. Normally, they're inseparable.

"Hey, Fisher! Where's Petes?" my brother asked.

"Oh, he's not coming. He's a little upset from his interrogation earlier."

"He had one too? I had one yesterday. It was horrible," I said.

Fisher looked at me as if I was Fly-Pus. "Who asked you, insect?"

"Hey, come on, leave him alone, Fisher," Fisk said, defending me.

I was deeply shocked. Fisk had never before stood up for me, especially to one of his moron friends. In fact, if I remember correctly, he even swore that he would never stand up for me again unless I ate a dead Ant--which of course I hadn't.

"What are you talking about? He's just your worthless brother," Fisher said.

"No, not today he's not," my brother said. "Today he's helping me."

"What are you talking about?" Fisher asked.

"He's gonna do something for me. He's doing it for himself, actually. You see, Carmen's back in The Wall and he wants to prove to her that he's, well, one of us, by doing this thing for me."

"What thing?" he asked.

"Yeah, what thing?" I asked also.

"Why don't you both relax and trust me. All will be revealed shortly. Have a little faith, boys."

"Faith? In you? I don't think so. The last time I put my faith in you I nearly burned to death!"

Fisk started to smile and shake his head. "That was different. That was just a joke. It was meant to be affectionate. You know, brotherly love. Look, you've come this far, why spoil it now. Wait until Carmen hears about how brave you've been; she'll fall head over legs for you. Honestly."

"What do you mean? She's not gonna be there? What's the point of me doing this stupid double dare? You said she'd be there."

"No, I didn't. Look, she's gonna find out. The Wall's a pretty small place. Everyone knows everyone's business. I probably won't even need to tell her. She'll probably find out before I've even had the chance to. Word of mouth--it's always the best for publicity. Trust me."

Why did I trust him? Why was I so naïve? I knew in my heart that I was being taken for a complete and utter fool. But foolish little old me was too caught up in love--or perhaps it was merely lust.

Fisk began to walk again. "Come on guys, you coming or what?"

Fisher and I looked at each other in dislike, and then he smirked at me, clearly trying to convey his hatred.

"Yeah, coming, Fisk," Fisher said, jogging to catch up to him. "Come on, little boy."

I paused proudly for a moment, and then followed like a sucker. "Coming!"

We walked for a few minutes. All I was able to hear was Fisk and Fisher sniggering about something up ahead, most likely about me. We eventually came across a tiny crack in The Wall, which had a thin beam of light shining through it. My heart told me that we had reached our destination, however my gut told me to turn back and go home immediately. My brother and his weasel friend approached the light without a single sign of hesitation, which made we feel a little less terrified. I had no idea what my brother had planned for me, but I was most certainly going to find out very soon.

"We're here," Fisk excitedly said. "Are you ready to do your double dare, Park?"

I cautiously walked up to the crack. The light was far too bright to see what was beyond it. I knew that his task was something big. Yhere was no way in the world he would have brought me so far for something trivial.

I began shaking with fear. "Well, what do I have to do?"

"All you have to do," Fisk casually said, "is go through that crack and get something for me. And that's it."

"Get what?" I asked.

Fisk walked over to me. "Well, there's something of mine that I need in there."

"What is it?"

"Why don't you go in and find out," Fisher suggested, with another smirk on his annoyingly ugly face.

"Well, it depends on which room this crack leads to," I said.

"It's just an ordinary room, Parker. Nothing to worry about," Fisk assured.

I started to walk closer to the small crack, but then stopped and said, "Wait a minute! I bet this is The She-Devil's room. I'm right, aren't I? There's no way on this earth I'm going in there. I don't care about the stupid double dare."

"Look, I would never send you into her room. Plus, I'm not even sure which room is hers anyway," Fisk said.

"So, if you don't know which room in the house she has, then how do you know this isn't hers?"

Fisk walked up to me, grabbed me by one of my legs and pulled me up to the crack. "Because," he said, "that is clearly not a bedroom of any kind."

I grumpily pulled my leg from his grip and took a closer look into the unknown room. He was right; the room was clearly not a bedroom. In fact, it was the dining room. It smelled really bad, and there were horrible paintings of the entire Fat Family on the wall, looking over a huge wooden dining table. The table was full of leftover pieces of food, and half-empty glasses of water. I was a little surprised to see that there were any leftovers, judging by the size of Mr. and Mrs. Fat and their children.

The room seemed free of any family members, so I began to wonder what my double dare was going to be. "So, what do I have to get for you?"

Fisk came closer to me and scanned the room. "You see the corner of the wall up there?" He pointed to it.

I squinted my eyes and saw it. "Yeah."

"Well, look a little closer and tell me what you see."

While trying to see what my brother was talking about, I felt Fisher force his way through the middle of us.

"What are we looking at, guys?" Fisher asked, examining the room like a blind Mole.

"I see a web," I said, even more confused.

"Well, on that web there's a juicy Fly. And all I want you to do is get it for me."

I stepped back from the crack in protest. "No way! There's no way I'm breaking one of The Eight Commandments."

Fisk took his head out from the crack and looked at me. "I'm not asking you to steal the Fly of another--all I'm asking is to get what's mine."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm saying that that's my Fly. I caught it earlier but had to leave it cause I was called in for interrogation."

"Really?"

"Yes--of course. The whole point of this dare is to see if you're brave enough to risk being seen by a human. Trust me, when you get back here with that Fly, you'll feel exhilarated. Don't worry; we do this kind of thing everyday. And even if you get seen, you have no idea how much fun it is watching The Fats run for their lives."

I walked back up to the crack. "Ok, I'll do it. But you'd better promise that Carmen will find out about this."

"Of course. You have my word, Park."

I composed myself and cautiously entered the dining room. I checked out the room again to make sure there were no Fats lurking. I thought it would be safer if I stayed off the wall for as long as possible, in case someone came in and saw me. I sprinted as fast as I could to the dining table at the centre of the room. I waited for a few moments to catch my breath and to think of the safest route onto the wall. I looked back and saw the crack where Fisk and Fisher were stood. They seemed a million miles away.

I crawled from under the table and peered up at the web. It didn't seem all that far to travel. I took one last look around the room, and sprinted towards the wall. I leapt onto it and raced up.

It didn't take me much time to reach the web. I looked at the Fly. It was dead, and it had been for some time. I carefully crawled onto the web and walked up to the Fly. I took hold of the creature and tried to tug it from the web's strong grip. Then all of a sudden, I heard movement from behind the web. I let the dead Fly go and it sprang back into place. I squinted my eyes to see through the web, but all I saw was the silhouette of something. I slowly backed away from the Fly and crawled onto the wall. Then, to my horror, from behind the web came the face of Raimi The Second. His mouth was dripping with angry saliva, and his fangs were fully visible. He looked ready to tear me limb from limb.

## THE FIRING LINE

"Well, well, well. Look at what we have here. It's my old pal Parker," Raimi said, while creeping towards me, fists clenched.

"Look, Rai--I mean, General, I had no idea this was your web. I just--"

Raimi interrupted. "Well, whose web did you think it was? Yours? Your mother's? Whose? Come on Parker--tell me. I'd love to know."

I was trembling so much that I almost fell off the wall. I knew that there was no getting out of this. "It was just a double dare. I thought that--"

"You thought what, Parker? That you could steal my food? That you could sabotage my web?"

"No. I swear. It was an honest mistake."

"Too late, Parker! You just used up your last chance."

Raimi stopped moving towards me. He just stood in front of me, breathing deeply and staring into my eyes. I didn't know what to do. I was totally lost for words. I didn't know whether to run, fight, or try and talk my way out of it. Any option was going to be nearly impossible.

I foolishly decided to talk my way out of it. "Please General Raimi, I honestly meant no harm to you. It was just a stupid dare. If I'd known it was your Fly, then I would have never considered touching it. Please forgive me. I have nothing but respect for you and your army. I made a big mistake."

I was still shaking with fear. I couldn't control my legs from knocking together. I looked deep into his angry eyes to see if there were any signs of forgiveness buried within. There was obviously none as I felt Raimi's fist hit me square in the mouth. I plummeted to the carpet, scraping my back against the wall in the process. It knocked me unconscious for a few moments. I lay on my back, staring up at Raimi as he darted down the wall towards me. I turned my aching head to the crack, where I first crawled through and saw that my worthless brother and his idiotic friend had conveniently disappeared into the darkness of The Wall. I was once again on my own.

Raimi had reached the carpet and was now just inches away from me. I desperately got to my feet and ran towards the crack. Raimi was close behind, as I could hear his heavy breathing. I scrambled through the crack, clipping my back legs on its sharp edge. I ignored the pain and continued to sprint inside The Wall. I foolishly looked back and saw that Raimi had lost some distance trying to get through the crack at such speed. I followed some thick piping, hoping that it would lead me to safety.

"You can't run forever!" I heard Raimi shout from behind me.

I was worried that the piping would lead me to a dead-end and put me in an even worse predicament. I wish I had explored The Wall a little more, instead of sitting in my house, scared to death about the dangers of breaking one of The Commandments. I had no idea where I was heading. For all I knew the piping could have led me straight into The Spider Army's headquarters.

I was ready to fall to my knees with exhaustion. I looked back again and saw that Raimi was now gaining on me. A sudden burst of energy filled my tired legs, and I managed to run a little faster.

"Help!" I shouted, hoping that a local Spider would come to the rescue.

Up ahead there were several Spiders standing, chatting about something. They were clearly blocking my way.

"Stop him!" I heard Raimi shout. "Don't let him get away!"

The group of Spiders turned to see what the commotion was--but by then I had already reached them.

"Don't let him through!" he shouted again. "That's an order!"

The Spiders were too disorientated and young to act fast enough, so I burst through the centre of them, knocking one of them to the floor. "Sooooorrrry!" I shouted as I flew past.

"Fools!" Raimi shouted as he leapt over the fallen Spider.

I was running out of energy. I needed to stop. But I knew that if I did the vengeful General would surely kill me. I looked back to see his position, and to my complete and utter shock I saw that he had disappeared. Had I outrun him? I stopped and tried to catch my breath. I turned and looked in the distance to make sure that I had lost him. There was no sign of him. Then, as I turned my head I saw the face of Raimi, standing just inches away from me, breathing deeply with exhaustion and rage. I froze. I was unable to breathe. My whole life flashed before my very eyes (it was very uneventful).

"Don't say a word," Raimi said.

"I wasn't going to," I replied, defeated.

He reached out and grabbed my throat. I couldn't breathe. Then I could hear voices. At first I thought they were Arachna Angels, waiting to take me to Heaven. But as I attempted to free my head from his grip, I heard, "There he is! Hey! What gives you the right to knock my brother to the floor?" Raimi loosened his tight grip to see who was speaking. In the distraction, I managed to free my throat and sprint away.

"Get back here, now!" he shouted, ignoring the disgruntled Spiders.

I didn't reply. I just continued sprinting, adrenaline restoring my energy levels to maximum.

In the distance I saw what appeared to be the piping that I had been following for almost the entire pursuit. I knew that it still could have led to danger, but at least I would have been able to follow it home later--that's if I was still alive.

Raimi was still close behind, and getting closer by the second. I had to think fast. I saw that the pipe had a crack in it, and thought that I would be able to climb through it faster than he.

"Help!" I shouted, in a last attempt for assistance.

"You can't hide from me, bug!" he shouted, his voice much closer than before.

I was merely inches from the crack in the pipe. I didn't want to worry about the potential dangers that may be waiting for me in the pipe. All I was concerned with was getting as far away from that psycho as physically possible.

"Where do you think you're going, bug?" he shouted.

"Please, leave me alone," I pleaded.

The crack was now right in front of me. There was no time to think; I just dived through and was inside the wet pipe. I scrambled up it, with no regard for direction. A little further on there was a strong light, which coloured the pipe and all the droplets of water that covered the ground. Assuming that the light would lead to an exit, I sprinted towards it until finally I came to an opening that was directly above me. I frantically crawled up through the exit and entered this unknown part of the house.

At first, I was unable to figure out where I was. Droplets of water surrounded me, and every possible exit was blocked off by a strange, smooth surface. I tried to climb its cold, slippery walls but failed miserably.

Panic hit me once again.

There was no possible escape!

I could hear echoes of Raimi singing something near the entrance. I was doomed. And worst of all, I had finally worked out where I was.

I had entered The Dreaded Bathtub!

# RAIMI THE SECOND'S DIARY

## ENVY

Nothing really changes around here. The same old damp walls, smelling like dirty rats. Pieces of broken wood lying around the floors like dead Stick Insects. Female Spiders hanging onto their partners like there's no tomorrow. Empty homes where fallen Soldier Spiders once lived, now discarded like Fly wings. Spiders with their heads down when I walk by, afraid that I might force them to sign up and send them to war (not that there ever has been a war here). Why must I put up with these pathetic creatures, looking at me as if I were the Devil himself?

No one would dare look at my father--The General--that way. Just because he's the Great Soldier, armed only with his mighty Spider Army. But he's nothing without his precious army. Sure, he may be a lot stronger than I, and certainly a lot braver, but he doesn't have my intellect. If it were my army, things would be a lot different. For one, I would certainly never leave The Wall. It's just too dangerous for someone of my importance. Surely it would be a great deal wiser and more efficient to send one of the Soldier Spiders-- whose brain is the size of a Tick--out there. But no, my father--the great leader--has to be the glory hog, risking life and limb to be popular. But he's not, not really. Everybody hates him. Everybody fears him. He's a bully and always has been. He even bullies me, his own son--his only son. But his reign of terror won't last forever. He's old now, not many days left in him. One of these days he'll get it. And to whom will they turn to then, I wonder? Me? Not little old me, surely? What could I possibly do? I'm just his son, his servant. I'm the one who brings him his lunch.

"Come in!" I called to someone at the door.

One of my father's brainless guards entered, completely out of breath, with his head down in respect--or perhaps shame.

"Yes?" I impatiently said, not even looking at him. "Can I help you?"

"Um, sir?" he said, trying to get his breath back, "I have some really bad news."

I looked up at him, still not really bothered with what he had to say. "Yes? What is it? And be quick about it."

"Well, there's no easy way of saying this, sir."

I stood up, suddenly feeling angered by the guard's time wasting. "Yes? Speak up! What is it?"

"Well, it's your father, um, I mean, The General, something terrible's happened."

"What? What's happened to him?"

The guard hung his head in pity and annoyingly played with the fur on his front leg. "He's--"

I walked up to him and grabbed him by his throat, and slowly said, "What...has...happened...to...my...father...you...stupid...bug?"

"He's dead sir," he struggled to say. "Your father's dead."

I released his throat. I was totally paralyzed. Was this a joke? Had I fallen asleep? Surely not!

The guard was stood trembling in front of me like a captured Fly.

"I'm sorry, sir," he said. "I'm so sorry. I feel--"

"Why are you sorry? Are you responsible for your General's death?"

"Of course not."

"Then shut up and take me to him immediately."

"Yes, sir."

I followed the idiot out, down the corridor, past the damp walls and scattered pieces of broken wood, through a crack, and down a rusty pipe. We passed many Spiders, all staring at me as if they already knew about my father's death. Somehow I felt the last to know. I ignored them all and focused on the task at hand: to witness the dead body of my enemy.

The guard eventually stopped outside a Spider's house. I briefly studied it and noticed that it was the home of Velcro, one of my father's so-called friends. I calmly entered the house, pretending that I felt nothing, but I still had a strange feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach. The house was tiny, and I suddenly started to wonder how anyone could live in such putrid conditions.

"Well, where is he then?" I asked the guard.

The guard entered the house and pointed to the corner. "There he is, sir."

I saw him. I slowly walked over to him, clenching my fists, trying desperately to block out my fear. I stood over his body, staring at the piece of wood sticking out of his back.

I felt sad. For some reason, I wanted to cry. I have never cried in all my life. I turned to the guard again. "Who did this?"

"We don't know, sir. But we have a suspect."

"Who?"

"A Spider named Velcro."

"Bring him to me now."

He ran to the doorway and signalled to someone outside. Then, almost immediately Velcro was brought in, escorted by a large Soldier Spider.

"Let him go," I ordered.

He was released, and he fell to the floor, clearly hurt from a previous beating.

"Don't worry, Velcro, I'm not going to hurt you."

He could barely open his eyes to see. "You were a friend of his, right?"

"I used to be, before--"

"Before what? Before you killed him?"

"I didn't kill him."

"You didn't kill him? Then may I ask who did?"

"I don't know."

The Soldier Spider walked up to me and whispered, "What about Bateman, his son?"

"Where's your son?"

Velcro attempted to pick himself off the floor. "I don't know."

"You don't know, or you don't want to tell me?"

"Leave him out of this!" he yelled, spitting a little blood at the same time.

"Why? All I want to do is ask him a few questions about the murder of my father. Is that really too much to ask?"

Velcro was clearly in a lot of pain. His front leg appeared broken, and there was now blood running from his mouth. I watched in amusement as he pondered his next move. "He's gone," he whispered, in defeat.

"So he did kill him?"

"No, he's just--"

"Just what?"

"I've already said too much. My son's innocent. And I'd rather die than tell you anything else."

"Look, here's the deal: I know he killed him, so if you tell me what happened I promise I won't harm him when I catch up with him. And I will catch up with him. If you don't, then I'll be forced to torture him until he's begging for death. And I'll make you watch every last minute of it." I moved my head closer to his. "The She-Devil's got nothing on me!"

He fell back down to the floor in pain and said nothing for a few moments. Then the guard kicked him in his stomach and said, "He's talking to you!"

Velcro cried out in agony. "Ok! Ok! Just don't hurt him! Promise me!"

I smiled, suddenly realizing that I was now the General of The Spider Army. "I promise."

To be continued...

# ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Isobel Archer was born in South Wales. She lives with her husband, two children, and three dogs.

And she is terrified of spiders... 

# OTHER TITLES

Also available on Amazon!

