It looked to be a normal fox den. Boy, was I wrong. I have always been scared of spiders. Some would call it Arachnophobia, fear of arachnids, or spiders. My older sister loved those putrid creatures. She would always chase me around with those ugly things. I would scream at the top of my lungs and then mother would tell her to stop, but later on she would put one in my room just to get a reaction out of me. I hated her for that, sometimes even wishing her dead. Ever heard the saying ‘Be careful what you wish for’? Well, later on I would regret ever making that wish. My sister was in college and I in high school. Well, one day we decided to go on a camping trip as a family. I wish we hadn’t though. My sister kept teasing me about how the spiders would crawl into my sleeping bag and lay eggs. And how the babies, when they hatched, would slowly gnaw on me until there was nothing left except bone. I asked mom to tell her to stop, but even after that she still whispered horrible things to me about spiders. I just wanted this trip to end before it even began. As we were driving we were surrounded by woods. Then, all of a sudden, a man covered in a white sticky substance runs out in front of us screaming something. “Don’t go near the den! Don’t go near the den!” I was confused by what he meant, so I rolled my window down asking him what was wrong. I wish I hadn’t asked. He said, “Don’t go near the den! It may look normal, but it will pull you in and wrap you up for later!” My sister was intrigued. She asked him what it was that will pull you in, but he ran down the road as fast as he could. My sister was disappointed that she didn’t get an answer, but excited to explore whatever dens were in the woods. I was scared to go near any dens now, but also curious. When we reached our destination we started setting up the tents and the fire pit. Our mother asked us to go get wood for the fire. I went the opposite way of my sister so she couldn’t start teasing me about spiders. I gathered a bunch of wood, making sure that there weren’t any spiders on them, and retreated back to our camping site. My sister was already there waiting. She asked me what took so long. I of course, ignored her. Our mom told us we could explore for a bit as long as we were back within an hour. My sister got up right away and started looking for dens. I followed her even though I was scared. I’ve always followed her when it came to exploring. As always, she started teasing me about spiders. I tried my best to ignore her. We had checked many dens with nothing but foxes and a few empty coyote dens. It was almost time to head back. I told my sister we had to start heading back, but she just HAD to check out the last den. I rolled my eyes at her ignorance. While she went to check it out, I pulled out my phone and told mom we were checking out one more den and then we were heading back. Just as I was waiting for a reply, I heard my sister scream. I ran over to the den to find my sister gone. As I was looking into the den wondering if she fell in or got pulled in. My sister came up behind me and scared me. I screamed, then turned around to confront her. I screamed at her that she shouldn’t do that. Then all of a sudden, a giant spider appeared behind my sister. I screamed and ran. I thought my sister was right behind me. I was wrong. I ran back to the den to find a trail of spiderwebs leading into the den and my sisters shoe just at the edge of it. I was scared to go in there but I knew it had to be done. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down, grabbed a stick, and hopped into the den. The stick was to knock away any spiderwebs that got in my way. I ventured deep into the den and found hundreds of dead bodies hanging in webs. I gagged at the sight of it. I pulled myself together and started looking for my sister. I finally found her, but she was completely wrapped in web and wasn’t moving. I realised she was already dead. I broke down and started crying. I didn’t even notice the spider coming towards me. I felt a sharp pain in my neck and started to lose consciousness. I could still feel the spider wrapping me in web though. As I lost consciousness, I had one last thought, ‘I’m sorry sister’.
