NOVEL NEXT Chapter 3: Fleeting Dream
Dark… darkness is the only thing it had known since its inception. There were others… similar to it so numerous it was a folly to attempt to count the numbers and notably there was one that was the largest among them. First few days were filled with curiosity, with its own existence, of others and the surroundings littered with silk. We recognized the largest as our matron, she was dying. Soon we shed our outer layers and before long matron had become unmoving. Some of us started to leave the silky webs after the death of matron. Strange sensation grew within an uncomfortable alien feeling. The others… they were biting on the matron’s remains, what were they doing? Quickly more and more of us swarmed the cadaver. Spurred on by the actions of the others it too ‘bit’ on, by instinct scattering digestive fluid then feeding on the liquid, this abated the uncomfortable feeling.
After nothing was left of matron, many of them left. It did not know what to do. To follow or to stay. New sense grew, what was it? It knew not. Again the feeling came, to the others as well. They were restless, many more left. Those who stayed turned aggressive to each other. It devolved mindless slaughter, the ones who fell were eaten up by the others. Likewise it too was also involved. Another new sensation of heat and stinging followed by something akin to fear. From the struggle it lost one of its legs, ripped off and likely eaten by another.
Now knowing that staying in this place that sheltered them would pose a danger, it left. Pain and heat subsided replaced instead by unusual sluggishness. No matter it had to leave, going alone, wandering. Creatures larger than it were plentiful and no doubt aggressive to it. Creeping up and successfully capturing a creature that hops away disappears when startled, it fed once, building a web catching creatures that flew high it fed twice, on and on.
The feeling of lethargy grew more intense as time passed. Dragging itself to place that it had frequented in. Almost falling off while climbing hindered by its wound it somehow managed to reach a branch high up on the tree resting on it. By instinct it knew that it was dying. Was it the venom from when it was bitten by its kind or something else entirely? The answer doesn’t matter. Fear that plagued it swelled and another type of fear much more primal gripped its being. The fear of death. Yet it was powerless to do anything about it. It wanted to… wished for another try… it regretted its many actions since birth. More than that, it wanted to be like the matron it had known for a short time the only thing that was kind to it, one that cared for it.
Harboring such thoughts it was slowly fading away. As if mocking its wishes with malicious compliance it was becoming like the matron… sickly, motionless, dying and soon eaten by whatever that would come across it. Even though it was to die, as it was drifting away from the realm of the living something came to its body, a warmth different from the uncomfortable one it knew. It filled its very being with a domineering spirit. There was an overwhelming presence that came with it and it brought a gift.
As he tried to eat the leaves with minimal success all night long and the break of dawn would soon come.
Throughout the night he was sleepy, though not tired or fatigued. He thought it to be his habits from when he was human sleeping when darkness fell; still it was unusual for him as he would often times work long hours into the dead of night without a shred of drowsiness.
“...I can see why spiders are so bitter about life. If I was to vomit on my food wait for it to liquefy and suck it up again I would be bitter too not to mention bugs.
Huh? It’s dawn already? I need to start on a web hopefully catch something edible... Where though? Somewhere close and with some insect traffic… shouldn’t be too hard. Uhmm… right a web… I don’t know how to weave but… three anchor points minimum and just connect them to making small cells.”
Looking around he found some of wildflowers that he thought that would attract some insects.
“Here goes nothing.”
Was it by the instincts of a spider, by the experience as an engineer or the skill Weaver? When he started to work on building the web he was surprisingly proficient. Connecting the points of anchor by creating framework of silk lacking adhesion, branching out from its center, filling in the gaps little by little until the web was complete then replacing the non-adhesive silk with it’s sticky counterpart. By the time he was finished the sun was already at its peak.
“I got carried away a little… But still, that looks like a spider web… If it was rectangular. Actually it looks more like the net of a tennis court if it was built by a spider. My habit of trying to work with rectangular shapes is showing up again. And now I just wait I guess… If go away something might get caught up in it, but if I’m too far away it might also escape. And I also don’t wanna just stay on it; I already swallowed enough flies as a human working in rural areas, now I prefer not to be suicide bombed by insects as a spider.”
After some deliberation he decided to make an extension of silk connected to the web hidden close by so if something were to be caught in it, he would know it with tugging of the extension. Waiting… waiting… and waiting. Shortly there was a pull, something was caught. Like a fisherman who suddenly had a bite on their line he quickly jolted to the web. There a fly was caught. He thought it to be rather large for a fly, but maybe it was just because he was smaller than what he was used to.
“Horse flies I think, those things bite like crazy and hurts like hell. I don’t wanna take my chances so I’m just going to sneak up from behind it. Still I’m doing this aren’t I? I’m going to eat bugs… yuck… Well I guess there are worse things to eat like… uhm… Nevermind.”
Fly caught in a web. It’s struggling only exacerbated its problem wrapping more silk around it. Fortunately for it, it seemed as if the spider was not on the web. Trying to get off it had exhausted itself. Just rest a little and try again… As it was resting it was bitten from behind… In panic and pain it fiercely attempted to free itself. It struggled then quivered and soon became still, paralyzed. Wrapped up in silk it was carried away, fed upon by a spider it never noticed until it was too late.
“That should do it.” He had just finished repairing the web after carrying the fly away. “I won’t starve today atleast… still though… bugs…” The spider apprehensive about eating bugs had plenty of time to muster its courage. Another day begins...