literature

Facing Your Fears :: 1

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The echo of a door slamming shut had been enough to make a ten-year-old Persephone flinch. A glance at her father's disapproving look and she had known what had to be done. The ten-year-old had sighed and purposefully marched down the house's hallway. As she had gotten closer, she had distinctly heard the sniffles of her younger sister.

Flora's inability to accept the finality of the word "no" had caused the situation to escalate. The six-year-old had begged their parents to allow her to go to her friend's movie theater party, but after they had said no, Flora had proceeded to throw a temper tantrum in the middle of the living room; Persephone had witnessed it all...watching the child stomp off towards her room and lock herself inside.

As the older sister, their father had only seen it fit to make Persephone talk a bit of sense into Flora's head...and she had a feeling as to what the subject of the "talk" should be about. Thus explained why she had made her way to the closed door.

Once her sister had finished crying her eyes and lungs out—all but collapsing onto her bed and lying face-down on the sheets—Persephone had cautiously entered the room, running over in her mind the advice she had planned to give to her sister.

"Flora?" Sliding onto the bed, Persephone had perched beside her little sister, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Flora," she had called gently, "you have to listen to mom and dad, you know—otherwise the big bad monster will find you and get you. They said you couldn't go to the party for a reason—it isn't nice to be disobedient towards their words."

The girl had sat up, her puffy brown eyes glistening. "Why?" she had countered. "What will the monster do?"

"Well, the red-yellow eyed monster will eat you, of course!" The older brunette had seemed aghast by the question. "That's what dad always told me when I was little, and now I'm telling you, Flora, since you're old enough to understand. The monster is real and always knows when little kids misbehave. It's just waiting for an opportunity to snatch them up."

Flora had scooted closer to her older sister, clutching her arm with a small whine. "Is the monster a spider, P?" she had questioned. "Is that why you don't like them?"

Spiders: the very creatures that had instilled every symptom of arachnophobia in her since she had been perhaps four or five. The arachnids had always plagued her nightmares, appearing in hellish—demented—scenery, and all because of the monster warnings her parents had given her. Thankfully, with paid therapy sessions from a professional, she had been taught relaxation techniques to cope with such stress.

Persephone had run nimble fingers through her six-year-old sister's hair. Subconsciously, she had shivered and willed the mere images of the creepy crawly arachnids out of her mind. She had taken in deep breaths and eventually nodded, although. "Yeah, that's why I don't like them, but let's not talk about them, okay?"

"Okay." Flora had fallen silent soon after, gliding her hands on the bedspread she and Persephone were sitting on. However, she had soon spoken up again. "So are all spiders--"

Persephone cut her off with a groan. "Flora."

"But I really wanna know!" the child had cried, pouting. "What if I don't say their real name? Do you still get freaked out?"

Persephone had sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "Only a little. What?"

"Are they the monsters' mingnions?"

"...Their what?"

"You know, the helper peoples of the bad guys in movies!"

Understanding had soon dawned on Persephone. "Ooh! You mean minions?" She had then paused, voice growing softer. "Yes, that's what mom and dad used to tell me."

"Do you still believe it? Because you're a big kid now! Most big kids don't believe in little kid stuff anymore. At least that's what the third graders say to us...Everyone in my class talks about the monster too! But I didn't think it was real. It's real?"

The older brunette had considered her little sister's question, pensively lingering on the answer for more than a few minutes. Her fingers—which had been running through Flora's hair—had instantaneously stopped, resting at the top of her head. When Persephone had finally gauged an answer, her voice had dropped in volume.

"Yes...because the monster does exist..."

At that point, the two sister's mother had called them downstairs for dinner. Hand in hand, they had traversed down the stairs and approached the table, seating themselves there. As their parents had begun setting plates down for them, Flora had leaned over to whisper in her sister's ear.

"Does the monster live in the forbidden forest?"

Persephone hadn't responded immediately, but after a few moments she had nodded.

"Yeah. And that's why we should never go there if we don't want to get eaten."




Who would have known that just five short years later the girl would have gone completely against Persephone's warnings and ventured into the Forbidden Forest without their parents knowing?

Stupid Flora doing unnecessary things because she's been too spoiled for her own good. Persephone sighed and brushed a strand of brunette hair out if her eyes. Had it not been for the fact that Flora was family and her younger sister, she would not have gone through the trouble of entering such a forbidden place for the first time ever. It held too many dangers—too many unknown elements—and for that reason Persephone felt far from comforted.

The Forbidden Forest was a large one...filled with plants she had never in her life seen before. It surrounded the outskirts of her town and separated it from the mountains, as well as the areas farther away from the town. However, the forest proportioned much larger than her stature...or any human's stature, for that matter...but thankfully overtime the human-sized animals had integrated into the forest, which meant there were fewer larger animals that dwelled there.

The forest had always been scaled to match the size of a Dridder; half-human and half-spider, topping anywhere from sixty to eighty-five feet, these creatures were not only Persephone's worst nightmare but were a species that—scientifically—no longer existed within the country.

Many, many years before Persephone was born, humans and Dridders had supposedly lived separate yet within the same area, staying on their own designated sides of the land. Due to a sudden change of fate, however, humans began hunting the large predators after finding out that a Dridder's fang was quite valuable in the foreign markets. As technology started becoming more advanced, humans were able to subdue Dridders and hunt them down more easily in greater numbers. Soon enough, the population count of Dridders had begun to dwindle as more of them moved off for a different country, leaving their coexistence with humans behind.

The humans had not known Dridders had gone at the time, and so they had often performed searches to weed out the valuable predators. The race was soon thought to have gone extinct in the area until a few hunters had caught a glimpse of a stray Dridder lingering in the forest. Its reasons for remaining there had gone unbeknownst to the humans, but that hadn't stopped them from trying to hunt down the creature anyhow.

Yet the more expeditions they went on in search of this creature, the more times they came up empty handed and retold the stories of being captured by webbing, paralyzed from the shoulders down, and catching a glimpse of glowing yellow eyes in the night. These stories created frightening images for children as the generations went on, and the creature in the Forbidden Forest—as it had so arbitrarily deemed—became soon known as the "man-eating monster". Accounts of what the monster was capable of doing were handed down from generation to generation, and certainly enough, one could catch glimpses or hear noises at night to further back up the theory of the monster.

Thus why Persephone wholeheartedly believed it was real—her nightmares had always been so vivid as a child that it was a wonder if the monster hadn't sent her those images as a reminder or message to act obediently.

The girl was so caught up within her own thoughts that she had a significantly difficult time focusing on her surroundings. As a result of her inattentiveness, Persephone wound up stumbling into an invisible mess of sticky thread, screaming out in surprise. The young teen noticed that if she moved her arms a certain way, she could catch a glimpse of the transparent-like threads glistening in the sunlight. "What...What the heck?"

Attempting to wrench her arms free, the tinkling and clattering of--what sounded like--tin cans knocking against one another's sides crashed above her. Frantically, she searched for the source and yet saw nothing within range to have made those sounds. Her breath caught in her throat as she immediately began connecting the dots. Invisible thread, sticky enough to get a human stuck, which could only be seen by tilting a certain angle into the sun's light...

A spider web; a giant spider web had caused her immobility.

"Some were caught in webs, others practically paralyzed from the shoulders down."

Saying that Persephone felt alarmed was an understatement; her nerves quivered as she started the first signs of a panic attack, feeling an intense wave of nausea—coupled with sweating—course through her. She tried so hard to utilize her therapist's methods, imagining herself in another scenario opposite to this one, but alas, the images that flitted into her mind once she'd realized what she'd gotten captured in were too strong to will away.

Giant spiders, red eyes—every single description of the monster she'd seen in her nightmares appeared at the forefronts of her conscious. The sounds...were those cans a way for the monster to notice when something had gotten caught in its web? It had to be...it just had to be!

It was coming for her!

Promptly, the fifteen-year-old screamed and again began fervently struggling, thankful for that fact that she had not been paralyzed like some of the stories had accounted. She shut her hazel eyes as she ground her teeth together. Questions began bombarding her mind: what could be done to get as far away from there as possible; why had Flora been so stupid and gone into the forest anyway; had she already gotten caught in the webs and kidnapped by the monster. Inquiries such as those scared Persephone even more for the fact that she did not—and could not—fathom the answers to them.

Through her closed eyelids, she noticed a sudden change in lighting as if things had become—well—abnormally darker for a sunny day. It took every ounce of willpower for Persephone to begrudgingly open her eyes, witnessing the large shadow...with a human-shaped head...had fallen over her. A tiny voice in the back of her mind hoped that it was Flora who was behind her and that it was because of the sun's overcast that caused her shadow too look longer than actuality. Yet...that was simply wishful thinking.

She knew and dreaded what had approached her.

Quickly peeking over her shoulder, the young teen caught a glimpse of spindly, violet spider legs, their size quite giant compared to normal. After that, she found herself unable to look anymore at the monster and immediately shut her eyes again, proceeding to cry and scream in a sickly-sounding voice. "No, no, no, NO!"

Something heavily compressed the air, causing a large gust of man-made (or Dridder-made, in this instance) wind to tousle her hair and clothes. Persephone's breath caught in her throat—causing her to let out a strangled noise—when she felt talons or claws barely brush against her left bicep before disappearing. Were those its hands touching her just a moment ago? Or was that the tip of the creature’s leg? Its spidery legs--

Stop it! she fearfully commanded her mind as images poured upon her again, flinching again when she felt a force tug down the invisible threads bounding her. Before she could stop herself, Persephone found her voice screaming aloud. "D-Don't t-t-touch m-me!"

Suddenly, the threads released her body as if they had been severed. Persephone ended up stumbling forward quite clumsily, her feet criss-crossing together and making her almost fall.

Almost.

As soon as she regained her bearings, the girl instantly took off, not caring whether the monster was aware of her leave or where she was going. Her adrenaline had kicked in unconsciously and provided her with a burst of speed that she never knew she even possessed.

Once she felt she had sprinted far enough away, she eventually slowed until she finally ceased moving altogether, leaning forward and planting her elbows on her knees in order to catch her breath. The girl nervously glanced over her shoulder to see if the monster had pursued her; she had always heard that it was a silent predator just like the average tarantula, barely creating any noise as it moved about. There was no way of knowing it was following someone until it had already grown too late and the monster was upon them.

Fortunately, the monster had not chased her and had vanished altogether, thus relieving the girl's stress a bit.

"In, out...in, out." The girl coached herself on how to breathe properly, heeding to her therapist's advice of calming herself down. Once her breathing had slowed to an even, steady pace, she sighed.

"Flora," Persephone covered her forehead with a hand, groaning, "when I find you I'm going to kill you."



Persephone had wandered around aimlessly for what felt like hours, and she couldn't help but wonder if her searching was futile. Pessimistic scenarios were already mixing in with her thoughts. Maybe the monster had snatched Flora up as soon as she had been found; however, that wouldn't answer the question of why that monster hadn't chased her. Sure she was thankful for that and felt quite lucky, but she couldn't help pondering its reason.

A distant rumble caused Persephone's head to tilt upwards, her face finding the steadily darkening sky. Grimacing when a few raindrops hit her face and started to our down more heavily, the girl realized that she would have to find shelter for the time being until the rain stopped. With how dark the sky was, she knew that the storm was going to be a heavy one... If Flora still remained in the forest then Persephone couldn't leave until she found her. She ran her hands through her brunette hair, which had gradually grown frizzy as the air grew more humid.

Now out of all of the places, where would be the safest to stay until the rain lets up? Thoughtfully, she scanned the towering trees and the soggy-looking mud surrounding the bushes. No...that doesn't at all look pleasant. Maybe... Her gaze landed elsewhere, specifically on an entrance to a cave that was a little ways away from where she stood.

That'll work just fine.

Jogging over, the girl silently rejoiced at the dryness of the cave; she went about shaking her hair, squeezing a clump of it to wring the liquid out, before flipping it over her shoulder. The cave was a modest one...deep, from what she could gauge, and quite dark (the only light that filtered in was the grey haze from the outside). I hope there's nothing in here... Fearful shivers fluttered down her spine as she walked around little, listening and searching for any signs that would suggest something had claimed this as its home already.

As Persephone traversed deeper into the den, she began noting things that sent a terrified pang through her heart: spider webs...large ones. The sight of them caused her to instantly freeze and her breathing to escalate. Only I've creature was giant enough to make webs of that size and they must have been...

No! Slapping her cheeks forcefully, the girl forced her brain not to dwell on such ideas. No, it can't be in here—don't think like that. It has to be stuff from previous...things...

Unfortunately, her mental reassurances were far from correct, for as Persephone happened to look up to the cave's ceiling...

She found it.

"It" stood, upside down, just off to the side of the largest web on the ceiling, its piercing red and yellow eyes landing on her form. Grey, jagged and coarse hair sprouted from the top of its head and fangs—more than likely as long as she was tall—overhung its bottom lip. With inhuman, lilac skin, it was indeed as the stories had said—half-human with a spider bottom. The arachnid counterpart of the monster was a violet color, splashed with purple markings around its torso. Other than the coloration, it overall looked just as she had dreamed and certainly even more monstrous than she could even comprehend.

Had she not been completely paralyzed by terror, she would have run as far away as she could.

Surprise lingered on the Dridder's face as it stared dubiously at her with those skin-crawling eyes. "Y-You're the human from earlier..." its soft, male voice whispered while it (or he) dared to take a few steps forward, large shadow now completely covering her. Just the simple action was enough to snap Persephone out of her frozen state, allowing her to take several quick steps backwards. The Dridder's expression shifted into a look one may have identified as anguish and his eyes danced away from her to stare elsewhere—guiltily. "N-No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to get caught! I just...I-I," he seemed to fumble for the right words, "It's a p-precaution I have to take and--li-little one?"

At that point, Persephone's symptoms had heightened to a peak where no therapy session could bring her down from. She always avoided firsthand exposure to her phobia, so the coping mechanisms her therapist had taught her—techniques only used when just thinking about the arachnids—were useless now. Succumbing to her anxiety, gravity tugged her body downwards and her eyes rolled back in her head. In a matter of seconds, darkness had completely overtaken her and snuffed out any other surrounding signs of life.

The Dridder flinched, startled as the human collapsed onto the cave's floor. It took him a moment of debate before his legs released their suction hold and he gracefully landed right-side-up on the ground, shuffling back from the human underneath him and cautiously lowering down in front of her.

Was she...Was she ill? Was she dead?

After much hesitation, he slowly scooped his hands underneath her unconscious form, feeling her delicate, soft skin brush against the pads of his fingers. Such intimate contact was something he was unused to—he rarely got the chance to see humans up close, much less touch one. That was an idea he could only dream of...and yet here he was—almost selfishly taking advantage of her.

No, he told himself, I'm seeing if she's okay—I have to bring her closer to see that...but maybe I shouldn't. He had begun to lower her again to the ground but awkwardly paused. Though the ground is hard and cold and I'm sure she wouldn't like waking up like that...but then again, I don't know if she'd like waking up in the hands of the 'monster' either, he reminded himself and sighed sadly.

Torn, the Araneidae Dridder finally convinced his arms to lift away from the ground and towards his face, his yellow eyes scanning her figure. When he picked up the rise and fall of her little chest, a relieved sigh escaped him. Soon enough, the reality of the situation finally slammed into him.

There was a human in his cave...the little creatures that he secretly watched at night and had grown fascinated with throughout his childhood...and she was alive. Granted she was unconscious, but she was still alive. The revelation made a small, lopsided smile pull at the edge of his mouth. Her features were so different compared to his own: different hair color and style, skin tone, body type. Goodness above, she was so tiny as well...the girl barely fit in the palm of his hand. Because of that, she seemed all the more fragile and caused the Dridder to wince regretfully.

"I'm sorry," he apologized quietly to her unsconsious form and meant it too; he wanted to not be seen as a monster, but it was insanely difficult to change the humans' opinions of him now. However, he couldn't blame them either—by definition, he was indeed a monster. So he was sorry for what he was—sorry that he had induced unimaginable fear in her. "I wish I didn't have to scare you, little one," he whispered.

Trekking over to the old animal skins he'd piled up over the years when his parents had still been around, the Dridder lowered the girl onto what served as his bed, using a smaller piece of deer to tuck her in with to keep her warm. Being a cold-blooded animal, the warm temperature from the humid weather was enough to keep the Araneidae Dridder comfortable. His spidery legs bent in a certain way where he was able to sit down on the ground, watching the rain fall down in a steady rhythm.

Why had this little girl come to, what he assumed the humans labeled as, a dangerous area? She appeared too young to be a hunter and it was obvious she harbored fear of him. In their first encounter, she had fled from him without hesitation, and yet she had come into his cave despite the spider webs he'd constructed on the walls to warn humans of his presence.

Why?

Perhaps if he was lucky, he'd be able to ask her when she woke up again. With that thought in mind, Terrence shut his eyes, letting the sounds of the storm lull him into a state of relaxation.
SEE I TOLD YOU I WAS WORKING ON THEIR STORY.

These babies right here: fav.me/d69bc48

Ahhh, Terrence is kind of hard to write since I've never really read shy personalities before xD I tried doing some research on 'em and finding fics where the main character was shy but...I feel like I still made him a little too bold, but I still managed to capture how awks and gentle/hesitant he is. Cx

SO. The first chapter of this spur of the moment insanity and something to stimulate me since I'm kinda stuck on ITLOE at the moment, but I do have some plans for this story. Enjoy! :iconyeyplz:


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© 2013 - 2024 LNBeep
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DarkWisp88's avatar
DarkWisp88
awwwwww poor Terrence, seen as a big bad monster n stuff ;A;
DONT WORRY TERRENCE I STILL THINK YOUR A CUTIE PIE L;KAFJSDL;FKAJSDFL;KJJFAL;SKDFJASDF
love the storyyyyyy must read next one ;lafksflaksdf!!!!!!