Page 18 of Spinning Out of Control

“Yes, of course,” I said, backing away from him. “I will redo this corner, it’s getting dusty anyway.” I slid one of my feet over the tight web strands, and they broke as easily as scissors through paper.

Caleb watched in surprise. “You said it’s almost unbreakable.”

“It is,” I said, slicing through more strands and letting it fall to the ground. “But I can cut my own webbing, and most of that of other spiders.”

Caleb chuckled. “I suppose something would have to be able to break it.”

I nodded, starting a filament of webbing. My spinnerets moved to weave them together into the thickness I needed as I manipulated the fibers with my feet into a pattern in the corner. It was easy work, second nature to me. And, since I could watch television while I did, it made for quite a relaxing job and meant I got through a lot of human art.

Caleb sat up a little on my web, watching me as I carefully knitted the strands together, as neatly as I possibly could. Not that he would be able to tell if it was not perfect, but I would know, and I wanted to show him my best work. “You’re so fast,” he commented.

“I’m used to it,” I said, giving him a grin.

“Could you wrap me up?” Caleb asked suddenly.

His words made me freeze. Something hot surged inside of me, and I had to swallow. Just imagining Caleb trapped in my webbing, struggling but unable to free himself, made me feel things deep inside of me that I could not name. I had pictured it before, not just with him, but with a human in general. Not a prey drive, exactly, but something in me that wanted to be powerful. Something that made me want to show my strength and that I was not as tiny as I had grown up believing. “I, um… I could,” I said slowly.

Caleb cocked his head as he gazed at me. “But?”

I cleared my throat, sure my face was flushed. I quickly shook my head and returned my eyes to my spinning, even though I could have done it with all eight eyes closed.

“Come on, Ter, you can be honest with me,” Caleb said, and I looked up in surprise at the shortening of my name. Caleb didn’t even seem aware that he had done it.

“I am,” I said, though I could hear the lie in my own voice and was unsurprised that Caleb did too.

“No, you’re not. What is it? Did I say something wrong?”

I quickly shook my head again, lest Caleb think that he was the one having inappropriate thoughts. “No, you didn’t.”

“Why wouldn’t you?” Caleb asked. “Cause I could damage your web?”

I couldn’t stop a small hum of laughter. “You wouldn’t.”

“Would it make it so I can’t breathe?” Caleb asked.

“It would depend on how you were wrapped up,” I said.

“So then, why did you get so weird all of a sudden?”

“No reason.”

“You’re not good at lying, Ter. You won’t hurt my feelings or anything. Why would you not wrap me up?”

My whole body burned with embarrassment, and all of my movement stopped. “Because I don’t want to be bad.”

Caleb stared at me, not seeming to comprehend my words. The silence stretched between us for what felt like hours but was probably only a few seconds before he said, “Okay, you’re going to have to explain that to me.”

“Explain what?” I asked.

“Why would wrapping me up make you bad?” Caleb asked.

He had to be teasing me; it was so obvious. “Because that’s what bad people do.”

“I’m still not getting what you’re saying,” Caleb said, struggling to sit up from my web. I moved over to adjust the fibers with one of my feet so he could sit all the way up. “Thanks. What do you mean, that’s what bad people do?”

“Don’t you watch television?” I asked him.

“Of course, I do,” he said.

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