Memories and Accidents

Chapter One.
Memories and Accidents

It was dark, the large creature was in pain "hang on my love, she's almost out",  A man's voice said.   "Troy my darling," the creature said panting, "i can already tell this baby will not be like me, you must promise me that you will raise it in your world and keep it safe."   The creature howled in pain as the sounds of a baby crying began "It's a girl, she's beautiful Aracnie." Troy said "What shall we call her?"  The creature gave a relieved sigh.  "Call her........." BUZZZZZZZZZ went an annoying sound "Alright, I'm up" the young girl shouted as she sat up in bed and shut off the alarm clock.  "Ariel, time to get up" her dad called from behind the door. "Alright dad," she called back as she reached for her socks "that strange dream again, and why was my dad in it this time?" she whispered to herself.


Ariel stood up and walked to the mirror, and stood there, she was 17 years old,  standing 5' 9",  built like an athlete, her gymnastics leotard hung over the chair next to an assortment of trophies, and certificates, all with the words 'First place, Second place, Top marks, and so on'.   She made faces in the mirror, checking for any wrinkles as did many girls her age, yet she was flawless, from her deep hazel eyes, to her jet black hair.   As she turned to get dressed, she tapped on the side of a glass tank.  "Wake up Brutus." she waved to the tank.   Inside, a humongous albino tarantula lifted it's front legs and flicked them in the air.  Ariel didn't know if this was a reaction to her tapping on the glass, or if Brutus was actually waving back, but she didn't care,  Brutus was more then  a pet,   Ariel had saved him from getting run over by a car, but when she left him at a pet shop so he could get better,  3 of the shops employees had been sent to the hospital for 'accidental' spider bites.   The pet shop's owner said that Brutus was purring when Ariel came to pick him up... if that was even possible.

Ariel turned and headed for her closet, passing the calender, stopping to check the date.  "Three weeks till I'm eighteen." She smiled.  "And one week after that, graduation."  She quickly got dressed and grabbing up her school bag she headed down stairs.   "Morning dad." She grabbed a bowl and proceeded to pour in some cereal.  Her father, Troy, was tall, in his early 40's, and according to the neighborhood's female population,  quite a hunk,  Ariel never understood why he didn't find someone, she knew it had to be hard for him, single father raising a teenage daughter,  Ariel once asked him about her mother, but all he told her was that she had died giving birth to Ariel.   "Morning sweetie," her father said from behind his morning paper.  Ariel, sat down and quietly ate her breakfast. "Dad, Jodi's gonna pick me up at gymnastics practice, so I'll be home late tonight." Ariel said.  "Not too late honey, you know how i worry" came her father's voice from behind the paper.  "Well, i should get going," Troy said standing up and folding the paper.  "Have a good day dad."  Ariel stood up and hugged her father.   He kissed her head, and was out the door. Ariel sat back down and finished her cereal.  'HONK'  came a car horn "Oh good, Brad's here" she rinsed out her bowl, grabbed her bag and headed for the door.

Brad was sitting in his car, a red 2011 Mitsubishi Spyder,  Ariel loved that car, the way the engine hummed, she could feel it throughout her entire body, and somehow it made her feel safe.    "Hey there cute stuff" Brad said as he got out of the car to open the door for her.   Brad was also 17, 6 feet tall, and been on the varsity football team since Freshman year when after a tragic accident took the quarterback out of the game, and Brad was sent in and brought the team back from being down 18-0 at the end of the third quarter,  Brad threw 3 touchdown passes, and won the game 21-18.  

Ariel got into the car and Brad closed the door for her, he had always insisted on opening the car door for her.... actually he opened the car door for everyone who rode in his car.  "Fingerprints..." he would always mutter.  As he closed the door for her and walked around to his side, he stopped to admire his reflection, Brad had red hair, green eyes, and abs you could wash laundry on,  which he was always ready to show off.  Brad then got into the car, put it in gear, and drove to school, where students were supposed to park in the gymnasium parking lot, but brad parked his care right in front of the main entrance always saying "a car this good looking should be available for everyone to see it".   Brad got out and opened the car door for Ariel, as she got out he grabbed her bag and handed it to her "shall we?" he offered his arm, which she took and the 2 of them walked through the crowd, meeting their friends.

As Ariel joined her friends, she was greeted by Jodi's  voice, "How is it that Brad gets to park his car in front of the  entrance, yet the rest of us have to park all the way in the back?" She muttered sarcastically.  "Well, he is a football hero, and the school seems to wanna give him whatever makes him happy." Ariel responded.  "Yea, the school, the town, even most colleges." A red headed girl names Rachel stated, "I even heard that they want to lower the minimum age limit in the NFL just to let him play" Rachel continued.   "Well, I know one thing Brad hasn't gotten yet, right Ariel?"  Jodi snickered.  Ariel blushed "Now, don't be jealous, and besides, I'm not ready to sleep with Brad, i want it to be special."  Rachel looked at Ariel "Ariel, you know Brad's reputation, he gets what he wants, and right now you're all he talks about, it's downright sick how he talks about you like you're a trophy he's after."  Ariel winced at the thought of being referred to as a conquest, "Well, maybe after the dance I'll think about it." she said as they walked inside and went off to their classrooms.

At lunch that afternoon, Ariel was sitting with her friends Jodi and Rachel.  "Hey Ariel," Rachel called throwing a loop of string, "Show us some more of that fancy finger work"  Ariel caught the string without even looking up, and proceeded to weave the sting between her fingers.  "You're so good at cat's cradle Ariel, they always look like beautiful spiderwebs" Jodi smiled.  But Ariel wasn't listening, she had always been good at anything with string, or thread or even rope.  In gym class she was always the fastest to climb the rope, and back when she was just a kid, she was always climbing to the top of the jungle gym.  Climbing and hanging upside down seemed to fill Ariel with peace, she once hung upside down all day  and didn't even get a headache.  At gymnastics practice, she never had to focus like the other girls, she could walk the beam with her eyes closed, but her favorite workout was the wall climber.  The teacher said Ariel looked like a spider on the wall.  "Ariel?" Brad's voice called out, "Ariel, come on, lunch is over lets get back to class"  Ariel woke with a jolt, she was sitting in the Cafeteria next to Jodi and Rachel as people were leaving for their next class, "Uh, Ariel, could you maybe untie me?" Rachel asked.  Ariel looked down, she had somehow wound the cat's cradle string around Rachel's hand like a.....cocoon?   "Oh sorry, Rachel," Ariel quickly untied Rachel's hand.  Brad sat down putting his arm around Ariel, pulling her closer to him "lets have a kiss sweetie" he puckered up his lips and tried to plant one on her but she pulled away, "not in public Brad." she wined. "Ariel, we're the hottest couple in school, the student body needs to see us kissing or else they get ideas." Brad pushed closer. "Brad, not so close, I'm not like that!" Ariel said sternly as she stood up and headed for the bathroom.  "Women" Brad said, as if it was Ariel who tried to kiss him.

Ariel ran into the bathroom and sat down "Brad why do you have to be so.... pushy?" she muttered to herself as she blew her nose and wiped a tear away from her cheek.   As she finished going to the bathroom, she felt something sensitive in her tailbone area "much be a rash" she thought, but as she stood up she felt something gooey on her backside area "oh not another prank!" she moaned as she turned around to see a white glob roughly the size of a softball  on the toilet seat  where her tailbone had been "what the?" she stepped out to check the other toilets.... no white globs on them.  "This can't be a prank then" she wondered as she poked the glob, it was squishy and seemed to act like glue, but it didn't' stick to Ariel's fingers "I've got science next period, maybe i can examine it there" she carefully picked up the wad of goo and hid it in the empty bag that had held her lunch, and ran off to class.  

Ariel arrived at science class, and took her seat, she was glad today was free analysis day, where students were to find a specimen and bring it in for study.  As the professor passed out lab equipment Ariel pulled out the glob and put a strand of the goo on a slide and put it under the microscope.  "Hmmm..." she said to her self as she looked through the scope "It appears to some form of silk, though the origin is still a mystery".  "What do we have here, Ariel?"  The professor's voice asked as the professor walked past her desk.  "I don't know professor, it's a strange form of silk, but I'm not sure from where."  Ariel stood up offering the microscope to the professor.  He stepped forward, "lets see if i can point you in the right direction," as he looked into the scope.   "My word this is incredible, such excellent quality" he exclaimed, "Ariel, where did you get this?"  Ariel held out the small glob she had found in the bathroom.  "Ariel, could i have this?"  the professor asked gently taking the strange softball sized object.  "Sure, go ahead,  I think someone put that in the girl's bathroom as a prank"   Ariel said as she put her microscope away and pulled out her notebook and started to jot down her discovery.  At the end  of the hour, Ariel put her books back in her bag and met Brad at the door "Hey Ariel, I know being with the school's star football player can the intimidating, but i forgive you for what happened at lunch today"  Brad said, acting all macho.   "Brad, you're the one who was pushy"  Ariel said as she walked past him.   Brad caught up to her "OK so we're both in the wrong, what say we see a movie tonight?"  Brad asked as he put his arm around her.  "Alright, but not some Gorey slasher film."  she answered as they walked to their last class which they had together,  Brad, getting whatever he wanted had made sure that his desk was always surrounded by hot girls, including Ariel.  This wasn't Ariel's idea of fun, being stared at by other girls who were obviously jealous of her cause Brad was dating her.   Brad obviously loved the attention, cause he spent most of the class showing off his muscles and talking about his latest game winning play.  Ariel just pulled out her books and studied.   At the end of school, she and Brad headed for his car, or so she thought, as they ran into Brad's usual fans.


"B  r  a  d, B  r  a  d!"  Cried the cheerleaders as Brad paraded through the crowd pulling Ariel behind him.  "Brad, I'm gonna walk." Ariel said as they got to his car, "all this attention isn't for me."  "Price of fame baby, you'll get used to it."  Brad said as he obviously blew off what she said.  "Brad, i mean it,  i just want to be a normal teenager!" she shouted as she stepped away from the car.   "Oooooh" whispered the crowd.  "Ariel, get in the car!" Brad demanded as he got in and revved  the engine.  "No Brad" Ariel backed away from the car "I need some time to think."  At this the crowd started hushed whispers amongst themselves, from the guys, things like "Finally she sees him for what he really is", or "Maybe she'll go out with me now" could be heard, while things like "She's crazy", "He's the hottest thing in the school",  and "Any girl in school would kill to be dating him right now" came from the girls.   "Fine, you wanna walk, go ahead and walk" Brad said as he put the car in gear and took off.  Ariel turned away from the watching crowd and started walking in the direction of home, she didn't look back.


"Lousy pompous arrogant.....JOCK!" Ariel fumed as she walked down the street.  Her house was only 2 miles from school, nothing to her but to a show off like brad, he needed to drive everywhere, just to show off his car, even if it was the 20 feet from his house to his mailbox, and he wouldn't return to the house till at least one person complemented him on his car.   Ariel had grown up and walked these streets her whole life, she new everyone in the neighborhood, and they were always nice,  except for a group of guys who'd been hanging around the music store since she'd started high school.   As Ariel rounded the corner she saw that they weren't in front of the music store, "Meat heads must be taking a day off." she said as she walked passed the store, but as she passed the alley next to the music store, she looked over to see 3 of the guys standing there, holding a picture of her!  "Hello puppet" the shabbiest one said.  As they walked toward her, Ariel caught a glimpse of a car driving away....a red 2011 Mitsubishi Spyder.....the license plate read only one word......BRAD

"So, what's a hot little thing like you doing around here?" The shabby one said as Ariel passed the alley quickly heading for the intersection.  "Where you going Ariel?" one of the other guys asked as he threw down a cigarette and stepped on it.  As if this was somehow a signal, 3 more guys stepped around the building and right into Ariel's path, she was now surrounded by the 6 of them.  "Now now, we can't have you running off on us, when the party's just starting, can we?" the first one said, obviously he was the ringleader of the group.  Ariel now felt very scared, she had never taken any lessons in defending herself cause her dad wanted her to learn to be kind to others but these guys obviously didn't wanna play that way.  "Don't touch me"  Ariel demanded as one guy took her bag and threw it into the street.   "If we don't touch you, we don't have any fun."   one of them said as he grabbed Ariel from behind wrapping one arm around her waist, and the other around her chest.   Ariel didn't even think, it was like instinct kicked in, she bent her head forward opening her mouth and locked her teeth on to his arm.   

The scream that followed was loud, high pitched, and one of extreme pain, but it wasn't coming from Ariel as a scream like that should come from a woman... it was coming from the thug holding Ariel, he let her go knocking her to the sidewalk as he clenched his arm, which strangely had 2 small puncture wounds in it. "She....she bit me!"  Ariel looked over at the guy she had just bitten, she felt somehow strangely hungry as he held his arm.   "My arm... i can't feel it...." he cried as his arm started to swell.   "You're gonna pay for that!"  One of the guys pulled out a large knife and slashed at Ariel, he missed, somehow she had actually dodged the blade and was now standing behind him.  "Get her!" the ringleader shouted as the guy with the knife turned around,  but he never got a chance to touch her, Ariel opened her mouth and spit a wad of yellowish goop in his face.   Another scream came peeling through the alley as the man dropped to his knees "My eyes!.... it burns!" He screamed trying to wipe the goo from his face.  His friends came to his side, and pulled him away "Lets get outta here!" the ringleader shouted, as the 6 of them turned and ran, 2 of them helping the one with goo on his face, but the one that Ariel bit never made it outta site, he collapsed in a pile of trash, crying about his legs not working anymore.  As Ariel turned around, she saw Brad's car drive up, and Brad jumping out holding a baseball bat looking ready for a fight.  "Is there a prob....." he started to say looking around.  "Ariel? you OK?" he put the baseball bat back in his car.  "I'm fine Brad, were you expecting something?" she said as another car drove up, this one driven by her friend Jodi.   "Ariel, for gods sake, where have you been?"  Jodi shouted "We're gonna be late for gymnastics!"  Ariel looked back at Brad as she got into Jodi's car.  Jodi pulled off leaving Brad standing there alone.

Jodi's car pulled up outside the gymnastics studio, and the girls headed in.  "Oh don't forget your bag Ariel," Jodi said handing Ariel's bag to her, "I picked it up off the road, so what happened, you and Brad have a fight?"  Ariel turned to look at Jodi, her face now flooded with tears "That bastard Brad!" she sobbed "He paid some hoodlums to attack me so he could look like a hero!"  Jodi took Ariel by the arm and led her back out to the car, "I don't understand, i didn't see any attackers." Jodi said.  "I think I may have killed one of them and seriously injured another" Ariel cried.  Rachel came running past "Shake a leg you 2, we'll be late for...." she stopped as she saw Ariel's tears.  "I'll tell coach, Jodi, you and Ariel meet me at my house in 20 minutes."   

20 minutes later, Ariel, Jodi, and Rachel were sitting in Rachel's bedroom.  "OK, my parents won't be home for another 3 hours." Rachel said, "So tell us everything".   Ariel started to sob her way through the story, about the glob of silk in the bathroom, the fight with Brad, and the face off with the 6 lowlifes in the alley, but as she went through the motions of how she bit the guy in the arm, Jodi and Rachel gasped when Ariel opened her mouth.  "Have you become vampire?" Rachel asked.  "What do you mean?" Ariel asked.  Jodi grabbed Ariel's hand and led her over to a mirror, Ariel gasped.   Her incisors and her molar teeth where still normal, but her canine teeth were extended to almost twice their original length, as well as coming to a rather sharp point.   Ariel turned to her friends "What's wrong with me?" she asked in a scared tone.   Rachel stepped forward "Are they real?" she reached out to touch them,  but as she was  running her finger along Ariel's gums, she must have triggered some kind of reflex, cause Ariel let out a slight hiss, and suddenly a squirt of whitish fluid shot out of Ariel's mouth, and into Rachel's face.   "What the hell!" she jumped back, her screaming muffled as she grabbed at her face and started to pull at the stuff, "Mmmmph!" she shrieked.  "What is this stuff? Jodi cried as she started to help Rachel.  "It's sticky, but it's like silk!"  Ariel stepped forward and grabbed a handful of the silk "It's just like the stuff i found in the bathroom at school!" she cried.  "You spit on the toilet?" Jodi shouted as she  pulled at the stuff on Rachel's face.  "Ariel, help me get this stuff off Rachel, before it smothers her!"  Ariel stepped forward and grabbed  a handful of the silk, as she pulled at it it shredded in her hand.  "Gaaaa!" Rachel gasped for air.  "Ariel, what the heck are you girl?" Rachel panted as she caught her breath.  Ariel sat down and started crying again,  "I don't know.... it's like I'm not human"  She sobbed.  "Ariel, the three of us have been friends since Kindergarten,"  Rachel said, "If there's something you wanna tell us, we'll understand".   Ariel sat down and started to tell Jodi and Rachel everything she could remember about her life......