There is an urban legend that we sometimes swallow as many as 8 spiders in our sleep. This has never been proven and is next to impossible. Or at least I used to think so until it happened to me. My name is Horace Snyder. I'm eleven years old and live in Baxfolk, Connecticut. Anyways, I was fast asleep one night when I received an unwelcome visitor. Apparently I snore when I sleep and so my mouth was wide open when, you guessed it, a spider fell inside. I sprung out of bed and started to cough so I headed to the bathroom for a glass of water. I was able to get back to sleep but for the rest of the night I kept having to clear my throat.

GRADE SIX MATHEMATICS

WITH MR. BLANKENSHIP

The next morning my throat felt sore from coughing so much. My Mom thought about keeping me home from school but I was starting to fall behind in math class and couldn't afford to miss a day.  I really started to feel woozy during the bus ride. "You okay Horace?" my friend Elijah asked. "Yeah. Just have a bit of a tickle in my throat." I was starting to sweat, my skin felt hot, and my face was becoming flushed. My Math teacher, Mr. Blankenship noticed that I didn't look well. "Horace? Are you feeling alright?" "Bahhhhhhhhhhh" I mumbled. "I think you should go see the School Nurse. You're pale as a ghost."

"You don't look good at all Horace" Ms. Pope said as she put her hand to my forehead. "You're burning up. I'm going to get a thermometer and take your temperature." The second she placed the thermometer on my tongue, gigantic spider webs blasted out of my mouth ensnaring Ms. Pope. "Ms. Pope? Oh no! I'm so sorry!" I panicked. "What's going on in here?" Principal Warren shouted as he heard the screams coming from the nurse's office. "Horace? Did you do this?" "I...I....I don't know!" I yelled before jumping out the window. What just happened in there?

"Sick, dude!"

I ran off into the woods behind the school and hid. Thankfully nobody was pursuing me. I wasn't sure what was going happen next. What came out of my mouth in the nurse's office? Looked like some sort of spider's web. I didn't know where to go next so I waited for this feeling to pass. Instead I grew even sicker. I got light-headed and very dizzy. I had the chills and my throat was completely dry. Then my skin began to itch. No matter how hard I scratched, the itch never went away. Before I knew it, weird clumps of coarse fur formed on my face, arms, and legs. And then I barfed as this gross pinkish substance spilled out in front of me.

After emptying my stomach, I actually started to feel a bit better. My strength was starting to come back and it felt as though I had more energy than ever before. I decided to head back to school to check on Ms. Pope and let her know I was okay. When I approached the school I encountered a couple of kids in Grade 4. "Ahhhh! A giant spider!" the girl shrieked. "Giant spider? Where?" "You!" her classmate screamed. "What?" Soon a large group of students were looking at me from inside the school. "Get back everyone! This could be dangerous" Principal Warren announced. The sound of police sirens filled the air as I was quickly surrounded by 'Baxfolk's Finest.'

A series of police cars pursued me to an old construction site where I sought refuge. They were just as scared as was I. Nobody knew what to do next. Heck, I still had no idea what was happening to me. I morphed into a giant spider. If it wasn't so terrifying it would almost be comical. Especially since I have a bit of arachnophobia (fear of spiders). The police argued among themselves as to who was going to climb up to confront me. None of the officers wanted to do it but somebody needed to be a hero . I really hoped nobody tried to subdue me. I wouldn't want to harm an officer as I had no control over my new spider body. What if I ate him by mistake?

To make matters worse, the local media had converged upon the construction site. They were taking pictures and broadcasting about the 'Giant Spider.' For some reason, the local entertainment reporter even showed up and wanted to know who I was wearing and if I had a girlfriend. I had to escape but where does a giant spider go to hide? I couldn't trust myself to quietly creep away as I feared I'd shoot more sticky webbing or regurgitate more of that yucky pink stuff all over them. Off in the distance I could hear what sounded like a helicopter. Fearing it belonged to the police or military I had to make my move. But what would I do?

The helicopter started to hover above me. "Hop on! I'm here to help!" Desperate to escape, I jumped up and held on to the chopper as it flew away from the commotion down below. "Who are you?" I asked the pilot. "My name is Dwight Phoenix. I'm an Arachnologist (one who is involved in the scientific study of spiders).  I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw you on TV. I've studied a lot of spiders in my life but sure are the biggest sucker I've ever seen. I'm going to fly you to The Central Conservatory of Arachnid Studies." "Where is it?" "My Mom's basement. Hold tight, we're coming in for a landing."

SPIDERS

The helicopter landed in the backyard of a lavish mansion just outside of Baxfolk. "You live here?" "Yeah. My parents are rich and so I can have anything I want. I got this helicopter for my 30th birthday. But I don't want material things. I'd rather have funding for my research." "What kind of research?" I queried. "You'll see. I finally have a key for the backdoor so we can head straight to my lab." "What if your Mom sees me?" "She won't. She's too busy watching her favorite soap opera, 'Passion of Tomorow' and my Dad's off planning world domination. He's a billionaire/evil genius named Gottfried Phoenix."