INTRODUCTION BEFORE THE MAIN STORY
The Spider bite urban legend story, also known as The Cheek Spider, is one of America's most infamous urban legends.
It first appeared in Los Angeles, California during the 1970s, spreading through newspapers and late- night radio shows.
There are many versions of this legend, but the core remains the same in each one: a young woman develops a spider bite that hatches baby spiders inside her face.
Although scientists have said such a thing isn't possible in the human body, some witnesses and medical staff from various hospitals have sworn that similar spider cases have happened in real life.
Some say that the original woman disappeared after her release from the hospital, but others say she moved to another city.
Regardless, no one knows for sure if that truly happened.
-------------------
BAM! BAM!! BAM!!! BAM!!!!
I slammed the book down on the spiders several times, squashing the repulsive insects.
Then I raised the book up and looky under it and on the table, seeing the mangled squashed bodies of the insects.
And I nod, satisfied, "Stay out of my house."
I hate spiders.
Their skittering legs, and the way they disappear when you turn on the light, crawling in wherever in your house they can find fills me with disgust for them.
In fact, I take pleasure in squishing them with a tissue whenever I see one.
It's summer, so Los Angeles is so hot, dry and... hot again.
I'm so glad I listened to my best friend Ellie to get this apartment we're currently living in.
To be honest, although it's small and downtown, it's way cooler than other apartments in the vicinity.
Perhaps that's why spiders never come into this our apartment.
... Aside from today that is.
Spiders, those stupid creatures, love the hot sunny weather and environments, and I had to go sight seeing out of the city.
But oh well, at least this art book I picked will make up for the sunburn I almost got this morning.
I love art, which makes me wonder;
Who would leave an art near a smuldering cave?
Sigh, some people are as stupid as spiders.
Gently, I place the art book on the nightstand beside my bed and head to the bathroom for a quick shower.
Minutes later, I'm out.
I'm too tired to cook so I just eat some Doritos and sandwiches.
Then I check the front door and head to my room.
I know I should stay up for Ellie, but I'm to tired and sleepy from walking all day today.
It's a good thing she has her own key anyways.
Getting into bed, I pull the covers over myself, adjust the pillows and lie down.
... All the while failing to notice the spider slipping out from the art book.
Vaguely I feel a mosquito bite my face and slap at it.
Groaning, I turn on my side, and fall back asleep to the sound of a dripping faucet.
----------------
The next morning when I woke up, Ellie was in the kitchen making instant coffee.
"You're back," I say from behind her with sleepy eyes.
"Yes," She says, pouring the coffee into two cups and turning to me.
"... and you had to sleep without waitin---- Whoa, Lila, what's that on your face?"
I frown and looked in the cracked kitchen cupboard mirror to see a small red bump on my right cheek.
"It's just a pimple," I say, poking it with my right index finger and immediately letting go when I feel pain shoot through my cheek.
Ellie winces, "Don't touch it then. You'll make it worse."
I shrug and turned on the faucet, watching and waiting as brown water sputtered out before before clear water begins pouring out.
Sigh, this apartment's plumbing is as old as the cracked tiles.
Bending down, I cup some water with my two palms and splash it onto my face, trying to ignore the weird pulsing sensation beneath my skin.
"Lila, wash your face in the bathroom sink, not the kitchen," Ellie yells at me as she walks out.
But I don't mind her; sink is sink.
I'll wash my face anywhere I want.
Both of us go out for our daily routine and by night fall, we're back almost at the same time.
Later at night, I wake to the itchy feeling of the bumpy pimple.
It's so itchy that I keep around it, trying not to burst the pimple and at the same time trying to relief myself of the itch.
Then suddenly something bursts under my palm, causing me to gasp and instinctively sit up on that bed to turn on the lamp on the nightstand.
Looking down I see blood smeared across my hand, but my cheek is still throbbing so badly that I absentmindedly raise my hand and begin scratching again.
Using my left hand, I pull open the top layer drawer and take out a mirror, bringing it up to my face.
And what I see is not the pimple I'd seen yesterday; it's now swollen to six times its size, looking ugly and blistering at the center, oozing something yellow and blood.
"Ellie!" I scream, rushing barefoot to the door with the mirror still in my hand.
"Ellie, wake up!"
"What?! What happened?" She rasps, almost stumbling into me in her hurry.
"Look!" I point at my face and her expression immediately twists in disgust.
"Oh, my God, Lila… we need to go to the hospital."
At the emergency room, the doctor said it was an infected spider bite, so hee drained the pus, gave me antibiotics, and discharged me.
"It's probably a recluse or a small house spider," he said.
"Nothing serious, it'll heal in a few days."
Thanking him, Ellie took me home.
Tired and exhausted, I decided to brush my teeth, just to relieve stress.
However brushing and while cleaning my face, I saw the skin where the bump has being twitch.
Wild- eyed, I leaned towards the mirror to take a closer at it, and saw the swelling spot pulse then shift just a little to the left.
My face paled as I watched it move again.
It looked as if something was beneath the surface and was crawling about.
Panicking, I rushed to the living room, opened the first aid box and took out a sewing needle, then went back to my room to get a lighter.
Now in the bathroom again, I lit it with a lighter to sterilize it, then sat in front of the mirror.
My hand shook as I brought the needle close to my cheek, my fingers trembling violently as I forced myself to prick my skin.
The first prick made me cry out, but I bit my lip and drove the needle deeper, drawing blood out of my skin and done my chin.
More and more blood poured out coating my right hand in red as I pressed around the swelling spot where I'd seen the skin move, desperate to push whatever was inside me out.
Finally I felt something wriggle and pushed at it.
Then a tiny white shape slid from the punctured wound and fell into the sink.
Sighing, I glanced down to know what fell... and screamed.
It was a baby spider.
"Lila! What the hell are you doing!?" Ellie yelled as she bursts in, her eyes wide as she saw me bleeding in front of the mirror and still digging the needle into my cheek.
"They're inside me!" I shrieked, my voice cracking.
"There are spiders! I can feel them!!"
"Stop it! You're hurting yourself!" She cautioned and grabbed my hands, holding me from injuring myself the more.
However even as she held me, I couldn't stop shaking; the sink was now full of water and blood, and two more baby spiders floating to the surface.
Ellie noticed it too and let go of me, "Oh my God, Lila! What is happening!?"
I sobbed, "They're hatching… they're hatching inside me!"
Instantly she ran out from the bathroom, picking her phone and calling an ambulance while I clutched my face, feeling more alive crawling movement under my skin.
--------------
The hospital lights were too bright, and everything smelled like antiseptic and another awful scent I can't name.
Doctors surrounded me, muttering words and terms I couldn't understand.
Then they numbed my face and cut open the swollen area, causing the nurses to scream as hundreds of tiny black spiders poured out from my cheek, crawling, spilling down my neck and scattering across the floor.
More and more spiders kept pouring out from my skin, some even crawling into my mouth.
I tried to scream but because of the sedative they'd given me, I couldn't.
And to my horror, I noticed the doctors leaving, locking the door behind me.
'Where are you doing to?!!!' I screamed, but no actual words came out.
Faintly I could hear the doctors say, "We've discharged her already."
"But I didn't see her!" Ellie's worried voice reached my ears.
'I'm here', I tried to scream, but again no words came out.
I couldn't even move.
Why were the doctors lying?
Why did they run?
Why weren't they helping me???
I gagged, retched, and sobbed internally while the spiders which were by now thousands scrambled off the table, disappearing somewhere.
I was so scared that tears were sliding down the corner of my eyes.
Suddenly I felt a large itchy movement from my cheek again, then I heard a loud plop sound.
And I think at that moment I was able to scream because a giant spider climbed all over my face, entered my left ear, causing it to feel heavy, them came out.
... But my ear still felt heavy.
To my horror I realised it had laid an egg in my ear.
Then it stung me, then again and again and again, four times, each time having me writhe in pain with no real way to express it or run away.
A tiny gasp of air came out of my lips then; the giant spider was entering my mouth.
I was gasping weakly now, gagging as it went down my throat.
Blood was spilling from my neck from the large spider's overly sharp multiple legs, tears were streaming from my eyes and several thousand more spiders were still crawling, out of me, over me and into me.
All I could think of as a sudden whitish gas began to flood the operating room was:
I'm not going survive this.
So I closed my eyes.