The last clear memory Reiki had as a human was the anesthesiologist leaning over him, saying, "Alright, deep breath."
He took a deep breath.
He closed his eyes.
And then he blacked out. He was getting surgery after he had multiple bone fractures.
So, naturally, he expected to wake up in a recovery room, or at least somewhere that didn't make him feel claustrophobic, being squashed everywhere.
He tried opening his eyes slowly, only to realize they'd been opened all this time. Just that the place was extremely dark. So dark he could almost grasp it. And speaking of grasp, he couldn't really feel his arms the way he 'normally' should have.
'Oh! This is concerning,' he thought. But when he tried to blink, he found it impossible.
"...okay. Maybe my eyelids are just stuck?" he reasoned.
Then he tried closing his eyes entirely.
Also impossible.
He couldn't feel his eyelids at all!
Just then, something suddenly kicked him from the side.
"Oi! Who's—"
Before he could finish what he was about to say, another kick hit him from above. And then below. Then the side again. Then all at once.
He was going to lash out if his body didn't feel like soaked tissue paper, extremely sluggish.
'Great!' he thought. Also, he hoped he was only imagining this but there seemed to be a sound of biting, crunching, and then slurping.
At this moment, the cramped space vibrated (literally) and something above ripped.
A bit of light poked through the tiny opening as it tore even wider, and everything inside the cramped space suddenly surged towards that opening.
Reiki felt himself shoved, rolled, rammed from every direction as 'bodies' scrambled past him. He didn't even have time to breathe when the top burst open completely with a wet pop and the entire mass inside spilled out.
He slid, tumbled, and flopped onto the ground.
Yes. Ground.
He pushed himself up—then froze.
There were spiders everywhere! More or less a hundred of them and they were all roughly the same size as him. Crawling, bumping, skittering over each other.
"Oh hell naw!"
At this, he noticed some major changes in his body. For some reason, he now had eight legs and a creamy white body just like the rest. He had turned into a spider!
What the f—k was going on?
"Ahem! Hem!" A woman's voice rang out. Except it wasn't a 'human' woman. It was coming from the biggest spider in the room.
Reiki looked at her.
She was huge, glossy black, and had a bright red stripe atop her. Also, she had eight eyes. He recognized the species immediately. A redback spider.
"Children," she said calmly. "I see that you have hatched successfully so my job here is officially done. Now, you are free to do whatever and… hem! To whoever survives, may we never meet again and I wish you all the luck. Goodbye!"
After she gave her little speech, she simply turned around and left.
Just like that.
GONE!
Around him, his siblings began eating each other.
Reiki froze.
'No. No no no.'
One of the bigger siblings lunged at another. To the weaker one.
Crunch!
So basically, they didn't eat like humans would. Instead, they bite with their tiny fangs, inject some venom and digestive enzymes to paralyze and break down the food (their sibling) from the inside, then suck up the liquified body, leaving behind a shrivelled husk.
And looking at the amount of baby spider husk everywhere, it meant some bastard had started eating while they were still inside the sac!
"Oh God. No."
He skittered away from his 'spider siblings' doing cannibalism as soon as they came to Earth, pressed himself against the cave wall then scuttled down the tiny hole on the ground, hidden by the shadows. He tried to think. Logic. Yes. He needed logic.
Okay… rewind.
He had a fight with his mom. Again. A huge one. She was furious and yelling at him like she always did. He yelled back, too. And then—
"Get out! You can leave without me now, yeah? Then leave!"
Actually, he knew damn well she was only saying that but didn't really mean it. Only saying that to scare him and expecting him to lock himself in his room again. But this time, he was angry too and felt extremely wronged. So without hesitation, he grabbed the keys and rode his bike down the highway.
But who would have thought it would rain that night causing low visibility?
Who would have thought he'd crash into an SUV?
They say driving at the heights of your emotions is just as dangerous as drunk driving.
And guess what?
Maybe they were right after all!
He opened his eyes to the sounds of people rushing to stop the bleeding here and there.
It hit him then.
'Ah! I just died, didn't I?'
Then he was reborn into a spider.