Submission (#8201) Approved

It had been a long and busy day. By the time Honeybee unlocked her front door and stepped inside her home, the sun had long disappeared behind the rolling hills. She had gotten out of bed and headed out the door before dawn and used up all of the day’s sunlight working at the fruit juice stand. It would be a lie if she said she didn’t envy seeing her customers happily walk away to enjoy the beautiful day as she had to stay behind the counter. Honeybee could only watch and sigh softly as the pink trees of Faerindell rustled in the gentle wind, kicking up the scent of flowers and fruit. Perhaps that’s why she had been so busy today- maybe the wind wafted the smell of fruit through the air and carried it around the area, tempting those around for a sweet drink.

Honeybee reached for a nearby candle and lit it with a match before shutting the front door behind her. The soft candle’s glow barely illuminated the room, but the elnin didn’t need much light that evening. She had no plans beyond washing her face and going to bed. She barely had the energy to hold her candle steady, let alone even imagine doing an activity! The day had drained her and she had more than earned a good night’s rest.

Fighting back a yawn, Honeybee stepped through her house towards the washroom. Her candle light flickered as she walked, casting large shadows on the walls as she moved. When she was younger, she may have been spooked by strange shaped shadows. Now that she was older and lived on her own, Honeybee liked to imagine that she was tougher and braver than she was before. Thick skin was needed to run her own business, and facing strange shadows seemed easier to do than handle disgruntled customers.

Honeybee reached a door and opened it, revealing a small washroom. She took a step in, bringing the candle light inside the room. As she looked over at the sink, something caught her attention. Out of the corner of her eye she had noticed something move. No, it hadn’t moved the like shadows on the walls, flickering with the sway of the candle light. The movement was quicker, more intelligent, moving with intent.

The fur on Honeybee’s neck and arms suddenly stood up straight while a shiver ran down her spine. She couldn’t tell which prompted the other to occur, but she knew something in the room was amiss. While shadows posed no danger to her and she would be confident in saying that there wasn’t much that bothered her, there was certainly one thing that managed to cause Honeybee to tremble like a leaf. It was silly to have such a deep fear of something so small, but even imagining it made her feel small and weak. Like how she felt right now.

Holding her breath, Honeybee moved the candle towards where she saw the movement. She hoped her imagination was getting the best of her and that she was alone in the washroom.

To her dismay, she had an uninvited guest.

Standing on the sink, the end of one of its many legs brushing against the edge where the flat surface dipped into the bowl of the sink, was a spider. It wasn’t particularly big, roughly the size of a manaberry. There were no obvious markings to indicate it was harmful and to be avoided at all cost. The spider was black, fuzzy, and moved slowly into the bowl of the sink.

Even so, Honeybee used all of her self control to not drop the candle and scream. Insects were never really her thing but she could tolerate them. Spiders, though? They were one creepy crawly that spooked Honeybee to her core.

When she came to her senses, the elnin took a step back out of the washroom. She needed to find a way to get rid of the spider- and fast. Trying her best to think despite the circumstances, she thought of containing the spider inside a cup or bowl. That would keep it from scurrying away to hide somewhere, only to ambush her later. Honeybee quickly made her way to the kitchen and opened the cupboard, scanning over her dishware. She spotted a cup made of glass- Perfect! With her free hand she picked up the cup and made her way back to the washroom.

To her relief, the spider hadn’t moved far. The small critter had made its way half down the sink bowl. With a shaking paw, Honeybee lowered the cup down over the spider before it could crawl down the drain.

Success! She caught the foul beast!

But what now…?

Even though the spider was no threat to her at the moment, her paws continued to tremble. Honeybee had to set down her candle on the other side of the sink, worried it might slip from her grip and fall to the floor. Her attention turned back to the spider as she began to contemplate what to do with it.The easiest way to get rid of it would be to kill it, but the very idea made her sick to her stomach. Even if she was terrified of the fuzzy menace that was no reason to destroy precious life.

As she mulled over her options, the spider had slowly crawled its way to the edge of the cup and crawled onto the side of it and was now completely off the sink’s surface. Honeybee shivered as she watched the spider move, but it was then that an idea came to her mind. She could simply let it outside! No harm would come to the spider and she would be able to sleep easily knowing that her home was spider free.

But if she wanted to make sure the spider didn’t leave the cup before she was outside… she would have to cover the top of the cup with something, and all that came to mind was her own paw.

Honeybee initially baulked at the idea. The chance of the spider crawling up and touching her paw made her want to tear up. However, she didn’t have any other choice. It was time to set aside her fear and get this over with. With a deep breath, Honeybee lifted the cup and placed her paw over the top of it. Leaving the candle light in the washroom behind, the elnin quickly darted through her house towards the front door. Once she reached the front door, she removed her paw from the top of the cup, opened the front door, and practically tossed the cup into the grass in front of her house. To anyone who was around to witness the scene, they must have thought her mad or delirious. However, Honeybee only felt pride and triumph. She watched as the spider slowly crawled out of the inside of the cup to sit on the outside of it.

Honeybee decided she would get the cup tomorrow, when the sun was up and when the spider was hopefully gone. It was out of her house- no need to push her luck now.With a soft smile on her face she turned, closed the front door, then made her way back to the spider-free washroom.

Time to finally wash her face and sleep.