Delusional

By Alan Baylis

As the movie credits rolled up the screen Peter finished off the last of his beer and decided it was time for some sleep. It was at this point that he was shocked to see a large spider crawl out of his own mouth. He had seen the legs first, just at the edge of his vision. He wondered what it was but when the whole spider emerged and sat precariously on his lips he almost collapsed with the shock. In one quick reflex he brushed the spider off, sending it flying to the floor. Instinctively, Peter raised his boot to crush the thing but with great effort he stopped himself and decided to grab a jar to catch it with. After a short chase across the carpet he soon had the spider in the jar and could see the thing clearly. It was about an inch long from head to abdomen, grey in color, it also had very large fangs for a spider of its size, which most likely accounted for the increasing pain he could now feel just behind his lower lip. In the bathroom mirror Peter could clearly see the twin bite marks and knew that he needed to get to a doctor.

In the doctor's waiting room he sat anxiously and stared at the glass jar with the spider in it. How had it been in his mouth for God knows how long without sensing it? The only possible way was if it had been releasing a pain killer or other chemicals into his bloodstream. It was going to be hard to explain to the doctor that this thing had been in his mouth without knowing about it; but as he looked around the room at the other patients, each with spiders legs darting in and out of their mouths, he knew it was going to be harder to tell everyone else.