“It was horrible!” Seth’s voice was high and wavering, jumping to scrape against the ceiling before thinning and fading. “It was huge, and, and, it was giant, and oh god it had so many legs! I was scared.”
Danielle crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair. “It wasn’t that bad. It wasn’t even that big.” Her voice was loud, even in the bustling cafeteria. Jenna smirked, next to her.
Seth glared at both of them. “It was a monster. Don’t make it sound like it was nothing.” He ripped a bite from his sandwich, as if to emphasize his words.
Mark jumped in. “So tell me the story from the beginning, guys. I mean, who did something about it?”
Danielle’s grin spread across her face. “Me. I grabbed it and threw it out the window.” She took another dainty bite of ice cream, pursing her mouth, clearly enjoying her role as hero. She was the one known to battle the frights amongst the friends, despite her airs.
“You threw a monster out the window? By yourself?” Mark was skeptical. He looked from Danielle’s eyes rolling at Jenna to Seth’s tense stiff expression, and scooped another spoonful of rice into his mouth.
“Well,” Danielle relented, “It wasn’t that huge, I guess. But Seth was plenty scared, useless hiding in the corner. Even then, though, it was pretty scary. It was lucky Eric and Jenna were there. It took three of us to kill the bastard.”
Mark’s eyebrows quirked up. He was clearly impressed. “Three, huh?”
Danielle said, “Yeah! We sort of took turns hitting at it. It had, like, a million legs.”
Seth’s frown deepened, and he shoved the spoon into his mouth again. While he glowered at the corner of the table, Mark’s mouth quirked into a smile. “Not a spider, though?” Mark said.
Danielle rolled her eyes again, but Seth leaned forward and gripped the edge of the table. “No, though. It wasn’t a spider. Spiders I can do –kind of,” he added when Danielle snorted. “This was a goddamn centipede.”
all the in between 