Searching for Tomorrow (Tomorrows) by Katie Mac, Kathryn McNeill Crane Read Free Book Online Page A

side, and then my boys quietly escorted me back to our tent, all the while assuring me that all the spiders were gone. Liam was the first one to grin and then snicker. He assured me that there was no way a spider would have stayed around to hear me screaming like a banshee. Tripp joined in the snickering and before I knew it, both my boys had doubled over at the waist, howling with laughter. They were convinced that there actually had not been a spider, just an old web.
    I smacked both of them on the back of the head and t hen retreated to my tent to sulk alone. A few minutes later, the laughter had mostly stopped and both boys came to tell me goodnight. After giving them a hug and kiss, we each crawled into our bags and let sleep take us over.
    The next morning , I woke to the sounds of hushed whispers. As I sat up and wiped the sleep from my eyes, I noticed the zipper on my tent slowly moving. Before I could finish my yawn and stretch, a fisted hand appeared in the opening. Looking on in sleepy confusion, I watched the hand open, toss a small black object towards me, and then retreat quickly, zipping the tent in its wake. My confusion turned to horror as I realized that the mysterious object was in fact a huge black spider. Screaming in fear, I began fighting my way from the spider. All I really managed to do was entangle myself in my sleeping bag so tightly that I almost lost blood flow to my legs. Flailing my arms frantically, I somehow managed to rip my tent from its stakes and flip it over on its side.
    Panic was truly setting in by this time . With my legs trapped in my sleeping bag and the tent beginning to drop onto my face, I began to feel smothered and claustrophobic. As I screamed loud enough to break the sound barrier, all I could think of was getting away from that spider. I knew it was in the tent with me, and the space inside felt as though it was getting smaller and smaller. The harder I fought, the more I panicked. The more I panicked, the less oxygen I breathed in. Within mere seconds, black spots appeared in my vision, and I began feeling light-headed. As my arms and legs started tingling, I heard my boys shouting to me and noticed the tent moving. Just before drifting into the blackness, I felt a warm hand on my frigid arm. Unfortunately, it was too late, and I gave into the darkness and passed out cold.
    When I finally came to, I looked up into the faces of my two boys. Both were pale, and the look of fright that I saw would have amused me if they hadn’t been the cause of it all. Because I still felt lightheaded and woozy, I didn’t lay into them, but it only took me a few seconds to realize that nothing I said would make them feel any worse than they already did.
    “Uhm, Sis. I’m sorry. That was a stupid thing for us to do. We really had no idea you were that deathly afraid of spiders. You do realize it wasn’t real, right?” The panicked look on Liam’s face was almost funny. “Do you think you can stand up so we can see if your tent is okay?”
    I gave a small nod, but before I could even move to get up, Tripp lifted me into his arms. After I smacked him on the back of his head, he carried me over to his chair and sat down, holding me close to his chest. I tucked my face into my favorite spot on his neck, and let him rub my back, calm my fears, and whisper his words of apology. By now, I was feeling a lot better, but no way was I going to spoil the moment by saying anything. Tripp holding me close like this was a rare occasion, and I planned to enjoy every second I could get.
    Liam let us know that one of my poles had snapped, and since we still had one more night of camping, he was moving into Tripp’s tent, and I would take his. Tripp and I sat there while Liam moved our stuff and then took my tent down. When he finished, he joined us at the fire and made a pot of coffee. He apologized again, and begged me not to let it ruin our trip. I laughed at him and let him know that there was no way