One morning, when Samantha Gregson woke from what she could only hope were mangled dreams, she remembered it.
It was a whatchamacalit. She followed the ant trail of taffy-like memories. It was at my bedroom window, backlighted, silhouetted by the street lamps. In profile, it looked like all pincers. Snapping at what?
Copyright Janet Webb
She shook off a shudder as she rose from the bed to begin the day, pausing only to mute a stridulating alarm clock.
A heated bath to steam up the room will make my sinuses chirp hallelujah!
As her gaze flitted around appraising the newly remodeled bathroom, a quick shimmer near the window drew her eye.
The thick window sections resembled segments of a skeleton. A living insect exoskeleton. And it seemed to be steadily extracting itself from the lacy cocoon of wall, curtain, and window casing.
By the time of the first citizen sightings of window-sized lobsters and transparent bugs as large as compact cars, a towel was all that remained of Samantha in the flooded bathroom.
Kunstformen der Natur (1904), plate 86: “Decapoda” by Ernst Haeckel. Decapods are an order of crustacean, and Crustacea is a subphylum of Arthropoda. Via Wikimedia Commons.
A speculative flash fiction piece that’s a little bit long, at 170ish words, for the latest Friday Fictioneers. Stop by and read the stories, show some appreciation to Janet Webb for contributing her photo (and story), or create your own.
Leigh's Wordsmithery 
There always has to be a first one to fall.
Their sacrifice enables others to be educated.
True, Joe, and, who knows, maybe Samantha found a way to escape intact. 🙂
Creepy. I love stories about crustaceans the size of humans and have written a whole science fantasy novel about such creatures!
Awesome! Please feel free to mention where a reader might purchase and/or download that novel, Sarah.
It’s one of my five, as yet, unpublished novels. I filed it away in despair after an literary agent said [quote] “I applaud your imagination but the combination of comedy, fantasy, science fiction, and horror is too original and would not sit comfortably on any one shelf in a bookshop”.
… Just allow me an aside here … Neil Gaiman, what say you to that agent?
Well, the rejection that finally broke the camel’s back all those years ago, hadn’t foreseen the ascendency of self-publishing, so you never know, Leigh, I might go for it with that particular novel. If I need a beta reader, you could even get a preview.
Wow. You are truly an excellent writer.
Thank you, Pam. That means an extra lot coming from another creative writer like you. Have a great week!
Ewwwww! I started getting the urge to brush invisible things from my shoulders at the beginning of your post and it only got worse as I read further! I sure hope Samantha escaped. Nicely done, I especially liked “the ant trail of taffy like memories.”
Yuck! I hope I don’t dream about crustaceans tonight! I love your writing! 😀
Somehow, I lost track of you and your blog and that is quite a shame because I love your writing! Anyway, I want to thank you so much for the link and information for Friday Fictioneers, it looks like a wonderful group of creative writers and I look forward to participating too! Thanks again Leigh! 😀
No worries. Me, too, Swoosieque. It’s so tough to fit in all the reading I want to do, so lots of good stuff falls by the wayside, unfortunately. Esp. now that I’m chauffeur-in-chief for the kidlets and their different schools and activities. Yes, FF is a great group, and Rochelle, who runs the whole shebang, is fabulous. Her book is great, too. Hope to see you writing for FF (in addition to other thoughts your blog)!
Well, that took a horrifying turn! When I refuse to shower any more, I’ll refer the complainants to this post 🙂
Great job with the writing. I found it moody and mysterious. Lots of feeling behind the story!
scary stuff. i’m for having them for dinner before they grow that big.