My Terrifying Adventure

Hello, my bookish friends! I had a rather...eventful night and figured I'd share it with you guys.

I figured I should write about my harrowing adventure on a random island on a game I'm absolutely addicted to. I wrote this in story form so it wouldn't be off-topic. I assume you all needed another reason to laugh at me, so here it is.

Imagine my surprise when I found out that I could be absolutely terrorized playing a child's game.

Some of you are going to laugh at me, but hear me out, okay. As someone with a crippling fear of spiders, this almost killed me! It's bad enough to be running about my own island, minding my business, working away, when suddenly I'm being chased by this mean arse tarantula! I almost threw my switch when I ran behind a house and came out with one chasing me! Not cool, man, not cool.

So, I go to the airport and use a nook ticket to explore a new, random island, thinking I'll get me some different fruits and flowers, do a little fishing and maybe even some scuba diving. Sounds like a good night.

WRONG!

I show up and think, hmm, okay, not much here, then I see across the river a tarantula. I'm thinking, odd, I've been to many random islands at night and have never seen one before. Weird. So I go about my business and collect the little fruit they have and see a big old shadow in the water. Gotta catch that, right!? So I threw out my line and reeled in an Oarfish. Sweet! Made the trip worth it right there.

This is when things went downhill for me. I jumped the river and immediately got attacked by a tarantula I didn't see hiding behind a tree. I, of course, freaked out and had to take a few deep breaths to calm down as Wilbur talked about thinking I've “bought the barn” and he called for backup. So, I try again, ready this time for the creepy monsters. I assumed I'd found the mythical Tarantula island so I mentally prepared myself.

Not enough preparation. Not even close.

I moved to the river and scanned the area for any movement before making any hasty jumps. When the coast was clear, I bounded over and began my hunting. As I'm sneaking up on one nasty bugger, waiting for it to stop hissing at me, another creeper comes out of nowhere and startles me. I'm frozen now, breathing fast as my eyes dart from one to the other. What do I do now?? My heart is pounding, and I can't decide. As I ponder, the monsters get bored and walk away. Thank gosh!! Shoo! Shoo! Begone, you foul beasts!

So, after calming myself, yet again, I get my reliable net ready and begin to sneak across the island, my eyes darting all over as I listen to my heart pounding in my ears. There! I see three of those treacherous monsters! Three of them! Do you even understand what I'm going through right now?!? I HATE SPIDERS!! No, I'm absolutely terrified of them! I'm panicked again. I wanna run, but I can't. If I run, they chase. No, no good. Deep breaths. Deeeeeeeeep deeeeeeep breaths as I stand there frozen yet again.

I can do this. I can do this. Just be slow and patient. I've got this.

So I creep slowly, waiting for it to drop from its defensive position again and again. Closer. Closer. Almost there. SWIPE! I go for the catch!

I miss…..

It bites me….

I out…

Once again, I jump the river and move stealthy across the land, my net held high, my nerves on end. I'm hoping to find one separated from its herd. Pack? Nest? Infestation??

No matter, I just need one that's alone. Ha! Funny joke, sir! They're never alone! Never! They're like girls in high school! Always in a freaking pack! Always huddled together, ready to strike.

I have no idea how many times I was attacked before I finally used Google. Let me tell you exactly what I googled, word for word.

”How do you survive tarantula island?”

Go ahead, laugh.

Surprisingly, it was helpful. I learned that they won't chase me if I don't have my net out. I'm perfectly safe from them if I don't have the net out. What a relief! I also learned how to dig holes to protect myself. However, I'm not a smart man, and I happened to make it wrong. I would be okay for a moment, but they're smart little creeps and figured out how to breach my holes. I was bitten many times as I tried to figure out what I'd done wrong.

These are my failed attempts at the holes as I show you the many monsters around me.

My anxiety was through the roof, I was so overwhelmed and creeped out that I literally broke out in a cold sweat and was breathing crazy fast. I argued with myself about leaving the island and calling it quits.

I know it's just a game, and I can't be hurt. However, as someone who literally can't even look at spiders on my phone, this was a terrifying experience. I was not enjoying this one bit. Another bad thing about me is that I'm highly competitive, and I absolutely hate to quit something I've started. I'm hard-headed that way. So there was no way I could let those nasty things win! I was going to have to man up.

I didn't want to. Not going to lie.

Every time I snuck up on one, two more appeared not far away. One began to walk away, so I was like, okay, cool, I can get this one. So, I snuck a little closer, and the one whom I wrongly thought went away, saw me. Both reared up and hissed at me. Oh no….I'm done for. There's no going back now. But I couldn't force myself to move. We just stared at each other until they got bored and walked away. Phew. Dodged that bullet.

When I captured my first tarantula of the night, I was so excited... until its sibling snuck up on me and bit me as I was showing off my prize.

I have no idea how many times I ed out and had to talk to poor Wilbur, but I'm sure he was pretty tired of me by then.

Then I made a happy little mistake and dug my little pit next to a rock. I was like, hmm, this might work. I'll stay here, I guess. So I dug my holes and suddenly realized I had it right! There were no gaps big enough for the nasty buggers to fit through! I finally had my safe zone!

Now let me tell you just how relieved I was when I saw they couldn't get me! Mannnnn, it was a game changer. My heart slowed, and I could breathe again. I could stand in my little barricaded pit and slap my net on the ground allllll night, and they couldn't do a darn thing about it! Ha! Take that, you little creatins!

It took some time and a lot of patience as I stood in my safe zone and waited for them to get close enough to get annoyed at my net pounding. However, it was hilarious to watch them run around all frantic like as they tried to get me.

I'm rather proud of myself for sticking it out and refusing to allow my fear to get the better of me. I filled my inventory with those nasty things and took them home. When the sun rises and the twins open up shop, I'll be making a good 300k of those bad boys.