Seeking Terror
I was playing hide and seek at a friend’s house when I was seven or eight. I was running to get behind the house and took the corner and stepped on top of the metal grate above the basement escape window. Suddenly, my life flashed before my eyes.
The grate somehow gave way and I fell to the bottom, managing to scrape my legs arms and head as I fell. Then I saw where I was and just started screaming. The bottom was dirty gravel strewn with the skeletal and still decomposing remains of countless frogs.
To make matters worse, years of undisturbed spider webs crisscrossing was also triggered and I swear I could see the spider’s eyes looking at me as dozens of thicc booty spiders crawled frantically towards me to enjoy their feast.
I am laying at the bottom, blood seemingly gushing from my elbows, knees, and forehead as I started climbing the infinitely long ladder to the surface while screaming and crying.
Each rung of the ladder was also covered in webs and spiders, who started crawling up my arms. I made it to the surface and my friend’s mom tried to comfort me to little avail.
This series of events took maybe 15 seconds but felt like slow motion the entire time. To this day I have trust issues with any metal grate (storm drain, city sidewalk vent) and what I consider a reasonable fear of spiders. Source: Reddit/popgoboom