14 Comments
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Hanna Delaney's avatar

So glad I finally got to read this! Loved the web you weaved throughout with the spider imagery.

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Travis Blake's avatar

Thanks. I’m glad you enjoyed it.

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TIBERIUS's avatar

Great sense of creeping dread. And a great coda too. Thanks for sharing! 🙏

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Travis Blake's avatar

Thank you!

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Daniel W. Davison's avatar

I’m about to turn in for the night. Thanks for the nightmare fuel! 😂

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Travis Blake's avatar

That’s the reaction I was hoping for!

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Reina Cruz's avatar

Creepy creepy read! Great reveal in the end

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Travis Blake's avatar

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.

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Nick Winney's avatar

thats great! wasnt expecting that ending for a moment! nice! leaves you wanting more pre and post story... what was the inspiration? an old building?.an old chlorine dioxide sign? a spidery husk?

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Travis Blake's avatar

For the record, I had a couple of alternate endings that would have made it a bit longer, but I decided it would be better to leave it to the reader’s imagination.

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Travis Blake's avatar

The primary inspiration was a crumbling, abandoned funeral home near my office, but I figured out what I wanted after re-watching Alien with my daughter. The chlorine is from a real life episode in which the Army was called in to decontaminate a building infected with Ebola (and because I worked in a paper mill that used chlorine dioxide for pulp bleaching).

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Nick Winney's avatar

thanks... i love hearing about the inspiration for stories. sometimes a great idea comes from something you walk past every day.

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Bill Hiatt's avatar

Chilling as always!

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Travis Blake's avatar

Thanks!

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