In the late evening, a large family had gathered by the table: father, mother, and their seven children. The meal was over, yet right in the middle of the table a cloth-covered tray remained untouched; it was guarded by the parents throughout the meal. Naturally, the children were curious about the contents of the covered tray.

Father looked at the mother giving her a meaningful look, she nodded in affirmation. Suddenly the mood in the room grew heavy and the faces of their parents turned serious.

“Children, be good.” Father began his warning. “It will come at the latest hour, at the darkest night. It will come tonight when you least expect it.”

“Who? Who will come, father?” The youngest questioned somewhat confused.

Father looked around as if afraid to utter the name. “The gifting spider,” a worried whisper escaped his mouth.

“The gifting spider?” The youngest asked unable to understand the worry.

“Yes, the gifting spider.” Father whispered again. “It comes out of the shadows when you’re least aware. It takes the naughty children AWAY… to the spidery place never to be seen AGAIN. And it leaves a gift in the child’s place: something ‘good’ to replace the ‘bad’.”

“That is so, so be GOOD.” Mother added looking even more serious than the father.

“Oh no! I don’t want to be taken AWAY!” The youngest exclaimed.

Father raised his index finger up. “That’s so only if you are naughty,” he pointed out.

“I‘m not naughty. I’m not!” The youngest yelled.

Father patted the youngest’s head ruffling the hair to calm the child. “I know, but just in case we still need to appease the spider.”

“Ap.. Ap-ease?”

“Yes, to leave an offering. I’ve heard if you appease the spider then it would never take the children away, only the offering.” Father turned to look at the mother.

“That’s why I’ve prepared this.” She removed a cloth from a tray.

The tray was stacked with glasses holding a blue syrupy drink, and next to them was a pile of freshly baked treats.

“TomGrape biscuits! Yum!” The youngest reached to snatch their favourite snack; he wasn’t the only one.

“No!” Mother slapped the greedy paws away from the tray. “Were you listening? Those are not for you. Now, each of you grab a glass and a bunch of biscuits and leave them by your bedside. The treats are there for the spider. Understood?”

All seven children nodded and did as told.

…

Later, in the children's room:

“What a load of bollocks.” Sam, one of the children uttered.

“Sam! No cussing!” Emilly, the oldest of the children scolded.

“Yeah, no cussing.”, “That is NAUGHTY.”, “The spider will take you away.”, the other children chimed in in the telling off.

Sam crossed his elbows. “What? Don’t tell me you all bought in that obvious lie.” Sam gave a bewildered look to his siblings.

“Mom and Dad wouldn’t lie,” Emily said with a stern face.

“No-way… Even you… aren’t you a bit too old to believe fairytales like that?“ Sam smirked at his older sister. “They're obviously just trying to trick us into being good.”

Emily blushed at the remark.

Sam raised his chin higher and continued. “Ha! You’re stupid and immature! I’m not afraid of some made-up spider.”

“Sam!” Emily tried to scold again.

“No naughty words, Sam!” The youngest jumped to reprimand.

Emily ruffled his hair, the youngest one was always there to have her back.

Suddenly the doors opened and the mother peeked through the gap.

“What is this ruckus about?! It’s past your time already. To bed! Now!” She urged.

With some minor groaning, the children obeyed and settled into their sleeping spots; soon the sleep overtook them and everyone drifted into the land of dreams. The children slept mostly in peace, but even in the most peaceful times could be disturbed by… by a lot of things, but this time it was the nature’s call.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Emily opened her eyes feeling slightly annoyed. “Why did I have to drink that extra cup of tea,” she whispered mostly to herself.

The warmth of the bed was so soothing and so welcoming that she didn’t want to go, not yet, and instead tried to fall asleep again, but no matter how hard she tried the nature’s calling was just too strong. She sat up and rubbed her bleary eyes, that was then, at the darkest night, in the latest hour, from the blackest shadow, something out of this world emerged. First only a spindly limb… but it was enough for Emily to realise what was happening. She quickly jumped back in her bed and under the cover, yet she peeked at the shadow corner with a half-closed eye.

Emily couldn’t help but feel afraid. ‘The parents were right… It is coming,’ unable to take her eye off she stared at the corner.

Right after the first appendage came another, and then another, and soon a black obsidian body followed right after. Just like the place it came from, the vague form of the creature was cloaked in wispy shadows. Four yellow orbs gleamed in the otherwordly glow scanning the room.

‘We have prepared… It will be alright,’ Emily tried to calm herself.

Now fully out of the shadow, the spider took its first steps without making even the slightest sound. Emily was rather impressed by the spider's ability not to creak these otherwise awfully creaky floorboards, but mostly she was terrified.

The spider approached the sleeping spot of the youngest sibling, he was sleeping a peaceful sleep fully unaware of what was happening. The spidery eyes stared at his face intently as if judging. The spider remained like that for a good moment, but then it turned its head to the glass and biscuits. And instead of taking the offering, it went to look at another child.

‘Ah! Is the offering not working?’ Emily questioned slightly worried.

However, her youngest brother was a good child, and so was the second youngest; the spider just left them alone. Now her youngest sister and the third youngest child, Gemma, was a bit of a troublemaker… the spider took its time to scan her face, and then it turned to the side where Gemma’s glass and biscuits were.

“Yummies. Can’t. Resist.” It chirped in a distorted and barely audible whisper.

That was when the spider gobbled up the syrupy drink and biscuits with great gusto. And right after it went to judge another child.

‘… So it’s working.’ Emily let out a hushed sigh of relief.

Now the spider was at Sam’s spot, and clearly Sam was the biggest troublemaker out of the seven, but with the offering, there was nothing to worry about, right? Right?

“Wah!” Emely pressed her hand to stifle her shout.

The spider turned its head to the sound but luckily it didn’t suspect Emily to be awake and just turned back to judge the naughty Sam.

‘No!’ Emily wanted to scream but stopped herself. ‘Sam! What did you do!?’

Her horror was directed at Sam’s bedside, particularly at the empty glass and a plate full of crumbs. The troublemaker had eaten his offering!

‘Sam! The gifting spider is real!!!’ She wanted to scream but her body was frozen stiff.

The spider finished its judging and turned to look at the bedside where the offering should be, evidently it was not there.

‘What will happen now? What will the spider do?’ Emilly worried.

The spider chirped something incomprehensible. One of its spidery limbs moved to the nearest shadow to weave a large bag out of the wispy darkness. The other spidery limb moved close to Sam’s face only to sprinkle some strange blue dust; poor Sam didn’t even cough at it.

‘…’ Emily was just staring at what was unfolding right infront of her. ‘it’s nighttime, I should be sleeping… If I scream or shout the spider will realise that I’m awake and will deem me naughty… I’m not naughty… I’m good.’ She reasoned and then closed her eyes.

With her eyes shut tight, ‘I’m sleeping… I’m a good girl… I’m sleeping…’ She repeated over and over again.

Finally, something tickled her nose and then she fell into a deep slumber.

“Ha-ha-ha!“, “Hi-hi-hi!”, “He-he-he!”, boisterous laughter awoke Emily from her dreamy and otherwise peaceful sleep.

She jumped out of her bed, tears welled into her eyes.

“You’ve pissed yourself, ha-ha-ha.” Gemma pointed at the soiled linen with laughter.

“So what!? It happens to me too. It’s an oopsy.” The youngest jumped to defend.

“Oh… you’re crying. Maybe I pushed it too far, sorry.” Even if still somewhat amused, Gemma apologised.

“I’m not crying because I’ve wet my bed. It's because…” Emily pointed at Sam’s spot, there was a child-shaped bulge covered by a blanket. “Eh? Did I dream it up?”

“Huh? Yeah, he’s unusually quiet…” Gemma finally noticed.

“Yeah, he would be the first to laugh.” The other sibling pointed out.

“Sam?” Gemma pulled the blanket off. “Huh!? A bag?”

Everyone turned to look at the bag and then at each other.

“The Gifting Spider…” The youngest uttered knowingly.

“…”

“But what is in the bag?” Gemma said somewhat curious and then reached inside it. “Hey! I’ve always wanted this.” She pulled out a large intricate doll.

“No way! Let me have a look.” Another sibling reached into the bag. “A sword! Awesome!”

“My turn! My turn!”

“But… but the Sam is missing…” Emily tried to reason.

The youngest put an arm around her, “He was naughty,” he said with a knowing look giving Emily a comforting back rub.

“And mean to everyone,” Gemma added. “And I love this doll! The gifting spider is the best.”

“But… but…” Emily stuttered.

By this point, all of the five siblings had their gifts and the bag was almost empty. Gemma turned the bag over shaking it, a shiny yellow orb dropped on the floor and rolled towards Emily.

“An apple?” Emily picked the fruit.

“Huh… all you got is some food. You must have been a bit naughty.” Gemma grinned at her. “And you’ve peed your bed.”

“Gemma! Your being mean again!” The youngest scolded. “Here you can have my gift.” He offered an intricately carved animal to Emily; it was extremely realistic but for some reason it had wheels.

“I’m fine with my apple, it looks rather delicious.” Emily patted her youngest brother on the head, then she turned to glare at her sister. “Gemma, if you’re mean the spider will take you next time!” Emily cautioned.

Gemma’s face turned a shade paler. “I’m sorry, Emily! Forget I said that.” She apologised in an instant.

“But Sam… will we ever see him again?” Emily voiced with concern.

“Sam?” A gruff and masculine voice asked.

The father was standing in the doorway. “Who’s Sam?”

Emily blinked twice. “Sam… My brother.”

“Huh, I have no son named like that.” The father appeared genuinely nonplused. “One, two, three… six, yep all six are here. Anyway, children, put your toys away, the breakfast is ready.” He left the doorway with a shrug.

All the children looked knowingly at each other again.

“The Gifting Spider.” The youngest whispered.

The toys were nice but from that day on, all the children were on their very best behaviour.