Spider Woman (Patreon)

I suppose I should really wait for this one until Halloween but it crawled out of the old archives and begged to be put up...

Sandra had been working late every evening the past month. Halloween was, of course, the big day when costume shops every made their money. Some, like her shop, survived only on the profits of the Halloween costume rush. This had left her with precious little time to create her own costume for the Costumer's Ball. She prided herself on coming up with something new and original each year unlike many of her competitors. This year, she'd created a variant on the Spiderwoman costume. She started with the standard tight-fitting catsuit with its pattern of spider webs. But unlike the others, she hadn't done anything more than a simple mask. She'd focussed her attention on the the accessories this time. With the help of a techie she knew, they'd managed to rig a thrower for small nets that she'd contrived to look like spider webs. Her web throwers had at least a dozen shots between the pair of them and she had refill cartridges in a pack in her spider abdomen that bulged behind her like an over-sized bustle.

She made her way home with little time to get into the outfit and make it back to the costume ball only fashionably late. As luck would have it though, her car chose the moment they were in an industrial area to conk out. She tried the starter several times before giving up and pulling her cell phone from her purse. As luck would have it, all the old metal buildings blocked her signal so she was left searching for an open office to phone for help from. Most were closed as was the normal case for a Friday evening. All save one. Its lights shone halfway up the block.

She walked towards the haven, distrustful of the darkened alleys in this part of town. She was relieved to find it was actually open and not just a place with the lights left on. She was greeted by an older woman who offered her tea and led her into a back area to make her call. Her rescuer turned out to be a seamstress busily sewing away on an elaborate halloween costume. She was obviously on her way to the same Costumer's Ball.

"I like your costume," she remarked as she handed Sandra the phone. "What are you doing in this part of town this late?"
"Dead car," Sandra replied. "I'm trying to get a tow truck and a taxi to the Costumer's Ball."
"You've left it a bit late," she smiled. "As have I."
"Indeed. We could share a cab if you've no other means to get there," Sandra offered.
"Oh, I've my own transport but it's too small for two, I'm afraid."

The local automobile club had someone there within half an hour and, after arranging to have the car towed to her favourite garage, Sandra soon hired a cab and made it to the Ball only an hour late. 

As usual, the Ball was packed but a lot of fun. Her costume caused no stir whatever until halfway through the evening. People began to look at her more and more as time passed. Sandra, of course, by this time was more than a little drunk and didn't notice the extra attention her costume was drawing.  Hours after midnight, Sandra finally called it a night. She'd forgotten about her car and her need for a cab in the excitement of the evening. Her alcohol-fuddled mind told her that home wasn't that far away so she decided to walk it. Without thinking she walked up the side of a building and scuttled across the roof tops. Only thirty minutes later (her foggy mind supplied that the drive usually took over an hour), she let herself into her apartment through the balcony door.

"Have to fix this place up a little," she announced to no one in particular. 

She was too tired to take off her costume and fell asleep sprawled across the bed.  The next morning, she awoke with the world strangely upside-down. As she stirred and stretched, she found herself spinning in mid air. She quickly grasped the nearest thing, a heavy silk rope that tethered her to some point above her to stop the rotation before she became ill. It was strangely chilly, too. She looked around for a window to close and made a startling discovery. Her shriek brought neighbours from both sides of the apartment complex to their windows. Everyone within eyeshot looked startled, horrified or disgusted.  Within a few moments, Sandra herself discovered the reason for the entire commotion. The pair of buildings were linked by a spiderweb dozens of meters across. Perfectly formed and shimmering with dew, it stretched between the buildings. And hanging down from the centre of the web, a Spider Girl in fact now, hung Sandra. Her huge abdomen, with four legs and four arms, suspended by a thick silken cord spun from the tip of that impossible spider body.