The Spider & the Storm

by Kelsey Kingsley

A solitary creature, the black widow. Feared and often misunderstood for her venom, yet her only true desire wasn’t to terrorize, but to simply be left alone to live her life and do her work.

“I’m happy I could be your first,” she said, her elation now fogged by sleep. I pressed a single kiss to her shoulder and whispered back, “I’m even happier to be your last.”

“Why give myself to another man if the possibility of being hurt again was there? Why give myself permission to love if it eventually, in one way or another, leads to pain? And, yeah, it is a choice we make to open ourselves up like that, but I think we make it because, ultimately, that's what living is all about.”