The spider of doom

I am not particularly afraid of the dark. I do not suffer from night terrors. Nor do I watch a lot of late-night TV (I don't even have one at the moment) or scary movies. So I think I must be losing my mind... or be even more tired than I thought.

Lying in bed last night, trying to fall asleep and maybe a third of the way there - note, not yet dreaming - I heard a small noise. I looked up towards the ceiling and saw some kind of unknown or alien creature, like an enormous spider (a foot or so across) but with many more than eight, very spindly, legs. I froze in terror and mentally prepared myself to slide the quilt very slowly over my head (I am aware this doesn't sound like a very proactive response, but my priority was to stop it from being able to touch me). I believe I may have begun to deliberate between fight and flight, and whether and how I could kill it.* There may even have been some speculation as to whether it was some kind of giant arthropod (probable), or whether it might be made of metal and wires and things and thus more sinister and less susceptible to squashing.

Then an instant later the logical part of my brain caught up and I squinted up - without my glasses - to see only shadows. So all well and good, except I was suddenly NOT SLEEPY AT ALL.

I sometimes think I should start using the tag function for the entries I write. If I ever do get round to it, this one will be tagged "warning signs".

*For future reference, I think the piñata stick (basically a big hefty baseball bat decorated with spongebob squarepants paper and blue foil - Mexicans take smashing their piñatas seriously) would probably do it.