OMG spider!!

My computer crashed so I've been using the laptop... it's nice because I can lay in bed and relax while on the internet. Well I was lying in bed reading the cat site and I sat up to pet Tabitha when she walked by. I was getting ready to lay back down when I saw something run across my pillow. It was a GIANT brown spider. I am absolutely TERRIFIED of spiders. I moved the laptop and have been attempting to find the spider again to kill it. I'm terrified it may have bitten me, though I didn't feel anything. I'm afraid it could be a brown recluse because I'm always being told to watch out for those around here.. I really don't know what other kinds of large spiders live in the area.
So at the moment I'm standing up with the laptop debating what to do next. I have to kill it, and wash all the sheets and take a shower. But the thing is, I'm so afraid of spiders that I seriously cannot breathe when I see it and it makes me cry. John's at work for three more hours and I know I can't wait that long to get rid of it... I don't want the animals near it and you know how much cats like to try to catch bugs .
Suggestions for me? Words of encouragement? List of spiders common to southeast Indiana?

heres a link to a pic of a brown recluse on a quarter 2 give u a sense of size.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Brown_recluse.jpg

I finally got it... if I post a pic, can anyone help me ID it? I'm very concerned that someone (either John or I or one of the kitties) could have been bitten since it was in the bed and no idea how long it was there.

Ooh I hate spiders they give me the s and you should see the size of some of them over here *cringe*

Hope you manage to trap him and release him outside. Killing spiders makes it rain you know

I got him trapped inside of a plastic bottle and took him outside. Despite my extreme fear and a strong desire to smash it to pieces, I don't like killing anything and just couldn't. I got two pictures, they're a little blurry but hopefully someone can ID it?

Despite the blurriness of the picture, I'm going to just say it's a type of common hunting spider. There are some brown ones like that people usually just refer to as "house spiders".
Good news, they eat other spiders like recluses.

can u get a picture with the spider next 2 something for scale? a coin or a pen or a water bottle or something?

Here's one of him next to a pen:



I took one other picture which I can post in a little while if it ever uploads.

One more picture:

looks like a common house spider. there big enough to eat flies and bite, but usually to scared of you to show up.

i let them on my porch so they eat the bugs and the wasp.

If it looks like it has a fiddle shape on it's back then it's a brown recluse. Spiders don't bother me. Of course we don't have very dangerous ones around here. If I see one in the house I just let it be.

I normally put a drinking glass over them until hubby gets home, I forgot to tell him about one in the kitchen oneday and he knocked the glass over with a chair my accident and smashed it...ooops!
I really hate them to, especially little ones, because they disapear so quickly.
A few months ago in england at my parents house my brother called me out of the kitchen because he wanted to give me something (he never wants to give me anything), but I didnt think it would be a nasty present lol, this is what he gave me... well tried to give me, I ran away very quick!
This is in a glass and my brothers hand is behind the glass so yeah itsquite big!

Spiders in England are not poisonous, and the one that is does not have sharp enough teeth to penetrate human skin, But I still am scared of them, here in VA I dont know about spiders so if I see one I get very nervous, as I have never lived anywhere where there are poisonous insects

If you get bitten by a spider whose poison can mess with you, you'll know it. You'll get a huge thingy of some sort wherever it bit you, and it will get very painful. Greatest sympathies to those who've ever gotten bitten!

BTW I HATE spiders too. I am absolutely terrified as well, although I'm like you, if I killed one I would feel bad about it. They're really just minding their own business, despite the fact that they LOOK like they're out to get you... damn that Arachiphobia movie...

I looked at that picture that catgirl posted and I didnt notice the fiddle shape until luvmycat1 pointed out, it really does look like a fiddle!