The Spider

I was curled up in bed, staring out the open door onto the balcony. The horizon shimmered in the oppressive heat and I was feeling miserable. My hair was in braids, sticking out around my head on the pillow like a child's drawing of the sun, which was currently beating down on my face relentlessly through the flung open windows. A holiday in Bali should be filled with sightseeing, sunbathing and having fun, my holiday was filled with chicken pox.

I whimpered again and began, for the millionth time that day, to scratch at my forehead, my mother (making sympathetic noises) reminded me again not to scratch at the fiery red spots. Laura, my sister, called out from the balcony "come see this!" she cried. After a few minutes, my curiosity overcame my exhaustion and, crawling out from under the sheets, I padded out to join her.

I looked around but couldn't see anything "what is it?" I asked "a spiderweb!" my sister yelled joyfully "it's huge!" I looked to where she was pointing. The spiderweb was on the hotel balcony next door to us, it stretched from the roofing over the small veranda to the balcony rail. The web glittered with diamond dew, tiny prisms turning each ray of light into thousands of sparkling colours.

"Pretty big spider" commented my dad. Terror came into my eyes and I scampered back to bed, pulled the covers over my head and stayed there for the rest of the day.