Crazy

The Spider That Started Everything

It all began with a spider.
Carly was sitting in classroom b3, for science when she saw the eight legged creature. It was sitting on Mrs. Sunderland's shoulder and seemed to be enjoying it's high outlook over the classroom. 

The spider itself was actually quite large and it resembled more of a mix between a normal spider and a tarantula. That was the only reason she had seen it.

Carly tried to ignore it and continued focusing on the lesson, but the lesson itself was kind of boring and she couldn't help but play with her curly brown hair and drift off into one of her daydream worlds.

Carly was a good student, had green eyes, and was of average height for a fifteen year old. She was, all in all, a normal girl, except for one thing.
One of the special things about Carly was the fact that she loved to daydream, and in the current one that she was in, she was a graceful elf with long pointed ears and a delicate green dress. In her elf form she was walking toward a pond when something grabbed her from behind and pulled her away. She could feel the talons grabbing at her ankles, pulling her away into some unknown place.

With a start Carly woke up from her trance, nearly falling out of her chair. Daydreaming was a common occurrence, but they were rarely this vivid and realistic.
Carly tried to calm her pounding heart, reminding herself that it was only a figment of her imagination.
She pulled herself together and blinked a few times.

Carly tried to pay attention to what Mrs. Sunderland was saying but it sounded like a dull drone in the background, like an annoying bug that you just want to escape from. Except she couldn't. There were forty-five more minutes in class and Carly was desperate to leave, but she had to wait.

As she sat, she found her gaze pulled, like a magnet, up to her teacher's shoulder where the fat spider had been sitting. It was still there. Carly hadn't expected it to stick around, but there it was, still sitting on her teacher's shoulder.

"How about you, Carly?"
Carly blinked, surprised.
"How about you Carly", Mrs. Sunderland asked again.
Carly turned as red as a tomato as she stuttered, "Could you please repeat the question?".

She looked down, ashamed that she hadn't been paying attention.
What was worse was the fact that the year had only just begun and Carly didn't want to make a fool of herself.

"The question was: according to a 1999 report from the World Health Organization, What is the leading cause of death throughout the world - including types of illnesses, diseases or accidents?".
Carly froze.
She hadn't been paying attention in class, and now she has no idea what the answer was.

Trying to ignore the feeling of shame, she weakly offered "umm... Cancer?"
"Incorrect.. Cancer is the ninth, but the first is heart disease. Believe it or not, road traffic accidents is tenth. Good try though Carly."
Carly felt her ears turn red as she heard some students behind her giggle.
She groaned.
Not a good start to the year.
Maybe she could redeem herself later.
Sadly she slid down in her desk, feeling incredibly embarrassed.

The time seemed to pass at a snail's pace.
Mrs. Sunderland asked a few other students some questions, and they all answered more or less correctly.

Carly glanced back at at the spider and blinked.
It was growing.
The spider was growing.
She couldn't believe her eyes, but the spider was definitely growing, and not slowly.
She rubbed her eyes wandering if this was a hallucination, but she had seen the spider the entire time, how could this be a hallucination?!

She wandered whether she should say anything, but, looking around none of the students appeared to see anything unnatural. Carly decided that she would keep silent, she had already embarrassed herself once, and she did not need to do it again.
As she watched, she realized that she might have to say something, because it was still growing, and it was no longer the size of any spider.
Carly looked around in stunned  disbelief as her classmates just sat there, completely ignoring it.
She couldn't take her eyes off of the creature. It was getting larger and larger, and Carly was desperately swallowing a scream that was welling up in her.

Finally Carly couldn't take it and shouted out: "Mrs. Sunderland, there is a spider on your shoulder!". That was the day that Carly learned that her teacher had arachnophobia.

Mrs. Sunderland screamed and did a mini jig, as the students laughed at her. After a few minutes of this ridiculous dance Mrs. Sunderland stopped and glared at Carly. "You think it's funny to scare your teacher?!". She was furious. "No Mrs. Sunderland, there was a spider! I swear!" Carly desperately looked around the room -there was no way the spider had disappeared so quickly. But it seemingly had.

There was no trace of the spider, and so, there was no proof.
"Go to the principle's office young lady! This is not a good start of the year! Oh, and don't worry, I will be personally calling your parents tonight."
Carly couldn't believe her ears. She was getting sent to the principle's office because she wanted to help Mrs. Sunderland?!
How was this fair? Slowly she trudged out of the classroom trying to ignore her classmate's whispers.

She turned one last time to search the room for the spider, but instead found herself eye to eye with her best friend. Piper stared at Carly confusion clear in her face. Carly tried to ignore her best friend's baffled, questioning gaze, and slowly left the classroom, heading towards the principle's office.