Sally

Chapter Two

The next morning, I was in for a ton of surprises. The first was a bad one.

I woke up to the sound of my alarm, but unlike yesterday, I didn’t create a disaster zone by trying to snooze it. I groggily turned over to the side of my bed that is against the wall to find the largest spider I had ever seen staring right back at me with it’s eight evil eyes. Its eight spineless legs were covered in dark, thick hairs and its body was a mass of darkness. Not what you want to see first thing in the morning.

I screamed. What else was I supposed to do? The spider just smiled at me as I jumped out of bed. I threw my pillow at it, missing. It still refused to move. I screamed again, trying to force the creature away with sound. I backed up against the door, still screaming. I remained in that position, screaming for what’s worth.

“What’s happening here?”

Mum pushed against the door, causing me to lose my footing. As I stumbled onto my bed, my dearest mother came through the door, looking around my room. Today her scraggly brown hair was held back by a plastic alice band and her outfit of choice was a long, blue pleated skirt and a grey blouse. Her usual big brown ‘owl’ glasses shielded her brown eyes and her non-leather sandals were also present. The whole look was set off by a satchel that read: ‘Beef: It's what's rotting in your colon.’

“Oh Jaimie, aren’t you up yet?” She said, shaking her head. “You’re going to be late!”

“Mum!” I said.

“What?” She asked.

I pointed to the wall. “There’s a HUGE spider!”

Mum just looked at me. “And?”

“Get rid of it please!” I cried.

“Why would I want to do that?” She asked.

“Mum! You know I’m terrified of spiders!”

“He’s not doing any harm.”

I looked at her beseechingly. “Mum!”

Mum sighed. “Jaimie, you’re 13 years old. You can’t be scared of spiders.”

“Just get rid of it please.”

“No. You need to be independent.”

“I’ll kill it!” I threatened. Mum loves all living creatures – apart from me of course – so hopefully she wouldn’t want to see a ‘poor, defenceless’ spider get walloped.

“You’ll have to get close to it first” she replied, walking out of the room. “And get up!”

I turned back to see that the spider had gone. I allowed myself a second of relief before the panic started up; it was somewhere in my room. I don’t think I’ve ever changed so fast.

Downstairs, Mum was making organic porridge on the stove. I dumped my bag on the table and walked into the kitchen. There it hit me; my second surprise of the day. Mum was up before me.

“Mum, why are you up so early?”

“I have to prepare for a lecture. Someone will be assessing me.”

“Why?”

“Because they just are. Now hurry up, you’ll be late for school.”

I made a face. Mum works as a senior fellow at Oxford University and teaches History of the Middle East. She usually gets up after I’ve left for school and arrives home late each evening. She then has dozens of evening classes each week, leaving not much time for family. Luckily my brother and I stay at our Dad’s half of the time, who has fewer responsibilities.