Along Came a Spider
Little Miss Muffet
Sat on a tuffet
Eating her curds and whey
Matt, eight years old, scowled at the plate of food he had in his hands. The curd was pale as a piece of chalk, and certainly as hard as one. Eyes narrowed in distaste behind orange-tinted goggles, Matt picked up a piece and knocked it against his plate. It clunked, bits of powder coming off to shower down to the grass.
Why did Linda have to write that petition? Matt thought in remorse. Wammy's was bad enough with the salad bar, but curd? It's too much.
Matt set the curd back down on his plate. Why did Roger have to take away the snack bar? The children were all surely going to die of starvation except Linda, who was happily munching away on the piece-of-crap curd, probably.
"Maybe it's not too bad..." Matt murmured, managing to break off a bit of curd. He brought it to his lips hesitantly, then popped it into his mouth and chewed.
Hey, he thought. It isn't too---OH, GOD! SPIDER!
He now noticed the small black spider sitting next to him on the tuffet.
Matt gulped, inching away very slowly. Then, the spider lunged and the redhead screamed, fleeing from the spot outside and back into the safe confines of the orphanage. Along the way, he dropped his plate, but he didn't really care. All he did care about, however, was that a spider had been this close to biting him! It could have given him rabies! Wait...did spiders have rabies? Matt wasn't sticking around to find out.
Whimpering, he slumped down against the wall beside the door and buried his face into his hands. He could feel his heart wildly thumping a thousand miles a minute, thanks to his arachnophobia. His goggles were already half filled with tears so he pulled them away a bit, letting the liquid drop to his striped shirt.
"Hey, are you okay?" Someone asked softly.
Matt jumped in surprise, backing himself further against the wall. He stared at the other boy kneeling beside him through auburn bangs with wide green eyes concealed by his goggles. Matt sniffed. "Y-yeah."
"What happened?" The other boy eased himself beside the redhead. Matt squirmed uncomfortably, wondering if the boy was carrying a spider.
"You're not carrying a spider, are you?" he asked with hopeful air.
"I'm not." The blond boy held up his hands.
"Pinky swear you don't?" Matt asked.
"I pinky swear." The blond boy locked pinkies with him, smiling. "I'm Mello, by the way."
Matt nodded. "I'm Matt."
"So, what happened?"
"I s-saw a spider."
Amusement hinted at Mello's eyes. "Oh, really?"
"Really." Matt nodded solemnly. "It was black and really scary. And it jumped at me, too, but it didn't get me." He beamed. "I was too fast!"
Mello laughed. "I'm sure you were."
"Hey, will you warn me if you see a spider near me?" Matt asked abruptly, looking at Mello with serious eyes.
"Sure." Mello glanced behind the redhead. "There's one now."
Matt squealed in terror, shoving himself into Mello's side and arms coming up to wrap around the blond's waist. "Kill it, kill it!" he whimpered.
"I was just kidding," Mello said, looking down at the frightened boy.
Matt looked at him distrustfully. "I'm arach--arachon--ara--" he tried, stumbling on the word.
"Arachnophobic?" Mello offered.
"Yes." Matt glanced behind his shoulder. "That."
A few more seconds passed, and Mello said, "You can un-cling from me now."
Matt blushed a scarlet shade. "Sorry." He detached himself from Mello.
"So, I have some decent food," Mello began, getting up. "Want some? The curd is...well, the curd is turd." He offered Matt an outstretched hand.
Matt giggled, accepting the hand and getting to his feet. "Okay!" Then he narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "As long as there are no spiders."
Mello smiled, casually putting an arm around Matt's shoulders possessively. "I won't let anything hurt you, I promise."
Along came a spider
Who sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away