There was a spider on the skylight.
Its web was backlit by the sun streaming in, making the woman shade her eyes as she looked up at it from the bed below.
She hated spiders. She rolled over and tried to pick up the cup of water on the bare concrete floor, spilling most of it on the floor in the process. She curled up into a ball on the bed and the tears started. Again.
She looked up, seeing the spider on its strand of silk, falling rapidly towards the bed. Towards her.
Suddenly huge, with gnashing teeth.
She pulled the covers over her head and screamed.
No one would come.
She hoped no one would come.
It was better when they didn’t come, in spite of the spiders.