The spider

The boy caught the spider in the matchbox. Born poor and stayed poor, the spiders were his hobby. His mom could not work, and often asked if it was raining, because she seemd to be detaching herself from the world, unaware of what was happening around her.

He would feed spiders and train them, and enter them into fights with other schoolkids. But some of the other schoolkids were rich, and made their fathers buy them exotic fighting spiders that looked like they carried crystals on their backs, with poisons that killed. But the boy knew the spider he had just captured was special. He fed it, and it spun beautiful webs within the matchbox. The first match it ran towards its opponent and bit it. The opposing spider curled up like a closing flower. It was over in a few seconds. The spider climbed up the ladder, beating all challengers. The rich kids started to take notice of the scruffy boy and his plain brown spider. It was getting bigger. Soon, it won the right to challenge the champion spider, which had a black and red back, resembling a face.

"It can't win," the champion said.

The boy was silent. He let the spider out from its matchbox. Its opponent was five times larger and lived in a glass cage, where it fed on finches and mice. The plain spider appeared to watch its opponent, feeling the air, then it raced forward. It bit the red spider on the back, the side, the legs; everywhere it could. The boy laughed, as though the whole affair was a joke. The red spider collapsed, its limbs beginning to twitch. The boy was victorious. He opened the matchbox, and the spider obligingly crept in. The rich boy fumed. He grabbed the matchbox.

"You cheater!" he shouted.

"Give it back!"

But the rich boy didn't. He ran off to his car with his bodyguards blocking the way. The boy screamed at the theft of his spider.

The next day, the rich boy didn't go to school. They found him on the floor of his bathroom, an open matchbox beside him. He was not dead, but was paralyzed for two months.

The boy saw the spider again in the forest, and would occasionally bring it finches and mice to eat. The spider waited, and spun great webs, but the boy never wanted to capture it again. His mother turned to him one day, and asked if it was raining, and he said a great storm was coming, even though the sun was burning hot.