A young girl of sixteen sat on her balcony with her harp, gazing out to the beautiful scenery of the morning. Her slender pale fingers plucked the strings of the harp, causing a beautiful melody to fill the crisp spring air. Blood red eyes gazed out to the sea thoughtfully as the song attracted spiders by her feet. She felt them crawl up her dress and up her legs. She knew they were crawling into her long mane of ebony black hair. Annabelle loved spiders much to her maids' despair. She would always save them from being squashed and swept away then release them out into nature. The spiders knew her and after time Annabelle got to know individual spiders. They were her only friends in her lonely world. Annabelle gazed down on her lap and saw a rather large spider sitting on her thigh, nestled into the turquoise silk of her dress. It snapped its pincers thoughtfully as its beady golden eyes stared into her blood red ones. Annabelle stopped playing the harp and held out a hand for the spider to crawl in. It was as big as her palm, she noticed and brought it closer to her face. She admired it thoughtfully, running her tiny finger down the top of its body. It didn't move, just stared at her with its golden eyes. Annabelle raised her head as she heard a fly. She watched it curiously as it flew around her head then settled itself on the top of her harp. The spider clicked its pincers and Annabelle's hand suddenly lashed out. The fly buzzed in pain as Annabelle held two of its wings in her hand. She placed her spider on top of the harp and watched as it grabbed the fly and jabbed its pincers into it. The spiders in her hair and crawling out of her dress watched with her. Annabelle giggled softly and took the spider that was on her ear out and placed it on her lap.
"That tickled," she said to it in a soft voice.
Her head turned when she heard a shriek. Her maids were in her room, their eyes wide with horror when they saw her covered in spiders. She sighed and bowed her head.
"You have to go now," she said sadly "Be careful."
At her command, they scuttled away from her and climbed down from her balcony. The large spider remained on her harp, the dead body of the fly in front of it. When Annabelle told it to go away again, it didn't even budge. Annabelle sighed as she stood up and picked her harp up. She went in while picking the spider up and slipping it into the safety of her cobwebbed hair that trailed after her on the ground. The maids fussed over her when they saw that she had cobwebs in her dress, across her neck and wound into her hair.
"Young Mistress, this is unacceptable behaviour," one said as she dusted the cobwebs off from her neck.
"You are to be married on Midsummer's Day, you must grow out of this childish fascination on spiders."
"Oh, they've even been under your skirt!"
Annabelle waved them away irritably.
"I would rather enjoy the rest of my days of freedom with my friends," she said simply and sat down in front of her vanity.
The maids sighed in unison and began to clean up her bedroom. Annabelle stared at her reflection, with her spider staring back at her on her shoulder.