Need You Dead

114 Sunday 1 May

Kaitlynn settled down in front of the television, with a small tub of pistachio ice cream Cleo had left her, and began channel surfing. An hour later, watching an old episode of Californication — one of her favourites — she heard Noah crying on the monitor. Then his cries turned to screams.

She paused the television and hurried upstairs, but the screams died down, almost as suddenly as they had started. Entering Noah’s bedroom, she was surprised to see Bruno in there, cradling his little half-brother in his arms. He turned and gave Kaitlynn a smile.

‘He’s OK! I think he was having a bad dream, perhaps. Do babies have bad dreams?’

‘I don’t remember,’ she said with a grin. ‘I was too young.’

He gave her a quizzical look, as if trying to work that one out. Then he said, looking very serious, ‘I think I was also too young to remember. But he is OK now.’ Looking down with a loving smile, he said, ‘You’re OK, Noah, aren’t you? Yes, yes you are!’

Noah giggled.

‘Want me to take him?’ she asked.

Bruno raised a finger to his lips. ‘I will put him back in his cot. Let’s see. Maybe he goes to sleep again.’

She stood and watched as Bruno laid him tenderly down, and pulled his knitted blanket over him. Noah put his thumb in his mouth and closed his eyes.

‘Magic!’ she said.

‘I don’t think so,’ Bruno replied. ‘But he’s fine now, he’s OK.’

They both walked to the door. ‘You seem to have an amazingly calming effect on him, Bruno,’ Kaitlynn said quietly.

‘Maybe. Perhaps.’ He turned the dial, dimming the light in the room low. Then they both went out.

A few minutes later, as Noah slept, a spider with a two-inch span crept slowly up the inside of the cot. It had a brown, shiny abdomen, and a white marking that looked a little like a skull. There had recently been an invasion of them due to the milder climate. It was a Noble False Widow, the most poisonous spider in the UK.

But fortunately for Noah, its bite is seldom fatal. And it would only bite if attacked.

Noah slept on, oblivious to the creature.