In a small bedroom, in an even smaller bed, an Old Man lay asleep, dreaming, emancipating upon the past only to be abruptly jolted awake, feeling a sudden nip in his right foot.

‘What the…’ The old man thought, instantly awake, looking down to the source of his sudden pain to find an enormous Multi coloured spider that was about the size of a small sapling tree, a spider he knew all too well, suckling its teeth into his foot.

“Oh, Murphy, why….” He sighed, wondering why this wondrous beauty of a spider queen had betrayed him so. Attempting to push his hand to the side to grab the antidote that he kept on the bedstand table only to find unable to move his hand. Her venom having seemingly already started its work upon him.

Indeed, of all his questions, the why of it all was the thing that puzzled him the most, at that very moment, continuously staring down this gorgeous gigantic spider that he had named Murphey due to her ever-curious ability to change her colures at will.

Not how she had gotten out of her cage or the fact that an extremely venomous spider had just bitten him that would surely kill him if he didn’t get the antidote. No, the only thing that went through his mind in those few short precious seconds was the why of it all.

Why do this? Why bite him? Him the one who had saved her from those monstrous men who would have surlily killed her, cutting her into tiny little pieces all so that they could sell them on the black market. And raised her since she was a tiny spiderling. Was it too much to ask for a little gratitude?

He knew these thoughts were silly. Murphy was a spider after all. And spiders bit even when they didn’t intend to. But that was the way he felt though.

Though still, this whole situation was nevertheless rather odd to him.

Murphy had always been a gentle little creature, never attacking others unless provoked. A trait that most spiders tended to share though not to the extremes she took it. That was one of the things that had most drawn him to her after all. Well, that and the fact that her venom was some of the deadliest he had ever seen, even as slow-acting as it was.

It was so deadly in fact that Murphey's venom had a 9 out of ten mortality rate. With

‘Till I came up with an antidote and....’ He thought, suddenly finding himself unable to fully finish that thought. A wave of tiredness overcome him as the short, hollow venom-filled canine-like teeth slowly, but ever surely continued to sync themselves even deeper into his flesh.

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At first, he didn’t even notice it. Tiredness. A slight desire for sleep that seemed oh so natural at the time. It was the night after all. And he was oh so tired already, him having only just barely achieved a wink of sleep already.

Slowly but surely he began to feel it more and more, becoming more and more tired as the seconds went on. Till finally, he could not delude himself any further into believing it to be anything other than what it was, Murphey's Dreaded venom working its way through his Age-old body. Forcing him to sleep so that it could do its dreaded work in peace.

‘The venom's effects will get worse’ He knew, filled with fear of what was to come, having seen the venom's effects first hand when he had first encountered Murphey and many times since.

‘At first, the venom will continue to make me feel tireder and tireder. Slowly working its way through my bloodstream till it finally reaches my brain’s stem, and by then I'll be too tired to move or speak even if I wanted to. And If..’ He thought scared out of his mind, hoping beyond all hope that help would arrive soon so that he could stop thinking such dreadful thoughts.

’...if I choose to fight it...If I refuse to go to sleep...Well then. That's when the true nightmare begins. First, the hallucinations will kick in, followed a few hours later by seizures the likes of which I’ve never felt before, Finally, if I've lasted that long that is, the vomiting will begin as my body begins to reject the Venom. And then...Then soon after I’m dead as can be. Having choked on my own vomit', He thought. Dreading what was to come with a vengeance.

‘But that’s if I fight it though. Which I will, why wouldn’t I? But what if I don't...’ He silently thought, unwilling to think such thoughts yet knowing he needed to.

'What If, instead, I just lay here and fall asleep, never to wake again, It wouldn’t be the worst way to die.

Matt wasn't afraid to die. In some ways, he welcomed it as it would allow him to see his beloved Elysa again. The only thing that had prevented him from suicide was the thought of all that he’d be leaving behind.

However, now he didn’t have a choice, and, if he was, to be honest, he knew that he would rather die a painless death than one filled with misery and pain alike.

‘The kids will be alright. Melissa will take care of them. Even Liam.’ He thought, thinking of his oldest child, the result of his first marriage with his beloved Elysa, she who had died giving birth to him, their gorgeous baby boy who was now a man in his own right.

‘He’ll be okay, he’ll have kids of his own soon. He doesn't need me. None of them do.’. He thought, thinking of his son’s now pregnant wife, Malisa, who was even now bearing his one and only grandchild. A little baby girl who they had decided to name Elysa in honour of his beloved's sacrifice, something he was sure she would have loved had she been but alive to see it.

Oh...how he so wished to be there. To see her, to hold her in his arms it was but one of his greatest wishes in the world. . And yet. And yet. It was not to be. Not anymore at least...‘I wish, I wish, I wish...’ He thought one last time before giving in to the painless end that was sleep.