A/N: I understand that this is a lot of time to spend on someone other than the main characters, but if you read it you'll discover that it's somewhat of a metaphor for two very important characters. Don't think I'd be so unkind as to leave you with nothing.

Having said that…Due to an English teachers sudden desire for essays, that next couple of chapters could take a little longer. Sorry. And thank you to everyone who has reviewed, you are my motivation.

Disclaimer: …I have this thing about men in tights. My mate says it's perverted, but I think it sensible. At least you know what you're getting…

Darkness shrouded everything. Space, time; memories and emotions, all was lost to the shadow of death. Pale and thin, her icy fingers gripped his throat and drew his head in closer to hers. She pressed her lips to his, staining them with her everlasting mark. A memory of what is to come. And then, as quickly was she had come, Death left, engulfed by the darkness she had given birth to. But the taste of her kiss remained on his lips.

Kevin woke with a start, unsure of what had happened, or where he was. All he knew is that he had to leave.

He sat up and looked around, trying to make sense of his surroundings. He appeared to be in a hospital bed; indeed, next to him he could hear the unmistakable sound of a heart monitor. How he had got there he did not know, let alone why he was there. Apart from being a bit dazed he felt fine. Except in his lips, there he could feel nothing.

"Kevin? Kevin!" From behind the closed door he could hear his mother's hysterical cry.

"Mom?" He called back, though his voice was weak and hollow.

His mother burst through the door, tears rampaging down from her reddened eyes. It was clear she was in emotional distress, but why Kevin could not understand.

"Kevin! Oh, my boy. My boy…" She embraced her son's head in her arms and caressed him with the love that only a mother can have.

"They told me you'd be dead." Mrs. Watson sobbed, though her tears were now of joy and relief. "I thought I'd lost you."

"Mom…" Kevin sighed, trying to hold back his own tears.

"And when I walked into your room, and found you, you and Samantha on the floor…"

"What?"

Kevin was slowly putting two and two together. Why his mother was so upset, why he had woken up in a hospital bed, why he had dreamed of Death. But still so many questions. He took his mother's head and turned it toward his own.

"Mom," he asked, steadying his voice. "Mom, what happened?"

"It was that horrid spider." She whimpered. "They…the doctors that is…they, they said…said it had bitten, bitten you and Samantha and…and…"

She trailed off, it was too much. Her head fell into her hands as the tears streamed down her face.

"Mom," Kevin asked, unsure if he wanted to know the answer. "Mom, where's Samantha?"

"Dead!" His mother wailed.

Again, he was surrounded by darkness, only this time it was of his own making. Tears burnt his eyes as their taste stung his lips.

How could this happen? Kevin thought. She was just there and then, and then…

He couldn't carry on. The memory was too painful.

He put his hand to his head and let out a heart-wrenching sob. A fresh river of tears poured forth from his soul.

Samantha had been the only girl he had ever truly loved. And, he felt sure, she was the only girl to have ever loved him. She was the only one to recognize him for being different. The only one to see past the quirkiness and find the real him. She was the only one to accept him for what he was. She was the only one not to have turned away. She was the only one for him. And now, she was dead.

Dead. The word was even more hateful now to Kevin than it had been when his father had died…

He clenched his fists up in anger, just as a young nurse walked into the room.

"Kevin Watson?" She asked, far to blatantly Kevin felt. Could she not how grief stricken he was? Could she not just leave him alone?

He grunted a yes.

"Just a few quick tests." She reassured him, reaching for a thermometer.

"Open up and say ah."

Kevin did not feel in the mood for such degradation, but he complied, surly.

The nurse bent down and placed the thermometer in his mouth. As she did her finger grazed his lip.

There was an eerie green glow.

Even before Kevin had realised what had happened, the young nurse was lying motionless on the floor.