Take What You Want

The chaos grew worse and worse, but Oliver and Paula still flanked me on both sides, trying to drag me into the crowd. I quickly tried to stop them.

"I'm telling you the truth. My abdomen really hurts. How about you take me to the hospital?"

I grabbed Paula's hand. This was the last chance I'd give them. If they took me to the hospital, that Black Widow spider wouldn't be able to crawl onto her hand.

"Why do you have to go into labor right now? You're such a pain! Always screwing up our chances!" Paula shoved my hand away and looked at the grabbing crowd as she spoke to me anxiously.

"Just wait until we grab a few more boxes! You'd be sitting around at the hospital anyway, so don't ruin this for us!" After saying this, Paula glared at me and rejoined the scramble.

"Mom's right, honey. Just hold on a little longer and give birth later!" Oliver said hurriedly before rushing off and abandoning me, too.

I couldn't help but laugh coldly. They were my husband and my mother-in-law, but they only cared about profit and had no genuine feelings for me whatsoever. I stepped aside, rubbing my belly as I watched this farce coldly.

Finally, when Paula and Oliver couldn't carry any more, they squeezed out of the crowd, clutching Christmas gift boxes and stepping on several people's feet in the process. Paula especially looked fierce and energetic, more vigorous than people half her age.

Behind them, the Christmas tree finally toppled after countless people tearing, climbing, and yanking at it. The people on top came crashing down as screams echoed through the mall, one after another.

However, Paula and Oliver were just as lucky as in my previous life, emerging completely unharmed with their grabbed Christmas boxes.

Paula held the boxes while unwrapping them, muttering, "Hmph, I believe there must be something good inside after all this effort."

Oliver also said expectantly, "Right? There must be something valuable in here. If not, why would they make such a big fuss?"

But after opening box after box, there really was nothing inside. Paula immediately started cursing, "What a lousy mall! All these gift boxes, but there's nothing inside! If you can't afford to do it right, don't hold events at all! Cheap bastards."

Paula angrily stomped on the gift boxes several times. Oliver looked disappointed too, but he still wouldn't give up as he said, "Don't worry, Mom, there's still one last box. Maybe all the good stuff is in this final one."

Paula finally opened the last box. In my previous life and in my dying memories, the last box contained a spider with an hourglass pattern on its belly that crawled onto Paula's hand.

I'd seen that kind of spider on the news before. It's called a Black Widow. They loved dark, warm environments, and their bites could cause convulsions at best, immediate death at worst.

Paula eagerly opened the final box and looked inside. Just as expected, there was nothing there either.

She got so angry that she threw the box directly at me, and I jumped in fright. After all, that box contained a venomous spider!

I frantically looked around and panicked. Meanwhile, Paula pointed at me and cursed, "It's your fault we came up empty! You jinxed us!"

I glanced up to answer her when I froze. The Black Widow was creeping across the back of Paula's hand with its fangs bared.