A Panic Attack (JP)

Underground Mutant Community - Wyoming

The moment she heard the word spider, El raised a hand to her shoulder and shielded Shimmer from view almost instantly. The tarantula was a cherished friend to her and she knew most people afraid of them tended to toss objects. Lucky for them, Finlay didn't have anything to throw across the room at her, so she was able to drop the hand.

Shimmer, despite knowing the fear the boy had, merely raised a leg in greeting.

“What's going on?” The nurse she had interacted with moments ago rushed into the room, only to stop and gaze at the young boy as his voice changed. “El, what's he screaming over?”

The brunette merely frowned and raised her hand to Shimmer again, allowing the purple tarantula to crawl onto her palm. It was a slow walk, gentle as the creature moved from shoulder to fingers and palm, settling there as if it were home.

“Sir, I'll need you to calm down.” The nurse interjected after a moment. “What seems to be the problem?”

Finlay wasn’t thinking reasonably at the moment. If he were, the young boy would have realized that the girl … and nurse … showed no signs of alarm by the presence of the spider. He would have pieced together that the spider wasn’t showing any signs of aggression or threatening behavior. In fact, if his rational faculties were working, Finlay would have realized that what was unfolding before him was more akin to a pet then a creepy crawly predator.

Unfortunately, Finlay was not in his right mind. He shifted to the furthest reaches of the bed as the spider moved trying to put distance between him and the arachnid. He was dangerously close to falling off, but was saved by the side railing.

His imagination was flooded with other horrible thoughts. Was this underground place filled with such things. When he slept would a spider get him and were their any under his bed. His eyes darted around the room wildly before quickly returning to the spider. It was as if the nurse wasn’t even there, he heard nothing.

Now Finlay wouldn’t have considered himself scared of spiders. Working on a farm, spiders are a commonplace and in fact welcomed due to their role in keeping other pests in check. He didn’t like them in his personal space or in places they weren’t supposed to be though. This experience however unlocked a real sense of fear he didn’t see coming.

In his hysterical outburst, he started having consequences. His hair went from blonde to brunette. His face looked like Johnathan, his torso shifted to be that of his dad, and his legs looked like the nurses in the room that had been attending to him. It was a bizarre sight and it caused his balance to become effected due to the disproportioned combinations. It caused him to go sideways, and a bit backwards, over the railing of the bed.

A thud could be heard as he hit the ground. Finlay tried to get up, but his coordination wasn’t cooperating. The monstrous spider was out of view, which made it worse in his mind.