A quick look up revealed Big Jim finished my job himself, but I didn’t even really care, concerned with my own ticking clock. I knew with the arsenic poisoning I didn’t have much time.

I tried to move as quickly as I could to the front door to get to my car, but didn’t make it.

I collapsed in the living room and started to drift back to sleep.

It’s been almost a week since that night. I’m still alive, but don’t know how much longer I have. I look a lot like Big Jim looked that night – blue, swollen, rotten – and all I can really do is lay in bed and drink water and pet Jake when he jumps up onto the bed.

I thought about going to the hospital for the arsenic poisoning, but I don’t want to open up the can of worms that is my current situation. If I can’t wrap up the Big Jim situation properly without involving the authorities, I may end up wishing I had just died, so I’m toughing this thing out on my own win or lose.

I’m in constant pain, constant discomfort, don’t know how many minutes I might have left at any given time of the day and don’t know exactly what I am going to do with my life if I make it through this.

Well, that’s not entirely accurate. I know one thing I am going to do if I make it out of this alive…

Find a new line of work.