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Burning Memory

We were walking, the road was wet and moist but walkable. If I was alone I could sprint back home in five minutes tops but I was escorting MJ back to her home.

“Crazy rain huh?” MJ said

“Yeah.” I said noncommittally

I was still reeling from the possibility that there were multiple universes. Possibly infinite of them.

‘All of fiction ever written or even dreamed upon, is as real as this world!’

The thought sent chills down my spine!

In some universe there was a Willie E coyote trying to kill the roadrunner.

I smiled.

‘What a ridiculous thing! What an incredible thing!’

“You’ve changed Peter!” She said out of the blue.

‘Oh you have no idea my dear friend!’ I thought

“Really? How so?”

“The way you walk and even talk to me! You’re like a different person now!”

It seems that a lot of people are beginning to notice that these days.

“Really we were never THAT close? I was pretty sure that you didn’t even remember my name until recently!” I said with a sarcastic smile.

She stiffened and her jovial mood turned sour,

“That’s not true! I knew your name….”

I raised my eyebrow in jest.

“Really now?”

She shook her head sideways and didn’t reply.

‘Still I was glad Moe was a good guy. I don’t want to hurt anyone anymore, I am done with that life!’

We kept walking, homeless people were everywhere. The streets were dirty and the background just sucked overall.

My mind went to Curtis…

‘I really hope he chose to stay away from this life! Hope he stays away from Faith.’

My fist tightened, ‘I hope Faith is doing alright. God if only there were smartphones here!I should have asked for her full name. Goddammit!’

“I always knew you….I didn’t forget about you!” MJ said sternly, almost scolding me.

“Oh you’re still on that. I was just joking around. It wasn’t that serious!” I apologized.

“Good!” She said with satisfactory humph.

‘Harry’s suggestion of tutoring was excellent, it was time intensive but viable! At Least more than this whole basketball thing.’

Uncle Ben’s gonna start chemo tomorrow so I need all the money I can get!

“Some of these buildings are gonna look like they're gonna fall over any day now! What is the city council doing!” MJ said, pointing out a ruined building.

“Yeah-”

‘Wait a minute!’

Then it hit me.

‘That’s it you idiot. Your spiderwebs!!!!’

I could make a composite cement using the bonding agent I made using the spiderweb.

‘Jesus that thing would be strong enough to last a 100 years! That would also be a viable’

The only issue would be getting it approved!

If I pitched the idea to an established Cement manufacturer with a patent then I could make….Billions.

‘Jesus why didn’t I think of that!! God I’m so stupid.’

I was about to jump in happiness, this would solve all my problems!!!!

I had to thank MJ for the inspiration!

“MJ I think you just solved-”

“Empty your pockets NOW!! Girly give me your fucking purse” A man in a dark pullover shouted, he had a knife pointed towards MJ.

Mary Jane started going through her bag and pulled out a pepper spray in her hand.

“Stay back! Pete come here!!!” She screamed.

He was alone but I felt two more eyes on me, they were behind me and MJ.

‘They’re not amateurs!! They’ve probably done this more than once!’

I stepped in front covering MJ from them.

“Pete, don't do anything stupid. He has a knife!”

Normally she would be right, I don’t care how strong you are. You don’t fight a man with a knife unarmed, it's only going to end bad for you.

‘Let’s see, running away is not an option! MJ is here with me. There are also two guys hidden behind us, so it makes escape much harder! Guess fighting is the only way out!’

“Hey skinny fucker empty your-”

“It’s one thing after another! Here’s what you’re gonna do. You’ll bring the other two guys behind us and you will let the lady stand in the side as we handle things.”

MJ looked back to see if there was anyone but she couldn’t make out with the darkness.

MJ yelled out with confusion, “Pete don’t be-”

“A hero. I won’t…I promise. In fact that's the only thing I know for a fact!” I said with a smile, she couldn’t see it as my back was turned.

I was keeping my eye on the one in the front.

“Yeah PeTe..Don’t be a HeRo!” He mocked me and called the others to come out

“Boys we got a Smartass! Lets teach him a fucking lesson!”

They came out from the shadows, they must have been hiding around the corners.

“Yeah..Markie she looks nice and curvy. Maybe we should do her!! It’s been some time anyways.You know how much I love redheads!” the tallest guy with a beanie cap said,

MJ was crippled with fear, I could sense her holding the pepper spray tightly.

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“You idiot how many times did i tell you to not say my fucking name!” The one in the front yelled out.

“Now we’re gonna have to kill them! Fuck!”

“Agh shit sorry mark.”

“Shut up Matt!”

“Hey you’re saying my name now, no fair!”

“I said shut the fuck up Matt!”

The other one was silently looking me over, while the guy in front began speaking again,

“You know if you had just given me the fucking money this wouldn’t happened! Now we’re gonna kill you but not before fucking your redhead bitch girlfriend!”

“Pete, run for it, save yourself. Get help! I’ll be alright here!” MJ cried out.

“YeAh PeTe why don’t you fucking run away you pussy!” The one named Matt mocked her.

“MJ….Don’t worry! This will be over very quickly.”

“You got that right!” The quiet one chimed in now.

“There are consequences!” I began,

“There are consequences to everything we do and the lives we live! I don’t know what kind of lives you’ve been living and honestly right now I don’t care. Right now even if you begged me to let you go, I wouldn’t.” I said with pure malice.

They must have felt it because the other two took out their switchblades and popped them open by instinct.

‘All this time I’ve held back. Held back in every fight I’ve had. For the sake of my opponent! For the sake of living a peaceful life! A happy life with no conflict with the law or the crooked criminals who keep appearing.’

I half removed my leg from my shoe. It was loose enough to hang on my feet. The other two could get to MJ if I was too preoccupied with their leader over here. I scanned for a stone or rock. There was a small pebble nearby.

‘Yeah That’ll do it!’ I thought

“For threatening to rape and kill my friend I’m gonna break both of your legs!” I looked at the tall Matt!

“Shut the fuck up..you fucker!! You’re not gonna…do shit!” I could almost taste his fear! My senses were in overdrive.

“Get him-” before he could finish the sentence my shoe hit his face. The force was enough to push his head backwards and make him fall.

Instantly I picked up the nearby pebble as I sprinted back to where MJ was. The other two were too stunned to even move. Hah amateurs!

‘I can deal with these two clowns now!’

I aimed at the quiet guy’s knees and threw it with as much force as I could muster. The pebble hit its target and his knees made a crunch sound, he let out a wild feral scream.

The tall guy Matt was confused.

He didn't know if he should run or stay to fight but unfortunately for him I wasn’t kind enough to give him a choice.

I ran towards him like a demon.

He dropped his knife and was about to make a run for it.

I kicked his shin, I could feel his bones explode and shatter into pieces.

“Ahhh GOD PLEASE!!”

I wasn’t done with him though,

‘You were gonna rape my friend after all weren’t you!’

I kicked his other leg, shattering it too.

“GOOOODDDDD!!” He let out a cry that could make a banshee jealous.

The quiet guy was crawling away. I walked up quickly to his side and stomped his right hand out.

‘This was the hand wasn’t it? The one you used to hold that switchblade. Let's see you make an honest living without it!’

I put enough force in that stomp to guarantee that hand won’t ever move again.

The leader woke up from the concession I gave him with my shoe. His nose was bloody.

He let out an angry confused yell,

“Well C’mon you stupid motherfucker!”

“Say less!” In four leaps I covered the distance between us and punched him square in the jaw with a superman punch.

I broke his jaw clean.

He went unconscious.

The fight was over in seconds. It was scary to think, if I really wanted to I could easily kill a man with ease.

I turned to MJ who was still surprised at the turn of events, she was still holding her pepper spray canister!

“I told you this will be over quickly!” The first thing I did was to make sure if she was alright.

“Am i alright? Are you okay Pete?” She said while checking for any injuries on my person. She was surprised to find I was completely unharmed!

“You pounced on them like…I don’t know….like a….goddamn..tiger. Everything happened so fast! I almost couldn’t believe my eyes…”

“Uh, I do karate.”

‘Sure let's go with that! People don’t know much about Combat sports anyways’

“Really?...I think I need to start learning it!”

“I think you just need to leave work sooner, this isn’t the best neighborhood to walk around you know!”

“Yeah…you’re probably right!” She looked around to look at them laying on the street.

“What about them?”

“We leave them here, the police send patrol vehicles regularly here, they'll figure what to do with them.”

It was highly irresponsible but…I didn’t give a fuck. They were thieving rapists! Good riddance!

“Are you sure? Shouldn’t we call 911 or something?”

I didn’t say anything and simply stared at her blankly.

She let out a sigh,

“Fair enough!”

It was getting windy so I gave her my jacket.

“Oh thanks!”

I picked up my shoe from the street, the heel was torn and there was some blood on it.

‘*Sigh* Time to buy a new pair.’

We walked over their groaning bodies and made our way home.

“Where were we again?”

She laughed incredulously,

“You’re unbelievable, you know that right!”

“Unbelievable in a good way or in a bad way?”

“The best way, tiger!”

“Well then good!”

We reached my home at 9:10 PM.

‘God Aunt May is gonna give me an earful, I’ve never been this late, the last time I came home late the sun was still up.’

There was light music playing inside my home!

‘Wait what?’

'Hey, is that music I hear?’

The door was slightly ajar,

“Yeah! They’re not the type to play music at 9 in the night. Let me go check it out, MJ go back home!”

She held my sleeve, “Let's go together!”

I agreed and we went inside the house together, she was hiding behind me as we made our way.

‘Please don’t let anything happen to May and Uncle Ben! Just let them be safe!’

The song was old, early fifties.

♫ Heartaches, heartaches ♫

♫ What does it matter how my heart breaks? ♫

My heart was beating faster, with all the scenarios running through my head. What if there was a home invasion? What if Curtis found my identity and decided to take revenge? What if the kingpin did? I knew I shouldn't have provoked him.

♫ I should be happy with someone new ♫

♫ But my heart aches for you ♫

When we reached the source of the music all my worries were laid to rest.

Aunt May and Uncle Ben were slow dancing to the music. Aunt May had her head on Uncle Ben’s shoulder!

‘Phew..thank you god! I almost had a heart attack!’

For a second my over imaginative mind went to some dark places! This world is wicked like that!

“Oh that’s so romantic!” Mj said in a whisper while holding my hand.

“Yeah!” I said sadly

Not wanting to embarrass my aunt and uncle we went back outside silently.

‘They deserve to have some privacy. Spend some time together alone without my nagging!’

“Well that was an eventful walk back home!” MJ tried to put on a brave mask but I knew behind that facade she was unnerved.

“Listen MJ…don’t walk back home late..especially around those neighborhoods!”

“You don’t have to tell me that twice, tiger!”

“If you’re ever in need of an escort though…call me. I’ll pick you up!”

This did the trick in calming her nerves but then..

“Oh no Pete.. I can’t ask you to do that-”

“Don’t worry about it. Just don’t forget me when you become a famous actress!” I say back to her.

“....”

She kept her head down away from my sight.

“What’s the matter MJ?”

She ran into my chest and hugged me tightly and whispered a simple “Thank you!” into my ear.

“Are you kidding, your boss would have my neck if I let you walk back alone at night!”

Diffuse the tense situation with a little bit of humor.

She laughed at that and replied, “Yeah Moe’s like that!”

She clinged on me for some more time but then let go and said, “I’ve gotta go Pete, it’s late and…I’ve gotta go! Thanks for everything”

She said in a hurry and walked away. I waited until she got inside her home. Her dad began screaming at her for being late, she didn’t say anything to him and went inside.

Her father gave me a dirty look and went inside.

‘Man I need a vacation!’

As I turned to get inside, Uncle Ben was standing there looking proud!

“What..!”

He just gives me the thumbs up and a wink.

‘I really could use that vacation any time now!’