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Comatose

“It’s Harry, he got into an accident yesterday! He’s…...it’s serious.”

“What?” i weakly muttered,

“I g..got a call from Jess's mom, she was asking me where she was at night? I helped them call..our friends. None of them knew, not even Flash’s friends. We…then found..out that they crashed into a tree.”

“What?” was all I could say again.

“It’s true!!! Flash….he..drove under the…”

I turned back to her and walked to the reception, my fist was rolled into a ball. Anger surged through my veins!

“Peter, wait….let me come with you!” MJ yelled and followed me,

___________________________________________________________________________________

I didn’t have to ask at the reception because thankfully MJ knew where Harry was! She led the way and told me about the status of everyone involved.

The quiet girl had luckily gotten off before they got into the crash. Flash was conscious but needed surgery, the blonde girl broke her arm but was otherwise fine.

It was Harry who was in the most critical condition.

He was comatose and apparently under strict observation.

“They were drinking! Even Harry!”

I knew him for a long time and even if he acted a little goofy I always thought he was smarter than that! Maybe it was peer pressure that made him do it but I was disappointed in him regardless!

“Yeah they found some alcohol content in his blood! I’m sorry Peter if I hadn’t-”

“STOP!.....Just please stop apologising.” I snapped,

I shouldn't have done that but I wasn’t thinking right anger, pain and fear ruled my mind right now.

She didn't say anything to me shouting at her, I wouldn't have blamed her if she had retaliated.

“There they are?” she expertly changed the topic.

I saw a man in an expensive suit sitting on the waiting room chair with dark circles around his eyes. They were waiting outside Harry’s observation room.

‘That must be Harry’s dad!’

While a blonde lady and Policeman were arguing, it looked like he was pretty high ranking police too.

‘They must be that fuckers parents!’

In the corner, Jessica Thompson had her right hand in a sling. She looked like she was a mess!

I walked up to Norman osborn and introduced myself to him,

‘Sir…My name is Peter Parker-”

“Peter..yes I’ve heard a lot about you from my son.” he said with a weak smile.

“My boy used to talk about you everytime we ate, I never bothered to listen to him. I never cared for his thoughts or his feelings.” he let out a breath with a shiver.

“I….tried protecting him Peter…I really did…now…he might..leave me too.” He said with his shoulder slumped.

“Sir…I think he knows that. More than anyone else, he respects you the most.” I spoke in the present tense because I firmly believed he would make it.

‘He has to! I can’t lose my best friend!’

A doctor came out from the observation room and approached Harry’s dad.

We waited in anticipation for what he had to say,

“Mr Osborn, your son’s stabilised!”

The entire room left out a cumulative sigh.

“Thank god!” I could hear the policeman say. The doctor continued,

“He’s going to need time to heal and depending on the damage, maybe even surgery!”

“Damage? what kind of damage doctor?...I can afford it just make sure..you save him please!” Norman Osborn nearly broke out in tears.

His anguish was visceral.

“It’s going to be difficult to gauge that, Mr Osborn. For now at least, his primary bodily functions seem to have stabilised. Which is good but we won’t know the exact extent of his neural damage until he wakes up. That could take some time though. In the meantime, we’ll keep him under observation.” The doctor gave us an understanding nod and walked away.

“Well that's a relief! Isn’t it?” the police officer said out loud,

If he wasn't a cop then I swear to god I would have slapped him.

Just because he lived doesn't mean he wouldn't have permanent neural damage! All because his son got shitfaced and drove!

I know it wasn't fair blaming him for his son's stupidity but they practically looked like him. So I couldn't help but hate him!

His wife shushed him but it was too late Harry’s dad overhead him. Who proceeded to echo my exact thoughts..

“Relief…Which part of this is a relief to you? If your son hadn’t been drunk, mine wouldn’t be fighting for his life right now! Relief….Shut your fucking mouth you pig!” He let all his frustration out.

“Hey, I already told you my son fucked up but he wasn’t the only one drinking that day. Your son had alcohol in his blood too, don’t leave that part out.

He made a good point but that was no excuse for flash driving under the influence.

“Yeah well My son wasn’t driving a fucking race car drunk!” Norman retorted and went on to add,

“I don’t even let him drive those deathtraps but you…you gave your irresponsible son a supercar!!”

“That’s not fair Mr Osborn, Eugene was driving carefully until another truck rear ended us. That’s what caused the car to tailspin, it wasn’t either of their fault…we shouldn't fight. Please dad, Mr Norman, calm down!” Jessica Thompson pleaded with both of them.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“I don’t care about the details…I don’t care for anything you people say! The fact of the matter was that your son he-” His cellphone began ringing as he began to unload his anger.

It was a giant phone with an antenna.

He looked at the number and gritted his teeth and said, “I have to take this!”

He got up and left.

MJ went to check up on Flash’s sister, Jessica.

She looked really affected by Norman's scathing reply. I walked near Harry’s room and saw him hooked up to machines.

I remembered the last time we talked,

He gave me the middle finger and said, “See ya Pete!”

If those were his last words to me then I wouldn't be able to move on.

‘He has to make it. I have to see him succeed his father, I still have to mooch coffee off of him, I have to see him when I give my valedictorian speech, we were supposed to have a long and happy life as friends, we were supposed to travel all over the world!!! Please….god It can’t end like this.’

While I anguished in silence, I could hear other people talking,

“You don’t think he’ll sue us, do you?” He asked his wife

“Harrison his son is in critical condition, now’s not the time for us-”

“If not now then when..that’s Norman Osborn, if he wanted to he could drown us in lawsuits!”

“I know that but…”

“I told that good for nothing boy that the only rule I had when I gave him the car was for him to not drink and drive. One fucking rule and the blasted idiot went and broke it anyways!” Flash’s dad spat out.

“Dad It wasn’t our fault! Like I said the truck driver behind us rear ended us, Flash didn’t-”

“SO FUCKING WHAT!” He exploded,

Jessica shrunk into her shadow.

“The law won’t see it that way! They’ll see an entitled spoiled college football star getting drunk and crashing his car into a tree. I told you…when you get great opportunities…it comes with great responsibilities! When I gave your brother that car I told him that! That moron couldn’t even do that and now it might kill his friend.”

“Don’t call him that dad…he’s..” Jessica tried to defend her brother but was only cut off by her father.

“A fuckup, he’s a goddamn fuck up and he might be the end of this family! Now let me go see how I can unfuck this clusterfuck of a mess.” He spat out with venom and walked out leaving his family behind.

Jessica was sobbing right now, her mom and MJ rushed to help her.

As he was walking we made eye contact for a brief second, he didn’t say anything to me neither I, him.

I looked back to my best friend laying on a bed fighting for his life.

When he was here and barely surviving what was I doing? Showing off my basketball skills? Going sneaker shopping? Picking fights with my aunt? When he needed me the most, what was I doing?

If I was there with him….maybe I could have protected him from those severe injuries.

“You said a truck rear ended you?” I asked Flash's sister

With my spidey sense it would have been a piece of cake to save him if that were the case.

At first she didn’t realise that I was talking to her but then realised a few seconds later,

“Oh….yeah.” She said meekly with none of the fierceness when I first met her.

“Was he drunk before he left the cafe?”

“No…I don’t think so, we went to the cafe straight after school and from there straight to the car.”

I knew that but I was still checking, if he were drunk at the time I would have smelled the alcohol on him.

“Then why did he have alcohol in his system?”

She didn’t answer, instead her mother intervened for her, “Leave her alone, she’s been through enough!”

I didn’t want to make a scene. Besides I could easily deduce the beer must have been in Flash’s car and only he could have offered it to Harry.

Again it didn’t take a genius to realise that but I wanted to hear the words from her mouth! I don’t know why? Maybe I wanted to hurt her in any way I could! My best friend was fighting for his life and it was because of her and her brother.

‘If I was there then maybe I could have saved him.’

Before I could be a guilty mess, Faith’s advice came to my mind,

‘You don’t have to save the entire world! Peter, sometimes just saving a small part of the world will do!’

I looked at MJ who was still trying to convince Jessica to stop crying.

‘That’s right! If I didn’t stay that day something really bad could have happened to her!’

In other words no matter what I did I would end up feeling guilty.

Even with this realisation it still hurts.

I had to leave from there.

I couldn't stand to see my friend hooked up to those machines like that!

My analytical mind knew those machines were the only thing keeping him alive but the human in me couldn’t handle seeing his friend like that.

I could hear Norman Osborn arguing about something loudly over his phone. I wasn’t in any mood to eavesdrop on my friend's father so I just left him to his devices.

I saw Flash’s father talking to some of the doctors, asking them about his son’s health. Apparently, he completely shattered one of his legs. So no more sports or college scholarships for him anymore.

‘I guess there was some justice in this world!’ I thought grimly.

I walked down the stairs and saw that Aunt May and Uncle Ben were looking for me at the reception.

“Pete where were you? We’ve been looking for you-” She was able to decipher something was wrong with me mid-sentence.

I explained to them everything.

“Oh dear, is he okay?”

“He’s stabilised now but he’s far from okay.”

They asked me some more questions and asked me If I wanted to stay at the hospital. I wanted too, believe me I want to but seeing as it’s pretty dark I don’t want Uncle Ben to be driving in the dark. This world has fucked with me enough for me to know better!

‘All I can do is trust in these doctors and hope for the best!’

I can’t make a forced emotional decision. So I decided to stick with the plan to go home.

I’ll come here first thing tomorrow!

“Are you sure Pete? We can drive back home!” Uncle Ben asked once more

I need to be strong now, more than ever.

“Yes Uncle, Now let's get you home big guy!” I say with a pained smile.

I just need to hope for the best! Harry will make it, I know he will. Even the doctors told him he’s fine, nothing will happen to him.

‘It’ll be okay, everything will be okay! Soon Uncle Ben is gonna get the treatment he needs and Harry’s gonna be perfectly fine. We’re gonna laugh about this like in the old days!’

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Somewhere in an underground Supermax plastic prison.

POV - The prisoner

The guards changed again. They did so every two shifts.

‘If their kind was smart enough they would either kill me or put me to better use.’

They went to so much lengths to keep him alive, maybe to prove their ‘Humanity’ but he knew their true vile nature. He had seen the rise of Nazi Germany first hand, when he was a boy.

He remembered when they brutalised his mother.

Thinking about his mother brought the host of bad memories he tried to hide away in his mortal shell.

‘24005’ he looked at his serial tattoo that was forced onto him by the nazi’s.

We were cattle to them, nothing more nothing less. In one of the newspapers they gave him, he read about a group of people who denied the holocaust ever happening! History will repeat again! The weak will be trampled once more!

This time though it won’t be just the jews who will be persecuted it’ll be his kind too!

Once they wipe us out, they’ll have their justifications. They’ll have their trials in their kangaroo courts and blame it on men who were just ‘following orders’

Charles talks a great game about the goodness of humanity but….only he knew their dark side.

Optimistic fools hope for a peaceful future. A future in which the inevitable war could be stopped.

Humans and mutants working together!

“Hah. Don’t make me laugh!” he said out loud with disgust,

“What was that?” one of the younger guards said, he had his hand on the toy gun.

“I just remembered a joke that a friend told me a long time ago.” He smiled at the young man.

The day was coming, where Charles will have to choose a side, either humanity or his kind. Our kind.

The superior kind.

The very one that should have inherited this planet. Instead they were hiding among humanity fearing for their lives.

A guard walked up to his glass panel and dropped a plastic tray containing his lunch.

He picked up the box and began unpacking it and used his plastic spoon to scoop the gooey mixture.

They carefully selected his foods, none of his foods had too much iron.

Humanity was pesky like that which made eliminating them that much more necessary!

He did not have access to heavy books, music or even good food.

‘Ugh why don’t they just kill me yet!’

“Where’s the fun in that!” A voice spoke.

He turned around to see who it was. He found the guards standing there stationary. They didn’t move, in fact they were completely still.

“Charles?”

He knew Charles' voice and this definitely wasn’t his voice. This feeling though…it felt like time had frozen and there's only one mutant he knew who was capable of such a feat.

“Xavier? You mean Charles Xavier? No, I'm not him.” The voice responded to his question.

“Show yourself!” He shouted,

“In due time but for now this is the only way I can communicate with you.”

“Communicate with me?”

“Yes.” The voice said monotonously,

He remained calm but there was no denying that he was dealing with a powerful mutant here.

“What do you want?” he asked.

“No, the real question is what do you want?” He heard a thud behind him.

He turned his head quickly anticipating an attack but instead he was pleasantly surprised to see the old familiar helmet.

Along it with the helmet there was also a slab of iron.

“Good luck with your prison break!” With that the voice in his head went away and time resumed.

The guards didn’t see the helmet nor the slab iron on the ground.

“Mr Baxter!” He said with an evil smile

“Yeah, you done with that Erik?” the guard pointed to his food tray.

He smiled innocently at the poor man.

“Yes, Mr Baxter. I think I’m done.”