I was on my back. Everything hurt, and my body felt cold. I opened my eyes slightly. It was dark. I was surrounded by darkness with only flickers of light. I could barely breathe. Something was on my chest. My chest. I tried to reach for it, but my arm wouldn’t listen. None of my body would. I couldn’t move. The realisation was scary, but not as scary as it should’ve been. From my condition, the injuries, the coldness, the darkness, I could already tell I was going to die.
But I wasn’t that scared. Not as scared as I’d been a few moments ago. It was almost peaceful. The silence. The last sensations of my body as it clung to life that so desperately wanted to slip away. No distractions. For the first time my mind felt clear. I could remember everything so vividly. Skipping down the street hand in hand with mum and dad, the bedtime stories they’d told me, how mum’s beautiful humming echoed through the house when she cooked for us, how dad had encouraged me - made me feel like a superhero – just for my first day of school, the first time I’d gotten chicken pox, when we’d visited family in Japan, when they’d had found out mum had been pregnant with Ryo, Dad telling me off for breaking a vase whilst watching power rangers, mum giving birth, Ryo crying a lot as a baby, the first time I’d held him, mum’s funeral, watching Ryo grow up, his first day of school, our first argument, the first time we’d played games together, his first joke, the time all Dad, Ryo and I had sat on the couch watching mum and dad’s wedding tapes. I remembered all of it. It was beautiful. Even the bad bits.
I closed my eyes. I wish I’d done more climbing. I wish I’d tried harder to make friends. I wish I’d talked to Emma more. I wished I’d had the courage to stop James even without the costume. I wished I hadn’t skipped so much school and I wish I’d skipped more. I wish I’d called Dad. I wish I could talk to him and Ryo one last time, tell them how sorry I was. I wish I’d spent more time with them.
I wished for so many things, for so many more experiences, but it was too late now. And that was ok. Even if it’d been short, I’d gotten to live. I’d gotten to live.
My vision began to dim, followed slowly by the rest of my senses. My body grew colder, and the last sensations gradually faded into an inky darkness.
As my thoughts began to fade, a twinge of fear and regret rose through me.
I wish I’d done that jigsaw with Ryo.
-
I gasped sitting up. Sweat beaded my forehead as my entire body trembled. Blinking, I looked around as the haze of fog gradually faded. I was in my room. Must’ve had a nightmare. I let out a breath and slumped back onto my pillow. I stared up at my ceiling, sighing as the early sounds of morning echoed into along with slivers of light. I glanced to my alarm clock before pausing. My room? Why was I in my room? I’d been somewhere else. I’d been doing something… no I’d wanted to do something. What had I wanted to do?
I sat up, frowning and rubbed at my chest. I was probably just getting some weird déjà vu, or maybe I’d had one of those hyper realistic dreams. My door was open. No wonder my room was so cold. I stood, and trudged across the room, before going to close my door. But for a second I paused. The sounds of the radio coming were coming from the kitchen. The radio? I hadn’t heard the radio on in the kitchen for years.
I stepped out of my bedroom, and slowly made my way towards the kitchen. As I neared the kitchen, a familiar humming graced my ears. In disbelief I paused by the doorway glancing inside. My eyes went wide and I froze.
“Mum?”
“Eh?” Mum said glancing up from her cooking, staring at me. “Did you say something?”
I stepped forward, my eyes wet as I reached out tenderly towards her. She looked exactly like he remembered. With her loose-fitting sweater, jeans, and her shoulder length jet black hair.
“Is this real?” I mumbled. She furrowed her brow and set her knife down, stepping towards me, her face filled in concern.
“Yu? What’s wrong?” she said taking my hand. I felt it’s warmth, the softness, the texture of her skin. It felt real.
“Mum” I mumbled. She stepped forward pressing the back of her hand to my head.
“Do you have a fever?”
“What’s wrong? Yu?” she said. I wiped at the tears vigorously, trying and failing to hold them back.
“Yu? Why’re you crying?”
“I’m sorry” I sobbed.
“What happened?”
“I’m sorry”
“It’s ok, it’s ok. Just sit down. I’m here”
She guided me to the seat and I sat, still bawling. She held me as I cried, gently ruffling my hair. I held her tightly, not daring to let go. I didn’t know what was happening, but I didn’t want it to end.
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Slowly the tears stopped, and I pulled away, looking up at her. She wiped at my face.
“Feeling better?”
I nodded.
“What’s wrong?” she said, taking the seat next to me.
“I don’t… you’re here” I sniffled.
“I’m here”
“No, no, not like that. I just… I’m glad your here”
“Oh. So, they were happy tears?” she said, the corners of her mouth tugging upwards in a repressed smile.
I nodded, before pulling her into a hug. She chuckled and hugged me back.
“This is nice and all, but I think something’s burning” she laughed.
“Sorry” I said, pulling away. She quickly got up, and turned the stove down, before turning back to me with a smile. She made her way over and gently kissed me atop the head.
“I can’t hug you forever, since I’ve got to finish dinner, but you can sit here and just tell me if you need another one”
“Ok”
“Actually… want to help me make dinner?”
“I’d love to” I said smiling.
----------------------------------------
Peter W Parker
Everything was going wrong. Everything. He’d thought it couldn’t get worse, that he’d already hit rock bottom, but the universe kept throwing more and more shit at him. And this time he really wouldn’t be able to handle things. He cursed. He’d tried to ignore it, tried to ignore what Otto doing this really meant for everything, for him. But he couldn’t any longer. The static rung true in his ear, a warped garble of white noise. He’d lost her again, and at the worst time too. Her fear had felt saw raw and what she’d said… he’d shot the kid. He didn’t even completely understand how Yu was there, or what was even going on, but the vague picture he was getting was enough.
Peter shook his head. Otto was supposed to be a good person. Everyone knew that dammit. Or had he just been lying from the start? Faking it all? Had none of it ever been real?
No. That couldn’t be true. He refused to believe it.
Otto was good. He was.
He’d helped Peter get his shit back together after the miscarriage, he’d helped him actually develop his research - to the point he was finally getting repeatable results - and the first thing he’d done when he’d gone back to work was comfort him whilst he grieved for Grandpa Will. He wasn’t evil. He wasn’t. There had to be a reason.
But then what would drive him to do this? The lies? The experimentation? Shooting kids? It didn’t make sense.
He cursed himself. The kid had been right and now he might die because Peter hadn’t listened. He swung quickly around a corner before coming to a stop on an apartment building. He checked his phone. The tracker in Yu’s suit had been somewhere around here. It was still flickering in and out, moving around randomly. The signal was shot, and he didn’t even need to look up to know there was no commotion worthy of warranting Jess’ fear in the area. They had to be underground.
Suddenly the ground shook violently. The buildings trembled and people fell to the ground. A faint light rose from the floor and washed over everything, spreading far and wide. It left a faint vibration throughout his body. The trembling stopped and people looked around, confused. It’d come from underground.
Peter didn’t hesitate, leaping downwards and landing in the street before darting to the nearest manhole cover. He ripped it out of the ground and jumped, landing in the sewers. It stunk, but that was the least of his worries. He rushed forwards, feeling out his surroundings in the darkness. The sound of his footsteps echoed through the tunnel as he ran, the rest of the sewers eerily silent except for the distant sound of rushing water.
Then he smelt it. A mixture of smoke and dust. That way. He fired a web and pulled himself through the tunnels, before seeing a cloud of dust illuminated by faint light. As he reached the end of the tunnel, he slowed to a stop then cursed. A scene of destruction and chaos lay before him. A wreck of steel, concrete, and glass that groaned under its own weight, lay in the middle of a wider open area. He glanced up. The light came from above, but he couldn’t make out the source through the dust.
Cautiously, he leapt down, sensing outwards. The only movement was that of dust and the occasional piece of debris. Dammit. Suddenly someone coughed, the sound echoing through the space. He stopped, pinpointing the sound before quickly made his way to them. As he emerged into a small clearing within the wreck, he spotted a girl lying on her side, still.
“Jess? Jess?!” he cried out. He rolled over, as she blinked slowly, her eyes hazy with pain. She clutched her hands to a wound on her shoulder, a piece of rebar jutting out the joint. She was bleeding from head too. He needed to get her to a hospital.
“Peter?” she mumbled.
“What happened? Where’s Yu? Where’s Otto?”
Her eyes widened, before she let out a sob.
“I tried to- I couldn’t hold him. I didn’t-”
He pulled her close to his chest, holding her.
“It’s ok, it’s ok” he said. But the words had felt like knives to the heart. He should’ve known the moment he’d seen Jess in such a state. There was no way kid or Otto had survived.
He could think about that later. Right now he had to get Jess out of here. He glanced around, searching for a good exit path then Jess off the floor.
“I- I can stand” she sniffled.
“You sure”
“Yeah”
He set her down, steadying her. She stumbled slightly but regained her balance. Something in the distance fell, the sound echoing loudly. A wave of dust washed over them, and he grabbed Jess shielding her from the debris it brought with it. When it passed, he looked up. Their exit path had been blocked off by what looked like a hug steel door. They’d need to find another way out. Upwards? Maybe. He spared a glance at Jess. He wasn’t sure she’d be able to climb in her state. They’d have to go through the wreck and find a tunnel.
He stepped forwards, feeling out the intricacies of his surroundings with his spider sense. There were a few ways out. Perfect. He beckoned Jess and together they began making their way towards one of the unblocked tunnels. They could figure out a way to the surface once they got away from this mess.
Suddenly something shifted and they both froze. The sound of small piece of debris rolling across the ground cut through the silence and he gently pushed Jess behind him as he stared at a chunk of concrete. A hand shot out, clasping onto the concrete with a slap. Its skin was black wet and slimy. Peter froze. Then a man pulled himself out of the wreckage rolling over the debris and crashing to the ground. He stood, violently coughing, and Peter got a good look at him. Part of his body a broken mess and the rest of it, malformed, his skin an array of bug like textures and his arm was slimy, ending in something halfway between hand and tentacle.
Peter felt a surge of rage as he recognised the man. Dr Otto Octavius. He was alive.