Chapter 1
BANG! The body that was once pumping with blood and liveliness was now cold and limp. There he lay in the street motionless with a look of fear and sadness in his eyes as he conciseness fled him. Miguel O’Hara was dead, but, there he was standing in front of the dead body, holding the gun that just struck himself down. Two versions of the same man were in that alley, one alive and the other shot in cold blood. The version that stood and stared at the crime he just committed was from Earth-928 but he was not on that Earth, he was in another universe where this version of him had one thing he always wanted. A family. Miguel O’Hara was a smart and almost logical man when it came to making decisions. Not this time. Instead of finding another way to be happy and have what he wanted he did one thing that could not be taken back. He killed that version of himself and took his place. He stooped down to the corpse and examined it more, seeing the gunshot wounds he placed in his chest. His relaxed and blank expression. The pained look in his eyes. Miguel saw what he had done to the innocent man, he felt an odd and nauseating feeling swirl in his stomach, regret. He did feel bad for what he had done but that feeling was replaced soon after as he opened the wallet on the corpse in front of him. Inside the wallet were various things like change, an ID, and a handful of credit cards. But one that caught his attention was a picture of someone he loved dearly, Gabriella. This earth had his daughter, the one thing he so desperately wanted to have. He stared at the picture, seeing that beautiful smile once again.
As much as he wanted to keep looking now wasn’t the time to reminisce. It was time to move and act. He didn’t call Lyla for help, he couldn’t risk her finding out and telling anyone what he was doing. After hours of work and god knows what he finally made his way out of the alleyway, cleaned his mess, and took his variant spot in this universe. He washed the blood from the clothes and threw on the now clean outfit. He took his possessions like keys, his wallet, and especially that picture of Gabriella. It didn’t take him too long to find “his home”, after all, he did have his ID. Once outside of his new home, he paused before entering it, he knew he would have to explain himself. What would he say? What would he do? Those were only but a few of the many questions he had before he knocked on the door. He was nervous, but not an ounce of fear or regret for what he did now. His body stood strong and still as he waited for the door to open. His face was void of all emotion in the few moments he waited at the door. Slowly, the door's handle turned and opened.There she was. It was Gabi, she looked like she was woken up from her sleep. Her eyes were heavy and she was dressed in some pjs. After a big yawn from her, she opened her eyes at him, giving him a tired and happy smile.
“Hi, Papa...Work kept you late again..?"
“Hello mija, yeah, sorry I didn’t come home sooner.”
As he spoke his voice was oddly calm, To Gabi it was normal but after the things he did it was scary how normal he sounded. There wasn’t a shake in his voice or a glint of uncertainty in his eyes. He smiled at her as he made his way into the home and looked around. He was surprised at how nice and decorated the home was. Im going to search the house later he thought to himself as he continued to walk to the couch. Gabi closed and locked the door then followed after him. The two of them sat on the couch near one another, Gabi was already starting to fall back asleep against him.
“I have practice early again tomorrow..”
“Practice? Practice for what?”
“For soccer dad…”
“Oh right, I knew that just messing with you mija.."
"You’re so not funny...”
Those were the last words they shared tonight. Gabi cuddled up beside him and he wrapped his arms around her, holding her with care and love. As she slept he watched her closely, watching her softly snore and nuzzle her head against his arm. He smiled at her before planting a kiss on her forehead. It was wrong to take another man's place and live his life but he didn’t care. He was too far gone to stop or go back now. He was happy and with a version of his daughter, that was all that mattered to him. Thankfully the lights were off but the TV was on, All he wanted to do was sleep holding his daughter with no distractions. He grabbed the remote on the far end of couch and held it up to the TV about to turn it off, but before he could words covered the screen. UNIDENTIFIED BODY PARTS FOUND. He may not have a spider-sense but he knew who it was even if the image was blurred from how brutal the body had been mangled. His hand lowered from the TV as he sat in silence, his expression dropping into a dark glare at the TV. That was this world version of himself on that screen. His grip on Gabi tightened the longer he watched the news report. She moved and woke up a little, her eyes narrowing at the screen in curiosity.
“What happened…?”
“...It’s not important Gabi, go back to sleep. We need to be up early tomorrow.”
He said in a darker voice instead of his usual calm voice when he spoke to her. She was too tired to notice or care, so she just nodded drifting back to sleep. Again he gave her forehead another kiss while his eyes stared at the TV. He continued to watch the news unfold before he simply decided to cut the TV off completely and go to sleep alongside Gabi. What had he done to him? That's far too graphic to show or tell, but in the wise words of Miguel himself “I don’t always like what I have to do. But I know I have to be the one to do it.”