Chapter 3
She was in my class and she persistently asked how I was doing and if I was okay. All I could give her was blank stares, but she still sat around me and treated me like I was her friend. LIke I meant something to her and to the world. I don’t know if she knew how much her smiles brightened my day, but they did. She was patient and kind and willing to help me through it though many others have tried.
Who was that girl, you ask? She was, or is, Gwen Stacy. She knew Peter too and was friends with him too. I’d go so far to say that she was best friends with him. So she was hurting, just like me, but she pushed her own hurt aside and tried to comfort me as best as she could.
Everyday she greeted me. Everyday she brought me a new baked good to try. Everyday she pushed my water bottle toward me, telling me to drink because I looked dehydrated. Everyday she checked up on me. It meant the world to me and it still does.
Slowly, but surely she brought me out of my spell. The first time I spoke to her, or to any of my classmates really, was a year after losing Peter. I still remember the joy on her face as I uttered my first words. She hugged me, squeezed me tight, and soon a bunch of students surrounded us and celebrated. They all knew how badly I was struggling which, from what I was told, was different for a spider.
Our friendship grew to something I couldn’t control. Our feelings changed but not in a bad way. Soon we started dating and we kept dating even as we graduated high school and went onto college. We moved in together. When we reached that step in the relationship, I had to tell her the truth. I did so with many tears and apologies. She took a day to process it but soon came back and told me she loved me no matter what. We married a year before the pandemic.
When I was around 24 or 25, Miguel came to our apartment in a flash of light and asked me to be a part of the spider society. The idea sounded great so I joined right away. After consulting with Gwen that is.
A year or so into it, I met Pavitr and became his mentor. That kid, that wonderful kid, he reminded me so much of Peter and it reminded me why I was fighting in the first place. Teaching him the ropes of being a spiderman brought a new meaning to my life. I saw Peter in him everyday and it reminded me that his legacy could still go on.
With Gwen, Pavitr, and the spider society I finally felt a bit of normalcy. A bit, dare I say, happy. I finally found what I was fighting for again. It was right in front of me the whole time.
Still.
There was something that never sat right with me about this whole canon nonsense Miguel is on. I learned about it relatively early on. In fact it was part of the orientation. It made me think that there was this man, sitting on a throne in a dark room, just watching us all suffer. He knew Peter was going to die and he just let it happen. What if this canon thing doesn’t exist? What if he’s just too caught up to see another way out?
What if he’s wrong? What happens to all of us then? I’m not too sure I want to find out.