~Broken Family~

Life is a Gift We Can't Throw Away

\\ TRIGGER WARNING: suicide near-attempt //

- I don't like putting this kind of stuff in my supposed-to-be-lighthearted books. But I believe anything else would be shallow development for the character. Please be cautioned. Skip this chapter after the second page break if necessary. -

Gwen had swung as fast as she could, but as soon as she reached her old apartment building, where her mom was last heard of baking a loaf of bread, she slowed.

What if they didn't come back? What if there was a new family living in their apartment, and she'd materialized in the middle of a fire, or in the middle of a new wall and suffocated? What if her dad returned in the middle of the street?

What if they didn't like her being the Ghost Spider?

It'd been so long, keeping her identity a secret seemed so futile now. Her parents deserved to know who she truly was, and part of her wanted a pat on the back from all the work she'd gone through to get them back. To get the entire world back.

The fear stayed with her, however, as she forced her feet up the building's uneven stairs and to the hall door that seemed so familiar. She pushed it open and made her way down the hall, glancing at the different doors. From within, she could hear shouts of surprise and angry yells. But mostly crying. Joyous crying.

Brushing an anxious tear from her eye, she took a deep breath and positioned herself in front of her old apartment door. She could hear voices inside.

Raising her hand, she knocked. Once. Then twice.

The voices paused, and she heard footsteps approaching. She hastily slipped the nanotech from one of her feet up to her face, where it crafted into her mask. Couldn't risk having other people know of her identity.

An older man opened the door, looked down at her. He seemed surprised already, and seeing a well-known hero at the door didn't seem to raise it very much.

"Hi," she said lamely. "I'm--I'm looking for Helen Stacy?"

"Here," an achingly familiar voice shouted. Her closest, most-loved memory jumped up from the kitchen table behind the man and sprinted to the door. "I'm--I'm here. Do you have word on my daughter? Gwen? Where is she? Is she alright? I--"

"I do," Gwen said softly. After an awkward moment, Gwen held out her hand. "You'll--you'll have to come with me."

Her mother was like an apparition. Exactly like she was in Gwen's memory. Not a single wrinkle or gray hair out of place, and no extras. She'd been frozen in time. How would she react to finding out she'd missed her daughter's later teenage years, that she'd missed her graduation? That her daughter had had to take her dirty laundry to a laundromat every weekend after college classes? That her daughter had gone out to take her first shot with her boyfriend's dad instead of her own?

"Is she okay?!" her mom demanded hands lashing out and grabbing Gwen by the shoulders. "Oh, please tell me nothing's happened to my beautiful baby!"

The man cleared his throat awkwardly, reminding Gwen of his presence.

"She's fine," Gwen insisted, trying to lead this woman, who seemed too good of an apparition to be true, into the hall. "Just...come with me, and you'll see."

"No!" Her mom snatched her arm out of her grip, making Gwen gasp in surprise. "I want to know where she is now!"

"She...sent me to come...get you," Gwen said slowly. "She can't come to you because...she's helping Iron Man."

"Iron Man?" her mother gasped. "As in---"

Gwen nodded. "Tony Stark. A lot happened while you were gone. She got an internship from him. While..." She swallowed, looking up and down the hall where people were running in and out.