Dimensions Can't Keep Us Apart

Chapter 34

Miles found Cindy laying on the streets near the warehouse. She appeared to be unharmed but clearly was out cold. Miles quickly shook her back into consciousness.

"What happened?" She murmured. "I was just looking around, and all of a sudden, something punched me. It was some sort of weird dark man. He... kind of looked like Peter, actually." Though her face was covered by her mask, Miles could see through the amount of confusion that she was experiencing.

Miles hesitated. "It was Peter. Or... at least his body." Cindy was silent for a while. Though barely even for a few seconds, it felt like hours had passed by as the two silently contemplated their situation. No explanations were needed. They both knew enough now to understand what was happening to them, their friends, and potentially what could happen to the entire city soon. It seemed as though the whole world paused for the two. Not a single sound was made around them. The streets were void of any cars or pedestrians. Not even the crickets could be heard within the grass. Though the street lights displayed their bright, fluorescent lights on each of their small circles on the streets, not even the hum of electricity could be heard either. It seemed as though the darkness trapped their artificial light into each other tiny bubbles, refusing to let it pass through. The only source of light touching Miles and Cindy came from the moon itself.

"They got him too, huh?" Cindy asked, finally breaking the overbearing silence.

"And Gwen." Miles said quietly. His voice cracked, exposing how he was already so close to mentally breaking. Not because of how Gwen was changed, but because she was now gone. Despite everything he did to try and move on, there had always been a part of him, deep within, that still held on to the foolish hope that maybe she could still be around. Even if it was in the deepest of corners in the void of the Spider-verse, perhaps there may have been some way that he could eventually find her again. But now, Miles finally understood that her real, beautiful self is now taken over by a disgusting monster, leaving no traces of Gwen Stacy left to be seen. This realization made Miles go through all the stages of grief once more. It felt as though a part of him that was clinging on to dear life, scavenging for something, someone, to finally strengthen it, had finally died. A rage began to fuel his thoughts for a moment as he thought about how the monster was violating Gwen's body as it took over, but he quickly dismissed such thoughts. Right now, he and Cindy should only worry about getting home safely for the night.

Cindy, though his eyes were covered, could read every emotion and thought that Miles was going through. If she had already felt such immense pain after losing Miguel, she could only imagine how much Miles, someone who was so much younger but also was with Gwen for much longer than she had been with Miguel, was going through. She offered a silent nod to recognize his loss, but she also knew that this was no place to grieve for so long. "Well, let's go home, kid. I think we both need to be alone for a bit." Miles nodded and rose up with her.

The pair silently swung away; Cindy to her small yet quaint hotel and Miles back to his humble yet comfortable apartment. Neither spoke a word to each other. The silence was nearing to be unbearable for Miles now, and the sense of awkwardness was now settling in, though he wasn't in a mood to change it. All he wanted was to secluded himself in his room all night. Maybe he would sleep, maybe he would draw, maybe he would stare aimlessly at his ceiling for hours on end, maybe he would scream into the night and break down with tears, a feeling he's now been accustomed to for far too many times at this point. Whatever it may be, all he wanted to do was be alone to collect all his rampant emotions and running thoughts together.

To his surprise, Miles came home to see both of his parents still awake despite it being such a late hour already. They both had steaming hot mugs of coffee in front of them and from the dim lights as well as the small mess made from multiple coffee pots, Miles guessed they both were already at least on their fifth cup. The extreme, and slightly disturbing, amount of caffeine they were consuming seemed to have little effect, however, as even through the dim lighting, he could clearly see the deep bags forming beneath their usually vibrant and cheerful eyes.