Spiderman From the Ashes : Volume One

Chapter Eight - Highlight Reel pt.2

TW: mentions of suicide and self-harm!

With a playful glint in her eye, Arisu teased Haru. "Hey big boy, if you keep avoiding the camera, you might miss out on being a great child model." But her husband, Haru, was less amused with her antics, as the camera panned over to catch their son's reaction.

"Come on, Arisu." Aaron scolded playfully "Don't tease him like that." Despite his disapproval, he couldn't help but laugh along with her, and soon their young son joined in too.

She fast-forwarded through the video until it reached her son's 6th birthday party. As he blew out the candles, Aaron heard her wife whisper something in his ear. "What did you wish for?" she asked, trying to maintain a calm tone.

"It's a secret." her son replied with a mischievous grin.

Arisu praised their son for keeping a secret, Aaron eagerly sighed and rolled his eyes. She had avoided watching this specific part of the video for years, while tears streamed down her face. As the video ends, the DVD got ejected from the player.

With a cry of frustration, she grabbed the disc and tossed it against the wall. Even though it didn't shatter like she wanted it to, a sharp crack formed on its surface.

"It's all my fault..." she murmured to herself before letting out an anguished scream that went unheard. She picked up the damaged DVD and looked at the last one remaining in her collection: "My Final Goodbye". Arisu had been avoiding watching this particular disc, even though there was nothing physically wrong with it. Its surface seemed to have a deep crack running through it, almost like it was flooding. She remembered finding it next to Aaron's belongings after he his passing.

The woman knew she couldn't avoid it any longer. She inserted the other disc into the player and pressed the play button.

A deep sigh covered by a man sobbing "Yeah, I think that our role model will rest for now. Our son was hospitalized after a episode of seizures after many, many relapses. They said he should be fine. My wife, was desesperate. She always said to me that I should get serious and stop making jokes and such. But...I think that, this letter will might help her understand, what I am feeling deep down." the man weeped.

"We never know what a mask will look like, until when it's broken."

"I love you, my wife, my son, my family. And I-" An interference disrupted the recording, most likely due to a drained battery. She couldn't possibly complete the sentence now; she didn't even know what it would have been if the camera had kept running.

She removed the disk from the player and placed it back in its designated slot among the collection. As she did so, her face conveyed her feelings of defeat. She couldn't help but wonder if things would have turned out differently if only she hadn't been harsh towards him; perhaps it could have prevented his tragic death. But what's done is done. The facade has remains shattered, and no matter how much she hides the cracks that will always remain within her.

Moments like this would never come back, like a wisp swirling in the wind, urging to return back home. Until became lost of another dust and particles of wisps.

Arisu wounded if the red blood that was coming out of his sleeves was somehow something that he made himself, she would never understand why.