Distant Closure.

New Dawn

Eddie Brock wears a ring. Perched on his left hand, second finger from the left. However it doesn't symbolise marriage, yet it gives him a sense of security. No longer does he need to deal with women at bars asking him questions with the goal of a hookup with a former fugitive. He can sit alone at the bar stools worrying about his own fragile life. Before when he visited the local pubs and bars, he wasn't alone, his thoughts were not bare, and never were they filled with so much silence. But now he could almost feel it as his mind collected dust, the emptiness made him feel more alone than he has ever been. Before Venom, he had Anne, before that he had no need for any connection. Before both of them he was content with the silence, his youth brought a sense of security in the silence.
After the events at Area 51, and his involvement in protecting the world from an invasion the government had no understanding of, they believed it was only just that Eddie had any past charges lifted, and was compensated for his work(Mainly with an apartment in Las Vegas and a stable work environment.) And later any mention of Symbiotes and the events of the past year were wiped from the internet and made as if nothing had ever happened. Area 51 was left to be a wasteland, but the government still made an effort to patrol the area every so often in search of anything left behind.
Anne and Dan do their best to visit Eddie monthly now that he's on his own, for medical reasons Dan makes an effort to call Eddie every few days to check up on him, he answers most often, but other days he lets the calls go to voicemail enough times for Anne to message him and ask what's wrong. He doesn't admit that he still has a hint of love for her, something he keeps hidden away now that she's a month away from getting married. He also doesn't admit that it's nice to have people worry about him, although she did before it's different now.
-
"So how does this assumed.. Loneliness.. affect your daily life, Mr. Brock?" A government issued therapist asks as she sits on the other side of a desk, she spins a black pen in her hands, and her eyes showed pity unlike anyone else. Eddie bit his tongue. He waited for the voice perched in his head to make the first judgement. But nothing came. "Well I no longer- My head is just-" He spun his finger besides his face to gesture at his brain, trying to reference his thoughts. "-Bare. Everywhere I go I feel empty." After he finished speaking he slouched back against the soft chair. The therapist made a sound, then wrote something down. "And does this feeling of emptiness make you want to.. Nevermind, that's a topic I'd like to have a full session of time to talk to you about.. Look, Eddie. I'm going to be serious here, living in Las Vegas isn't healthy for you. It's isolating you in ways and I can't seem to pinpoint. You have things you cannot share with me and I understand that, but if you cannot speak to me about some things, I need you to find someone you can be with. Maybe Anne or her fiancé." she paused, the two sat in silence as she collected her thoughts and looked at the time. They already had passed their hour of issued time with each other, so she tried to make the last comments quick. "We don't have any more time together as of today, call me at some point so we can book another meeting together. Please consider a visit with family or friends, for your health." She stood up and faced Eddie. Eddie didn't say anything else. He shook her hand and walked out of the room.
After carefully closing the door for another lady who was scheduled after Eddie was, he looked at his phone. It only had a few contacts; his doctor, therapist, Dan and Anne, and the suicide hotline on speed dial. Eddie wouldn't have put that in his phone, but it was planted once again by the government to avoid him taking his own life before there was closure about the Symbiotes being one hundred percent gone. Eddie had no plans to call the number, just as much as he had no plans to visit Dan or Anne.
He left the building and found his motorcycle, on the sides it had drawn on designs depicting the Symbiote who called him a host months prior. Seeing it made him feel slightly at ease, like even if he wasn't with him, he was in a way. He put on his helmet and hit the road. Las Vegas was dark as clouds began to cover the sky in preparation for rain. He used to like the rain, but now it just reminds him of how Venom sacrificed himself for Eddie's survival. A ping of hurt reached his heart causing him to grip the handlebars of the cycle tighter. As he passed by over a bridge, a girl caught his eye. He had to stop at a light, so he took a second to pause and observe. The reason she caught his eye is because she was sitting on the railings like she was about to jump. But she never did. Instead she held onto a small container, and when she opened the container, several butterflies flew out. A variety of species took flight, and the girl took out a handheld camera to snap a few pictures. There was something else in the container, but he didn't get to figure out what it was before he realised he was holding up a line of cars. The driver behind him sounded the horn and Eddie almost jumped out of his skin, he kicked into gear and drove off, muttering apologies to himself as he did.
After he settled into his apartment he sat down at his desk. He opened his laptop and in the few seconds before the laptop booted up, he had to bare his own reflection. He had the same short stubble on the lower half of his face, eyes with so much tiredness underneath them, and chapped lips. He could almost see his forming headache. The laptop graced him with the white-lit screen. With a long sigh he opened the writing app he could tolerate using daily and got to work.
Eddie found himself saying one line about a thousand times an hour; "What would Venom do?" and it killed him each time to even think of the Symbiotes name. But even as the hurt took refuge inside his shattered heart, it helped him piece together article after article. Eddie needed to walk around his kitchen every thirty minutes to soothe his chronic back pain. Doctors fully recognised the pain, and actually put effort into giving him medications. After the events of three months prior he was put through a full week's worth of testing. This included MRIs,(Which still puts Eddie into a state of panic to the point that he needed thirty minutes to be calmed down.) X-rays, full body scans and blood testing. And after the pain that they brought to him, he was gifted with many diagnoses and some hearing aids. Somehow his bonding with Venom changed the way his ears worked, allowing sounds of high frequencies to be lethal. After Venom and Eddie parted ways, the Symbiote took his ability to hear properly with him.
As he drowned off into his own thoughts, he came across memories that hit him with a craving for chocolate and tater tots. He looked at his phone and contemplated answering Anne's voicemail, which reminded him of what his therapist had suggested. His old apartment remained under his ownership, and all he had to do was tell his boss that this trip was for the good of his mental health, and could direct him to his therapist.
A smile found its way on his face as she changed tabs to book a flight. All this for tater tots and chocolates he could easily go get. And memories he could easily dream off in the safety of his own one bedroom apartment in Las Vegas.

-

"Bye bye butterflies." A girl said as she sat on the railings of a bridge in Las vegas, she took out a camera and snapped a few pictures to show her parents when she came across them again. It's been three months since her interest in aliens became the reason for her abandonment. She was left a few miles from Area 51 and was forced to watch as her parents took off for the hills. She didn't see any aliens, only different variations of insects and many, many cockroaches. She made her way through the debris and captured as many as she could.
But now she was alone after catching a ride with some tourists. She had nowhere to go, and all she had was her plane ticket home that she swiped from her mothers bag on the way to Area 51. She was all too caught into observing the butterflies when the last bug she had caught brought her attention to it. The bug had a darker colour, almost black, and eyes like no other. It interested her so much she brought it with her along with the butterflies. She didn't have enough space to put it in its own container, so she had to mix it with a few other ground insects. She frowned when she saw the many other species dead.
A car sounded its horn and it scared her immensely, so much that the container with the cockroach tumbled out of her hands and down into the lake. As she reached for it, a sensation of cold filled her, as well as an overwhelming hunger.