Clessidra | Peter Parker.

13. silent treatment

The tremor in June's hands ended after a month. The headaches subsided after a month and a half and the constant tiredness after two months, but the nightmares never ended.

She would wake up in the middle of the night, every single day, with sweat on her forehead and her breathing ragged, inconstant. She couldn't stop fearing that she had slept for entire decades and that everyone she ever knew would be dead by the time she woke up, or that they would consider her dead and bury her, just for her to wake up years after inside a coffin with no way on getting out.

Those thoughts would scare her so much that she would just give up on trying to sleep and would instead try to do her homework or listen to some music, finding that the night was the moment of the day where she was most active. It wasn't a discovery, actually, considering how excited she felt every time she would go on a mission with Peter, but those times were long gone.

She had started counting the days she was spending not talking to him, wondering how far she would go without him by her side, but it suddenly turned normal that the two of them ignored each other. She had at first tried to talk with him, to make him understand her point of view, but it was like talking to a wall. He wouldn't even look at her, so she just gave up, then realized that she didn't deserve to be treated that way and ignored for something she had no fault for and, by the time Peter realized his mistake, it was too late.

She knew from the videos on the internet and the scars on his face that Peter kept fighting on his own. She had no idea of how his missions were going, if he had improved his skills and if not having her around was actually better for him. He had started using the suit Tony had given him, which obviously made all his movements easier and faster.

For what concerned her powers, June didn't know if she even had the ability to use them anymore. The incident in the airport had been the last time she used them, and no collateral effect came after that. She was feeling better, healthier than ever and, for once in her life, normal. Except for the obvious loneliness her days had been filled of.

Her relationship with Simon was actually improving, even if no sign of interest ever came from him after that message she had blatantly ignored. But apart from him, June would spend her days alone, eating on her own and studying on her own, not even wanting anyone else by her side. Peter was still with Gwen, but it didn't even seem to bother her anymore.

She got ready for the last day of school before Christmas holidays with the happiest expression she had worn in a long time. The thought of not having to deal with the proofs of how lonely she was made her feel like that day was actually worth dealing with, to the point where she even paid attention to the outfit she was going to wear, daring to apply some make up as well.

"Have you talked to Peter yet?" Heather asked once June reached the living room to say goodbye and head to school.

She rolled her eyes and slumped her shoulders. "No, mom, I haven't. Why should I?"

Her mother looked at her as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "He's your best friend, you have to make it up to him one day or another."

Heather had been asking that same question every day to June. From her point of view, Peter's friendship was what made June study so hard and have good grades and, since they had stopped being friends, she was getting worse and worse. But June had stopped being thrown around from her mother since she had been back from Germany, all due to the change of morals that had happened inside of her without a particular reason.

"That's not mandatory, mom, and if I feel like hating him for the rest of my life, that's exactly what I'll do."

Heather was about to say something when June grabbed her backpack and stormed out of the house, knowing that there were going to be consequences from answering to her that way. But her mother had to understand June wasn't a kid anymore, and she had found out that the only way to do that was by doing the opposite of everything Heather had ever taught her.

While riding to school with her bike, June realized that even after three months she would still expect for Peter to appear from behind her and ride the rest of the road together. It was just one of the multiple things she missed about him, but what she had found out about their relationship had made her blood freeze in her veins.

June was dependant from Peter, from so many points of view. She relied on him, did what he said because she thought he was always right and thought he could never make a mistake. Being in love with him hadn't helped her in the slightest, but the worse thing was that he had always acted in the same way. He knew June would always support him and consider his ideas worth listening, so the fact that she had made a decision on her own for once had put him in a state of confusion he didn't think he would ever get away from.

There were so many toxic aspects of their relationship, and the new June couldn't believe she had lived that way for so long without going crazy.

When she parked the bike next to the entrance of the school, she noticed Peter walking the steps with Gwen with an almost sad expression on his face. He sent her a quick look, but they both got distracted by a blood-freezing sound.

June turned her head towards her back, where Simon was standing by the side of the road with his head low to look at his phone and headphones in his ears, just in time to notice a car on his left side taking a sharp turn, the tires hitting the sidewalk with a loud sound as it started speeding towards the place where Simon was still standing, distracted by the music. She said nothing, expecting him to notice the car and move just in time to avoid it, but when he didn't move and the car got closer, she did the first thing that came to her mind.

A light appeared above her, making the sky turn from blue to a bright yellow. She felt the strong wind stopped from hitting her face and her hair straightened on her back, while the loud yells of students and the cars honking dissipated, as if muffled by headphones. She looked around herself and sighed heavily, trying to unclench her tight fists without letting go of the power. Her veins were pulsing violently and it took her all the strength she hoped she had not to freak out at the thought that she was doing what she had promised to do never again.

"Okay, focus, focus," she started to repeat to herself, closing her eyes for a moment before opening them again. She looked in front of herself and focused on the scene. Simon had his head still down, his eyebrows furrowed in an expression of confusion, while the car was two or three meters away from him. A few students were behind him, still in danger.

June took another deep sigh after taking a step forward, relaxing a bit when nothing happened. She was way too scared she could lose control, the time would start again and Simon, along with the other students and the driver of the car, would get severely injured, if not worse.

After two or three other innocent steps, she started to move faster towards the group of students, walking to Simon with a determined face.

It all disappeared, though, when Simon's head moved towards her, the confused expression still on his face, but not frozen like June had expected it to be.

He was standing right in front of her, moving and breathing and living, in the timeless world she had created and whose only citizen was supposed to be her.

I think I'm growing extremely attached to this story, which means I'm writing then times more and I hopefully will update faster than I currently am.

I noticed that this story isn't being read by many people, but I guess that's okay, since the plot may not sound too interesting. But this is the reason why I would like for those people who got interested in this story enough to read the chapters when I upload if you could leave a comment, or a vote, just to let me know what you think about it and if there could be something that would work better another way.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, see you in the next one!

Love you all,

Elena.