Clessidra | Peter Parker.

32. epilogue

The flowers in June's hands had long lost their original beauty, their petals being crumpled by her nervous fingers along with the stem.

She quickly walked towards the grave, barely giving a glance to the coffin standing in front of her as she placed the flowers on top, sighing for a second and then move away. Gwen reached her right after, still looking extremely tired for having woken up only a few days prior, and smiled sadly at her friend.

She took the news surprisingly calmly, as much as she could, because she was too tired to grieve. And when she started gaining her strength back, June and Peter looked too depressed and under the weather to be the one to imitate them. She tried to cheer them up, but when it turned out to be impossible, she learnt the importance of being next to her friends and support them without having to say anything.

The funeral was quick, due to the small number of people participating, but it was definitely painful. June had tried to keep a cool composure the whole time, but she realized there was no need, and she had let a few tears slip as she kept blaming herself for everything, the way she had done, silently, since Simon had burned the clinic, with himself inside.

Peter arrived, too, and, just like June, he didn't say anything. He remained silent, kicking pebbles with his shoes.

"I know this is not the time and place to say this, but I felt it was right to tell you" Tony appeared from behind the three, wearing his usual black glasses even if it was a rainy day. The three teenagers snapped their heads at him, waiting for him to talk. "Cecilia confessed. They're taking her to a mental institute, where she's probably going to stay for the rest of her life."

Needless to say, it was only added to the list of news June would have preferred not to hear about.

After the fire, Tony, Peter and June decided the right thing to do was walk away from the clinic, because there was nothing they could have said to prevent themselves if the police found them there, but Cecilia had been adamant on staying there despite of everything. She didn't want to leave her home, she wanted to stay with it until it stopped suffering, and the three let her, because there was nothing they could have done to save her, just like Simon.

So she had been taken to the police station, where she confessed after three days of absolute silence, and the people who tried to stop her were too destroyed to formulate an opinion about it. They just let it be, like everything else, because they were tired, and they wanted to do nothing but go to sleep for the rest of their lives.

"What about Simon's father?" June asked, her voice hoarse since she was using it after three days of absolute silence.

Tony simply shook his head, and silence fell once again.

The only mentioning of Simon's name had once again awakened the self-judging thoughts that tears had replaced for a while. She blamed herself, she deeply blamed herself, because she hadn't been the hero she was supposed to be. Because no one was, just like Simon had said, and she had been conceited enough to think her stupid words could have saved him. Her powers had abandoned her, once again, and they had left her alone to face Simon's eyes before he died. Not Peter, nor Tony had seen it, she had been punished for her mistakes by the same source that had made her commit them.

"Hey, kiddo," Tony suddenly exclaimed, gently pushing June's shoulder. "If I keep seeing that brooding look on your face, I'll force you to live with Vision for a month. And, believe me, he's even more silent than you are."

Smiles appeared on the three teenagers' lips, but they didn't reach their eyes. It was right for them to be mourning, they had lost a friend and they couldn't save him, but June feared she would never get over that failure.