Fractured Mind

Chapter 18

Peter left the house, seething with anger.

The one thing that she could have said to make him that angry, and she had said it.

He realized he had left his suit and web shooters at home but there was no way he was going back for them. He pulled on his leather jacket and stuffed his fists into the pockets.

His cell phone rang but he turned it off, nearly breaking it.

He wandered through the neighborhood and headed towards the city, not sure where he was going.

He noticed that most of the people he passed were straight out gawking at him. Some of them made eye contact and quickly looked away in embarrassment and others stared at him with their mouth opened wide and even turned their heads to watch as he walked past them. What was with everybody today?

When he finally got to a building with a reflection, he checked himself out and felt pretty foolish; he had forgotten about all the bruising on his face. He shook his head and carried on walking.

Looking around, he realized he was near the old factory warehouse where he used to skateboard. He jogged over to check it out; it had been ages since he was here last. The huge Spider-Man symbol that somebody had spray painted was still there. He wished he had brought his skateboard, then he remembered he had stashed one here for days like this. It had been, what, nine or ten months since then? Hopefully nobody had taken it.

He opened up the rusty tool cabinet and was shocked to see the skateboard was still there. Peter grabbed the skateboard and began testing out the old ramps.

A couple hours went by, but Peter was still angry. How could Mary Jane say something like that to him, knowing how much it would hurt? She knew how miserable and guilt ridden he had been; to this day he still had to fight with his depression. After Gwen had passed, it was like a huge hole was ripped from his chest, and for the longest time he didn't feel whole. He had been slowly turning into an empty shell, and when Mary Jane wedged her way into his life, that empty space had been filled completely. He trusted her completely and she had purposely hurt him, and for what reason? She believed that he would break his promise. It was the truth, though. He had broken his promise to the captain, and it had gotten Gwen killed.

Maybe he should have stayed away from Mary Jane. Her happiness had lured him in and he had clung to her like a drowning man hanging onto a life raft.

There was no way he could go back now. He wasn't even sure if he knew how to live without her.

A small part of him reasoned that maybe leaving her, keeping her away from his lifestyle, was the best choice for her and their unborn baby.

He took out his phone and turned it back on to check the time. His phone began to buzz with missed phone calls, text messages, and voicemails. He shook his head and began deleting the messages. He didn't want to talk to her.

There was no way he was going to go home anytime soon. He decided to go walking some more to try to let off some steam.

It began to drizzle, and Peter was glad that his beanie had been tucked away in one of his jacket pockets. He pulled it over his head as the rain began to pick up. A group of guys walked out of a bar in front of him, laughing and joking around with each other, and it gave Peter an idea.

He rounded back towards the old factory he had been skateboarding in earlier. There was a liquor store near there.

It was a cramped little store with an elderly lady at the cash register. He checked his wallet. He definitely had the money to buy something, but there was no way she would sell alcohol to a 19 year old. He walked over to the side of the building and waited for a suitable person that he could ask to buy him something to drink. After waiting nearly half an hour, a man with tattoos covering his arms walked up to the store.