The Long Road Home

Chapter 20:

I try not to say anything to May as she rambles about the places and people she called in attempts to find me. "May I'm fine." Suddenly she stops and looks me straight in my eyes. "Cut the bullshit. I know you snuck out of detention, I know you sneak out of this house every night, I know you left the hotel room in DC. Peter you have to tell me what's going on?"

Something inside me just snaps and I feel myself crumble inside. "I lost the Stark internship..." my voice starts cracking and my eyes start watering. "That's not even the worst part May." Her eyes soften when I say her name, "I lost Riley. She's gone, we're done."

That's when everything just hits me all at once. I have lost her. The one person I have truly cared about ever in my life is gone. Everything that we have ever gone through is now just a fading memory. "What happened?"asks May. "I thought I could do it all and I..." I couldn't finish my sentence, all I could manage to do was let my tears fall.

~Riley's POV~

He did it, he walked away. Peter Parker dropped me like I was nothing to him, like I never was anything to him. I just sit on my bed and feel every single ounce of my heart breaking. There is no sense on me trying to fight back my tears besides they seem to have a mind of their own anyway. I should have known better, I shouldn't have told him, should have never told him how I feel. The only place it got me was being truly alone.

Out of pure habit I grip the necklace he gave me. I look down at it in my hand. I look at the way it curves and how the colors catch the light, I look closely at the engraving. That's when I decide I can't sit in this apartment any longer. I grab my black hoodie making sure to put the hood up and make my way towards the fire escape. He is in his room stripping of the shirt he got from the trash.

Thunder cracks in the sky as I place the necklace on the windows ledge. I knock on the window as the rain begins to fall, with another crack of the thunder I was gone.

I stand in the alley below as I watch him make his way to the window. The rain has started to pick up at this point. I watch as he picks up the last piece of me. Just watching it felt like someone pressed a gun to my chest and pulled the trigger. I couldn't be saved at that point, there was nothing left of me but broken pieces and snapped heart strings.

Feeling this way made me realize that I didn't want to feel anything anymore. There had to be away to sever the bond between us, away to break the cycle. I knew one person who could find away to help me. With that thought in mind I take one last look at his window. "Goodbye Peter."

~Peter's POV~

There is a knock on my window as the rain stars to fall. A small part of me is praying that it is Riley. The other part of me knows better, but who else would knock on my window. With no other thoughts rattling my brain I rush to my window. Well part of me was right, but not the way I wished it was.

There on my window ledge was the wolf necklace I had given her. There in my hands was the last piece of her that I could ever hold. I look down in the alley and up the fire escape but to know avail. Screw it, I climb out the window and up to her apartment.

"Riley?" I knock on her window but she doesn't come. I knock a few more times in hopes that she is just asleep and will hear me, sadly my hopes are proven wrong. This tightness then forms in my chest as I try to keep from crying. I stand and take one last look around, she is gone. "Please Riley don't go."I say as I grip her necklace firmly.

~Riley's POV~

People watch me as I make my way down yet another alley way. Some are homeless, some are starving, most are mutants, but all are staring at me like I'm a fresh piece of meat. One man grabs me from behind and that's when all the non-mutants run away. I don't move for a moment as I realize a group is forming. "Don't touch me!"I say through gritted teeth and slam him into one of the buildings walls.

Another man attempts but I roundhouse him in the face making him fall as another decides to give it a shot. "I have had enough of this bullshit!" I grab the knife I have stashed in my pocket and stab the guy in the leg. He screams in pain as I try to punch him. Sadly he foils my plan and catches my blow. I look at him as he punches my face, knocking me to the ground. He then kicks me in my ribs and after one of his blows I sweep his legs out from under him. The man tries to stand but I kick him square in the nose making it gush blood.

"Anyone else want piece of me!"I shout. No one makes a single move. "Oh come on, I have had a really hard day and I could use some more punching bags!" Everyone remains totally still as this hush has fallen over the crowd. "Have I proven myself worthy of you now?!" There is this really loud whistle that hurts my ears but it makes the crowd part ways. This slender figure starts walking through the dark between the two sides of mutants. "Well done Riley." "Hello to you to mother."