Adventures in Babysitting ↠ Peter Parker [1] ✓

12 | O Captain! My Captain!

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ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING
xii. O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN!

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  ALL HER LIFE, RILEY was taught to anticipate death.

  No one can merely escape it, and if you do, your chances of doing it again are slim. But somehow, she managed to suppress dealing with the notion, never quite ready to depart. She had seen death touch the lives of many, including those close to her. She was one of the lucky ones who had managed to escape death time and time again. Always for her would be tomorrow and the day after.

   She always liked to think she was a little special. Maybe that was her ego getting the best of her, but she never actually thought she would die young. How could she? She'd been escaping near-death again and again since she was two. She thought she was unique, one of the angels living amongst us in the world who didn't understand her mission yet. It was like she couldn't die until her purpose was completed.

   But now she was sure of it. Time was no longer Riley's casual acquaintance, leading her steadily onward whether she wished to follow or not. In simple words, Riley Stark was finally dead.

   At least, she was pretty sure she was.

   They say a man who lives fully is not afraid of death, yet Riley had lived somewhat fully and was purely terrified of death, even after dying. She had lived so long anticipating when the end would come that she almost didn't see it coming, even if it was right in front of her for six days straight.

   Riley wondered what would happen to her now. Where would she go? Would she become a ghost—a real one, at least, and not the kind that Peter Parker used to refer to her as? Would she simply sleep forever? Would she go to Heaven or Hell? Maybe Valhalla? Would she be reincarnated? Would she become one with the stars? Maybe she'd become a Guardian Angel of some sort? She wasn't sure.

   Death was surprisingly peaceful. It held Riley with a cold caress. Death, a face Riley was taught to despise, had somehow managed to bring upon comfort. Death merely carried Riley, easing her burning soul to a cool rest where she would lay benumbed of the living world's harshness. Now, Riley could be at peace... or something like that, at least.

   Riley wasn't sure how long it would take for her to become accustomed to the afterlife. It wasn't anything like what she had once prognosticated. Her surroundings seemed to soothe her mind. The world was dark, but gradually, light smeared the atmosphere until what developed to become a white room opened up before Riley. It took Riley a moment to readjust to the luster of the room, but once she did, she discerned that the room was actually a laboratory. Standing a few feet away was a woman diligently toiling over something Riley couldn't heed.