❝WHEN YOU'RE WEAK, I'LL BE STRONG
WHEN YOU LET GO, I'LL HOLD ON.
WHEN YOU NEED TO CRY, I SWEAR THAT I'LL BE THERE TO DRY YOUR EYES.
WHEN YOU FEEL LOST AND SCARED TO DEATH,
LIKE YOU CAN'T TAKE ONE MORE STEP
JUST TAKE MY HAND, TOGETHER WE CAN DO IT
I...
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T W O— EX FAVILLA NOS RESURGEMUS
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NED LIVED IN A CONDO NEIGHBOURHOOD which was only five to ten minutes from his best friend. His house looked protected, safe and blissful in a way, because he had after all an officer just down the street. Ned was treated like a human china doll. He was being kept under lock and key because of his association with Peter and Spider-Man's image and he couldn't so much as sneeze and not have someone jogging with a tissue. Ned's helicopter parents— or parent, since his father works with only seven days to spare in a month, were always there and unmoving. His mom was always home, she quit her job to keep a better eye on her son and formed a neighbourhood watch group but ends up sitting on the couch playing video games most of the time.
The house was a beige colour but the windows had stark obsidian bars that put a harrowing sense of dread over the neighbourhood. Evelien walked up the few steps to the door and found it chipped and scratched as if a wild animal mauled the door. Tiny pieces of tape and thumb tacks littered the door near eye height and some even had blue and red pieces of paper attached to them. In the middle of the door it had a brass knocker the size of Evelien's fist and she brought it down hard on the door and regretted it as soon as she did, maybe once the door could handle that weight but it looked now as if it could collapse any second.
"Evelien?" Mrs Leeds stuck out her hand and shook Evelien's, opening the door after sticking her nose out through the chain, Evelien couldn't remember the last time someone shook her hand, it felt strange. Evelien quickly set down her book bag by her feet after stepping over the threshold. "Ned's in his room, take a left up stairs and he is the last door on the right." She handed Evelien two slices of pizza and a pat to the back. Evelien smiled and walked up the stairs as Ned's mother ran back to the TV.
Evelien stopped outside his room, fist poised to knock while contemplating sprinting out the door. Inside she felt a pain sting her lungs and her throat threatened to seize, because being here made her think of him. She thought of what Ned must feel like and almost attempted to run out of the house, if it weren't for someone coming to the door for donations, and she would've. But Evelien knocked on the bedroom door and was given access by a simple, 'come in', and she found Ned sitting at his little desk in his room. No backing out now.
His back was to her, and he was fiddling with modelling clay and looking at a tutorial on his phone, noticed by the steps being shouted out. Evelien unzipped her backpack and took out her homework. She put the pizzas on his dresser.
"Hey." Evelien said, trying to smile to see if he'd reciprocate, he didn't. "Why did you invite me over again? I mean, we could've done my house, your mom doesn't bother me."
