❛He left her there ❜

It wasn't until very early morning when Paxton had gone home. Aunt May had driven her and Troy home that morning around one but Paxton had sat down in the backseat and stared out the window. She watched the blurs of all the colors merge together in the darkness of the night. There were only a few more cars on the road but they all seemed to whisk past Aunt May's careful driving. The street lights were lining the roads but several flickered in the night. It was the informalities that Paxton paid close attention to. She was done focusing on the positive aspects of life.

"We're here, kids," Aunt May said with an uplifting tone in her voice. Paxton glanced away from the window to see that they were now in a parking space behind the apartment building. She looked over at Troy to see him rubbing his eyes and he yawned - obviously having just woken up from a map regardless of the drive only being ten minutes. Paxton unbuckled slowly as Aunt May got out of the car and in seconds her door had opened and May was smiling down at her. 

Paxton got out of the car very slowly and turned back around, seeing Troy getting out of the other side with Peter holding open the door. "Pax," Troy called out, making the girl look back over at him with a quick turn of her head. "You okay?" he asked. He had noticed her staring at the street with a lost look. She was reviewing the scene that had happened the day before over in her head. If only she had seen it coming. 

"What do you think, Troy?" she asked in return. Troy frowned and watched her rub her shoulder that was being carried in a sling. "Hey," he called out as he walked around the car and hopped over to her. "Want me to come over? I'll make you a grilled cheese and hang out until you fall asleep," he offered to his best friend.

Aunt May locked the car and it beeped twice. She tossed the keys to Peter who caught them effortlessly and pocketed them. He kept his head down and shuffled by May's side in front of Troy and Paxton. "Not tonight," she said quietly. "My dad told me to get sleep."

"Are you going to school? You don't have to, you know."

Paxton glanced over at him and entered the elevator with May and Peter and leaned against the wall as it traveled up to their floor. "I don't know," she whispered.

The rest of the ride was filled with silence. No one spoke. No one wanted to. 

When the elevator had reached the floor, everyone stepped off. Paxton and Troy headed for their apartment and Peter and May approached their own which was two doors down. "I don't have my keys," Paxton told Troy who pursed his lips and sighed, "Well, we could go to my apartment and get in through the fire escape."

Aunt May chuckled and walked over with keys in hand. "I have my spares, guys," she told them lightheartedly. "Your dad left his on the counter," she then explained. Paxton looked at her, and then looked at Peter who stood behind her with a shameful look on his face. "How do you know?"

May smiled, "I cleaned up a few hours ago. I even washed your sheets," she told her. Paxton nodded, "Well, uh, thank you. That means a lot."

"It's the least I could do," she admitted. "Peter helped." Aunt May gestured back to the teen boy and he shook his head, "No, I really di - "

"We're here for you, Pax," Aunt May expressed. "If you need anything, just come over, okay? Even if it's in the middle of the night and you just need some food or someone to talk to, we're here. Okay?"

Paxton nodded and looked up at Troy when he placed a hand on her elbow, gesturing that it was time to go inside. "You have to take your medicine," he said. "My arm doesn't hurt," she objected with a shake of her head. Troy knew his best friend. She was being too calm. She wasn't saying anything she normally wouldn't. He knew her breakdown was coming soon. "Your sleep medicine."

She stared at him for a moment and allowed May to open the door. "Thank you for coming to the hospital and driving us home. It means a lot."

May smiled, "Anytime, guys."

Paxton disappeared inside while Troy and May exchanged formalities and Troy looked after her with sad eyes. May also disappeared inside her apartment leaving only Troy and Peter outside. "You okay, Pete?" Troy asked the young teenager who leaned against his closed apartment door with no intention on going inside. "Just thinking," Peter answered honestly. "What are you thinking about in that big head of yours?"

Peter looked over at Troy who he could tell was trying to wait until being alone to start crying. Paxton and Carson were like his family. He was his only child so those girls were like his sisters. He loved them. "Do you think Paxton is going to be okay?" Peter asked honestly. "I don't know, man. She watched her sister get hit by a car. Spider-Man saved her and not Carson. I think that's going to hit her hard."

Peter pursed his lips and nodded, "Watch out for her, alright?"

Troy nodded, "Always, Peter. Always."

•••

Five hours. 

Paxton got five hours of sleep that morning. After Troy had left that morning, he crawled out the fire escape window and left Paxton wrapped under her covers with everything but her head covered. She had taken her medicine and laid on her side, and in three minutes she was out like a light. She deserved the rest.

It was six-thirty now. Paxton got out of her bed and snapped her curtains shut - for the first time in eight years. She grabbed Carson's baby blanket that she had slept with that night and brought it with her to the kitchen. She needed something.

The pain and sleep medication that had been prescribed to her sat on the counter, almost mocking the teenager. She wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and walked to the television to turn it on. Fox News appeared. It was the last thing Carson was watching the evening before the accident. The news report that was playing was a recapture of the events the previous afternoon. 

Paxton's eyes were glued to the television. She saw the reporter standing in front of the street that the accident happened on. She saw small red droplets in the center of the road. She saw a brand new cross sitting near the curb where Paxton had been swept away by Spider-Man. The news was glorifying him. 

"Yesterday afternoon, this city's very own Spider-Man swept in to danger yet again to save some locals. An unknown vehicle was speeding down this street and Spider-Man swooped in and knocked a young teen out of the way of danger. There was one injury that is currently being treated in the hospital but - "

Paxton raised the remote and shut the television off. She was infuriated. They portrayed him as a hero, a saint. "He left her there!" Paxton screamed at the T.V. before chucking the remote against the wall in anger. It smashed against the pain and collapsed to the floor, its batteries clattering to the ground. Paxton stared at the blank screen with a tear slipping down her cheek. She quickly swiped it away and grabbed her laptop from the coffee table and pried it open. She immediately opened YouTube and typed in Spider-Man to the search bar. Hundreds of videos popped up and Paxton clicked on the first one titled Spider-Man Saves Bus. She watched as he swooped in front of the bus and stopped a car from slamming into it. She watched how she saved a bus full of kids and yet he couldn't save her sister.

Paxton slammed the laptop closed and cleaned her eyes shut. Tears flowed freely from her eyes and she pushed her laptop beside her on the couch. Paxton needed something. She needed to get these images out of her head. She needed to get away from Spider-Man and the accident. She needed sleep.

The girl got up in a rush and grabbed the sleep medicine pill bottle from the counter. She couldn't concentrate with the tears flowing down her cheeks and she began to breathe heavily. Her vision blurred from the tears and all she could think about was her little sister lying unconscious in the hospital. Her sister would never be able to walk again. She would wake up and would not be able to move her feet or even her toes. She would be so scared. 

Paxton sobbed through her gritted teeth and finally got the pill bottle lid unscrewed. She let out a loud cry and was about to dump several pills into her palm when her door opened softly and her father walked in. His eyes were heavy and he had bags underneath them, but when he saw his daughter about to pop six pills into her mouth, he dropped his bag by the door, left the door wide open, and ran over to her. "Paxton Nicole!" her father screamed.

Paxton cried out and dropped the pills in her hand onto the counter and fell to her knees while gripping the counter so hard her knuckles turned white. "Pax!" her father shouted again while sliding down on the ground next to her and pulling her into his side with a monster grip on her. He trapped her against his body as she sobbed her heart out and his heart shattered. He ran a hand through her hair and kissed her forehead while letting tears fall down his own cheeks. "He left her there," she cried into her father's shirt. He quietly sshed her and whispered against her hair, "It isn't worth it, Paxton. This isn't worth it."

She cried harder and he pulled her closer to him, shielding her cries with his own. "I'm right here, Pax," he told her softly. "I promise I'm here."

Bryson had just returned from staying by his youngest daughter's side in the hospital to shower and rest, but found his oldest daughter about to overdose on sleeping pills in the kitchen. He was broken, his daughter was broken. But he was just relieved he hadn't walked in a minute later.