Movieverse: SM3 Spoilers
Disclaimer: I do not own Sandman or any other recognizable characters. They belong to Marvel and Sony Pictures, respectively.
"...And so Cinderella and Prince Charming were wed the next day, and both lived happily ever after."
Emma closed the storybook and glanced over at her daughter. Penny was already fast asleep, her small arm curled around a ragged toy rabbit that her father had given her years ago. The oxygen tube was securely wrapped behind the girl's ears and the connected tank gave a faint hiss that blended with Penny's own soft breathing. The door to the tiny bedroom was cracked open slightly, letting a thin beam of light in. The way the light shone on the sleeping child gave her the appearance of a slumbering angel. This brought a small smile to Emma's face as she reached over from her sitting position on the edge of the bed to brush a stray lock of brown hair out of Penny's eyes.
'For someone so young, so innocent, you've been through too much,' Emma thought, the smile becoming a frown.
'And I blame myself for every bit of it...'
OoOoOoOoOoO
Five Years Ago:
It had started out a beautiful day in Manhattan. Weathermen on the local news called for sunny skies and mild temperatures the rest of the week. New Yorkers flocked to Central Park and other green, open spaces for the various outdoor activities that were put on hold due to recent overcast and showers. Jogging paths filled just as quickly as community pools and playgrounds were once again swarmed with children of all ages.
Emma had taken her four-year old Penny on an outing to a nearby park and was sitting on the bench next to a sandbox, splitting her attention between between her daughter and the playground activity surrounding them. Penny's favorite thing to do at the park was to take her little red pail and scoop the sand into various shapes and sizes.
"Look, mommy!" Penny called to Emma after constructing a particularly large pile of the gritty dirt. Emma turned herself away from a pair of feuding siblings to her Penny's newest creation. She was sitting cross-legged behind what resembled nothing more than a oversized anthill in the center of the box.
Clasping her hands together, Emma smiled at the child's masterpiece. "It's beautiful, honey!"
Penny's eyes lit up at her mother's praise and a huge grin made her face beam. Then with a giggle, she scooped up the pile of sand and dumped it onto another mound. Emma watched as Penny resumed her digging for a few moments, wishing for the hundredth time that Flint could be here. The week before her husband was hired at a construction site in Queens. It was wonderful news, but the hours required meant that they spent less time together as a family than before. At least she could be thankful it was honest work...
With a heavy sigh and mental shake of the head, Emma turned her thoughts away from dwelling on her husband's past troubles and instead focused on a young boy playing fetch with his dog in a grassy field adjacent to the playground. The boy had thrown the stick a few times before a faint whimper and muffled thud coming from the sandbox drew her attention back to Penny. The girl was lying on her side motionless, a small trickle of blood running from her nose.
"Oh, God! Penny!" Emma cried as she threw herself off the bench and grabbed her daughter in a tight embrace. Panic swelled in her chest and tears streamed from her eyes as Penny's limp form hung in her arms, not responding to the gentle shaking and sobbing pleas to wake up.
Emma's cries attracted other nearby parents and children who began to converge around the sobbing mother. A murmur ran through the crowd, punctuated by calls of "Call 911!" and "Somebody get help!" Everybody within earshot who owned a cell phone frantically began dialling for emergency services. Emma wasn't paying attention to any of it. Her entire being was focused on Penny as she rocked back and forth on her knees cradling her daughter.
After what seemed like an eternity, wailing sirens cut through the noise of the crowd to Emma. She looked up through the tears to see an ambulance come to a screeching halt. Two EMTs jumped out of the back with a gurney and their medical equipment. The crowd parted to allow access to the two figures kneeling in the sandbox. The world became a blur as the medics took Penny and placed her on the gurney and into the ambulance. Emma vaguely acknowledged one of the medics as he helped her to stand and climb into the ambulance.
All Emma could do during the frantic ride to the hospital was watch as the EMTs worked to revive Penny. They had placed an oxygen mask over her tiny face and started an IV, calling back and forth various medical terms and orders she couldn't follow. Emma felt numb inside. She gently grasped her daughters hand and wept, silently begging whatever spirit watching over them to spare her Penny.
The ambulance was met at the hospital by a small army of doctors and nurses. The EMTs unloaded their young patient and rapidly explained her condition as they wheeled her to the Emergency Room. Emma started to follow but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder.
"It would be best if you waited with me," the nurse said softly. Emma barely registers the voice. Her gaze followed Penny and the group of doctors into the building. She needs to be with Penny right now. She needs to be there when she wakes up. She needs...
"Ma'am? Could you please come with me?" The nurse was insisting. Reluctantly, Emma nodded and followed the woman to an almost empty waiting room. Emma sat down in the nearest empty chair as the nurse left for a moment and came back with a box of tissues. Emma took a tissue and began ringing it in her hands, silent tears running down her face. The nurse set the box on a nearby table and asked, "Is there anything I can do for you?"
Emma shook her head and began crying all over again. The nurse placed another hand on her shoulder to comfort her. "Is there someone I could call?"
She looked up at the woman. "Yes... my husband."
The nurse nodded as Emma quickly dug through her purse for Flint's new work number. She found it at the very bottom and gave it to the woman who nodded once more and left to make the call. Emma sat there, the numb feeling had engulfed her. 'Why didn't I watch her more closely?'she mentally berated herself. 'Why did I let this happen? Oh, God, let her be all right...' Emma covered her face with her hands and continued to sob.
OoOoOoOoOoO
A knock on the front door roused Emma from her thoughts. She moved her hands from her face and quickly wiped the tears out of her eyes. She glanced at the clock on the wall. The glow-in-the-dark hands pointed out that it was a quarter past ten. It was too late for visitors, Emma realized, and figured it would probably be best to let the idiot think that they were asleep and move on to the next apartment to bother them.
The idiot thought otherwise, though, and continued to knock louder. Emma closed her eyes and cursed under her breath. They obviously had no intention of leaving and eventually the knocking would wake Penny. Moving the storybook from her lap to the end table, Emma stood and walked to the door and opened it all the way. She turned and watched her daughter for a moment more, smiled at the sleeping form, then turned back and carefully shut the door behind her.
As Emma made her way to the living room, the night time visitor knocked again. She made sure the burglar alarm, a baseball bat, was next to the door before seeing who it was through the peep hole. The image shocked her, even though she knew in the back of her mind this would happen again. That he would come once more and get Penny's hopes up. 'And mine,' she admitted to herself. She knew what would happen if she answered the door. She told herself to just ignore him and go to bed. That it would be best for everyone involved...
He knocked once more. She opened the door.
"Flint," Emma said, making the name sound like venom on her tongue. Flint Marko looked relieved when the door finally opened. He was glancing up and down the hallway, checking if anyone had spotted him. 'Always on the run...'
"Emma, before you say anything..."
"What do you want?" she asked sharply.
Flint blinked as Emma cut him off. "I came to see Penny."
She scoffed. "And what makes you think I'd let you? Especially after what you did..." Like the rest of New York, Emma had been glued to the television as the news cameras captured the epic battle between Spiderman and the two villains dubbed 'Venom' and 'Sandman,' but it wasn't until one camera zoomed in on the face of the sand giant did she realize it was her ex-husband she was watching.
Now it was Flint's turn to be shocked. "You know?" She only stared daggers at him. He hung his head. "I'm... sorry..."
"Sorry? Your sorry?" Emma began to raise her voice, but thought better of it. She stepped into the hall and shut the door behind her. "What happened?"
Taking a deep breath, Flint told her the about running from the police, falling into the pit and the strange machine, discovering his body had turned into sand, his first encounter with Spiderman, everything up until that night at the construction site. Throughout the entire story Emma tried to remain impassive, but it all sounded too ridiculous to be true. If it wasn't for the news footage, she would have never believed him.
"I never meant for anything like this to happen," Flint continued. "All I knew was that I had to find someway to help Penny and you. I regret it all, but it seemed like the only way." He took her hand in his. "You know I'm not a bad person. I've... just had bad luck."
Emma looked away, she knew he was right. She understood better than most why he committed the crimes he had, and even so, she knew deep down that Flint Marko was a good, decent person. But some things were even beyond infinite understanding.
He must of seen the fresh tears in her eyes, because he gave her hand a small tug. "Look." Emma glanced down, Flint was holding a small canvas bag filled with money. "It's not much, but it will help with the..."
"No."
"Emma, please..."
"No, Flint. No more stolen money." She squeezed her eyes closed to keep herself from crying in front of him. "You need to leave."
Flint opened his mouth to reply but Emma shook her head. "Don't... just go." She hastily retreated back into the apartment and slammed the door in his face. Safely inside, she allowed the pent-up emotions to rise to the surface, causing her to slide down to the floor and began to sob uncontrollably.
She did not see the small pair of eyes watching her from a cracked bedroom door...