Guilt Shame and anger at himself—these are all the emotions Peter is feeling right now. His world has been completely shattered, and he blames himself for it. He runs through what-if scenarios, but they don't matter; what's done is done, and he can't change the past. and now he must find a way forward even through the excruciating pain of his uncle's death.
It's what Uncle Ben would have wanted him to do. Peter silently swings back to his home in Kings and comforts his aunt. He then walks to his room and collapses on his soft bed, and before the comforting hand of sleep takes him out of consciousness, he looks at an old family picture that stands tall of him, his uncle, and his aunt, and whispers in a tired and sad tone, "I'm sorry." Then he slowly falls into a deep slumber.
BEEP! BEEP BEEP!
The rude sound of the alarm violently awakens Peter. He then shuts it off and almost breaks it by slamming his hand on the clock. He then walks out of his room and walks down the stairs, and while descending the stairs, he looks at the pictures on the wall next to him. They bring out a sad but nostalgic feeling as he gazes at them. He then reaches downstairs and notices that his dear aunt is not there.
"She's probably still asleep," Peter thinks to himself while he grabs a bowl and some cereal to get his morning fully started. He pours the cereal, and before he takes a bite, he remembers that he didn't have milk in the cereal. He goes to the fridge and opens it, and to his disappointment, it is empty. He somberly walks back to the table and eats his cereal dry. "What a fantastic start to a day," he sarcastically thinks to himself.
and as he consumes the dry cereal flakes, he starts to reflect on all the events that happened the previous night, and he then looks up from his bowl and remembers eating breakfast with his uncle and aunt and how Uncle Ben would always have a newspaper in hand and he'd make jokes about current events in the news, and how Peter and Aunt May would explode in laughter. Those were good times, but now they're all gone, and he blames himself for causing all of this heartache.
He then finishes his breakfast, places his bowl and spoon, and goes back up to his room to grab some clean clothes to slip into after he takes a warm shower. As the warm water hits his pale skin and he starts to wash, he takes his time doing all of this, but not too long so that he'll be late for school, which he really wasn't looking for. but now wasn't the time to think about it. Right now, he should really focus on getting himself clean. This will probably be the only time today that he will be able to relax.
and after getting nice and clean, he turns off the water, steps out of the shower, dries himself, puts on the clothes he chose, brushes his teeth, and makes his way back to his room, grabbing his backpack. He then goes back down the stairs and puts on his shoes from the shoe rack that was attached to the entryway closet door. and as he reaches for the metal doorknob, he hears a sad voice behind him call his name. He then turns around to see his very tired aunt.
"O-oh, good morning, Aunt May," he says a bit anxiously, because for her it was most definitely not a good morning. She then replies in a voice barely above a whisper, "You don't have to go to school, dear; you can stay home." Peter then replies, "I know, but Uncle Ben would want me to." She then gives an understanding look to Peter, walks over to him, plants a soft kiss on his cheek, and says, "Please be safe." "I will," Peter replies, slightly comforting his aunt. He then opens the door and waves goodbye to her as he starts to walk to school.
And as he walks into his school, he notices it's hushed as he enters, and nearly everybody stares at him with pity, and some people come up to him and say their sorries, but they don't matter to Peter; they've never given a damn before whenever something bad happened to him, so why now? And as the bell rings and everyone goes to their classes, Peter can only think to himself about how it will go back to normal in about a month or less, and then he'll have to go through living hell all over again, but this time without the guiding hands of his dear uncle to teach him what to do or give him words of encouragement to get him through the hell that was this school.
And one night, when Peter enters his home after a long and dreadful day in the public education system, he looks in the dining room and sees his aunt, who was sitting at the table holding a letter: Peter, please sit." Aunt May says this to Peter as she points to the chair at the other end of the table. He then calmly sits down and asks in a worried tone, "What's up, Aunt May?" Aunt May then hands Peter the letter, and as Peter takes the letter, his jaw drops in horror and shock as, in big bold text, it reads, "Evection notice." He then reads the full thing, and how about they have 30 days to move out of the house for failure to make payment? Peter looks up at his Aunt May and sees that she is tearing up. He then shoots up from the table and rushes to hug his teary-eyed aunt, and as Peter hugs his aunt, a dam is broken inside of her, and she starts to weep. "What are we going to do?" she says while sobbing into Peter's shoulder. "We'll figure something out; we always do," Peter says to comfort his weeping aunt. He then kneels, takes one of her hands, and says, "I promise." After a while and a few more tears, Aunt May may retire to her room, and Peter then goes to his room and opens his laptop to hunt for some places they could go for a cheap price.
Hours have passed since his online jury for places to live started, and Peter hasn't found a single thing that's within his budget. He starts to get a little desperate, so he starts searching for places in Delmarva, the state up north from the Empire State, and after some searching, he finds pretty cheap rent prices in a small town called "Beach City." He then looks up some pictures of the actual city and learns about the nearby school districts, and he sees mostly positive things about this small beachside town. The only negative is that they would have to move out of state, which can be expensive. But other than that, Peter was satisfied with his discovery of this small beachside town. Peter then gets up from his desk and shambles to bed, like a zombie that's hungry for brains, except he just wants a good night's rest. Peter's head lies softly on his pillow, and before he slips into slumber, he mumbles, "Everything is going to be okay."
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Once Peter is awoken by the loud, jarring noise of his alarm, he turns it off and heads off down the stairs, and when he looks into the dining room, he sees his aunt sadly eating some oatmeal and looking all around defeated. "Good morning, Aunt May," Peter says, alerting his aunt of his presence. O-oh, good morning, Peter." Peter then takes out a bowl and some cereal. and after a little bit of awkward silence, Peter starts up a conversation: Well, I've got some news." Aunt May then looks at Peter, a little happy but also a bit confused about what that could be. "I did a bit of searching last night, and I found a nice and cheap place that we can live at." Aunt May's eyes widen a bit.
"Really?" She asks with a hopeful tone, clearly happy to hear that there is some hope that she and her nephew won't go homeless. "Yeah, it's called Beach City. I've read a little bit about it, and it seems to be a nice place to live, and the rent prices are very cheap compared to here." Aunt May starts smiling softly, proud of her nephew for taking the initiative.
"Though there is a downside," Peter states, and as he says this, May's smile drops a bit and she says, "What?" Peter sighs and replies, "It's in Delmarva."
May's smile fully drops, and she says disappointedly, "Oh. Peter then tries to lift her spirits and says, "Come on, Aunt May, I know moving states can be a pain in the tuchus and expensive, but some of the places I've seen in Beach City are far less expensive than they are here. I saw a place going for like $650 a month! That's an absolute steal! Aunt May looks at Peter in disbelief and shock. "Show me," she says with skepticism mixed in with a dollop of hope. Peter then franticly pulls out his smartphone from his pocket and shows a small two-bedroom, two-bathroom house going for $650 a month in rent.
Aunt May's jaw dropped at the sight of the price of rent. She couldn't believe it, but it was staring her back in the face, and soon tears started to swell up in her bright blue eyes. "Peter..." Aunt May says as tears flow from her eyes and down upon the table beneath her. She then gets up from the chair she is sitting on and walks over to give her nephew the biggest hug he's ever gotten in his entire life. Peter chuckles a bit as he gets embraced by his aunt. Aunt May starts to sob a little, and between these sobs of happiness, she coaks out a "Thank you," and as Peter wraps his arms around his sobbing aunt, he smiles and says, "No problem, Aunt May."
"So where do we start?" Peter asks his Aunt as she lifts her head up from his shoulder. And it seems almost as soon as he said this, she started calling and emailing the landlord, and after a week of communication with the landlord, she signed the lease, and now all she and Peter had to do was pack up all their belongings and move to their new home in Beach City.
As Peter walks closer and closer to his home, he sees a large moving truck with the words "U-Haul" parked in the driveway. He then enters and sees his Aunt packing away items in the kitchen. Aunt May stops for a moment, turns to see that Peter is home, and says, "Oh, Peter, I put some boxes in your room so you could pack your stuff." As Peter goes up the stairs, he replies, Thanks, Aunt May." He then enters his room and sees on his bed some boxes and a roll of tape. As he sees this, he looks back at the rest of his room and thinks to himself, "Alright, let's get to work". He then grabs one of the boxes and starts putting clothes into it. After that, he goes to his action figures and then his posters. and after an hour, he's almost fully packed up his entire room. There is only one thing left. Peter opens his closet and pulls out a small chest. He then opens it and sees his red and black costume, and he sees the mask staring back at him with its eyes. "Maybe with you, I can do some good in Beach City." And as soon as he is done with that thought, he hears a knock at the door and hears his aunt's voice: "How is packing coming along, kiddo?" Peter, a bit startled, shuts the chest, places it in a box, tapes it shut, and then says, "I just finished up."
Then Peter's door opens up, and Aunt May sees how the room has almost been completely emptied; the only things still there are his bed, his desk, and his dresser. "Wow, you did this pretty fast. Good job, kiddo." "Thanks, Aunt May," Peter says as he stands up and puts a hand on his hip. "Since you're done here, can you help me with the downstairs, please?" Aunt May asks. Peter then smiles and replies, "Of course, Aunt May." Aunt May then walks over and hugs Peter and says, "Thank you." She then walks out of the room, leaving the door open. Peter then walks over to the door and looks back to the box in which he put his costume, then walks out and closes his door, and walks downstairs to help his aunt pack.
"We're finally done," Aunt May says as she sits down on the couch, tired and sore. "All we just have to do now is put it in the truck," Peter says as he stands in front of the couch. "You can start on that; I need a break." Peter then smiles and replies, "That's alright, Aunt May; you've worked hard and you've earned it." Peter then goes back upstairs to grab his boxes and put them in the U-Haul truck.
After a few minutes, Peter has put all of his boxes into the big truck, and he comes back and sees his Aunt May start to pick up a box. It seems she is struggling. "You need help?" Peter asks his clearly struggling aunt, and she looks at him and replies as she lifts the heavy box, "N-nope! but thank you anyway, kiddo." Peter then picks up another box and says, "Alright if you say so." As they walk outside and put the heavy boxes in the truck, Aunt May asks, with a smirk on her face, "When did you get so strong?" Peter smirks a little and replies, "I don't know; maybe it was all the wheat cakes that you've made me that made me strong." Aunt May chuckles, "Maybe," then walks back inside to grab another box, with Peter not too far behind her.
And as Peter and his aunt put the last box in, Peter sees a car park on the street, and he sees his childhood best friend Mary Jane Watson step out of the car. As she says goodbye to the driver, she looks over to Peter and walks over to the fence. "Peter, what's going on?" she says with a worried expression. Pete then walks over to the fence and starts to explain how, with his uncle gone, they can no longer afford the house and how they're moving away. "Oh, that's awful!" she exclaims sadly. Peter, with his hand behind his head, replies, "Yeah, it does," and Mary then asks, "Where are you guys moving to?" Peter puts his hand down and replies, "A small beachside town in Delmarva Beach City." Mary then smiles a bit and responds, saying, "That sounds nice." Peter smiles and replies, "Yeah, it does." She then looks sad again and says, "I'm going to miss you." Peter walks over closer to the fence, hugs her, and says, "I'm going to miss you too." As he says this, she returns the hug.
Kiddo, can you help me in here?" Aunt May shouts out of the house so Peter can hear her. Peter then looks at MJ and says, I've got to go." They separate from the hug, and Mary Jane says in a volume barely above a whisper, "Alright." Peter then starts to walk off into his home to help his aunt, but before he goes in, he turns to Mary and says, Bye." She looks at him, waves, and says "bye" back. Peter then enters to find his Aunt about to lift one end of the couch. Peter then grabs the other and helps his Aunt put it in the truck. After they put it in and slid it all the way back, she looks at him and says, "Thanks, kiddo." Then they headed back inside to get more furniture into the truck.
and after an hour, the whole house was empty and the truck was full. Aunt May then puts the house key on one of the counters in the kitchen, and she and Peter walk to the truck and get in. "We're finally done." Aunt May says as she gets in the truck, "Yeah, I can't believe it." Peter says this as he too enters the big truck. Peter then opens up a map that is set to go to Beach City, and Aunt May starts the truck, pulls out of the driveway into the road, and drives off. As they leave, Peter says "goodbye" to the house he grew up in. Peter then looks straight ahead onto the road and says, "Beach City, here we come."
