At Tribeca Prep, the hallway echoed with the murmur of the art committee members, their eyes trained on Alex as she stood at the top of the stairs, confidently addressing them with a smirk. "So, it's called New York: Above and Below," Alex announced, her tone casual but carrying the weight of a revelation. She gestured to the space before her, as if she could already envision the scene. "Above will be the pretty, happy New York, which makes me want to barf. And below will be the gritty, grimy New York filled with barf. That's it."

Mr. Laritate, the teacher overseeing the project, nodded enthusiastically, his glasses catching the dim light. "Excellent. My committee corral approves. If I can, I'd just like to make one little suggestion. Just a little cactus hair. I'd like to see more cowboys in the above-ground city."

Alex raised an eyebrow. "Cowboys? In my mural?"

"Our mural," Mr. Laritate corrected her, his tone as if he were imparting ancient wisdom. "I think they would really represent our country's great Manifest Destiny and 'westward, ho' mentality."

Alex couldn't help but scoff, crossing her arms. "I think you're the only one who knows what you're talking about. So, I think I'm just gonna go on my own for this."

Harper, ever the supportive friend, chimed in with a bright smile. "Absolutely. Go your own way. It's your vision."

"And you know what your vision should have?" Harper continued, her eyes glinting mischievously. "Caricatures. I love it when people's heads are too big for their bodies. And they always hold teeny tiny tennis rackets."

Alex blinked, momentarily unsure of how to respond. "OK. So, giant heads, teeny tiny tennis rackets…" She trailed off, contemplating.

The art committee members chimed in one by one, offering their own wild suggestions. Joe, ever the oddball, grinned. "How about a bunch of panda bears riding on the subway?"

A female student nearby added, "And the Statue of Liberty shredding an electric guitar."

Joe nodded excitedly. "And panda bears."

Mr. Laritate, sensing the chaos beginning to spin out of control, raised a hand. "If anyone else has another idea, why not just write it down and pass it in to Miss Russo."

Alex stared at the pile of notes being passed around, her eyes narrowing as she muttered, "No, stop writing. Why do you all have scrap paper immediately available?"

Harper shrugged nonchalantly, "You'll do a bang-up job, Miss Russo. Oh, nice."

Alex picked up a scrap of paper from the pile and read aloud, shaking her head. "Harper, Times Square filled with pizzas? And look, this one just says, 'A picture of my grandma.' Whose grandma? How am I supposed to know what she looks like?"

Harper grinned as if this were the most natural thing in the world. "Oh, you've met my Nana Franny. She does needlepoint and fought in World War II. I'll get you a picture."

Alex rubbed her temples, it was going to be one of those days.

Concurrently, the Arachnid siblings have mostly completed their spree and are on their way to get a mean baklava from a corner store of way back when. None of them thought their old stomping grounds would stay open, didn't even believe it at first, but apparently, the great-grandchildren of zia¹ Rhea wanted to keep the family business running in respect of their double g.

Zia Rhea had been a bullish Greek woman always willing to use her horns. She had four brats and no man and didn't want one either. Taught Molly self-defense. She lobbied with the National Women's Party and fought for equality till her death. Apparently, she has become something of a local figure now.

Anthony's sure she's in heaven, the fricken saint. Gave him a cut on the loft above her shop and always helped him come down from a gow². She stuffed him full of her heavenly baklava, which he's munching on right now.

He didn't often miss people from his past, for all this reminiscing his life was dog shit topside. He always hoped they forgot him in heaven so they wouldn't remember him ruining their lives but then he re-met Molly and realized that maybe people wanted to remember him. And maybe it's better for them.

"Earth to Tony" he looks up and Molly is staring at him with a quizzical gaze, it's like she can sense his self-deprecation. Mani on the other hand pays no attention to lethargy as he is after so much shopping. "Molls?" He gives a head tilt then goes back to stuffing his face.

"Would you mind one more stop on memory lane?" And he knows just what she's talking about.

Alex wasn't tired… she was exhausted. Her intelligence was overexerted in an effort to construe a way to collage all her givens together, the vastly different ideas affronting each other in an ugly way. The worst part is it was fun before the feedback, she had a visualization of what she wanted and a plan for how to achieve it then they tore her expression away from her. They industrialized her art and traded creativity for randomness.

They ruined the one thing she's good at.

Alex collapses, her knees buckled under labored breath. Her dried-out tear ducts produce a singular rivulet down her right cheek. She knows it's an overreaction but she can't reign her tumultuous emotions as much as she can't reign in her self-deprecating thoughts.

She sits there… long crying. How long she can't tell. She can't say it's an effect of crying as she'd have to cry often enough to measure the truth in that, and she doesn't cry often.

That's why she has no idea when it is when a slim hand grabs her brachium.

She looks up to see a younger woman, older than her but barely it seems a decade at most, lithe in build, but not unhealthily so. Her blonde hair curls in at the ends like Sabrina the teenage witch.

"Are you okay Tesorə³?" The woman looks kindly but pityingly at her like a sopping scared kitten.

"I'm fine thank you for your concern" She hoped she didn't sound rude to one of the few people concerned about her.

"Want to give me your name? I'm Molly"

"Alex" she can feel her bpm lowering. The woman has a calming presence.

"That's a nice name… I once knew someone named Alexandra. You remind me of her."

"Really?" she presses.

"Yes, her hair was darker and only reached her shoulders but I swear you have her face. I'm sorry I'm making this about myself aren't I, and you were just crying." She looks disappointed in herself.

"It's fine miss, I don't mind. It's a fine distraction." With that answer, the woman, Molly is inspired to talk a while more and Alex is happy to listen.

After talking with… Alex, Molly meets her brother's stalkers who they are watching the conversation at the edge of the tunnel. A tunnel that was just over a decade old last time they visited.

"She looks like her, like you Mani."

"I know Molls it's freakily uncanny"

Alex stands in front of the walls of the freedom tunnel, an idea in her head and a cannon⁴ in her hand.

¹ "Zia" is "Aunt" in Italian. Aunt/Uncle is commonly used to call people considered family but not actually relative over Mom or Dad and such.

² Gow is a term for a high that would've been popular during Anthony's life.

³ Tesorə⁵ is an Italian term of endearment used platonically or romantically. It doesn't have an exact translation but means close to Treasure and Honey.

⁵ "ə" or the "schwa" is a gender-neutral Italian suffix.

⁴ Cannon is a graffiti term for a bottle of spray paint