With his memory still in pieces, Aaron picked himself up off the ground and began walking out of the alleyway. The pain in his body made a sharp protest against his sudden actions. Being reminded of the ache in his muscles, he slowed down as he leaned against the side of the building to catch his breath. His movements were now more of a shuffle as expected in his weakened state. After traveling no more than a few yards he sat down to come up with a plan since this was obviously not getting him very far.
After struggling to get to the ground without any further injury, Aaron decided that the first thing he should do is try to put together as many of his memories that he could. There were only four things that he was certain of: his name is Aaron, his nephew Miles is Spider-man, he was nearly killed by his boss, and his job had him do very regrettable things including almost killing his own nephew. That was it. He couldn't remember the name of his boss or why he took the job; he couldn't even remember his own last name or having any siblings that would have made him an uncle to Miles.
Admittedly, he was growing more frustrated as the minutes passed and he still could not remember anymore than he already had. He eventually decided that he would have to find Miles and hope that he would be able to help him remember. He began to get up before being immediately reminded of why he had to sit down for a rest in the first place. With a defeated sigh Aaron decided that he would have to get some food before he did anything else. He was not sure how he would accomplish this since he didn't even have a dime to his name at the moment.
Emboldened with his new goal he hobbled out of the dark alleyway into the dim light of a street lantern.
~
The world seemed almost like a blur that was separate from Aaron's existence. Slowly, his vision began to focus and all the colors that had disappeared from his vision began to resurface. He took in his surroundings as found that he was rather ungracefully strewn across a sidewalk in front of a house. The smell of the morning dew was still fresh in the air and the sun was just beginning to rise. He remembered everything that had happened the previous night and he remembered walking well into the night. Eventually he chalked up his passing out to a combination of exhaustion and malnutrition. The ache in his muscles was still prominent but had significantly lessened with more activity so it was likely that he been kept idle for a long time. Aaron had also noticed how incredibly skinny he had become which further solidified his belief that he had not moved much in a long while.
He was startled out of his thoughts as he heard the gasp of a nearby woman. She quickly ran over to examine him as he was still laying on the sidewalk. He was still far too out of it to realize that he probably should have at least sat up while he regained his strength.
"Can you hear me?"
"Yes." His voice came out extremely hoarse which surprised him. He then realized that may have been the first word he's spoken in months.
"Oh thank goodness! Can you stand?" The voice belonged to a middle-aged woman who looked like she was about to go on a jog or to the gym perhaps.
"I can try." His voice was still extremely hoarse and cracked as he spoke. Knowing he was still weak he rolled onto his side and slowly pushed himself into a sitting position. Seeing him struggle, the woman offered her hands for him to grab and pull himself up. After getting a better look at her Aaron realized that she probably could have just picked him straight off the ground if she wanted to, she was very obviously strong by the definition in her arms.
He took her hands and with her assistance slowly stood all the way up. After he stood the woman seemed to be evaluating him with a clear look of concern spread across her face. She took in his sunken eyes, his lifeless skin, and his emaciated figure with a determined look on her face. The woman then took his hand and began leading him back towards the house that Aaron had passed out in front of.
