Spider-Son

Chapter 3: A Broken Vase and A Broken Boy

The door slammed open and an aged woman with a face full of poorly applied makeup walked into the bedroom.

"Get up now, we have visitors coming later." She snarled, glaring at the children, specifically Peter.

Ms. Riley left the room, slamming the door so hard that some of the already crumbling plaster fell to the floor. Peter hurried to get dressed, and helped the little ones who couldn't quite manage yet.

Once they're all finally dressed, Peter ushered them downstairs for a muted breakfast of oatmeal.

"Okay, you can go play quietly now," Peter told the kids once they had all finished. They scattered and left to play.

Once Peter had  washed and packed away the dishes, he went into the play room where the majority of the kids had congregated, and settled himself down on the open window ledge with a book.

He stayed there for hours, occasionally helping a child with something, until he heard the front door open and voices floated in from the entrance hall.

Peter stood and quickly shushed the children, backing them into a corner when Kelsey accidentally knocked over a glass vase that stood on a small table. It fell to the floor and shattered, coloured glass covering the floor.

Peter grabbed Kelsey's arm and pushed her back into the corner, moving over to the vase. He desperately tried to clean it up before Ms. Riley came in.

He knelt down , frantically picking up the broken vase when the door swung open and Ms. Riley entered the room. Peter looked up in fear and she glared at the terrified boy.

"You." She snarled, "you ignorant, pathetic and worthless piece of trash, how dare you break my vase?!"

"Please ma'am, it was-it was an accident I swear," Peter tried to reason although he know it was pointless.

"Don't you talk back to me you brat!" She yelled at him, grabbing a handful of his hair and she yanked him out of the room, into the entrance hall. "If you think your getting away with this one, you've got another thing coming you hear me? I am sick to death of you and your existence. You're lucky I don't send you back to Hydra!"

At her words Peter began to tremble. The old hag continued to drag him until she reached a rusted metal door. She pulled it open, broken glass covering the metal floor, and dried blood on the metallic walls.

"You can stay in here for another week until you learn to behave you hear me? No meals at all understood?!" She screamed at the broken boy, throwing him inside the metal box. Peter hit the back wall and his head screamed in pain as his head made contact with the glass on the floor.

Smirking, Ms. Riley slammed the door, and Peter heard the bolt being dragged across the door before darkness consumed his vision