Bloom - Peter Parker

Red: Love

It's December, and things are finally starting to pull together.

College has just wrapped up for the holidays, so instead of having to slog your way through hours of studying a day, you've had ample opportunity to catch up on the important things in life: friends, sleep and baking so many Christmas cookies that your apartment now permanently smells of sweet cinnamon. Work is also going well: your part-time job at a local café has just been rewarded with a convenient pay-rise and special holiday bonus, so you've got some extra money rolling around your bank account. Your social life has been thriving after making some incredible friends on your course and growing closer to your co-workers, and things with Peter have also been incredible- no, truly spectacular.

Ever since your near-death experience, things have shifted. Instead of being worried over when the feelings of love will come to you, you've just relaxed and enjoyed your boyfriend's company. Holiday season with the brown-eyed man is all you could ever ask for, and so far, it's shaping up pretty damned well.

So it's the 24th of December, and you're walking home with heavy bags weighing down your arms. The last-minute Christmas shop was brilliantly rewarding, and now all you need to do is wrap up some presents before sleeping and then heading to Peter's in the morning to celebrate with him. You find yourself humming a happy tune as you turn the corner to the final block, your head happily swimming as a result of a warm mulled wine, but feel your jaw slacken when your eyes fall on the scene in front of you:

Your apartment building is surrounded by fire engines, with deep dangerous flames licking the walls. Billowing smoke fills the sky, painting the blue a dark smoggy black, and the air is full of screams and sirens.

A deep gasp rumbles up your throat as you quickly jog forward, eyes wide as you take in the carnage. The busy sounds of phones ringing and people crying and sirens whirring send you into a daze as you watch people being escorted out of the building, and a quick glance up confirms that the fire has spread to your floor. Hell, you think you can even see smoke flooding out of the flat beside yours.

"Ma'am, I'm going to have to get you to move back." There's a weight on your shoulder as a firefighter gently moves you back, and you realise you've drifted across a big white line printed on the ground. You mutter a quick apology and scoot back, your hand drifting for your phone. You pull it out of your pocket and glance down at the screen, shivering as you see the messages of worry sent from half your contacts.

MJ: Girl!!! Please tell me you're not in that building!!!

May: Building on fire!! Hope you're still out shopping but if u aren't please be safe xxxxx

Peter: Pretty sure you'll still be out but let me know please

Peter: Gonna go get involved

Peter: Will come find you after

Legs weak, you sit down on a bench and quickly respond to the messages, tears blurring your eyes. You watch as the fire is brought under control, and manage to catch a glimpse of the familiar blue and grey suit swinging around, but even that isn't enough to shift the weight from your heart.

People begin to clear as you wait it out, not having anywhere else to go. You see your landlord talking with a camera crew, explaining how it'd been a gas leak and a lit candle that had caused the fire to start a floor above your place, and how he was grateful no human casualties had occurred. That being said, the structural integrity of the building was severely weakened, so there was no chance it would be fit for human habitation any time soon.

You can't help but cry a little. That apartment had been yours for half a year; it'd been your first place - an apartment you'd come to know as home - and the fact that it now lays in ruin along with all your earthly possessions is difficult to stomach. Everything you love was up there: important things, like photos of you with your loved ones, books and clothes you'd owned your whole life, but also smaller, more sentimental items, like your favourite pair of pyjamas and your special reindeer cookie cutters.