Spider-Man: Home Sick

7 - Em's

Peter's P.O.V

I awoke to a wet towel being pressed to my forehead by a maybe 12-year-old girl who was hovering over me. I shot up immediately, bashing my head on hers, and fell backwards.
"Stay still!" She warned "You're still very injured."
"Wha - " I rubbed my forehead in pain "Who are you?"
"My name's Anya." She dabbed the blood off my forehead with a paper towel "Pip brought you to me about a day ago."
"A day?!" I tried to shoot up again but she gently pushed me back down.
"You'd gotten some serious head injuries - I think Cade kicked you a bunch of times. You also have a broken nose, a huge wound where you were stabbed, and I think a broken rib."
"Who - who are you?"
"I'm friends with Pippa. Some of us... Well, you got to look out for each other here. We help most people who need it - except the bullies like Cade and Mikey - but mostly it's just me, Pippa, Luke, and sometimes Z."
"Z... That guy Pippa took me to..." I had a hard time remembering.
"Yeah, that's Zephyr. He doesn't live on the streets like us but he tries to help us out as much as he can."
I tried to sit up and this time Anya didn't stop me. She let me slowly push myself up until I was leaning against the wall behind me.
I scanned my surroundings. Everywhere, there was a myriad of different statues, all with different poses, different outfits, different expressions, and all life-size. Some of them had been smashed or graffitied but most of them had just been pushed to the side to make room for the 3 sleeping bags spread across the floor.
"Where am I?"
"New Jersey, just about. This place is called 'Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium' but it was abandoned near 20 years ago, as far as we can figure."
"Do you live here?"
Anya shrugged "Sometimes. Luke doesn't like staying in one place too long, but he's too much of a softie to leave the city, so we mostly just rotate between here and a few other places." She looked up at me "Can you lift your shirt up?"
"Sorry, what?"
"I need to rebandage your wound."
"Oh, um, yeah, sure."
She began carefully unwrapping the blood-soaked bandages from around my torso and replacing them with newer ones.
"Are you like a doctor or something?"
She chuckled "I like to help people. So many people we meet on the streets are hungry, cold, and injured. Pip stops them from being attacked by bullies like Cade and Mikey, Luke creates a sort of community so people'll always have someone to turn to. I do this." She finished wrapping me up "You'll need to rest for a few days. But you're a remarkably quick healer."
I fell silent and averted her gaze.
"What's your name anyway? Pip didn't mention it. Ran off the second she could. For someone so violent, she really does hate blood."
"I uh," I tried to gather my scrambled thoughts together long enough to remember my name, or what my name was now at least "Tony. My name's Tony."
If Anya was going to say something, she was stopped by a tall boy around 19 sauntering into the room. He had close-cropped blonde hair, deep brown eyes, and a falling apart backpack slung over his back.
"Hey Anya Lasagne." He ruffled her hair, much to her annoyance. Then he turned his attention to me.
"So Sleeping Beauty awakes." He smiled a perfectly warm and natural grin "My name's Lucas, nice to meet you."
"I - Tony." I stammered out.
"You hungry Tony?"
I was shocked that he had so easily accepted my presence here. No questioning who I was, or what I was doing here. "I - yeah." I hadn't realised but I was starving.
Lucas set down his backpack and began unpacking food from it.
"Did you rob a supermarket again Luke?" A voice called from the doorway into the room, half joking but half serious. Leaning against the door frame was Pippa, crossing her arms and smirking.
"Courtesy of Zephyr. Don't worry Pippa. I'm not trying to get arrested." Luke laughed.
Pippa perambulated over to a sleeping bag, then sat cross-legged on it.
I watched as they easily joked and chatted and playfully insulted each other. I hadn't even known these people a day and yet I still felt comfortable around them. They passed around regular wholemeal bread with peanut butter or Nutella on it, and my hunger made it one of the best things I've ever tasted. None of them questioned me in any way, or treated me any differently than the others, and just left me be, sensing that I didn't feel like talking.
I felt a strange sensation come over me. Somehow, sitting on the cold concrete ground of an abandoned statue emporium eating bread and Nutella with 3 virtual strangers, I felt at home.