I'm supposed to be asleep but I'm not. I hear it from down the block, a boom. A loud explosion. So, I bolt upright in my bed. I peer out my window, but see nothing. After those attacks by aliens with the Avengers though, I cannot sit idle. Something might be happening.

My little brother Damien is in the hall. "What was that sound?"

I ignore him, as I always do, and instead, I run to Dantae's bedroom and bang on the door.

He answers, shirtless, with Anthony lying on his bed, pulling his glasses on. "What?"

"We might be under siege again," I say. "Mama and Papa aren't home."

"I know Mama and Papa aren't home," he rubs his eyes. "What's happening?"

"There was an explosion," I tell him. "We've got to go, before there is another."

He throws on a shirt and off we are. Even though Damien whines, we four run down the stairs, praying that nothing hits our building. We don't hear any other explosions on the way down, but that could just be a coincidence. Armed with only our fall jackets and shoes, we head onto the street.

Once we are downstairs, I see Spider-man zoop by. There is a crowd gathering around the street, and sirens off in the distance. I step onto the empty road, and Dantae goes to grab me, but just misses.

Then, down the street, I see it. The Bodega, on fire.

I take off sprinting. Papa gave Sergio the night off. Papa's inside.

"Darcy!" my brother shouts.

I run forward, ignoring him. I don't even glance back to see if he is following me. The Bodega is on fire, and Papa might be inside.

When I get there, I see Papa on the curb, with Murph in his arms. I exhale heavily, putting my hands up through my hair. He's still coughing, and it's the only thing that stops me from leaping into his arms.

"Papa!" Damien shouts, jumping atop off him.

Papa wheezes out, but he slowly wraps his arms around Damien. Dantae puts a hand on my shoulder, and I turn around and hug him.

I can't look at the Bodega any longer. It's still up in flames. A firetruck pulls up, thankfully, and begins to put it out, but it's ruined. Likely, it'll take months to repair. Really, we're lucky the whole building went up in smoke.

"What happened?" Anthony gulps, looking around. "Are you okay, Mr. Delmar?"

"I'm alright," he says. I turn around to face him, watching as a firefighter helps him up. "I'm fine. Spider-man got me out. Good kid."

Spider-man. Of course he's involved. I don't imagine that Peter started the explosion, but at least he got my Papa out of it. I pull out my phone, taking a step back from Dantae. I text Mama first, letting her know that the Bodega caught on fire, but that Papa and Murph are fine.

Then, I text Peter.

Thank you.

My phone rings.

"Hello?" I ask.

It's Mama, screeching at me in Portuguese, letting me know that I can't just text important information like that, and that I'm lucky she's on her break and is Papa really okay, and which hospital will be taking care of him, and all sorts of stuff that I don't know.

Dantae ends up taking over the phone. He talks to her, in soft words, but he defends me. I don't pay much attention. Instead, I go sit on the sidewalk, with my head on Anthony's shoulder. The police arrive after Papa has been carried away, and they want statements. We would give them access to the cameras, but I'm sure they've been burnt to a crisp. All I tell them is that Spider-man saved my Papa.

Eventually, we go back home, but I can't sleep. My dreams are full of explosions and fire, and the little glimpse of the charred Bodega I saw. Most of our money comes from the Bodega. What are we going to do now? I go get a glass of water, and I can hear Dantae and Anthony's muffled voices through their bedroom door. I don't go in and ask them what's wrong.

I want to crawl up in a ball and sleep on Dantae's floor like I did when I was a kid with nightmares. However, I want to give him and Anthony some privacy.

Eventually, Mama gets home from the hospital with Papa. They gave him an inhaler to help with the aching cough he has. Mama explains it better, but I don't care about the details. All I care about is that he's okay.

Papa is on and off the phone with insurance the next morning. We're allowed to stay home from school. They have no idea how long it's going to take to fix, but at least we are covered. In the meantime, Papa and Dantae are going to file for unemployment, while Dantae looks for a new job. Apparently, a parole condition of his is keeping a job, which I didn't even think of when the Bodega went up in flames.

I offer up all my savings, but my parents brush me aside. They say they won't be accepting my money anytime soon. When I reveal that I have three thousand dollars in savings, however, they give in and take it.

Sergio puts up a GoFundMe for us, bless his soul. It wracks up tens of thousands of dollars quickly after Tony Stark retweets it. I wonder if I have Peter to thank for that.

I wouldn't know. He never answers the text I sent him thanking him.

~~~~~

Once again, I am late. But better late than never! Darcy's story will be coming to an end soon, and I am so very excited. I feel like she has come such a long way! It sure will make my day.