It was one thing being told you’ve missed out on two years. It was a completely different thing seeing the reality of it. Cause even if time stopped for you, it didn’t for everyone else.

This realization hit Gwen hard as she stood outside of her apartment wearing nothing but a pair of dark wash, ripped jeans and an emerald green, silk tap top that hugged her figure except for the draped neckline. It had been summer when she last went to her Wonder and as he normal precaution, she didn’t power down near home. Instead, she walked back in the bitter cold shivering, arms wrapped around her bony shoulders in an attempt to stay cold. But, instead of finding her warm apartment, she was faced with a very large problem.

It wasn’t hers. Someone else was living there.

At first she hadn’t noticed as she hurried up the porch, key in hand.

The wreath full of hearts with an gaudy glittered cupid marking it’s center was the first indication that something was terribly off. As she looked around she realized her planters were no where to be found, and the front window was also adorned with more glittered holiday decor with lace curtains backing them.

The other key indicator…the lack of a warning bark from her dog.

Gwen stepped away from the door slowly, eyes wide, mind blank as this all began to sank in.

Two years. Her home was…not hers anymore.

Anxiety quickly crept in as her breath began to grow heavier.

Fingers reached for the phone tucked safely in her back pocket. Dead. “********.” She cursed as fingers sunk into the roots of red hair.

Turning she walked away from the apartment trying to stave off the complete panic attack that was just at the precipice of taking her over. What am I supposed to do? She had no way to contact anyone, really, no one to contact even if she could. She’d cut herself off from so many friends and family even before her disappearance. What were the odds of her even having the right numbers? Assuming she could get her phone working again?

So many what ifs. So many implications of her position. It all hit her at once as she trudged down the sidewalk shivering even harder. Tears she hadn’t even realized were spilling down her face.

She’d lost everything in what felt like a single night. Her life was…nothing. Quite literally nothing. Meant nothing. Everything she’d worked for was gone.

Turning down a nearby alleyway Gwen practically threw her back against a wall and slid down it. The brick scraped against her shoulder blades and spine before she stopped in a crouch, head bowed and cupped within her hands. A curtain of red hair shielded her from the world as the panic completely overwhelmed her. Her world narrowed down to the cold and her fears. Every possible outcome that could come from this was negative. There was no hope. No way to claw back out from this. Her home was gone. Belongings. Dog. Job. What about her bank account? Surely empty and gone. Did her family think her dead? Was she considered dead? Missing?

Her body rocked rhythmically from toes to heel and back again, her lower back continuously bumping against the rough, dirty bricks behind her.

A habit built from years past had her shakingly shoving freezing fingers into her front pocket just as she stopped her rocking. There, she found what she’d known would be there. Something she never left home without. Her only way to escape. To stop the anxiety and depression as it continued to crash down on her. The little pill she swallowed down dry, it stuck in her throat for a moment before she forced it down. Another followed. She only dared two. She didn’t have many.

“It’s so ******** cold.” She mumbled, hands rubbing up and down her arms and shoulders in an attempt to create warmth.

It wouldn’t take long for the drug to hit. She knew it’s sweet embrace would hit her soon. Just knowing a reprieve was coming helped calm her enough to realize she couldn’t stay where she was. Pushing from the wall, Gwen began to search for somewhere to go. Eventually it dawned on her that powering up would be better than standing in the cold in nothing but jeans and a tank top. It also meant she could traverse the city faster.

Through her patrols she knew the areas that were deserted. Buildings that no one but bored teens, criminals or other homeless would go.

Homeless….

She found the condemned house. Sneaking in through a broken window was easy enough. The house looked damaged from water. Mold grew along a portion of the wall and the further into the building she crept the more likely it was water was the culprit for it’s current state. More mold could be seen and the floor soft under her boots in places. It was precarious. She lipped into a room that appeared the least damaged and it was there, in that cold, drafty house she wrapped up in her cape and let her drug take away the horrors of her new reality.