PLAYING AGAINST A PHANTOM - PETER PARKER

000. INTRODUCTION

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WALKING ALONG THE STREETS OF NEW YORK, WITH NOTHING BUT HER RUSHING THOUGHTS AND THE PATH UNDER THE VALE OF PALE MOONLIGHT, SOLEDAD SENT A SILENT PRAYER TO WHATEVER GOD OR SPIRIT EXISTED THAT SHE WAS NOT TOO LATE. Her heart was racing and her breath quick with puffs of visible air from the cold night that numbed the tips of her fingers and tip of her nose.

A gust of wind blew against the young girl's face, pulling loose strands against her body, along with the loose scarf around her neck. Taking the thin but warm material in her hands, Soledad unwrapped its loose hold on her neck and instead, tightly wrapped it around her right arm to her palm, holding the loose end on her fist to keep it from falling off. A fresh breath of cold air hit her face, but instead of hiding away from it, she sighed at the cold air against her warm face.

It had been five hours since her friend had gone missing, and only four and a half since their search party began looking for him. Their numbers were low and the city life stretched beyond their reach, leaving some of them to search on their own while others went in pairs. Soledad opted to search on her own, already having her list of possible places where he could be and while she loved her friends dearly she worked better alone. Already, she had gone through half of her list of possible places, taking a couple of detours to less possible places just in case, but to no vain.

Her body was exhausted, her feet were aching, and her stomach grumbled in protest from their interrupted dinner when she got a call from Aunt May if she had seen Peter. Taking a turn into a more crowded path, Soledad thought of the usually sweet and laid-back woman who always treated everyone with care and love. The young girl had been able to quickly figure out that something was wrong when the woman asked the question when her voice lost its warmth and slight humor, replaced with nervousness and slight panic.

Picking up her pace, the girl's body took her down a familiar path while her eyes searched among the faces around her and the occasional business display windows. Her fingers twitched at her side in a nervous tick, going to fix and re-fix her black-rimmed glasses when her phone suddenly rang. Digging into the pocket of her sweater, Soledad answered without looking, "Did you find him?"

"What?"

Soledad almost froze in her spot, only slowing down before the person behind her bumped into her and pushed her back to the speed with the rest of the crowd. Mentally cursing herself in Spanish, the girl held herself back from making any displeased noise that the caller on the other end could catch.

"Sol?" the familiar voice on the other end called out. "Soledad, todo Esta bien?/Soledad, is everything okay?"

Pulling the phone away from her face, Soledad took a deep breath to keep herself from reacting, "Si, papa, todo esta bien. Pense que eras alguien mas./ Yes, dad, everything is okay. I thought you were someone else."

"Oh," her father replied before their conversation fell in silence for a couple of seconds, "estas con tus amigos?/Are you with your friends?"

"Mm-hmm," she hummed, coming to a stop at a crosswalk along with the rest of the crowd. Her foot tapped against the concrete floor in a nervous habit. "Necesitas algo?Do you need anything?"

"No, enrealidad no- buneo si./No, not really-well yes," her father stumbled over his words. From the sound of his voice, a very faint image surfaced in her mind from when she was young. She could remember him sounding this nervous and looking down at the ground, the tips of his long hair falling over his eyes and the fumbling with his fingers. A habit she realized she picked up from him while she fumbled with her own.

The crowd around her began to move, and she moved with them. Her eyes kept glancing around her in a search for her friend, but there was still no sight of him. Turning back to her conversation, Soledad waited for her father to gather his thoughts and continue talking, "Que necesistas?/What do you need?"