Begin Again

Chapter 2: Spider-Man to The Rescue

My phone chimes its routinely noisy alarm telling me that it's 7 AM, two hours before my TA class starts. I almost shut my eyes again when my mom bus through the door with her bonnet on and very pregnant belly.

"Turn that shit off! It's been ringing for like 30 minutes. Can't get no damn sleep." She complains while holding her belly with both her hands. Her dark skin is sweaty, and she looks disoriented. When I check my phone to turn off the alarm, it says the time is 7:35 AM. I quickly hop out of my bed and my mom gives me a confused look.

"I was supposed to wake up at seven! I'm going to be late." I flare around my room grabbing my clothes to take with me to the bathroom as my mom continues to stand at the front of my room annoyed.

"That's not my problem. Hurry up and get out so I can go back to bed." My mom walks out of the room, and I follow her to go to my bathroom. After I take a quick shower and brush my teeth, I decide I don't have time to do my lashes and opt to just put on some mascara. Once I put on my NYU hoodie and some jeans to brave the cold front today, I pack my bag with my laptop and water bottle. My lips are lined with dark brown lip liner, and I finish them off with a quick slab of lip gloss. When I check my phone again, it's now 8:15 AM and the class starts at 9 AM. I'll be cutting it close with the 35-minute subway ride to Manhattan, but I should make it on time. Before leaving, I grab the sandwich my dad made for me sitting in the kitchen.

"Ma, I'm leaving! Get some beauty rest and call me if the baby pops out!" I yell down the hall and start my walk to the subway station.

The walk is short compared to where my old apartment used to be located. As always, the streets are filled with the residents of Queens and the sidewalks are lined with homeless people. There are needles on the ground and the hot dog stand isn't open yet. Everyone is moving at an impossible pace for anyone to keep up with except New Yorkers. The wind is blowing fiercely with cold air and I'm regretting not bringing any gloves with me. I'm rubbing my hands to warm them up when everyone stops at the sound of screams coming from behind us. When I turn back to look, there is a group of men with electronic weapons throwing the cars from the side of the street. They are getting closer to me as I struggle to unfreeze myself to run.

Finally, a lady bumps into me as she flees, and my mind finally snaps back to reality. My feet take off and I find myself having to weave between people to get further down the street. Fuck. A crack in the sidewalk catches me off guard. My body starts making its way to the ground, but I catch myself with both hands. The pain that seers through my arm causes me to scream a little. As I get up from the ground to start running again, a shadow is getting larger from behind me. When I turn around, a car is flying straight for me. My arms struggle to push me off the ground. The coldness is making it even harder for my body to move fast enough. Once I get up and start to run, my heart is hammering against my chest and the car behind me is only getting closer. The car is about to take me out, so I close my eyes to accept my fate. Wish I wouldn't have wasted my fucking life going to school. The car creaks as if it was stopped somehow. When I open my eyes, the one and only Spider-Man is squatting in front of me pushing the car back.

"You should get to safety." He tells me as I stare at him in shock.

"I didn't need your help, asshole," I reply discontent with the vigilante himself saving my life.

"Woah! I'm sorry. Did I do something to offend you? Spider-Man asks still pushing back the car from landing on us both.

"You should probably focus on the car trying to crush us."

"Maybe if you tell me what I did, I can fix it." He continues as the weight of the car pushes back on him. His voice sounds oddly familiar to me, possibly just from the YouTube videos of people catching him talking to criminals.