The Tangled Web | Peter Parker

Chapter 43

Sorry, it's been so long since my last update. Life has been busy, leaving me with little energy to write. I finally had some downtime to refresh this weekend and got my motivation back. Thanks to everyone following along with Em's journey. It means the world to me 🖤

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Weeks had passed since Peter revealed his not-so-secret identity to me. It felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Things between us were good. We were falling back into a familiar pattern with one another, not having to worry about keeping things from the other. Honesty felt good. It felt right. But now that I had confirmation that Peter was Spider-Man, it created a new set of problems.

I found myself unable to fall asleep at night, tossing and turning while my brain constantly worried about his wellbeing. It took two weeks of restless sleep for me to confront Peter about my fear for his safety. He did everything in his power to reassure me that he was okay, even going as far as to call me every few hours while he was out protecting the city to let me know he wasn't dead in a ditch somewhere.

Like clockwork, sometime between the hours of two and three in the morning, Peter would rap his knuckles on my window and crawl into my room with a new set of bruises and cuts on his body. We went through the same song and dance every night as the winter nights grew colder; Peter would come home injured, collapsing onto my bed, out of breath from the strain he insisted on putting his body through, and I would clean his wounds, holding him until he drifted off to sleep. Only then, when I knew he was safe and in my arms, would I rest.

But even that was short-lived. The nightmares continued, waking me up in a cold sweat as the never-ending panic set in. Every time I closed my eyes, it was like I was living a new life- one that ultimately resulted in tragedy.

Some nights, it was Peter saving me from something awful. On occasion, it was Ben dying all over again. But most nights, it was Peter putting himself in danger and not walking away from the fight.

Last night was no different. Peter came home with a busted lip and cut across his upper arm. After cleaning both while he fluttered in and out of sleep, draped across my bed, I tucked him under the covers and settled into the chair in the corner of my room, watching as he slept. I was terrified to fall asleep, knowing that the minute I did, I would be forced to see more images of my best friend being mutilated by yet another villain. I fought off the urge to sleep for as long as my body would allow and woke up a few hours later screaming as I watched Spider-Man get shot by a large man decorated in animal pelts, laughing menacingly.

I tried my best to push the image of life slowly slipping away from Peter's eyes but it kept finding its way back into my mind. And always at the most inconvenient times.

"Miss Jay, are you still with us?" my English teacher asked as she walked by my desk.

"Huh?" I exhaled as I looked up to meet her concerned stare. "Yeah, uh, sorry Mrs. Winterhalter."

"I'd hate to think we're boring you with our rendition of Hamlet," she clicked, shaking her head as she placed her hands behind her back.

"No, not at all," I pleaded, sitting up straighter in my chair. "Hamlet is a wonder."

"How do you mean?" Mrs. Winterhaler asked, tilting her head as she tried to hide her smile.

"Shakespeare's characters tell the story of the difference between appearance and reality. It highlights the themes of madness, love, and death," I explained, shaking my head as I stared at the open book on my desk. "It's a testament to the questions of fate versus free will."

"Nerd," Flash coughed, causing an eruption of snickers to fill the classroom.

I turned around, glaring at him, only to be met with a playful smile. His smile quickly faded when Mrs. Winterhalter addressed his comment.