The Masks we Hide Behind || Peter Parker [1]

eight: can i trust you?

"Was that..?" My mom starts, looking over the top of her laptop.

"An earthquake..?" Lucas concludes, shutting his phone of and starting to stand up from the couch.

It's quiet and still.

Before it starts again.

The ground rumbles, enough to make dishes rattle just slightly in the cabinet.

"Oh my god," I murmur.

I've never seen my mom fly up from her chair so fast. She rushes out of the apartment, leaving just Lucas and I alone on the couch.

"Where is she going?" He asks.

"Probably to the neighbors, like she always does when there's a minor crisis." I sigh, reaching for the remote.

"This isn't so minor," Lucas murmurs.

"It's not like the building collapsed." I mutter, turning on the news. The headline reads: Breaking News: Earthquake strikes New York, centering in Queens.

"Well that was quick." I say.

"No kidding," Lucas adds.

"We're getting reports of earthquakes throughout the city. That's right - earthquakes. We felt it here, in fact, just slightly...." She continues on as my mom walks back in.

"The neighbors felt it, too. It's not just us." She says. I motion to the TV.

"Here it is..." the lady says, being handed papers. "4.1 magnitude earthquake. Two, in fact, the first one being a 3.9. That's record breaking, for New York..."

"How do they get reports so fast?" Lucas asks.

"4.1? Oh, that's not that bad." My mom says. She, unlike my dad, isn't from New York. She grew up in California, and earthquakes are somewhat common there. Lucas and I look at her like she has three heads.

"Witnesses say the earthquake wasn't, in fact, natural. We just received video of the Spider-Man with this masked villain."

A video now pops up onto the screen, and a very muscly guy dressed in a metal suit lowers his hands to the ground. He looks up, symmetrical slits in his helmet. He looks straight at the Spider-Man before pressing harder. The ground starts to shake in the video, and it ends.

My jaw is hanging open as my mom pulls out her phone. I stand up and rush into my room, shutting my door and locking it. I snatch my white suit out of the box I stuffed it in, slipping into it as quickly as possible. I try to think quickly. I can't just sneak out now, somebody will definitely notice.

I decide to put on a pair of sweatpants and an old basketball camp hoodie out of a drawer. I slip it over my suit, stuffing my mask in the pocket of the hoodie. I tuck the hood of the suit into the back of the sweatshirt before walking back out of my room.

"Is it that cold?" Lucas asks.

"I'm not cold. Just comfy." I say with a shrug. "Hey, I left my homework at MJ's today and I really should go get it."

"Madelyn Lee." My mom says flatly, pointing to the TV. "There's a madman out there creating earthquakes. So no, you can't."

"It's due tomorrow." I say quickly.

"You can get it in the morning." She says.

"But mom-"

"No." She says firmly. I sigh and bite my lip.

"In that case, I'll go to bed earlier since I have to get up earlier."

"Early? It's 9:46." Lucas says. I shrug.