Take My Hand | Peter Parker

Chapter 18

The flashes became worse as I tightened my eyes shut. I felt as if there was no escape, but only to dread what would come next. Assuming my expectation would be correct, I braced for anything that decided to make me weak.

Then nothing happened.

I was still overwhelmed by whatever this was, but it faded away like nothing had just happened. The only scary part came after, when I realized I wasn't awake anymore, I was dreaming. But I didn't even fall asleep whatsoever.

I was floating in the sky, not far from the lights of New York City. Everything remained eerily still- no cars or people in the streets. Instead, the day went by and it turned to night. All started moving in a rapid fashion, with blurs of cars racing by and people walking up and down the sidewalks. When a pitch black ensued, time crawled to a halt and went normal.

Then there was a thwip from behind, and Spider-Man literally came out of nowhere, slinging past me and down to a small shop below.

Being my curious self, I tried to follow him. Somehow I moved, it was almost like I was flying. I touched down on the ground. He was frantically looking for something in a burning shop. When in the world was it burning?

Anyways, I maneuvered closer to the flames, while immediately regretting it. He returned a minute later, holding the body of a girl with burns on her arms and legs. 

She was unconscious and barely alive. 

He carried her to the side of the road and lay her gently down while doing CPR. I couldn't imagine the pain of having to resuscitate someone like this. He kept checking for a pulse, anything to give him hope.

In other words, she was dead. 

I stepped or floated forward to catch a glimpse of her face. There was originally a mask covering her identity, but Spider-Man took it off already.

She had a pale face, with some minor burns. Once I had leaned in closer, I froze to see a mirror reflection lying in front of me.

I had died in this dream. 

I was pretending to be something I wasn't. I didn't even know why I was in that building, wearing a mask, or being in some sort of costume.

I jolted out of my slumber. While rubbing my eyes, I noticed I wasn't in the comfort of my home anymore. I was standing beside a place called Delmar's. That's when I connected my dream and now. In that dream, the burning shop was Delmar's, and I was leaning over the spot where I had died.

There was no explanation for this. I was just sleeping in my room a minute ago!

I suddenly started to panic and run towards the end of the street. Even in the middle of the night, there were still some cars out on the street, but very few people.

I pulled up a map on my phone, desperately wondering where I was. Thank goodness I had decided to keep it in my pocket. I was halfway across Queens, at least a twenty-five minute walk from where I was standing.

I sighed and crossed my arms tightly, trying to preserve body heat.

This was one of the times I wished Spider-Man was around, so that I wouldn't be walking around in Queens at 10:17 at night. No time had passed since I'd collapsed on my bed, expect for the amount of time it took for me to get here. 

I didn't want to move in that moment. Whatever shock I had felt in that moment passed over from seeing my dead body.

Now I was concerned on how to get home safely, and I couldn't call Aunt Rebecca. There was no way I was going to disturb her now, she was probably asleep. Her shift began very early in the morning and ended late at night.

As if I was still in the dream, I tried 'floating' again, not remembering I had already woken up. I sighed, contemplating what to do next.

"What am I going to do out here, in the middle of the night, to get home?" I mumble to myself.

A shot of pain rips through my hand, making me grasp it hard. As I access whatever made this painful, my hands begin to discolour to a dark blue. I pull them out in front of me.

I clench my fists and raise one of my hands out in the air. I stare out into the void looking sky and wish I were home, then tighten my hand one more time before brushing my fingers over the stars. A faint sound erupts loudly from the sky, and I'm suddenly back in the sky, holding onto a rope I didn't even know existed.

"What the frick, what the frick, what the frick!" I kept screaming as there was no descent in sight, however, I was still going up, but at a slower pace.

There was nothing coming out from the sky, except for the faint outline of a rope amongst where my hands were grasping it tightly. I was so scared that in that moment, I wished I was on the ground. 

The rope disintegrated completely in my hands.

I was falling from the sky, probably going to land in some small neighborhood. Wherever I had decided to go was more in the outskirts of Queens. I tried to scream, but the rapid, consistent flow of cold air made my throat dry.

I reached my hands out again with tears in my eyes, desperately wishing for an answer. The rope swished back out again, and I gripped onto it with all my might. 

Everything seemed less straightforward from then on. I practiced maneuvering the techniques,  cutting off the strand and reaching out for a new one to a different direction, just how Spider-Man does it. Except I left no trace, unlike his sticky webs.

There were several neighbourhoods to look around, but I finally found Midtown and went around that area to walk home.

I finally felt as if I were at peace with myself.