Hang In There// P.P.

Chapter 7: Saved Again.

For the next week it was all about what happened to Sophie Osborn in that AP Biology class. How she started to scream before jolting awake. How she ran out of the class. How she sat by the lockers trying to breathe. I was the latest gossip. Harry had went into complete overprotective mode, eating anyone who spoke about it alive. It's not that I wanted him to but I didn't really get a choice in the matter. All my friends were concerned, Peter Parker being the one to show it the most. He would always make sure I wasn't alone in the mornings, at lunch or in the evening. Often, he walked me to classes that were on the complete other end of the school to his. I appreciated his kind heartedness, but I didn't want him worrying, knowing he had heard all about it from Harry.

The nightmares never stopped.

I was thankful for the busy schedule due to my other persona, it didn't give me time to have an open mind for the demons to attack. Over those many nights of crime fighting I had become very fond of this Spider-Man character, often after we would web up the bad guys we'd sit on the edge of a building, just talking about everything and anything. I would even go to say that Spider-Man was my friend, someone I could trust and rely on. At this stage, we had basically become a crime fighting duo. The only problem being, we didn't know each other under those masks, we only knew the persona they presented. We had just finished up with a petty shop robbery when we returned to our usual meeting place. The top of the New York Times building. We sat there, legs dangling off the edge. Spider-Man had noticed my uneasy silence, questioning it.

"Hey, you okay?"

I zoned back in with the sound of his voice, offering a small smile.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

I knew full well he could see through the bullshit I was selling, giving me a look to let me know he knew I was lying.

"Well maybe there's things not okay, but they will be."

"It's more than just 'some things', Mag. You can't hide it from me."

"I'll be able to hide it better than you can hide that."

I pointed to the small cut made on his right bicep.

He just titled his head to the side slightly, indicating he was giving a displeased look under that red mask. I sighed as I lay back, the cold roof of the building hitting my back.

"I keep getting these dreams, well they're more like nightmares. I can't sleep at night 'cause they haunt me, so the daytime use to be my saving grace but recently the light doesn't seem to stop them either."

There was a pause.

"How am I supposed to keep everyone safe, be a good friend, a good student, daughter, sister, if I can't even function properly?"

"You remind me a lot of a close friend of mine."

I looked at him.

"Yeah?"

He let out a small chuckle.

"She would always take the weight of the world on her shoulders, always trying to be the best that she can. She's amazing, great character and all that. But the one thing I admire most is how kind she is to other people, especially her friends, always putting us before herself. So, Yeah. You're a lot like her."

"If I didn't know any better I'd say Spider-Man has a bit of a crush."

I nudged him with my elbow as he shied away, laughing along with me. Amongst all the the laughing and moving about, I hadn't realised I was slipping more and more off the edge of the building until suddenly it wasn't beneath me. The laughing immediately stopped as I found myself free falling down the side of the building. A scream left my lips as I closed my eyes, preparing for the impact.......but it never came. I felt an arm wrap around my waist, holding me tightly against them. The familiar sound of Spider-Man's webs rang through my ears as we swung across the city before landing on solid ground once again. It took me a moment to regain my balance, dizziness taking over. Spider-Man held onto me that little be longer until I was steadily standing on my own two feet.