Chapter 1: The Spider
It's a normal, sunny Tuesday in New York City. Peter Parker is walking through the halls of his school with his friends Harrison "Harry" Osborn and Mary "MJ" Jane. They walk to their lockers, put their stuff in their bags, and they walk out of the building along with all the other students.
"We're studying at your house tonight, right Pete?" Harry asks.
"Yeah," Peter says. "We can actually walk to my house now if you want, so we can get ready for studying. And the sooner we do it, the sooner we get it done."
"Knowing you, you'd want to do it all day," MJ says.
"Haha, very funny," Peter chuckles. He looks at MJ. The whole world seems to slow down. He looks at her, the way her red hair blows in the wind, the way her lips shimmer against the sunlight.
"Peter?" MJ asks, but her voice seems distant. "Peter!"
"Huh?" Peter asks, pushing his glasses up. "Yeah?"
"You good, Pete?" Harry asks, with a smile.
"Yeah," Peter says nervously. "Why wouldn't I be?"
Later, at Peter's house, Peter, Harry, and MJ walk in through the front door.
"Go up to my room, I wanna talk to Aunt May and Uncle Ben for a second," Peter says.
"Sure thing," MJ says. Her and Harry walk up the stairs.
"Hey, guys-" Peter says, walking into the kitchen. But he stops instantly. He sees Aunt May at the dining table, sobbing into her arms, a picture of Uncle Ben laid out in front of her. "Aunt May? Wh-What happened?"
"Oh, Peter," Aunt May chokes out in a sob. "Oh, Peter. Your Uncle Ben... He was shot an hour ago."
"What? Where?"
"He was at the bank, making a transaction. Then, there were robbers... Ben tried to stop them. Tried to help. But they shot him."
"Oh my God... I'm sorry, Aunt May."
"Oh, it's not your fault, Peter."
"No, you don't understand, Aunt May. Last night, I asked Uncle Ben to buy me a new skateboard. He said he didn't have enough money... And he'd get some at the bank. I-... I'm sorry, Aunt May."
"Oh, Peter. You couldn't have known. No one could. It's not your fault."
"But it's my fault that he was even there in the first place. If I didn't ask for the skateboard, or at least asked him tonight instead of last night, he'd still be alive."
"Peter. It's not your fault. Stop blaming yourself, please. I also asked him to buy groceries this morning. It's both our faults that he was there."
Peter doesn't say anything. He stands up and walks up to his room. When he closes the door, Harry and MJ look at him differently.
"You okay, Pete?" Harry asks. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
"Um... No," Peter says.
"Why?" MJ asks. "What happened?"
"My, uh..." Peter says. "Uncle Ben died an hour ago at the bank."
"Oh my God, Peter," MJ says. "Do you want us to go? Give you some space?"
"No," Peter says. "Let's just study."
"Alright," Harry says.
Later that night, Peter is laying in bed, staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep. He sees a cobweb in the corner of the ceiling that he sees every night. But this time, for the first time in at least 5 years, there's a spider with a blue body, red legs, and red eyes.
He sees the spider make a web and go down, to him. He doesn't try to move, thinking it's a dream or some sort of grief hallucination. The spider lands on his shoulder and crawls up to his neck. Then, it bites him.
"Ah!" Peter groans, smacking the spider on his neck. He picks it up and throws it out the open window. "What the hell?" Suddenly, he loses consciousness.
The next morning, Peter wakes up feeling energized. He grabs his glasses and stands up. But something's off. He can't see. He takes his glasses off again, and he can see perfectly fine.
"What the hell?" Peter asks himself. He puts his glasses on again. Blurry. He takes them off, and sees clearly again. He looks in his mirror. There's a spider bite on his neck. "Oh my... It wasn't a dream." He looks at the window. He walks to it, and looks down. He sees a dead spider on its back on the ground. "What the hell did you do to me?" He closes the window, but he can't take his hand off. He struggles, trying to kick himself off the wall. He then gets launched backward, and lands on the ground with a thud. "Ah, shit, that hurt."
Peter stands up, and he goes downstairs. He sees Aunt May sitting at the couch, holding a framed picture of her and Uncle Ben from around 5 years ago, at a park. She hears Peter's steps creaking on the stair steps, and she looks back at him.
"Hey, Peter," Aunt May says. "Good morning. Sleep well?"
"Yeah, Aunt May," Peter replies. "I did. And good morning to you, too."
"Hey, are you okay, Peter? I heard a thud upstairs."
"Oh, yeah. Right. I fell out of bed. But nothing too serious."
"Where are your glasses?"
"Oh, um... I- I don't need them anymore."
"How?"
"Uh... I got contacts. Last night. Gift from Harry, he bought them with my prescription. You know how I always complain about the glasses falling off my face."
"Right, of course. How thoughtful of him."
"Are you okay, May?"
"How do you mean?"
"I mean, about... Uncle Ben. I miss him."
"I do too, Peter. A lot of people do. He's widely known around Queens, for his helping everyone out."
"He always saw the best in people. He always used to say-"
"With great power comes great responsibility," Aunt May finishes with Peter.
"Yeah," Peter says. "It's..."
"Admirable."
"I was gonna say inspirational. But yeah... Admirable."
"Would you like me to drive you to school?"
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, the bus left half an hour ago. I was wondering if you'd like to walk or have me drive you."
"Why didn't you wake me?" He asks, panicked but not upset.
"Because you needed your sleep. I was going to actually let you sleep in as long as you want. But seeing how you're fully up and awake..."
"Yeah. I'd like you to drive me, Aunt May. Sounds great. Thank you."
"Perhaps we could chat?"
"Yeah, Aunt May." He smiles. "Let's do it."
Around half an hour later, Peter is walking through the halls of Midtown High. He gets to his locker, dials his combination, and opens it. He places his backpack inside, and zips it open.
"Hey, freak!" A voice calls out from behind.
"What do you want, Flash?" Peter sighs, annoyed already.
"Oh, come on, Parker. What's up with you today? Oh, right, your uncle died. Read it in the paper. Did you cry to your parents? Oh right, they died too!"
"Shut up."
"Oh, did I make you mad? What're you gonna do, Parker? Hit me? Go ahead. I'd like to see you try-"
Peter elbows Flash in the face, and Flash then gets knocked 3 feet back, hitting the ground with a thud. The floor cracks. Flash's nose is broken. A crowd of students circles them.
"I said shut up!" Peter snaps, turning around and looking at Flash. He then looks confused, and looks at his hand.
"What the hell?!" Flash yells. "You really are a freak, Parker!"
"Flash, I-"
"Peter?" Harry calls out from in the crowd, rushing to the center. "Woah! Pete, what happened?"
"I don't know," Peter says back, confused. "I just... I just hit him, and he... What the..."
"Parker!" The principal says from the crowd. "My office, now!"
In the principal's office, the principal is sitting at his desk, Peter sitting in the chair across him. The principal has a notebook and pen.
"Peter, you're a good kid," the principal says. "You've never shown any violence, ever. What happened?"
"Flash was being a jerk," Peter says back, his voice shaking slightly. "Like always. My Uncle Ben was murdered yesterday. Earlier in the hall, Flash was talking about him. And then he brought up my parents. I just... I just hit him. I don't know how he was on the floor like that. I don't... I don't understand."
"Alright. Well, uh... I don't see anything wrong with what you did, considering the context. I'll talk to Flash's parents, Peter. Don't worry. Now head back to class, huh?"
"Thank you, Mr. Morita. Have a good day."
"You too, Peter. And no problem. Always happy to help. But Peter? How did he go 3 feet?"
"I don't know... I... I don't know."
Later, back in his bedroom, Peter is just standing there, in the middle of the room. Aunt May is at the grocery store.
"My hand... Stuck to the window," Peter says to himself. "Maybe I can..." He jumps up, and smacks his hand against the ceiling. But he just lands back on his feet. "How did I do it? How?"
He crouches down, and leaps up out of frustration. He smacks his hand against the ceiling again. But this time, his hand goes through the ceiling, breaking the ceiling. He falls onto his back again, and when he tries to stand up, his hand is stuck to the floor instead now.
"Oh, come on! Seriously?!" He yells in frustration. He pulls his hand up with all his strength - ALL his strength. The floorboard rips out, and flies off his hand. It smashes through the window, and Peter watches it just... Disappear into the distance. "What the shit? How did I just..." He looks outside the window, and sees the spider that bit him last night, lying upside down on a branch, dead. "What the hell did you do to me?" He whispers to himself.
