Pretense [P.P.]

Chapter 2 - Well, Sh*t

Lily's feet pattered against the pavement, while people and buildings around her became a blur. Her heart thundered in her chest, constricting and burning with every step as she ran towards the disaster after getting out of a taxi. The Brooklyn Bridge was filled with cars and a large fire was spreading after what seems to be some type of semi-truck accident.

Most people, they avoid dangerous situations. They stop and stare, watch whatever disaster is unfolding because it's human nature. It's unbelievable and people need to watch to believe it's happening. But, most people don't go into the danger zone if they're not already there. Most people don't have a death wish. Lily doesn't have a death wish but she has a dream and that dream includes her running around New York and chasing the masked hero by the name of Spider-Man. And where is Spider-Man normally? Around these dangerous, life-threatening situations. So, she goes into them, when she can.

A crowd is gathered as Lily approaches and it's a lot. The mixed voices and sirens, distant yelling, and noises all fade into one clustered sound. It's all being amplified. Everything clouds together and now it's not just the running that has her heart racing, but the creeping anxiety.

It's not something that happens all too often, but it happens. Sometimes, this will just be too much. Sounds, people, movement. It doesn't really matter and there's no direct cause that Lily can even pinpoint. Sensory overload, for her, just happens and maybe today it's because she's racing towards another disaster. The idea of running towards something like that is already a bit uneasy, allowing the anxiety to have a perfect little crack to seep right through. But, she does not have time for that. So, she doesn't slow down, she keeps going.

She tells herself that if she can focus, it'll go away. So, Lily grabs her camera from around her neck, gripping the hand hold tight. She reaches the barricades where police are making sure people stay put. And that's when she really sees the bridge. It looks like something's split it nearly in half and it's only being held together by webs. There are cars still slowly falling into the water but people are running from the bridge, others are being held up by different webs. It seems Spider-Man has been there for a little while already, webbing people up and keeping them safe. It reminds her of the Staten Island ferry just five years prior.

Lily was just a Sophomore when it had happened but she remembers seeing it all over the news. Something strange had torn through the ferry, splitting it in two. Spider-Man had tried to pull the ferry back together and keep it together with webbing but it didn't work so well and Iron Man saved the day. No one was hurt, luckily but it was something that stayed with Lily. Her brother was on the ferry and he could have died but he didn't because Spider-Man and Iron Man showed up. Now she's here, watching a bridge being held together by Spider-Man, trying to find out who he is to out him to the world. The universe is funny that way.

Lily holds her camera to her eye and that's when she sees him. The red and black-suited superhero swings around the bridge saving a little kid before he falls into the water. Her job isn't to catch Spider-Man catching children and saving them from certain death but she doesn't care. She takes the pictures anyway because how cool is that? It's Spider-Man saving a kid. So, Lily keeps her camera on him the entire time, taking pictures and waiting for him to finish.