TROUBLE, peter parker

xvi. bed unrest

The physical pain had switched over to emotional pain when Maya found herself sprawled out on her bed, hugging a pillow to her chest, and recounting what had just happened.

At first, she thought it would be better that Peter and Gwen knew—there were now people who would understand what she was going through that she could use as a support system.

The thought bittered, however, when she reviewed the events of her day.

A dangerous creature had come to her school, putting innocent people in danger because she was who she was. Obviously she couldn't control who she was and what she could do, but it crossed a line when it interfered with her personal life. Maya brought her pillow to her face and groaned into it.

Something must've happened for the lizard to come to her school. It didn't matter how he found out, all that mattered was that he did—and she couldn't let that happen again.

If people knew who she was—whether friends or foes—everyone around her would get hurt. People close to her would get hurt, and there would be no one for her to blame except herself.

She aggressively whipped her pillow under her hand and wiped away tears rolling down her face before melting back into her bed and trying to ignore the pain coursing through her body.

Maya heard her dad moving around their apartment, and she chewed on her lips, wiping at her face, to keep quiet. She mainly heard him moving around when he was getting ready for work, but it was a couple of hours before he normally left.

Thinking about her dad brought her back to everything that had happened.

The only way to preserve both of her so-called lives would be to make herself exist as little as possible in her ordinary life in order to maintain everyone's safety, including her own. It was a sacrifice she knew she had—and had been trying—to make if she wanted to call herself someone that helped others.

It'll be easy, she thought to herself, twiddling her fingers on her chest and evening her breathing. You've done it before.

She imagined looking up at the night sky and talking about their action-packed lives as teen vigilantes like she had with Spider-Man nights prior.

Okay, maybe not as easy as before.

She wanted to say it would be harder because there were more meaningful connections attached this time, but that felt unfair. That was terribly selfish of her. She had spilled a little more to Peter than her friends before, and that's why it would be harder? Because she wanted to cling onto some boy she liked?

Frustrated, she shut her eyes (squeezing tears out of her eyes) and pursed her lips together, internally screaming.

Her dad chose that exact moment to knock on her door and peek his head in. A second too late, she wiped her face and shifted onto her side, facing the doorway.

His smile dropped once he realized something had happened to her causing her body to be littered with injuries.

Maya gave the ground a guilty stare as he sat on her desk chair, worry splattered all over his face.

"Maya, what happened?" he asked, his whisper ghosting over to her.

"Umm ..."

She gulped while thinking of where to even start.

"Going to work? Isn't it two hours before you normally go?" she asked.

That wasn't even a good attempt at avoiding the question, but it bought her time to think.

"I have to go in early because of what happened with the—uh—well, with the, uh, the lizard," he said, giving her a knowing look. "Nice try on changing the subject, but seriously Maya, what happened?"