the spider whisperer

Story [chapter 43]

For almost a whole week, the girl had been unconscious. The doctors had determined that she likely wouldn't die, but only thanks to her older brother donating a good amount of blood to keep her alive. During the time between when she'd gotten shot and when she was emitted into a hospital, a tremendous amount of blood had been lost. Despite that, she would live, but the doctors could not predict the day she would awaken.

In her days of rest, Cairo, Peter, and Aunt May had a rotation of who would be in the room. Cairo took the mornings, using the excused absences his college was allowing him to watch after his sister. Peter took the evenings right after school ended. And Aunt May would take the nights. Her work was allowing her to use the vacation time she was allotted for the year. It wasn't like she was going anywhere anyways, so May thought she might as well.

All three patiently (anxiously) waited for her to wake up. And it wasn't until Wednesday, at 4:17pm that hope became a reality.

"Peter?" the girl startled awake. She quickly sat up, scanning the room with a panicked expression. The last thing she remembered was getting shot and then just barely making it out of the apartment building. She also remembered very faintly hearing Peter's voice. So when she didn't see him, she started panicking. "Peter!"

Two seconds. It only took two seconds before said boy was bursting through the door in a hurry to get to her. "I'm here; I'm here!" he stumbled over his feet a little. When the initial shock of her calling out to him wore off, Peter slowed down, "I'm right here."

The girl reach out for him, desperately wanting to feel him to know he was actually there. A sigh of relief fell from her lips when he'd gotten close enough to her that she could reach her hand out and touch his cheek. She furrowed her brows and tilted her head to the side at the comfort his warmth brought her, "You're okay?"

"Yes, I'm okay," Peter nodded his head as he closed his eyes and brought a hand up to cover hers.

"And Cairo? Nobody got to him," she started. "Right?"

Peter nodded his head. "Cairo is fine. He's doing a-okay," Peter opened his eyes again. "He actually just left to the cafeteria a few minutes ago. I'm sure he'll be back up in a few." Peter paused for a moment. Then he gave a heartwarming smile, "I'm sure he'll be glad to see you awake."

"Good, good," the girl started to relax at the confirmation.

"I'm glad you're awake too, y'know?" Peter mumbled. "I hate to admit it, but for once the tables were turned, and you had me worried out of my mind."

The girl huffed a laugh in response. Peter helped settle her back in the bed, making sure she was comfortable before momentarily walking away from the bedside. He dragged one of the two chairs in the room from the corner where it originally sat to a spot right next to her bed. A silence settled over them for a moment, and she knew Peter was thinking about what to say— or more so what to ask. She knew he had questions to ask; she was prepared to answer them.

She sighed when his silence took too much time, "You have questions for me. Ask them."

Peter nodded, swallowing thickly. He paused another moment and then spoke. "If you're okay with talking about it, do you mind telling me what happened up in the apartment?" There was barely a millisecond of time that had passed before he spoke again, "Of course, I understand how traumatizing this whole situation could've been. Please don't feel pressured to tell me anything if you aren't ready yet. But just know I am right here to listen whenever you're ready—"

"Parker," the girl cut him off, tired of his ranting. "Let me speak."

A blush of embarrassment painted Peter's cheeks, "Right, right. Sorry."