Arachne's Web

Common Criminal

"Alright, let's do this one time. My name is Kaylus Stryker. I was bitten by a radioactive spider and for two months I've been the one and only Spider-man. I'm pretty sure you know the rest. Or do you?"

                                                                               Kaylus

I knock on the door of my apartment, waiting for somebody to let me in. Silence. I can't hear any footsteps or the neighbors arguing. I must've come home later than I thought.

"Hello-o, I'm home," I yell as quietly as possible. I wait for a few minutes until I hear someone muttering and lumbering towards the door. I put on my most innocent "I swear I did nothing wrong" look, ready for another lecture about responsibility.

"Kaylus, it's one in the morning, where've you been?" To my relief it isn't mom who answers the door, it's my little brother Milo. His brown hair is messy, and his eyes are very sunken. It looks like he hasn't slept in a week.

"Hey man, where's mom?" I say as I look around at my apartment. When I step into the living room, I'm greeted by a huge mess. Glass beer bottles are all over the floor, and there are piles of garbage everywhere. And they think I'm the irresponsible one.

Milo mumbles something, rubbing his eyes. I sigh, grab him by the shoulders, and shake him a little bit.

"She's on a date, geez," Milo says, pushing me away.

"Again? Really?" I huff. "She can't just leave you by yourself all day."

Milo grabs a coke from the fridge. "Don't worry, I was at Nora's place. We're working on something really big."

I raise my eyebrow. Whenever Milo says that something will be "really big," it usually means that he's gonna rant about nerd stuff for an hour. I humor him. Pretending to listen is a hidden talent of mine.

I sit down on the lumpy brown couch beside Milo as he describes all the different ways genetic engineering can change the world. I've always hated this couch. As a matter of fact, I hate the entire apartment. Everything is brown, dreary, and dirty. My one wish is that one day I will live in one of those fancy modern houses that have granite countertops and gigantic televisions. I only have to wait another two years before I can move out and leave this stupid house, the stupid landlord, and my stupid mom. Mom is the reason we're in this mess in the first place. When Dad left seven years ago, she drank all of the money we had away. She isn't home a lot, which leaves Milo and I home alone most of the summer. That's the worst thing she does. She's always going on dates, out to bars, or heaven knows where all week long. It isn't a big problem for me since I don't really want her around anyway, but it takes a toll on my brother. Usually, I send him over to Nora's place on weekdays, but I thought Mom was going to be home today. Apparently, I'm wrong.

"Didn't mom say that she was gonna stay home today?" I ask Milo, interuppting him mid sentence.

Milo looks at me for a minute, "Yeah I guess she did." He murmurs looking away from me.

I feel anger bubbling up inside me again. "I can't believe she would lie to us like that!" I yell getting up from the couch.

"Please don't start." Milo says tucking his knees to his chest, "She didn't mean to leave me alone all day."

This makes me even madder. I start pacing across the living room, "Don't even try to defend her Milo. She leaves you all day and then comes home drunk as hell. It's not fair to you." I kick the beer bottle at my feet as Milo looks up at me with a defiant look in his eye.

"You're never home either! What were you even doing all day."

He caught me on that one. I wasn't home, but it was for good reason. I just can't tell him what I did, I don't want him ending up like me. Theres an old pawn shop down the street from my friend Nora's house where I usually hang out. It has a lot of trash but some real gems pop up here and there. The shop keeper is a really nice guy, lets me have some stuff for free so I can sell it to the shady guys a couple blocks down. I went down there today, and I saw a really nice computer in the window. I went in and this new guy was working at the register. I tried to bargain with him, but he wasn't budging, he claimed that it was his computer and he wouldn't sell it for anything. After he told me to get lost, I grabbed the computer and bolted out the door. Turns out he wasn't playing any games. The police caught me before I was even three blocks away. They gave the computer back to the jerk, but not before I stole a USB from the side of the machine and shoved it in my pocket before he could even blink.So I guess I got the last laugh. It's to bad that the police ruined my moment and arrested me on the spot. I spent an agonizing 3 hours getting a lecture from a big old police officer before I was let off with a warning. How am I supposed to explain that to my 13 year old brother?

I stare at Milo thinking of a good excuse, "I was uhhhh at work?"

"Didn't you get fired like a week ago?"

Damn he's on my case. "Geez it's getting late. Why don't we continue this conversation in the morning." I say smoothly, leaving the room before he can protest.

I sigh hopping into my nice, soft bed. I dig the USB out of my pocket. This is a gizmo I'll play with tommorrow. I throw the tiny thing on my bedside table, and drift off to sleep without even changing into my PJs