The Masks we Hide Behind || Peter Parker [1]

ten: so, we almost died again

"MJ!" I whisper.

"What?" She whispers back.

"Did you hear that?" I whisper shout.

"Hear what?" She whispers back.

It's 11:48 PM. We're at the library.

You're probably wondering what we're doing at the library at 11:48 PM.

"Upstairs. I heard shuffling." I whisper back.

No, it's not the school's library. It's the public library. MJ and I were here earlier because the school library closed early today. Yes, we went to the library on a Friday evening. I know we're weird. Don't remind me.

Anyways, MJ left her entire backpack here somehow, and we just HAD to go back and get it. We couldn't wait until morning. Well, she couldn't wait...I was perfectly fine pigging out on candy corn in her room. But no, we had to sneak into the library at nearly midnight. I'm still shocked that they left a window open. MJ was thrilled.

"Shuffling?" She replies, still whispering.

"Yes. Shuffling." I say. We continue whispering back and forth in the dark library before there's a crash on the second floor.

You're also probably wondering what was taking us so long to get a backpack.

We got the backpack. And then MJ opened up a laptop and started searching a bunch of weird stuff up, like stuff about Avalanche, the guy who can create earthquakes.

"Why are we still here?" I whisper quickly.

"Because I wanted to look up stuff about this Avalanche guy. We should go see who's upstairs." She replies.

"NO!" I whisper shout. "Are you crazy?!"

"Yes."

She then leaps up from her feet and leaves her backpack on the chair, silently striding over to the stairs. She turns and looks at me, motioning for me to join her.

"No!" I whisper shout.

"Your loss." She whisper shouts back. I watch her go up the stairs and soon disappear onto the second floor.

"Screw it."

I leap up and silently run over to the stairs, jogging up them quietly, only to see MJ hiding behind a bookshelf like an idiot.

"What is it?" I whisper quietly, crouching down beside her.

"Look." She murmurs. I peek around the shelf, seeing a big, muscular man sitting at a desk. The computer is on, and papers are scattered everywhere, along with books. I glance over at one of the windows, which is broken, seeing shards of glass scattered around the floor. I look at his arm, seeing a snake tattoo on his large bicep. His fingers dance on the keyboard and he clicks the mouse a couple times, before the printer makes a very loud noise as it starts to print something.

"Did he break in?" I ask. MJ shifts and accidentally knocks down a few books as the printer finishes. We both freeze, watching as the man looks in our direction quickly. He unzips his bag and stuffs a bunch of papers into it, along with almost all of the books on his desk.  He shuts off the lamp and slips his arm through the strap of his bag, heading towards us.

"We have to go." MJ whispers, turning around and trying to run the other way. She trips over my leg and falls, and the man starts to run towards her. I have to think quickly. 

MJ scrambles up and runs to the other side of the library. The man follows her. He doesn't know I'm here. I quickly climb on top of the bookshelf and hop from shelf to shelf, catching up to the man and sliding off in front of him. I knock him down, but he slams me into a shelf. The corner of it hits my back, and I let out a yelp of pain. I throw a pile of books onto him, hoping it doesn't hurt him too badly. I take off and, being the stupid person I am, I grab his bag that's sitting on the chair. I slip my arms into the straps and take off down the stairs.