Spiders Crawl

One

First thing I noticed when I woke up was that everyone was upside down. Or I was.

"How is she doing that?" Many employees whispered to each other. I was confused and looked down-er-up?

I was stuck to the ceiling. Thousands of questions raced through my head. And just like that, I fell and hit my back.

"Clementine!" I shouted as I shooed away the people. Clem pushed her way through the crowds and dutifully stood before me.

"Yes, Charlotte?" She held out a glass of water.

"Thank you." I took the glass and gulped the cold liquid down. I extended my hand out for her to take the glass away. She grabbed it and turned, but fell to the floor. "Oh, for goodness sake." She got up and tried again.

"Char? Might you please let go?" I looked at her confused. Then I stretched my fingers and saw the problem. The glass was stuck to my hand. "What the...?"

"Clementine, " She gave me her attention. "Call me a cab." I pulled the glass and finally came free.

"To where?" She pull out a notepad.

"Peter Parker's house."

The doorbell rang and minutes later, the door opened. Peter was surprised to see me.

"Charlotte?"

"Hey, Peter. Can I come in?" I asked showing my worry. He looked back in and then at me. He invited me in and Aunt May waved at me.

"Hey, Charlotte! How's the job at Bugle going?" She was chopping veggies, making a salad.

"Great. I just need to talk with Pete for a while." I faced Peter. "Can we go to your room?" He nodded and we went up to his room. I locked the door and took a deep breath.

"Whats wrong?" I leaned on his desk.

"I need your help." I said making him worry.

"With what? Homework?" He chuckled, but I remained serious.

"Um. Remember that bite? On my ankle." He nodded slowly. "Well, it was a spider bite." He stood straight.

"Ok. Is it infected?"

"I don't know, but what I do know, is that it changed me. I woke up in my office on the ceiling. The ceiling!" I started freaking out again.

"Calm down. What else?" He sat on his bed and offered me to sit next to him. I did and told him about the glass of water. "Wow. Do you know what happened?" He asked.

"No! Thats why I'm here! Can you help?" I didn't know who else to go to.

"Ok. What else can you do?" I stood up annoyed.

"I don't want to know, Pete!" I slammed my hand on the desk. I tried to raise it, but of course, it was stuck again.

"Ok. Calm down." He notices my hand is still in the desk.

"Yeah." I pull my hand as he looks for something. After what seemed like forever, it finally let go.

"Here. You can wear this." He hands me a pair of red gloves. I thank him, and put them on.

"They're a bit big." I mention.

"It will have to do."

"Peter! Charlotte! It's time for dinner!" Aunt May calls from the kitchen.

"She called you. Might as well stay." He said. I agree and we head downstairs.

"This is really good!" I compliment as I eat another piece of chicken.

"Why thank you. The trick is how much barley is added." She whispers. I laugh along with her.

When everyone is done, I stay a bit longer and watch the news with her. Aunt May and I were talking about fashion when a specific news caught my attention.

"Today's news is the recent death of Wendy Rider. Seen last at the drugstore, this woman was shot in the chest where witnesses saw her attempting to stop a robbery."

The room fell silent. Peter walked into the room unaware. The news report kept going showing witnesses and hearing them tell the world what they saw and how brave mom was.

"Charlotte," Aunt May looked at me.

"Its ok. I-I have to go now." I got up and already had the front door open when Peter grabbed his jacket and went out first.

"Its dark. I'll walk you home." I wanted to protest, but I was too tired.

I played with the gloves he gave me while we silently walked.

"Charlotte," He thought about it. "About your problem." I knew what he meant.

"Its ok, Pete. I'll figure something out." Finally, we see my house. "Oh were here." Peter looks around. I laugh. I point at my house. Well, good thing is, he saw my house. Bad thing, it was covered in webs.

"Uh? Found it?" Peter joked as I ran to the house. Only the front door was covered entirely while the rest was just in bits.

I stared at my hands, when Peter reached me.

"Charlotte," I stopped him.

"No Pete. I- Leave me alone." He hesitates but in the end leaves. I rip off the webs blocking the door and I run to my room. Everything is how it was before this afternoon. I look at my bed and find a note with my mom's handwriting.

Dear daughter,

I hope you can forgive me for this morning. I'm off to work but remember that I will always love you.

Love,

Your mom. ❤️

I crumple the note and shoot it as the trash can at the other side of the room. It landed perfectly in.

Taking off the gloves, I make my bed and slip in without changing into my pajamas. My eyes feel heavy as a little lullaby from my past enchants me to sleep.