Web Tangled

Chapter 15 - Blue (Part 1) - Peter's POV

(Insert song: Dan Hartman - I Can Dream About You)

The day went very dark for me. The night before, I fought some muggers, trying to rob a lady's purse. She was going home with her little daughter when the robbers stopped their tracks. I came just when they started to pinpoint a gun at her. I fought them, the way I usually do, but I was too caught up in my fight, I didn't pay attention to the lady. Another one of their accomplices showed up and shot her. It hit her stomach. I rushed her and her daughter to the nearest hospital. She survived, but the baby on her womb didn't. I waited for her and her daughter until her husband came. When he arrived, I instantly ran out of there out of guilt. I changed into my usual clothes and walked around the nearby streets to cool my head off. I decided not to attend school. As I was walking, a guy bumped me. He dropped his books.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't watch my steps. I'm so so sorry," he said without looking at me, staring at the ground, "Are you hurt? I'm really sorry."

"I'm fine... but, are you okay?" I asked him after I noticed he was crying, making his eyes red.

"I'm sorry again," he said as he ran away, leaving his books.

"Hey! You left your...," I called him, "... books."

It seemed like I'm not the only one having a particularly bad day. I picked his books from the ground. There were notebooks, a math textbook, and a diary, which I knew when I opened it. I put those in my bag in case I met him again, although it wouldn't be likely since my house is kinda far from there. The sudden encounter made me forget what happened the night before and I finally went to school in the end. After school, I did my usual patrolling around NYC as the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. As I was swinging around, my spidey sense tingled and I saw someone was thrown off to the road. I picked him away just in time before the truck hit him. I looked on his face and I recognized him as the guy from this morning. We landed on a nearby building. He was shy and panicky, kinda like me times three, or even more. I joked around to ease his shock, but he suddenly cried. I panicked and realized I didn't pick his things up from the streets. When I gave it to him though, he stopped and got embarrassed instead. I then remembered him crying this morning and asked him what happened. Turned out he was accidentally outed from his closet to his mom. That's rough I admit. We talked about other things too, to calm him a bit.

"Hey, I had a bad day today too, you know," I told him.

"Really? Was it about a stalker fan or something similar?" he asked as if I was a celebrity or something.

"No, no... that's not it," I laughed, "It's actually... because of my mishandling of a crime."

"W-what happened?" he asked, shocked at the turn of the event.

"I intended to save a lady and her daughter from the robbers, but because I was into the fight too much, she got shot," my voice croaked.

"Did she die?"

"No. But the baby inside her didn't survive."

"O-oh... that's unfortunate..."

"It's my fault. I should have handled it better."

"I don't think it's your fault," he looked at me, "If you didn't come then the mother and her daughter would have both died. You did what you can and prevented the worst case."

"...," I was speechless by what he said, "... I didn't even apologize to her husband and her and left them immediately."

"Well, I suggest you do it."

"What if they'll be mad at me or... or sue me? I'm not a super-rich superhero."

"Sueing is not gonna happen, I can assure you," he said, "But the thing is... apologizing is not only for them but for you too. No matter what the outcome is, at least a weight will be lifted off you. You are braver than me in a lot of ways so I know you can do it."