Spiders On Water

Maze of Lies

Mj woke up at the crack of dawn, only because of how early Peter & her went to bed. The clock on her phone read 6:14 AM. 

Mj looked over at her boyfriend, he was sound asleep. His lips were drooping apart, his eyes were squinted shut, & his eyebrows were furrowed. His legs & arms moved ever so slightly, his head jerked back & forth as whatever he was dreaming of continued. 

Mj didn’t bother to wake him, even though he was jerking around in his sleep, Mj could tell that he was sleeping peacefully. 

Besides, Peter usually slept like this anyway, although Mj’s ankle remembers his kicks being a lot harder than what he seemed to be doing right then. 

She got out of the bed, slowly & quietly to not wake Peter. She had to be really careful, even if the water hit the room a little harder than it did before than Peter would wake up. 

Making her way to the small table that sat outside of the room, Mj sat down enjoying the morning breeze. 

Mj checked her phone as she stood out next to the table on the deck. Like usual, May was the only person who had texted her, 12 times to be exact. 

Mj scroll through the messages, she was kind of dodging May’s calls & texts so she wouldn’t have to explain what was going on. May had no idea that Peter had even known that Mj used to be pregnant, so she couldn’t ask him about it. 

But unlike most adults in Mj’s life, or the ones that used to be, May wasn’t freaking out at Mj for ignoring her, she just asked, “ How are you doing?”, or, “What’s going on?”, & “Does Peter know yet?”

She wouldn’t respond, because she knew if she did that she was going to have to explain to May what happened & she didn’t want to recall that whole experience. 

But tears flushed to Mj’s eyes anyway. Peter was right, she didn’t feel any better than yesterday & all she wanted to do was curl up into a ball & cry all of these feelings away. 

She reread May’s last text: 

May: How are the 3 of you doing? 

Mj couldn’t lie to May, May was the one that took her in when Mj was the most vulnerable & without anyone. May didn’t freak out when she told her, she just listened & understood that mistakes happen. May was absolutely amazing to Mj, everything she wanted in a mother. 

Mj typed everything out. Starting from when Peter figured it out, to his reaction, to the hospital visit, & the moment they both found out what happened & what caused it. But Mj couldn’t send it, she wouldn’t let herself. 

She quickly erased all of it, but didn’t want to worry May by ignoring her once more. So Mj gave her the truth, gave her a short answer. 

Mj: Not good

Mj starred at the blank screen before turning it completely off, with no notification, no way she would have to answer the millions of questions May was going to respond with.

She seated herself for a few seconds before she heard the faintest of knocks at the door. 

Confused, Mj got up & made her way to the door. When she opened it, she didn’t expect to see Harley standing behind it. 

Mj opened her mouth to talk, but Harley started speaking first. 

“I saw that you were up, I figured Peter would be too & that you guys would want to talk”, Harley whispered, he noticed Peter was asleep in their bed, spread out & face down into the pillow.