Spider-Man: No Place Like Home

I didn't know I could ruin a spell THIS bad

Rrrrrring... rrrrrringgg...

I feel like I got hit by an 18-wheeler.

I reach my hand to the table where my phone was left, nearly vibrating itself off the table. I turn off the alarm, flinching at the light peeking through the curtains and straight into my eyes.

I stood, my knees cracking like an out of tune radio. "Son of-" Turning my head, my neck cracks, and I sigh against the pain. My every limb feels heavy as I open up my laptop, still blaring the last webpage I was on.

Jay was still yelling something about Spider-Man and his identity as I closed the window, happier in the absence of his voice.

"Oh, shit." I mumble, glancing at the time. "Lily." I realize that I need to run to the mall and pick up that t-shirt for her. Damn.

I didn't expect to feel like death after that spell, but I'd just have to ignore it.

~~~

"I'm sorry." The teller says, looking at me in confusion. "I don't know what that is?"

"I'm sorry, my friend Marisol put it on hold for me. It's just an I 'heart' Peter Parker shirt." I sigh softly. "Could you please just check again?"

"Alright ma'am, it'll just be one moment."

"Thank you." I smile, then pulling out my phone to text Mari.

Me
Hey, where's that shirt you
put on hold for me to get Lily?

Mari 💛
Uhh... I think it's
at Fye.

Me
I'm there rn! They're
saying they don't have it ??

Mari 💛
I'm looking at it on
their website right now!
I ❤️ Spider-Man Tee

Me
Oh, I thought it was a Peter
Parker shirt. That's on me.  

Mari 💛
Who?

"I'm sorry miss, no shirt on hold that matches that description." The employee offered a sympathetic smile.

"No that's my bad, it's a Spider-Man shirt."

"Oh!" She nods. "Yes, of course, I'll get that for you."

I glance back to my phone.

Mari 💛
Who?

Who??

Me
What do you mean?

Mari 💛
Who is Peter Parker?

Me
Spider-Man ?

Mari 💛
Wait what? Since when?

Me
Uh... always, I guess? We
were just talking about it  yesterday!

Mari 💛
Maybe you're a little
messed up from that spell

Me
This is gaslighting.

Mari 💛
I swear I have no idea what
you're talking about.

"Here's that Spider-Man shirt for you, miss."

"Oh-" I finally look up from my phone, shaking the confusion from my head and tucking it away. "Right, thank you so much."

On the walk back to the subway, I pull out my phone and do a quick google search for Peter Parker.

Only, nothing shows up. Facebook searches, a Twitter account. Nothing about Spider-Man.

This doesn't make any sense.

I try everything. I even search Jay Jonah Jameson's latest episode.

"If Spider-Man was really a hero, he'd unmask himself and tell us who he really is. Because only a coward conceals his identity. Only a coward hides his true intentions."

But he already was unmasked. I remembered him. Peter Parker. He went to that smart kid science school or whatever, and his girlfriend was way too pretty for him. There was that weasel that followed him around and wrote a book about him, too. And his friend, Ned.

So why didn't anyone else remember him?

"Excuse me-" I pause in front of a stranger, with a buzz cut and bright red hair "Do you know who Peter Parker is?"

They shake their head and look back to their phone, unbothered by my presence.

"Awesome. Thank you."

This whole thing was... weird. There shouldn't be so much confusion surrounding him. I know he was real. I wouldn't remember him if he wasn't.

Me
Meet me at my place?

Mari 💛
Be there in 20.

~~~

"So. You are the only person in the world who knows who this Peter guy is?"

"Well." I pause and set my mug down on the table. "I don't know, I haven't asked everyone in the world. But it seems that way."

I pull up my laptop. "He's scratched from the internet, from your memory. Even that silly shirt I got Lilly. It was supposed to say "I love Peter Parker.", not Spider-Man."

I turn my screen toward her, web history documenting my search for someone who didn't exist. Like I was scouring the world for a ghost.

"Maybe it's like that Mandela effect thing!" She offers, her hands out and expression hopeful.

"Okay, maybe. But no one else seems to know he exists."

She deflates "Well, yeah. There's that." Mari thinks for a second, and laughs a bit. "I mean, I bet he knows he exists."

It all clicks in that moment. "Oh my god, of course."

She was already back in her phone, having to glance up at me as she takes a sip of tea.

"He knows he exists, Peter would know he exists!"

"Right, but how do you even know if he does exist? Maybe we didn't just forget him. Maybe he's... gone."

I think about it for a moment, pulling my laptop in front of me.

"Only one way to find out!"