Open Up The Ocean

Chapter Four

"How long have they been gone?" Peter squeaked, not looking at her.

"Uh," MJ checked her phone. "Nearly two hours now I think."

"It's dark now."

"Thanks, Sherlock." It was dark now, their only light source was a small camping lantern on the middle of the table in front of them.

"It's cold too," Peter looked up at her. "They should really be back by now."

"Why don't you call them, then?"

He nodded and got his phone out, calling Ned. His foot tapped on the ground as the ringing kept going for what felt like an eternity. Ned never picked up. Peter rang again, the same thing happened. Now he was scared, not just anxious, scared.

Ned always picked up, always.

Peter stood up from the chair and sent multiple texts to Ned, all of which went unreplied as he paced back and forth in front of the table. He tried calling Gwen too, only for the same thing to happen. He slapped his phone in his hand over and over, trying to convince himself everything was fine and he just needed to calm down.

But Peter trusted his gut, he knew something wasn't quite right but this time there was nothing he could do about it. How was he supposed to know where they were? The campsite was huge and not to mention all the different walking trails they could've gone on. He had his spider-sense but he wasn't a psychic.

"Michelle, something doesn't feel right." He stopped pacing and looked at her with wide, panicked eyes.

"What do you mean?" Michelle asked, knowing that if Peter felt something was off, it probably was.

"Neither of them are picking up their phone, it's dark, we're in a place we don't know, something is wrong and I don't know what to do."

"Peter," Michelle bit down on her lips, sucking in her cheeks. She wasn't one to lie, the whole situation was a bit sketchy even to her. "Give them another 15 minutes and if they don't call back or text or anything then we'll go look for them? Ok?"

Peter nodded and sat back down in his chair, his leg bobbing up and down. The next few minutes felt like an eternity. He checked his phone every few seconds to see if something came up, nothing ever did.

Michelle even found herself checking her own phone every now and then. In fact, she was finding it harder and harder to focus on her book. Not to mention, Peter being nervous made her nervous and she knew that if she showed any sign of nerves, he would get even more nervous.

After twenty minutes, the sun was well and truly set, the stars coming out to say a hello that Peter did not want to hear. He tried calling both his missing friends one last time before he stood up and grabbed a torch. "You have to come with me."

Michelle shrugged, knowing that it was probably for the best they stuck together. She stood up and wrapped the blanket around her shoulders, grabbing the lantern. Peter walked frantically off in the direction MJ pointed in, seemingly on the most important mission of his life.

"Peter-" Michelle huffed but cleared her voice and softened it at the worried glare he shot her. "Let's slow down, getting worked up is going to make it harder for everyone."

Peter sighed but Michelle was always right, always the voice of reason. So, he took a deep breath and slowed everything down. They walked side by side in silence, both checking their phones every few minutes just in case.

Michelle had never seen him like this before, so worried. She watched the way his jaw clenched and unclenched periodically and his head whipped around violently at the tiniest noise (and others that she probably couldn't hear herself.) Sure, she knew he was Spider-Man so he had an annoyingly great moral compass but she'd never seen him in any form of 'action.'