Cliff walks by Eloise's side after school. They have the same Nutrition and Wellness class and partnered up for a project to make a poster about the six essential nutrients. The two decided to go to Eloise's house because, well, his home is unpredictable and he says that it'll be safer to go to hers for her sake, so here they are on their way to Eloise's apartment. With Cliff by her side, she doesn't feel as threatened or anxious walking the streets of New York. She doesn't feel the need to clutch onto her pepper spray the entire time.
Cliff and Eloise approach Midtown. His eyes stay trained on the bright green fields and shiny metal bleachers, his face emotionless.
A million-dollar car with a freshman driver rolls by the two on the sidewalk. Cliff watches it pass by them.
"How do they have so much money?" He wonders out loud.
Eloise holds onto her backpack straps and shrugs. "I'm not sure." She kicks a rock and watches as it skids against the concrete. Her eyes lift when she sees shadows and she smiles at the sight of Ned and Peter walking over.
"Hey guys," Eloise says, smiling.
As Peter and Ned approach them, their eyes dart to Cliff towering over Eloise. They audibly gulp.
"Um." Peter clears his throat. "H-hi."
"Guys, this is Cliff," Eloise says, motioning to the tall boy at her right. Cliff nods at them, still void of all emotion.
Ned and Peter smile nervously at him. Well, Eloise gets it; Cliff's a big black dude and that makes people feel intimidated. But Cliff's a softie deep down, and he would never hurt a friend or a friend of his friends'. He holds friends closer than his own blood and considers friends family.
"Cliff," Eloise says, now motioning to the nerds in front of them, "This is Peter and Ned."
Ned lifts his hand and waves it awkwardly.
"Cliff will be walking with us today if that's okay." When she sees that the boys are still quite intimidated by her friend, Eloise smiles wider in assurance.
"Yeah," Peter utters. "S-sure."
The entire walk to the apartment building is tense. Well, only Peter and Ned are tense, but still. Cliff is his normal self and Eloise just tries to ease the tension by talking about random stuff about today, like how she got her hair stuck in her locker and cut it off because it was at an awkward angle and couldn't open it without breaking her arm. Or like how she fell asleep during a test and had it stick to her face when the bell rang, waking her up, and she didn't even fill out half of the questions.
Eloise nudges Cliff after a while and gives him a look. He furrows his brow, but then she points her eyes at Peter and Ned walking stiffly at her side, and he sighs.
"What a, uh, what a lovely day we're having?"
Eloise nods, encouraging Cliff to go on. He chews on the inside of his cheek, thinking.
"I mean, yeah. Good weather for soccer practice. Too bad our field is flooded." His deep voice is smooth as he somewhat-awkwardly attempts to make a conversation with the unfamiliar boys walking with him.
Ned's face reflects puzzlement. "But it hasn't rained in a week?"
"The pipes under the field bursted after someone clogged the toilet."
"Oh."
Cliff looks down at Eloise and raises his brow. She whispers under her breath, "Ask them about Star Wars."
Cliff has always been a fan of Star Wars, but never has anyone to talk to about it because none of his friends really care for the movies as much as he does. Maybe Peter and Ned would be the perfect people to talk geeky to.
"So," Cliff starts, clearing his throat. "Did you guys see the newest Star Wars movie?"
Peter and Ned's heads perk up. Peter glances at Eloise like she put Cliff up to something (which isn't false) and nods.
"Yeah. Have you seen it?"
Cliff scoffs. "Yeah. It was fucking amazing."
The boys talk about Star Wars the rest of the way to the apartments and even up into the hall in front of their doors. They even invite Cliff over to see their LEGO Death Star and Millennium Falcon before Eloise and Cliff start their project.
Once the boys are done with their obsessive conversation and Cliff and Eloise slide into chairs at her kitchen table, Cliff lets out a breath and meets her eyes.
Sincerely, he says, "I approve."
🕸
Eloise never really realized how much she walks the streets of New York. She has no car and never wants to pay for bus fare, so she guesses walking is the next best thing.
She's on her way to the library to meet up with Elena and Lucy for another study date. The sun is still shining, cars whizz by, and there's the usual buzz of New Yorkers treading the streets. She bumps into a few shoulders per usual, nothing out of the ordinary.
Eloise's phone buzzes in her pocket. She takes it out and looks at the screen.
Of course, it's just Lucy being impatient. Eloise starts to type a response real quick, but there's a blast and she's thrown to the ground. Her phone clatters to the sidewalk beside her body.
Screams erupt from all around. Fast footfalls, shrieks, people running over her. A foot stumbles over her leg as they sprint, a baby clutched tight against their chest in their arms.
For a second, Eloise is dazed; her vision is cloudy and her hands graze the concrete sidewalk.
Another blast. More thumps and screams ensue as people land on the ground.
"HELP!" A scream rips through someone's throat. "HELP!"
Coming to her senses, Eloise pushes herself up on her knees and look around frantically, wincing as she tucks her cracked phone into her pocket.
Her eyes widen.
Bloody, limp bodies. All around her.
Her head whips around at the sound of another blast, this time across the street. The blast cuts through her ringing ears and sends more people to the ground.
A man in a mask and large mechanical wings rises above like a dark angel. He points a gun at an injured citizen trying to limp to safety. Eloise quickly closes her eyes and looks away before she hears the gunshot and the sound of another body hitting the ground.
I'm going to die.
"Hey! Over here, asshole!"
Her head turns and there's Queen's friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, swooping in on his webs.
He aims and shoots a web out from his wrist. It attaches to the wing of the dark mechanical angel. Spider-Man rolls onto the ground and uses all of his strength to pull the villain out of the sky, his muscles strained.
The mechanical villain crashes with metal scraping against metal and tearing up the road, flipping cars. He immediately recovers and whips his wings around, trying to hit the hero. Spider-Man narrowly misses getting split in half and launches himself up into the air above the blades. He shoots another web at the bad guy and it sticks to his face.
The enemy distracted, Spider-Man uses his other wrist to shoot a web at the advanced pistol in his hands and rips it out of his grasp. He flings it over a building.
Spider-Man's opponent pulls the webbing off his face with his metal hand and whips out another futuristic-looking gun. He fires at Spider-Man.
The nimble character leaps out of the way just in time. The blast hits the building above Eloise, showering the street with rubble. She covers her head with her arms and dodges larger pieces.
As the two battle it out, Eloise runs for cover, stepping over dead bodies.
Her foot catches a body and she falls, hitting her head against the ground painfully. Eloise hisses in pain, but the physical pain is nothing compared to the pain she feels when she looks up and stares into the lifeless eyes of a child.
She scrambles to her feet and runs around the corner out of view of the hero and villain.
Sirens blare in the background. Helicopters hover above the sky scrapers. But they're too late; too many people have already lost their lives.
There's a loud crash and a grunt. Eloise peers around the corner, chest heaving.
Spider-Man peels himself from the windshield of a car and propels himself at the dark angel. The villain smacks him with its metal wings and sends him flying at the side of a building.
The breath is knocked out of Eloise. He isn't getting up.
He isn't getting up.
The dark angel aims his gun at Spider-Man.
But then his wrist shoots up at the last second and he pulls the weapon out of his grasp. Within seconds Spider-Man's in the air, on the villain, and then the villain's down with both wings ripped from the mechanical suit.
That's when the cop cars roll in.
Spider-Man runs away.
Going against her better judgement, Eloise follows.
Spider-Man runs into an empty alley with a dead end and leans against the brick wall, chest rising and falling rapidly. He grips his chest, and collapses to his knees.
Eloise rushes forward. "Hey," She says out of breath, gripping onto his bicep gently just in case he's hurt. "Are you okay?"
He fights for his breath. The breaths he takes are short and shallow. Eloise comes to the sudden realization of what's going on and kneels in front of him.
"Hey, hey, hey," She whispers frantically, her shaky hands gripping his face to make him look at her. "You're okay, you're okay. You got him."
He shakes his head, his breath quick and short in his throat.
Eloise makes him focus on her, forcing his head to face her straight on. "Focus on me. Breathe." The sirens wail louder and he turns to look, but she turns his head back. "You need to breathe."
He sucks in but nothing comes out. "Can't."
"You're going to be okay," Eloise repeats. As he clutches at the bottom of his mask, she gets an idea. "Take off the mask."
He shakes his head and starts to pull away.
"It'll help," She persists.
He doesn't respond for a beat, still shaking and hyperventilating.
Then, he rips it off.
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Attached Song: Human by Christina Perri
Also, I'm uploading a day late because I forgot to yesterday, if any of you were wondering
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