"It means that this was no accident."
.......................................................................................................................
Click.
Click, click, click.
Click, click, click, click, click, click.
I click my pen repeatedly as my class continues to drag on, my mind somewhere completely else.
Why would someone try to kill Melissa and her mom?
It wasn't making any sense. Melissa and her mom were completely normal people, just going about their normal business. Why would someone try to kill them? Was the person, whoever they are, just targeting people randomly?
Then I realize; this isn't the first time something bad has happened to Melissa and her mother.
That incident a few months ago, when the armed men tried to kidnap Melissa.
Just a coincidence maybe?
No, in all of my experience, there is no such thing as coincidence.
There has to be a connection.
But why Melissa? Surely there's nothing they could want from a little girl, is there?
Maybe they were trying to force Melissa's mom into doing something by kidnapping her daughter?
It just doesn't add up.
I anxiously stare at the clock as I wait for my final period. As soon as gym class is over, I can go meet with Spider-Boy and we can figure this whole mess out.
But I have to make it through the day first.
Click, click, click, click, click.
Finally, the bell rings.
Rushing, I pack up my things into my bag. Slipping it over my shoulder, I speed walk to the door and down the hall.
I'm so completely out of it, that I'm not paying attention to what I'm doing, and I end up completely running into someone's back.
"Easy there, (Y/n). You okay?"
I look up into Peter's brown eyes and grin. "Oh good, it's just you."
He raises his eyebrows and tries to look offended, but fails as a small chuckle escapes his lips. "What do you mean 'just me'? Am I not important enough for you anymore, Miss Bad-ass Inventor Queen?"
"You forgot the extraordinaire," I tease. Then I genuinely smile. "You'll always be important to me, Peter."
He grins back at me and blushes faintly. "Shall we head off to gym then?" He asks, with an attempted British accent.
I laugh and say with my own British accent, "we shall."
We walk to gym together, running into MJ and Ned along the way.
"Only twenty-four days until Christmas!" Ned chirps excitedly. (Sorry if you don't celebrate Christmas, it's just a thing I'm doing in later chapters and for the sake of the story. Sorry)
"Only twenty-three days children have to wait for a fat man in a red suit to break into their homes and eat their food," MJ comments.
Peter and Ned look at her with a 'wtf' expression as I laugh.
"May's holding a Christmas party again. You guys should come." Peter says.
"A party?" I repeat.
"Yeah! She's held one every year on Christmas Eve. They're always so much fun!" Ned exclaims, grinning widely.
"They really are. You guys should come," Peter says to MJ and I, but looking mostly at me.
I smile. "I'd like to. I'd have to check with my family first, though. I don't know if they have plans or not."
"Well, if they don't, I'd love to see you there," Peter comments, blushing even more.
MJ and Ned share a knowing look.
What's that about?
Whatever. They're always like that.
"Yeah, I really hope I can come."
........................................................................................................................
"Hey, Bug-Boy."
"Arachnid."
"Web-Head, then."
He chuckles as I sit down beside him.
"I talked to the police department. Melissa's mom, her name is Vanessa, by the way, is in the hospital. She will be for the next couple of days." He says.
"And Melissa?"
"Staying at her grandmother's." He yawns. "They said that she's in stable enough condition for us to talk to her though."
"Great, because we need to find out why someone's trying to kill her before they get a chance." I say, cracking my knuckles.
He yawns again. "You really think someone's trying to kill her specifically?"
"I know it sounds crazy, but think about it. This isn't the first time something bad has happened to them."
Spider-Boy turns, facing me. "You mean, like that time Melissa almost got kidnapped?"
"Yeah. I know I wasn't a superhero then or anything, but I saw it in the paper."
"I mean, that could just be a coincidence." He points out.
"In my experience, there's no such thing as coincidences."
He thinks about it for a moment, before saying, "...how'd you know it was her?"
"How'd I know what was her?" I ask, puzzled.
"Melissa. How'd you know that she was the one that almost got kidnapped? I remember getting that article. It never says her name, and the only ones there were (Y/n) and myself."
It doesn't?
Shit.
"She, uh, she told me. After we saved her from the car, she started rambling stories to me," I lie.
Did he buy it?
Play dumb!
"Who's (Y/n)?"
Not that dumb!
"Oh, she's the girl that helped me save Melissa that one time." He says, completely oblivious.
"Oh...are you two close?"
"Erm..." He pauses to think about it. "Is she close with Spider-Man...not really? I mean, we've talked a few times, and I've rescued her quite a bit, but I don't know if that makes us close?"
I nod. "Okay, but you said she isn't close to Spider-Man. Does that mean she's close to the guy under the mask?"
"We're getting off topic."
I raise my eyebrow, but say nothing.
"No, no we're not." He says, looking away.
"Okayyy.....When can we go see Vanessa?"
"Uh, now?"
"Seriously? What are we sitting around for?! I have a curfew! Let's go!"
He laughs and helps me to my feet after standing up himself. Then he wraps an arm around my waist, pulling me close to his body.
"Um, what are you doing?"
"I have to web sling us there."
"I could get there myself," I point out.
"Do you know the way to Queens' hospital?"
"...No, but I could always just follow you."
"This way is easier. Come on, I don't bite."
"I do."
He laughs and starts to swing away. I wrap my arm around his neck so I don't fall off.
...........................................................................................................................................
"Excuse me, miss? You have some visitors here to see you." The nurse says. He smiles as he gestures for us to follow him into the room. "She's free to talk, but she needs to stay in bed."
"Roger that," I say as I sit down in the chair next to the patient's bed.
Spider-Boy leans against the wall behind me as I smile at the lady.
She shifts slightly from her position, trying to sit up a bit more. She wears a hospital gown, with her curly red hair tied up in a ponytail.
"Hi," I greet. "It's Vanessa, right?"
She nods. "You two are the ones that saved my daughter and I, aren't you." She says it as more of a statement than a question.
I nod and her eyes start to water. "Thank you. Thank you for saving my baby. Oh, Melissa, I don't know how I'd ever live with myself if something happened to her."
"Of course. Your daughter is a remarkable young girl." Spider-Boy says. "How are you doing?"
"Me? Oh, I'm fine. The doctor said that I'll be able to leave in a few days. She just told me that I'd still need to take it easy for a while afterwards."
"That's great." I comment. "Listen, Vanessa. There is another reason why we're here. We need to know what happened that day."
"Oh? I'm not really sure. I must've just been distracted and lost control of the wheel, I think." She says, gazing out the window.
"Had you seen anything suspicious, that day?"
She turns to me with her eyebrows furrowed. "No. Why do you ask?"
I turn back to Spider-Man, who nods, before I continue. "The accident wasn't your fault."
She sits up straighter. "What do you mean?"
"We found bullet holes in your car tires."
"..."
"You're sure you haven't seen anything suspicious, anything at all, even before the incident? Before they tried to kidnap your daughter, even?" Spider-Boy asks, walking closer.
"N-No. They couldn't have been trying to...to kill me specifically. They must've just picked a random car..."
"Some thugs tried to kidnap your daughter a couple months ago, and now they tried to kill you both." I state. "I need you to think harder."
"It could be just a coincidence! Why would anyone try to kill me? I haven't done anything wrong!"
"Did you maybe see something you weren't supposed to see? Someone could be trying to eliminate all evidence. Or maybe it's just vengeance. Have you made any enemies recently?"
"No! Why are you asking such prying questions? I'm innocent!"
"I believe you, Vanessa," I tell her, looking her straight in her electric blue eyes. "But I also believe that someone tried to kill you and I need to know why."
"I. Don't. Know. Why!" She exclaims.
I lean back in my chair, studying her panicked expression. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. I'm just trying to get to the bottom of this, so no one gets hurt." I turn to Spider-Boy, who is now standing directly behind my chair. "Could you maybe go get us some water? Or would you maybe prefer coffee, Vanessa?"
She takes deep breaths to calm herself down. "Water is fine, please."
"Uh...sure." He shoots me a suspicious look, which I can tell even under his mask, and goes into the hallway to fetch some water.
I turn back to Vanessa once he's out of the room. "Listen, Vanessa. I know this is scary. Believe me, I know. I promise I will do everything in my power to help you, but I need you to help me first."
She stared at me in silence.
"Nothing you tell me will leave this room, if you don't want it to. I won't tell anyone other than Spider-Man, because he works with me. It would be easier if we could tell the police, but if you don't want us to, we won't. But we need to know."
She starts to tear up and bites her lip. "I'm sorry..."
"Listen, I get it. You're a grown woman. You can take care of yourself. You don't want others, especially teenagers running around dressed in costumes, in your business. I get that. But you aren't the only one at stake here. Someone tried to kidnap Melissa. If Spider-Man didn't show up in time, they would've succeeded. And Melissa could've died in that car crash. Or something could've happened to you, and then your daughter would be without a mother. We need to stop whoever is trying to hurt you, before Melissa gets seriously hurt, or worse."
Vanessa puts her face in her palms and starts to cry. Spider-Boy appears in the doorway and I rapidly shoo him away.
"There was this man..." she chokes out. "This was such a long time ago, I-I didn't think it mattered. No one cared then, so I didn't expect them to now..." She sobs.
I place my hand on her leg gently. "Go on."
"W-When I was seventeen...this man....he, he cornered me in an alleyway..and he..." She sobs again. "He raped me. I became pregnant with Melissa when I was seventeen."
I gasp. I always knew Melissa's mom was young, but I didn't know she was that young. She couldn't have been older than twenty-four.
"That's horrible," I say, squeezing her leg.
"I-I wanted to go, and sue him and everything, but he...he t-threatened me. He threatened to kill me and Melissa if I ever told anyone!" She starts weeping even harder. "S-So I didn't tell anyone! He just...he just got away with it!"
"I-I love my daughter," she continues. "It doesn't matter that she came from the worst experience of my life, I love her. But it's been so hard. I'm a single mom, twenty-four, I wasn't even able to go to college because I had to stay home to take care of her! And I was never able to tell anyone! Not even my own mother! I was called slut, and whore and a bunch of unbearable names that followed me all throughout high school! I barely graduated! And I couldn't tell anyone!" She sobs and I console her, open-mouthed with horror and disgust. Not by her, but by what the man did to her and got away with it.
"Six years later, I tried to make peace with it. The way society is, he probably would've gotten away with it anyway! I-I didn't think..." She started hiccuping from all the crying. "I just got so sick of not being able to answer people when they asked me who the father was! I wasn't able to say anything! Not even to my own mother! She thought I didn't trust her! For such a long time...." She took deep steady breaths to calm herself down. "I thought after six years, I was fine. That he had forgotten all about me, and that I would be fine. It had been six years...So I went to see my mother. I wanted to tell her. I told her everything..."
"When was that?" I ask gently.
"A few months ago...right before they tried to kidnap Melissa."
"..."
"I-I told myself that it was just a coincidence. No way he could've heard me. Not in my mother's dining room, of all places! But then this happens..." She shakes her head. "I can't let him hurt my daughter. I can't."
"He won't. I promise you that. I swear on my life I will not let him kill Melissa. I won't." I swear. "Do you know his name?"
"Maxwell. Maxwell Davis. But please, he can't know I told you."
"I'll take care of it. Thank you, Vanessa. Get well soon."
I smile gently at her before walking towards the door. I stop before I leave and turn back to her. "Vanessa?"
"Yes?"
"You are one of the strongest women I know. And believe me, I know plenty of strong women. But strength isn't always about who has the biggest muscles, or who can lift the heaviest thing. Strength is something that is inside of you. It's what allows you to wake up and take on the day, even when everything is against you. It's what causes you to keep pushing through, even when you just want it all to end. Men are wrong. We are not the weaker gender. Our strength just comes from inside us. To have to carry that burden with you for so long...to have to survive something like that...I don't think I would be able to handle it. Thank you, for being so strong. If your daughter grows up to be just like you, she will be wonderful."
She looks up at me with teary eyes. "Thank you."
"Thank you."