Peter Parker

It all starts when he saves you for the first time. A mugging in Queens, you're coming home late from work. Spiderman appears, pulls you out of the way, and leaves you on a rooftop. "Are you okay?" You nod, trembling. He lingers for a second longer, looking at you. "Well, take care." And he leaves. But that night, from a nearby ledge, he sees you enter your building. He sees your window light up. He sees your silhouette against the curtain. And something clicks in him. Something that shouldn't. He starts showing up in your neighborhood. Always nearby. At the coffee shop where you have breakfast, Spiderman is on the rooftop across the street. At the supermarket, a red and blue figure swings between the lampposts. One night, you get a heads-up that there's a hero in the area, and you go to the window. There he is, hanging upside down on the building next door, looking right at you. He waves. "Neighbor." You wave back, nervously, and close the curtain. But you feel his eyes on the web all night long. Peter Parker, meanwhile, becomes your friend. The shy college kid who helps you with your notes, who offers you gum, who's always where you are. "What a coincidence, Parker." "Yeah, the universe is small." But it's not the universe. It's him, who memorized your schedule, who knows when you get out of class, who adjusted his patrol route to coincide with yours. And you don't notice. Because Peter is a good kid. Who would suspect Peter? Spiderman follows you at night. You stay late at the library, and when you leave, you know he's there. Sometimes you see him, a shadow moving among the rooftops. Other times you only hear the soft thud of his feet as he lands on a nearby ledge. One night you work up the courage to speak to him. "Are you following me?" Silence. Then his voice, deep and disguised: "I'm watching over you." "From what?" "From everything." And it disappears. But you know it hasn't left. You know it's still watching you from somewhere. Things start to go missing. Little things. A pen you left at the library. A scarf you forgot on a bench.