Spider-Man : The Story of a Hero

New York — Cemetery — Morning

After spending the entire night in the cemetery, Peter finally regained consciousness several hours after sunrise. Still half-asleep, with a thin strand of drool at the corner of his mouth, he slowly opened his eyes before struggling to sit up.

His gaze immediately swept across the surroundings, and to his surprise, he found himself in the middle of dozens... no, hundreds of graves. Completely disoriented at first, he froze for a few moments before his eyes settled on one gravestone in particular.

His Uncle Ben’s.

The moment he recognized it, his agitation gradually faded, replaced by deep confusion.

— ”Uncle Ben’s grave...?”

Still just as perplexed, he looked around once more, hoping to spot someone who could explain why he was here. But the cemetery was completely deserted.

He was alone.

Absentmindedly scratching the back of his head, he wore an expression caught somewhere between confusion and bewilderment.

— ”...But what am I doing here...?”

He had absolutely no idea how he had ended up in this place. After a few seconds of thought, an idea suddenly crossed his mind.

— ”Could I be sleepwalking?”

The moment that thought formed, he lightly smacked his own forehead.

— ”No... How could I have come all the way here from ho—”

His sentence abruptly stopped.

For several long seconds, he remained motionless, desperately trying to remember what had happened before he woke up.

The harder he tried to piece everything together, the more an unsettling emptiness seemed to swallow his memories. Eventually, he almost whispered to himself:

— ”Wait... where was I before this?”

As he realized he couldn’t remember a single thing from the previous evening, his face tightened slightly. It wasn’t anger. It wasn’t fear either. It was more of a deep unease, accompanied by a nervousness he couldn’t explain.

Hoping to find some answers, Peter decided to summon his suit. As usual, he simply thought about Spider-Man, convinced the symbiote would respond immediately. Yet...Nothing happened. Complete silence. The alien didn’t respond. Peter tried several more times, but the result remained exactly the same.

— ”Hey, symbiote! You there?”

He gently tapped different parts of his body, hoping to trigger even the slightest reaction. Still nothing. At that moment, he didn’t even know whether the symbiote was still inside him or if it had simply disappeared.

That lack of response only deepened his confusion. Not only did he have no memory of what had happened the previous evening or during the night, but his mysterious black suit now refused to appear altogether.

With no other choice, he would have to go home like any ordinary civilian. Before leaving, he gave one last glance to his uncle’s grave, then slowly walked away from the cemetery, his mind overflowing with questions that had no answers.

As he walked, he absentmindedly pulled his phone out of his pocket and noticed he had received several messages from Gwen and Aunt May. Hoping they might help him reconstruct what had happened, he immediately opened them.

Unfortunately, they weren’t much help. Aunt May’s messages were simply those of a slightly worried woman who, despite believing he was at Harry’s house, just wanted to know if he was okay.

Reading them, Peter frowned slightly.

— ”Harry? I was at Harry’s?”

He then opened his conversation with Gwen and immediately realized that wasn’t the case.

She was simply explaining that if Aunt May asked about Harry, he had to play along, since that was the excuse she always used whenever he disappeared because of his... aerial activities. That didn’t give him any additional answers either.

Even so, he kept reading through the message, but the moment his eyes landed on Eddie’s name, his expression hardened slightly. Without even finishing it, he immediately closed the conversation.

He returned to Aunt May’s chat and simply replied that he was fine and would be home soon. Once the message had been sent, he slipped his phone back into his pocket and calmly continued on his way, still unable to understand what had happened to him the previous night.

Parker House — Early Afternoon

After a long trip alternating between walking and taking the bus, Peter finally made it home. As he pushed open the front door, he was already expecting to run into Aunt May and had even prepared the excuse Gwen had suggested.

Instead, the moment he stepped inside, he found his aunt fast asleep on the couch. The television was still on, but lulled by the quiet atmosphere of the house, she slept peacefully, a tiny strand of drool escaping from the corner of her mouth.

The sight brought a faint smile to Peter’s face.

— ”She looks like a little baby.”

Relieved to see her sleeping so peacefully, he let out a soft sigh. At least he wouldn’t have to explain himself, since she wouldn’t even realize he had come home.

He carefully closed the front door, then silently crossed the living room before tiptoeing upstairs to his bedroom. As soon as he entered, he walked over to his closet, where he had carefully hidden his suit.

He took it out and placed it inside the backpack resting beside it, then pulled out his spare web-shooters and fastened them around his wrists. The moment they were properly secured, he almost instantly felt a comforting sense of familiarity and relief wash over him.

— ”Walking around like that was really annoying. I feel so much better with these.”

But suddenly, a thought crossed his mind. He froze for a few moments before looking inside his bag and quickly checking its contents. His eyes stopped on his web-shooters, then on his brightly colored suit.

Since he had lost part of his memories related to the recent events, he didn’t even notice that his web-shooters had been replaced. However, as he looked at his suit, something immediately caught his attention. One essential piece was missing.

His mask.

It was gone.

— ”What the hell is this?”

Frowning, he immediately walked over to his closet and began searching through his belongings, but his mask was nowhere to be found. After several minutes of fruitless searching, he let out a sigh. Maybe he had simply left it somewhere else in his room.

Without trying to understand any further, he opened his closet once again and grabbed the mask from his classic suit. He figured he would probably find the other one later. He slipped it into his bag, now reassured that he at least had something to complete his outfit. Sure, it wasn’t the mask that matched his new suit, but it would do just fine for now. That thought was enough for him, and he quickly moved on.

A faint smile appeared on his face as he adjusted his backpack over his shoulders. Happy to finally have the equipment that allowed him to cross the city in minutes instead of hours, he left his room, quietly walked back downstairs, and crossed the living room once again.

Aunt May was still fast asleep. Peter gave her one last affectionate glance before leaving the house, gently closing the door behind him.

Once outside, he ran through the neighborhood for a few moments until he reached a secluded spot where no one could see him.There, he quickly put on his suit...Then immediately swung off into the sky.

TO BE CONTINUED.