“Whoa, whoa, calm down” the woman said, inching towards me.
I backed away, pulling myself out from under the covers.
“Stay the fuck back” I warned.
“Hey, it’s ok, it’s ok. Mysterio’s not here. Everything’s fine. Just look at me” she said. I blinked, staring at her confused as she continued to inch forwards. Mysterio? What the hell was she talking about? I pulled back off the bed, stumbling into the middle of the apartment.
“Where the hell am I?”
“Your in your apartment, i-”
“My apartment? I don’t have an apartment. What is this? Who are you?”
“I’m your… girlfriend? We haven’t really put a label o-”
“I already have a girlfriend”
Her expression morphed from one of concern to confusion, then anger.
“Wait, what?! Lucas what the fuck?”
“How the hell do you know my name?”
"What?"
"My name. How do you know my name?"
She stared at me dumbfounded before getting off the bed.
“Are you trying to be funny? Is this one of your stupid pranks?”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I said. She stared at me, silent, and the anger left her expression, replaced by intrigue. She leapt over to me with an incredible agility, unbefitting of a normal human, and placed a hand on my cheek. I jerked away and stumbled, falling backwards. She caught me by my shirt, and furrowed her brow as her eyes searched my face. Then her expression changed, growing cold.
She pushed me backwards and I crashed to the floor. My spider sense began buzzing.
“How’d you find this place?” she said, raising her fists.
“What?”
“I asked you how the fuck you found this place” she said, her voice harsh.
“I- What?”
“Don’t play dumb. You’re clearly a clone. And a shit one at that”
“What the fuck? I’m not a clone”
“Cut the bullshit. You’re skinnier. And I thought you just had bed hair, but it’s just shorter. It’s pretty obvious now that I’m looking closer”
“Wait a sec. What the fuck is even happening right now?”
“Where the hell’s Lucas!?”
“Jesus, don't shout“ I said, picking myself up.
“I thought we got you all, but obviously not. Come for revenge?”
“No. I seriously have no idea what you’re talking about” I said, raising my hands in surrender.
My spider sense buzzed louder, and I ducked under a punch, before getting clocked in the face by an elbow. I stumbled back as she fired out a web and it caught me on the shoulder with enough force to yank my entire arm back and stick me against the wall. I stared at it confused before looking back at her, eyes wide as I clutched my nose. She had Spider powers. Holy shit. As I stared, her eyes narrowed and she lowered her fist.
“What the hell’s up with you? Did eating all those people scramble your brains?”
“I- wait what?”
Before she could give a response, everything shifted. For a moment my entire body crackled with energy, fizzing, as trying to pull away from reality itself. It was like my body was glitching. My atoms slammed into each other, grating against the rest of the world. Everything hurt and I cried out, my voice distorted. And then it was over. I breathed heavily, my mind fuzzy as it tried to work through the pain, and then my legs gave out. I fell to my knees Ow. That fucking hurt.
“What the fuck was that?” the woman asked.
“I don’t know” I mumbled. I let out a breath and rested my head against the wall to regain my composure. The woman looked at me with a mixture of apprehension and concern, fists raised once again.
After a short and awkward silence she spoke.
“Are you just… not gonna fight back?” she asked.
“No. I just want to figure out what the hell is happening?”
She stared at me, her expression shifting slightly.
“Don’t move. I’m gonna call someone”
“Alright” I mumbled, leaning my back against the wall. I watched as she webbed her phone from across the room. She quickly tapped away, before making her way to the other end of the room then placed the phone next to her ear. I turned away from her and looked around the apartment. It was mostly bare except for a few polaroid photos on the fridge and an Icon poster on the wall. Kind of dingy. I looked back to the woman who occasionally glanced at me as she whispered into her phone.
She seemed to recognise me, or at least a person I looked eerily similar to. No, it was more than that. She knew my name. What'd she said again? Something about being a clone that eats people? I’d been so confused I hadn’t really paid attention.
I sighed and shook my head. What was even going on? Was this some kind of super vivid dream? Or had Mysterio gotten to me? He was supposed to be in prison, but who knew. Maybe he’d broken out and used his mind tricks to ha. I glanced down at my hands. No. That didn’t explain the glitching. I didn’t know what to make of that. I looked around the room again then back at the web covering my shoulder. I didn’t know what to make of any of this.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
I let out another sigh and I just stood awkwardly, as I watched the woman speak in a hushed voice over the phone. Finally, she hung up and turned to me, narrowing her eyes again.
“Who sent you?” she said. This time there was less disgust and more confusion in her voice.
“Who sent me? Nobody”
“Just tell me the truth”
“I am. I literally just woke up here”
She shook her head in disappointment and went back to her phone tapping away. Suddenly I felt a wave of nerves, and a sudden keenness for my body and surroundings. My mouth was dry. Really dry. I looked back up at her as she glared at her phone.
“Uh… sorry but could I get a glass of water?”
She looked up and stared at me the intensity of her gaze only growing.
“N-never mind” I mumbled awkwardly.
She stood still for a few more seconds then sighed. Turning she made her way over to the kitchen area. She poured water into a plastic cup before turning back then hesitantly handing it to me.
“Thanks” I said, before taking a sip. She grabbed a chair and sat opposite me, arms crossed, and face set in a frown.
We sat in awkward silence before she scratched the back of her head.
“You’re really not gonna try and pull anything?”
“Nope”
“This is so confusing”
“I’m just as confused as you”
“I’m starting to get that. But seriously how did you even get in here?”
“I don’t know. I was sleeping in my dorm and then you woke me up”
“Dorm?”
“Yeah”
“Do you really expect me to believe that?”
“I don’t know what you want me to say”
She glared at me and I went back to sipping my water. I stared at the floor, thinking to myself. I looked back up at the woman, her gaze still filled with intrigue, confusion and a hint of anger
“Quick question, you said this was my apartment right?”
“Yeah?” she said, narrowing her eyes.
“Right. Where exactly are we?”
“Are you fucking with me right now?”
“No. I’m just trying to make sense of where I am”
“You seriously don’t know?”
I shook my head. She watched me closely for a second, .
“And you think this is my apartment?”
“Yeah. Well, it’s basically our apartment. Most of my stuff is here”
I looked around again.
“It’s pretty… bland”
“Well you decorated the place. Well the real Lucas did. God this is weird”
She leaned forward, inspecting my face again.
“This is so weird”
“You really don’t recognise anything?”
“Well, I’m pretty sure I have the Icon poster, but… nothing else really” I said, glancing at the photos on the fridge.
“Seriously? You don’t recognise that?” she said, pointing at a small helmet in the corner I hadn’t noticed.
“Nope”
“What about that?” she pointed at a baseball bat in the corner.
“I mean I’ve seen a baseball bat before, but I have no idea why I’d have one”
“It's signed. The gave it to you after you stopped that brick guy at a Northerns game”
“Northerns?”
“Do you seriously not even recognise this” she said, webbing over a t-shirt and holding it up.
I stared at. It was a t-shirt from the BRC. One for the 80 year anniversary. I re-read the lettering trying to make sense of it.
BRC
Celebrating 80 years of research
1946-2026.
“What the hell?” I mumbled.
“What?”
“The t-shirt. It’s… it doesn’t make sense”
“How?”
“The BRC doesn’t exist anymore. It can’t have had an 80 year anniversary”
“What’re you talking about?”
“G- my friend works there”
“Wait, wait, what? The BRC blew up years ago. Nearly four years ago”
“What? What’re you talking about?”
“The negative energy explosion?”
She stared at me blankly.
“Seriously? That was all over the news, like, everywhere. It was international”
“I don’t know what to tell you, but I’m pretty sure the BRC is still in one piece”
What? How could she not know about the negative energy explosion? it was one of the things to happen in New York. It’d sparked a global arms race just to try and reproduce it. What was I missing? Where the hell had she gotten that shirt? I needed to figure out more first.
“How long have I lived here? In this place?”
“Uhh… coming up on two years, I think?”
“Yeah… just to check, what year is it?”
“2027”
I stared at her lost for words. She thought I’d lived her since 2025? Since my 2nd year of highschool? That just… didn’t make any sense. I ran a hand through my hair, sighing. Things felt like they were only getting more and more insane.
A singular idea was dominating my thoughts, but I didn’t want to entertain it. The notion alone was absurd. But this situation was too. Unless I was having a really weird dream, it was one of the only things that made sense. But that was insane. That couldn’t just randomly happen, could it.
I pinched the bridge of my nose and took a deep breath.
“You okay?”
“Ok. Uh… let me think. If the BRC didn’t blow up then-” I froze, then looked up at the girl.
“Wait, do you even know who Peter is?”
“No. It sounds familiar though”
“But… you have Spider-Man, right?”
“Yeah”
“Who?”
She went to say something and paused, then frowned, glancing behind her. Someone suddenly leapt in through and landed on the floor gracefully. A woman in a hooded white and black spider costume stood glancing between us.
“Ghost, you’re finally here” the woman said, standing.
“Cindy. Lucas? What’s going on?” she said, reaching for her mask.
“Don’t” Cindy said, stepping forward and stopping her. “I don’t think he’s a clone, but he’s not Lucas. He’s been saying a bunch of weird stuff”
Ghost, the spider woman, frowned.
“Let me scan him” she said. Cindy stood back and Ghost stepped forward, quickly scanning me with something on her wrist. She pressed at the gadget on her wrist, then frowned staring at it.
“What’s wrong?” Cindy asked.
“Nothing. He’s normal” Ghost responded.
“Nothing? But he’s clearly different. Look at him”
Ghost stared at me.
“Oh yeah, your eyes are reversed” she said. I frowned. Did I know her? I’m pretty sure I didn’t. Weird.
Ghost turned back to Cindy, tapping her foot.
“Did you try call Lucas?”
“Yeah. Straight to voicemail”
Ghost crossed her arms and frowned, before looking back to me. She turned back to the woman, and they began talking to each other in hushed voices. I tried and failed to listen discreetly, before deciding to go the direct route. I needed some answers.
“Hey, can I ask a question?” I said. They both looked to me. “What the hell is going on?”
I was met with silence before Ghost stepped forward.
“You said the BRC blew up nearly four years ago. Was it in mid-October? 2023?”
“I- yeah. Yeah. I think so”
They both looked to each other.
“Why?”
“Shit. How did I not realise”
“Realise what?”
“I... that’s the same time as the massacre” Cindy said, glancing to Ghost.
“Massacre?”
“You don’t know” Ghost said her eyes widening.
“No. Can someone explain what’s going on? I’m just getting more confused”
“Where you involved in this explosion”
“W-what?” I said, the question catching me off guard.
“Where you at the BRC when you say it exploded”
“Y-yeah” I swallowed nervously.
“Can you tell me exactly what happened. What you remember from that day”
“W-with the explosion?”
“Yeah”
“I- uh… I there was a… I…” I stuttered, the memories flooding back to me. I went silent, my breath hitching in my throat.
“Lucas?”
“Sorry” I said taking a breath. “I was- I visited Dr Ricardo’s lab-“
“Dr Ricardo? You know Dr Ricardo?” Cindy asked.
“Y-yeah”
“Was he… doing anything weird that day?”
“Yeah. He… he’d lied to me. About everything. He used me to turn himself into a monster. We fought and I broke one of the machines… it exploded… a lot of people died” I mumbled. The two glanced at each other.
“Apart from the explosion, I don’t see the difference” Cindy said, shaking her head.
“Wait. Did you go to the BRC before he started killing people?”
“I- yeah”
They both looked to each other, then went silent. They stepped away for a second, discussing things between themselves in hushed whispers again.
I took another sip from my cup then set it down, my brow furrowed. From Cindy’s comment about differences, it seemed like they’d reached the same insane conclusion I had, or at least a similar one.
I was in some sort of alternate reality. A different timeline. A different universe.
But how? What did that mean? Could I even go home? What if I never saw Yerin again? What if I never saw my family? If this was different timeline, if the BRC hadn’t blown up, if everything was different then that meant my life would be completely unrecognisable. The people around me would have completely different lives. Would Quinten even play basketball? Would my sisters even exist? What about my Uncle? Would he even be dead?
My thoughts grinded to a halt, my eyes widening.
Amy.
I looked up at the two of them.
“Amy” I said, my voice shaky. “Is she… do you two know an Amy?”
The looked at each other.
“Do you mean Emi?”