I walked quickly, glancing around at the people around me as they went about their days. My brain was racing, thoughts flying through my head at a million miles per hour. My breath was ragged, my hands shaking violently in my pockets as I looked around. I couldn’t tell if anyone was staring at me or not. I couldn’t tell if anyone knew. My senses were contorted, twisted. Every turn of a head, every raised voice, every moment of eye contact, the weight of every action blown out of proportion, sending my heart into overdrive.

I stumbled, tripping and falling to the floor. My knees throbbed as the world seemed to spin. Crap. I looked up, glancing around frantically. People looked to me but walked by without offering help. One lady held my gaze for a bit longer, and my heart jumped into my throat before she looked away, no sign of recognition on her face.

I pulled myself up slowly, and shoved my hands back into my pockets, bunching up my shoulders. With a bit more care, I carried on walking, keeping my head down as I made my way through the streets.

I’d taken off the costume now, but no matter what I did, my body was stuck in fight or flight. I was still paranoid somebody had seen me. After my insane stunt with the thief I’d run away. Booked it until I’d found an alley in some half empty street and rushed inside to change as quickly as I could. I’d never been so glad to put on a pair of jeans. Seriously. After that I’d waited. I’d waited and waited for the surreality of the situation to fade. It hadn’t. So I’d counted to three hundred, praying the entire time that when I stepped out no one who had seen Spider-Man rush into an alley would see me step out. Then I’d finally gotten the courage to walk back out into the street, and all I’d gotten were a few weird stares.

It was probably the colours of my outfit. It wasn’t everyday you saw someone walk out of an alley in a bright red leather jacket, jeans, and red hiking boots. But even knowing that I couldn’t shake the pit in my stomach, the growing sense of nausea that something was going to go terribly wrong.

I shook my head. No one had seen me. No one.

Probably.

I glanced around again and shuddered. I bunched my shoulders tightly. Dammit. What the hell had I even been thinking? I mean, sure I didn’t want to tarnish Spider-Man’s reputation by running away, but just charging headfirst into danger like that? I could’ve gotten hurt. I could’ve been killed! I cringed internally. I hadn’t even had a plan for stopping the robber. I’d just chased him through the streets, and when he’d pulled a gun out, I’d just thrown my bag at him and prayed he didn’t shoot me. I’d gotten lucky. I’d gotten so lucky it was insane. I was going to keep these boots for the rest of my life. I’d wear them everyday from now on. They’d help me do a good job of faking it as Spider-Man.

Well not really. People had to be asking questions. There must’ve been some footage on the web, and even if there wasn’t there had been a lot of people watching. I could see the twitter thread already.

Why hadn’t Spider-Man been swinging from building to building?

Why couldn’t Spider-Man dodge the bullets?

Why is Spider-Man been wearing a school bag?

Why is he so skinny all of a sudden?

Did he lose half an inch?

Is he sick?

I groaned. Even if the casual fan didn’t know much about Spider-Man, superfans would still be able to figure out it was a different guy. Tons of people had been filming me. All from different angles as I’d tied up the thief. I’d even high fived someone and done the signature thumbs up. That footage was online wasn’t it? I cringed then paused. Wow. Now that I thought about it, tons of people had been filming me. They’d filmed me catching a criminal as Spider-Man. Wasn’t this… kind of cool?

I shook my head vigorously. No. No it wasn’t cool. It was insane. This was insane. Sure, it would be kind of funny if no one noticed I was a totally different guy, but it’d also be seriously concerning. I mean I’d had no idea what the hell I was doing. Surely… surely someone would be able to tell right? I mean… they’d know. Right?

I stumbled again but caught myself on a streetlight and cursed. I needed to stop getting so caught up in my own thoughts and focus on walking. I was going to trip into the road at this rate.

With a small push, I stepped past the streetlight and continued walking. I made my way through the streets, part of the bustling crowds of people before turning off the main road and making my way towards my apartment building. I strolled in through the lounge, sparing a glance at the couple rifling through their mailbox, before stepping into the lift. Floor three.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

I stood in the lift, completely still, blankly staring at the cold metal doors. With a ding the lift came to a stop and the doors parted. Stepping out, I made my way down the corridor, walking slowly to the apartment. I fished out my keys and opened the door, stepping inside with a small sigh of relief. As I closed the door behind me, I saw the nanny peek her head around the corner, and followed Ryo, rushing into the hall.

“Yu’s home!” he said excited.

“I know Ryo, there’s no need to shout” Ms Stone said with a small smile. Ryo covered his mouth before rushing over to me, hugging my leg. I hugged him back as Ms Stone spoke.

“Ryo why don’t you get a head start on finishing the puzzle whilst I talk to your brother”

“Ok” he said, rushing back into the living room. Ms Stone made her way over to me, offering her phone.

“Your Dad’s on the other end. You should talk to him” she said. Crap. In all of this I’d completely forgotten Dad would probably call Ms Stone to check if I’d come home straight from school. I pressed the phone to my ear tentatively.

“Yu, why are you only getting home now?” he said firmly.

“Sorry, I got onto the bus to go climbing like usual and realised when I got there I was supposed to come home” I said.

“What took you so long to get home then? The bus ride back would’ve taken fifteen minutes max”

“I walked back” I responded quietly. He stayed silent. Even if it was half the truth, he hadn’t bought it. Crap. I should’ve walked home.

“Your voice sounds shaky. Are you alright?”

“Yeah I’m fine. Just tired” I said.

“Ok. We’ll talk when I get home” he said.

“Ok. See you later Dad”

“See you later Yu” he said. I pulled the phone away from my ear and handed it back to Ms Stone. She said a few words to my father and then hung up looking to me.

“Do you want to help Ryo and I solve the puzzle?”

“No thanks. I’m pretty tired” I responded.

“Alright. Well if you change your mind, we’ll be in the living room” she said warmly. I nodded and watched as she walked back into the living room.

I went to walk to my room but paused. I glanced into the living room listening as Ms Stone and Ryo giggled. I spared a glance at my dad’s door. It would take five seconds. It would take five seconds, and I could put my phone right back afterwards. Dad wouldn’t be home for at least half an hour.

Quickly and with slow steps I shot down the hall, coming to a stop right outside my dad’s door, before cracking it open and slipping inside. I looked around, searching for it before my eyes locked onto the top of Dad’s drawer. I snatched it off the table and quickly rushed back to my room. I switched the phone on, and frantically hopped around waiting for the apple logo to fade and the screen to come to life. It did, and with lightning-fast fingers I opened the phone, instantly going to twitter.

I searched quickly for the Spider-Man fan page I frequented and froze instantly. It was the first post. A video of me hi fiving someone, and then chest bumping someone else. I didn’t even remember the chest bump. I scrolled. Holy shit. Just more and more videos. There was even one of me sprinting down the street. I froze, my jaw dropping. Someone had even retweeted something the Bugle had put out. The tweet was praising Spider-Man. I clicked on the comments and scrolled through the thread. Holy shit. Everyone was praising me. They didn’t know. They didn’t know at all. No one was saying anything. How comes no one could tell it was obviously not Spider-Man? Why was no one mentioning the lack of web swinging?! Why was no one mentioning the lack of muscle?

I fell onto my bed, staring at the ceiling as my heart hammered in my chest. This didn’t make any sense. Did it? Didn’t it? Why did everyone think I was Spider-Man? Why was even the Bugle praising me?! This was insane. I sat up and looked down at my chest, unzipping the red leather jacket to look at the Spider symbol. My heart beat hard as I pressed my hand against the intricate detailed webbing of the suit, before stopping over the symbol.

I frowned, my heart slowing as I stared at my hand. I couldn’t understand it. I couldn’t understand anything right now. It felt like the ground had been pulled out from beneath my feet. Was the world really this blind? Could nobody else see what was clear as day?

I let out a heavy sigh, falling back onto my bed with my hands in my face. I was just Yu. I was just… normal. Not even normal. I was worse than normal. And the people of New York had cheered for me in the streets just because I’d been wearing the Spider-Man costume. None of this made any sense. None of it. I rolled over onto my side, opening my eyes and staring at the fibres of my duvet.

What had happened to the real Spider-Man? Why had he quit?

I closed my eyes again, breathing in softly. Was it this feeling I had right now? This fear of attention? The imposter syndrome. Probably not. He was actually Spider-Man. It was something else. But what? I didn’t know.

I rolled back onto my back. This didn’t feel all that real. I needed to talk to someone about this. But was that safe? What if they spread it about and through some twisted hand of fate people started thinking I was actually Spider-Man? What would happen to Dad? To Ryo? How would my life change?

I let out a sigh, before standing up, zipping my jacket shut and walking out of my room. I turned off my phone, quietly slipped into Dad’s room and left the phone on the drawer, exactly where I’d found it. I stepped out and made my way back to my room, my thoughts still a mess. I slapped my hands to my cheeks then let out a steady breath. Even if I had no idea how the world worked anymore, or what any of this meant for me, I knew one thing. I should stick to my original plan. Somehow, I needed to find Spider-Man, the real Spider-Man, and give him his suit back. I needed to convince him that he needed to take to the streets again. Something this powerful didn’t belong in my hands.

I closed my door behind me, drew my blinds, and quickly took off the suit, changing into my own clothes. With a sigh I picked it up and sat back down on my bed. I opened my blinds a crack, looking out over the street below then up to the sky.

Where are you Spider-Man?