imane morris

                          Sunlight shone through the glass windows of the apartment where the four sleeping tenets remained in the same positions as the night before. With the haze of sleep still threatening to lull her back into dreamland, Imane rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and caught a folded piece of paper sitting in a half-empty bucket of popcorn.

Although confused, she leaned over in avoidance of her sleeping friends who laid on her like a mattress and picked up the sheet of paper that read:

HUUUUUGE surprise for you when you wake up, text me !!!!!!!!!!  ~ P.P (no pun intended)

Chuckling at the comically large exclamation points Peter left her, Imane bit her lip and neatly folded the paper again. As she had done time and time again, Imane took on the role of cleaning. The system of sleepovers in the Dillon-Maxwell household was very uniform and worked perfectly for everyone.

Imane would clean the messes of the night before, Mitzi would cook everyone breakfast while pretending to be a working mother of three, and Yuri would help Runako with the homework he had no intention of doing otherwise. Usually, Maxwell would care for his mother before heading off for work but, unfortunately, the responsibility fell on Imane's shoulders today.

Upon being reminded of this she threw her head back and groaned, almost missing the ink-covered whiteboard hanging on the fridge. The writing spelled, "Got called in early, sorry :( Will call if anything changes :D I love youuu <3 "

Imane squinted at the scribbling writing and sighed at the familiar Sharpie that lay next to the sink. She shook her head and continued her cleaning frenzy as the others were just beginning to wake up and fall into their usual routine— Runako giving Yuri a lecture about why school isn't that important and how he should focus more on volleyball instead. With her back turned, Imane smiled to herself at his comment. Despite its reminder that if she ever said something like that in the presence of her parents she likely would've been emotionally dragged through concrete, Imane felt comfortable allowing herself to be happy that her brother would never have to live through the emotional torture and turmoil that was their parents—more specifically their mother.

"What are you smiling at?"

And just like that, she was on guard once more.

Snapping her head back to look at her grandma, Imane shook her head, her expression turned cold. "Nothing."

She collected the exact amount of pills and carefully walked them over to the elderly woman who reluctantly sat up in bed and snatched the water out of her granddaughter's hand, spilling some of the water on the bed. Imane sighed but didn't fight her on it.

As she watched her down the various pilled medications, Imane coupled over in striking pain and gripped the side of her head, an overwhelming need to vomit overcoming her being. Her pain wasn't voiced but by the grip she had against the old quilt that turned her knuckles a near-white color, it was apparent what was going on. Still, the senile woman didn't call for anyone. Instead, she watched.

Regardless of Imane's efforts to complete the breathing exercises recommended by her doctor, the pain became so all-consuming it forced her knees to fall and her nervous system to fall into a heavy panic. Her body doubled over on top of her grandmother who made no effort to check up on her, Imane's head now resting on her lap as her vocal cords finally ripped out a shriek of pain.

White hot flashes of a glowing...? Shining....? Electrical man. His skin colored a blinding blue as, what appeared to resemble wires, ran alongside the veins in his face. A moment back to reality came as no help when another wave of nausea hit and a flooding of memories past begged to drown her in the nostalgia she would never get back. Eyes shut so tightly her visions began to grow black and white bubbles dots that slowly built against the visions until only one remained, the scribbled writing on the kitchen's whiteboard.

Falling out of the visions with a choking gasp, Imane's eyes remained on the quilt that lay across her grandma's lap, both terrified of what was behind her eyes, and before them.

Slowly, her once tough-shelled and serious brown eyes now forced into the scared child she was-- is, lifted from the quilt and looked up at her grandma. Her eyes said nothing but her hand lifted to cup the girl's chubby cheeks, a trait from childhood that had yet to leave her and leaned in.

"It was her." Her breath fanned Imane's face. "This" her eyes referenced the moments before, "is all her fault. And you will pay the price, 'manie."

No response would ever be good enough for the torture that was simply knowing.

Knowing that she would know her nameless, she would know her blind and deaf, she would know her in life, and she would know her in death, forever. And it anguished her being as a whole.

Only a mother can make you feel this way.

Heavy footsteps rushed into the room as skinny hands wrapped around Imane's shoulders, causing her to drop back into their arms, her eyes never leaving her grandmother's but glossing over with pools of tears. Other voices attempted to reach her out of the dark place but only one managed to crack through.

"Imane? Imane, please, answer me." The young boy's voice cracked as he cried out to his older sister, shaking her in his arms on the verge of tears.

Blinking rapidly, Imane's hands drifted to the ones that held her and permitted greed to fill her lungs with more oxygen, the more it filled, the less she felt she had. Imane swallowed the lump in her throat and stood up on shaky legs, following Runako's encouraging voice out of the room, through the hallway, and back into the kitchen.

He pushed her to sit down at their tiny square dining table as Yuri and Mitzi sat down at the remaining two seats. For a minute, nobody spoke. All four of them looked at Imane in worry that she might break this time and held their breaths. Finally, the sound of metal hitting a plate caused their attention to move toward Mitzi who picked up a piece of scrambled eggs and held it up to Imane's mouth.

She gratefully took a bite, causing everyone to let out a unanimous exhale.

"Oh, thank god. I thought you were in shock, I am not that far in my medical training to handle that." Yuri said with a hand to her chest, standing up from the table to make her plate from Mitzi's cooking.

This broke the vast tension of the room and gave room for everyone to breathe comfortably again. Mitzi pushed the plate for Imane to eat on her own and stood up to make her own plate.

Runako leaned next to her shoulder. "I ate some of your bacon." When Imane gave him a confused look, he shrugged. "Had to clear my conscience."

She smiled at him. 

. ˚ ⚘ ˏ'۰ ˖* ℘

For the rest of that night, Imane remained homebound. She cleaned, cooked, ate, cleaned again, did extra credit homework, cooked again, ate again, and yet, thoughts still seemed to pop into her mind. No matter what she did, her brain attempted to therapize itself and question what exactly she witnessed in those visions. But the other side, the side she tended to agree with more, didn't even want the idea in its space. To let it blow away in the wind was obviously the best course of action after such a traumatic event. To put it simply, Imane was tired of remembering.

Pacing back and forth in her room thinking of things to occupy herself with only lasted so long and her salvation came in the phone of her phone ringing. She nearly defied physics with how quickly she picked up the phone and checked the caller ID, finding two names displayed back to back. Peter and Max.

She hesitated but chose Max's call.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Imane. How's your day been, sweetie?" His kind voice asked through the phone, a small hint of sadness behind them.

"Not very good, but-"

"Oh? What happened? Did you seize again? Are you okay?"

"No, no just..., it's nothing serious. Seriously." He hummed on the other line, unbelieving of her words. "But, um, what'd you call for?"

"Oh, yes, uh...I kinda have to stay late tonight, sorry."

"Oh, come on, no way. It's your birthday, they can't make an exception just this once?"

"You said that last year and, no. Schmidt said I gotta stay to fix something in electrical because I'm "special" A chill ran down her spine.

"...Electrical?" She mumbled, barely hearing herself.

"Yep."

"Uh, c-can--" She cleared her throat. "Be careful, okay?"

"Always. Are you sure you're alright?"

"Mhm. Just be grateful I don't run down to Oscorp and shove my foot up Schmidt's ass." Imane threatened, smiling to herself at Max's infectious laughter.

"I don't think you want your foot anywhere near Schmidt's ass."

"You're right. It might be too preoccupied with the stick that's already there."

Max let out a chuckle of disbelief. "I'm hanging up now. Before you get me fired."

"Alright, alright." She sighed and paused for a minute, pulling the strings on her sweater. "I love you, Uncle Max. You know that, right?"

Though she couldn't see it, she knew he was smiling. "I'll always know, you don't have to tell me. Do you know I love you?"

"Always."

"Good. I love you, Imane. See you later." The line went dead.

Letting out a disappointed breath, Imane threw herself on her bed and put a pillow over her head, moaning in annoyance when the ringing began again. She blindly searched for the device with her hand and put it on silent, throwing it across her bed without looking at the caller ID.

Right when she thought peace was approaching, a knock on her window had her sitting up excitedly in her bed, knowing who the culprit is.

Imane skipped toward her window and pulled it open for her spider boy to stumble very uncoordinatedly into her bedroom. Once he stood up straight, he forced his book bag behind his back and pointed an accusatory pointer finger in her face.

"You dodged my call."

"I did not." She denied it stubbornly.

Peter raised an eyebrow at her. "No? You're gonna deny it when I saw you put it on silent with my own two eyes?"

She shrugged bashfully with her hands in her back pockets and smiled innocently at him. "Come on, man, it's been a rough 8 hours, and I don't particularly like spiders in my room at this time."

"Oh? Oh, so I should take these gifts back? Fine by me." He jumped his shoulder and walked around the girl, careful to keep the bag behind his back.

"Woah, woah, hang on there." Imane pulled him back into her by the loop of his jeans as he'd done the day before. "I said spiders, I do like the spider-boy that keeps crawling through my window with gifts." At this angle, she only slightly had to tilt her head to look up at him, their noses so close together one might think they've just pulled away from a kiss.

"You mean you like the gifts he brings you?"

"That too." The two laughed at each other.

"Ah, it's okay. I am at your service, madam. Request anything of the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man  and he shall bring it all to your feet." He half-joked.

"Anything I want?" Imane questioned, tilting her head to the side.

"Anything you want," Peter confirmed, his eyes flickering between her captivating eyes and lips, enticing him in like a sailor to a siren.

She pretended to think about it for a second. "Hmm, I want...whatever it is you're hiding behind your back."

He blinked, as if forgetting he had something, to begin with, and chuckled to himself. First, he held out a small brown bag with grease leaking through.

"Empanadas." Imane gasped at his words and grabbed the bag from his hands gently, peaking through the wide opening to smell the delicious scent it radiated.

Peter smiled shyly at her excited state and reached into his bookbag to hold out a now-crumbled bouquet. He pressed his lips into a thin line, allowing his dimples to show through as he held them in front of her.

Her eyes lit up even more as they looked between the flowers and the boy. "Peter this is...how...why-"

"Yuri told me you had a bad day and crime was pretty minimal in our area, so..."

Imane sucked in a deep breath and willed herself not to cry. She didn't trust her voice and instead stuffed her head into Peter's chest, allowing the distinctive earthy scent of a day's hero to brush away her unfallen tears. Peter rested his chin over her head and let one of his hands brush the back of her hair while the other one rubbed her back.

"I know we're not...officially anything but, just know that I'm always here when you need me. Always. Forever. As long as you need." Peter mumbled, kissing the top of her head.

Imane sniffled and pulled away from the hug slowly, her eyes meeting his in desperation. "Peter I...I saw something. I saw something and I'm scared."

AUTHORS NOTE
inspiration really comes once in a blue moon
for this book I am so sorry y'all. On the bright
side I am OBSESSED with this chapter which I started writing in a random burst of inspiration
bc of an edit so here it is!
tell me what you think ab this chapter or certain
scenes in general cause it really keeps the
motivation going. The next chapter won't take nearly as long to come out, I just gotta rewatch TASM2 and write Imane & co into the scenes. Adios!