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THE BOY
His feet thundered as he ran. They were coming. The webs broke around him in wispy strings that usually shone like silver in the moonlight, yet just barely glowed the palest pink tonight. He would stop and admire, but this was not any other night, and they were coming with a vengeance and out for blood that any other day would be someone else's, but tonight, his. For any other person, the webs would scratch and slow down, but he had grown up with these woods and these webs. He and the others would play and play on them, in them, around them; the allure of the webs pulled them in as if the strands were drugs. In a way, they were. The people in the woods didn't know at first that these webs would bind them to it. It gave them everything they needed and endless power; the people just had to keep the outside world from knowing about the creature.
He panted, knowing his mom would lecture him about that later, but he wasn't safe just yet. It had just activated, everything slowed, then they ran past him, almost as if he were invisible. He knew one wrong move and they would know all that timing would be for nothing, so he climbed and let his instincts and the webs guide him. He knew the way through the medium coverage at the top of the trees, and he could see the faint glow of their village. He trudged on quietly and briskly, knowing they were still there. Just beneath. Even one wrong step in this well-traversed area could lead to them sending their It. His heart finally slowed. He was close to his hut when the ache hit dull like a tummy ache, but all over. He knew this would happen; the creature had told him so. He trusted it. He needed to hurry and give the extra away to someone else, and he knew the perfect person.
He climbed through his window, not quietly at all. His mom already knew he was gone, plus sneaking in would not help him plead his case. He thumped onto his bed, tired, hot, and sweaty. He needed a shower as he started pulling off his shirt. His door opened, startling him a little bit. His mom stood by the door with a baby, not his brother, though. She just stood, didn't stare; her olive green eyes wandered, searching almost for what, he didn't know.
“Taz,” she said, “what happened ,are you ok, did it work “She was nervous, but she cared; she knew the pain and the pressure; she had done it before
“I’m ok,” he said softly. That was all she needed before she pulled him close with a hug. She could get the details later; right now, her son needed her. After his shower, he jumped into his bed and texted a girl, soon to be the girl: “wanna hang out tmr”
WEBER
I hit the ground with a hard thud, my back screamed in pain, and my head shook hard. The heavy pressure pushed the air out of my lungs.
“Get your fat self off me,” I wheezed out.
“Not fat, just very muscular, ” he said as he stood over me, offering his hand. His blonde hair glowed in the light, his face backlit, obscuring his features.
“Tackling me in the middle of the hallway, Taz, you must be in love with me or something,” I scoffed, my voice neutral as always. I grabbed his hand and pulled myself up. I dropped the bag that hung on my shoulder into his waiting hand. I grabbed my phone out of my bag and started walking. Taz followed after like he normally did. It was lunch, so we casually walked towards the cafeteria. I wasn’t paying attention to the people who were around. Taz always told me that was the reason people thought I was scary. Someone probably called my name, and they always did. The cafeteria was loud but quieted as we walked in. The stench of sweaty boys and perfume filled my nostrils, disgusting, I thought as I gagged and rolled my eyes. People stared in our direction. They did this every day, watching where we would sit, praying hard that the longest-held duo would sit with them. As usual, every table had two extra seats for me and Taz. It had been like this ever since 6th grade. It didn't make sense to me why all the same people who thought I was intimidating were vying for our attention.
I surveyed the room looking for my spot today. I had sat next to the band kids yesterday and the theater ones the day before. Gosh we haven’t sat with the cheerleaders and jocks in a bit. I thought Taz would love that. The air dropped suddenly, tight and oh so constricting, everyone whispered like witches casting a spell. Then I felt the wetness sliding down my stomach and to the waist of my pants. I slowly looked down towards the wetness on my pants, and there she was. I knew who that was; everyone did, and everyone hated her. Our school's resident snitch unofficially voted the most hated person in the whole school since forever. She was one of them, and since ever, whoever made any sound or whisper, even the slightest dissent with the government, was gone in the next second. And worst of all, she loved her job so much that she decided that anyone who uttered a word against her was but all too vanish. I had to move quickly, decisively, one wrong move with her, I would be dead, I could hear the heavy breathing around me waiting for that next move. So I did what I do best, dropped to my knees and helped, I vaguely remembered her name, but I honestly never really cared about it. In that moment, I also decided to do something I had never done. We would sit with her better to get on her good side after this. After I finished cleaning, I followed her and sat with the rest of them. We didn't really listen to what they were talking about, something about recruitment or whatever. Lunch dragged on, setting the pace for the rest of the day. Teachers and students alike just wanted to leave today, but this wasn’t the normal tired angst. I just couldn't put my finger on it. When I finally met Taz at the end of the day, he and I were buzzing, excited to hang out.
“Let's go! You're slow , maybe because you eat so much ” I say as I start sprinting out of the school. Taz would catch up with me; he always did. He was an athlete for a reason.
THE BOY
When they arrived at the house that wasn't his, the house that always whispered not real, not yours, fake
“Is your mom home ” the girl asked
“No,” he answered. But the girl was just not at this house. He knew that the girl didn't know that this house wasn't real, not yet, at least. Today was that day, though the girl would come to learn what it was, this truth was not all of it, but the part that was clawing in him, trying to rip itself out of his being. Enough of that, they made their way to his fake room. It was perfect for the stereotypical jock boy. The girl would always tease him because the girl knew that this room didn't fit him. The girl wasn't special because the girl had noticed, the house did too, but that wasn't special either, the house, or at least the webs that informed the house, knew everything, like how her real name wasn’t Weber but Brielle Court and how today was the day. Alas, the TV blasted an advertisement, it was from them, there weren't many other ads that weren’t from them nowadays.
“I want to show you a trick, ” he says. It's time the house rejoices, celebrating
“Are you going to show me how fast you can eat 14 hot dogs?” the girl says, oblivious to the house's joyous celebration.
“No, it's real this time, grab a book and pick a random section,” he said, but he heard what the house had said. The girl, reluctant but willing, grabbed a children's book lying on the floor for some reason.
“Ok. Now flip to a random page ” He says, and the girl listens, flipping through the book, landing on the page where a princess gets married.
“What did you land on?” he says, leaning over the girl's shoulder to be nosy.
“The princess gets married to a prince she just met, so cliche ” the girl said. The house knew the girl loved princesses, even with the extra cliché. Her face fell; it had hit her. The house knew what this was, a flashforward to her wedding day, exactly like the princess married off to some prince, soon to be revealed.
“And now your wedding will be like that princess, married to a Prince Charming,” He said before the girl talked again. Herr face dropped
“How did you know?” The girl uttered disbelievingly
“I made it reality,” he says, smiling
“How,” The girl says softer than ever
“I have a gift, a power, a quirky little party trick, whatever you want to call it. If you wanted, you could get one to I got two for a reason ” he says sheepishly.
“Yes, it just needs to be as cool as that one,” The girl says, still half believing. The house helps him, transferring the gift from him to the girl. He knows the girl has when the pain stops, and it doesn't feel like a part of him is trying to claw its way out of him.
“So is there a ritual for this, or like some ceremony?” the girl asks
“Nope, you already have it,” he says, a big, lopsided grin on his face
“Oh, that's easy. How'd you do it? ” The girl pondered.
“I had some help and a magician never reveals all his secrets,” He chuckled.
“Well, how do you use it and what am I supposed to do with it? You also never told me what I was getting.” The girl wondered seriously as ever.
“Well, I mean we have a kinda sucky government, I mean my sports season is over, and whatever scary brooding season you have is hopefully over.”
“1 question 2 more to answer ”
“Wrong, 1 more to answer, and I thought you were smart ”
“Oh, shut it ”
“ Basically, you can become invisible, see in temperature, but only in red and white, so people's bodies
and animals will show up as white. Oh, and also you can slow down and speed up time that's around you, and you only”
“So I can slow time around me and I'm not affected.”
“Yes, effectively, it looks like you are teleporting to everyone else.”
“Cool so when does this military conspiracy takedown take off?t”
“in approximately six and half hours which is more than enough time to train.”
“gosh you couldn't keep the sporty power your the jock here”
“wasn't my choice ”
“So tonight ”
“Yes, tonight,” he says to the girl, then quietly to himself, almost unsure, “ tonight I fulfill my duty.”
Even the house knew tonight was the night, unlike him, it was sure, but tonight instead of its normal whispering reminding him that he didn't belong in that house, a simple one word repeated, coursing through the spider webs and the floor, forcing itself to be the truth, and it was. Tonight.
WEBER
The party was a lot more packed than I had anticipated, but who knew that a recruitment party would be similar to a normal party. When Taz told me the whole plan, I was very concerned because how did he, Tazio, of all people, know about this requirement thingy? My attire was more inconspicuous than my normal flashy pinks and downer black, as Taz likes to call it. Tonight's outfit was plain but enough to pop a simple tank top and flowy cover over. I picked myself up, and it looked like spiderwebs in the wind. Gosh, this is taking a long time, I thought as I yawned and picked up a suspiciously purple drink. Everyone avoided me, staying clear. Taz said that we would use my vampiresque moodiness to keep people away. After that, I punched him. The beat jumped, taking me away from my thoughts. I tapped my thigh in pace with the beat. It flowed through my veins like ice. It thundered, creeping through my body tonight, the music would be my shield.
Just as I started sipping my drink, I felt the jolt, a slight shift in the air, but this one was oppressive, nothing like the normal party atmosphere nobody noticed but I knew it was time my senses dialed in feeling predatory like a spider stalking up on its prey in its web. And true, this was my web, maybe not my party, not my territory but it was definitely time to go . I saw Taz signal to someone else one of the people he had brought for back up. Still don't know where he found these people but I didn't matter. I crouched behind the couch in a way that would look like I was just looking for something . Red and white flashed in my vision. It was artful but those blobs of white swimming through the red some tinged more red than white I knew I was looking for the purest white blobs they were the pure white blobs .Time slowed as the whitest brightest people shaped blobs almost blinding me. And then I moved quickly running past the blobs grabbing onto one to slam down and knocked down all of the soldiers but one taking the last one standing into the open closet closing it behind me time speed back up and everyone gasped I could hear the radios crackling the soldier I had radio crackled too but it was okay unlike hide and seek I wanted to be found I needed to be found. My hands almost started slipping. I was holding on to the walls. I was the spider fully graceful and shiny red eyed ready to take them on. The dingy closet creaked open and time slowed yet again. How would you feel if the last thing you saw before one of your comrades was hurled at you and nothing seemed to be in the closet afterwards was a pair of red glowing eyes cause I would be pretty darn scared if I were them good thing I was the bad ass knocking them.