Gone And Never Been

Queens, New York 

Midtown high school 

In a mathematics classroom,

  A student was resting his head down on the desk in the middle of class.

 However, strangely nobody finds it disrespectful or even disturbs him who was blatantly sleeping in the middle of the class lessons!

This is a phenomenon not without reason. 

That reason is because this person can easily get perfect full scores even if he sleeps through all his required classes.

So the math teacher can't throw that chalk he is gripping so tightly in his hands as he gazed menacingly at his 'Ace' student. 

But a few still look on at this student who's sleeping soundly with a variety of different types of emotions, such as envy, pity, blame, worry, or curiosity.

The Big changes in him recently are obvious to all those familiar with him and are at a loss how to get used to it.

Recently everyone thinks his changes are because of his uncle's accident during a home invasion while subduing the robber & was shot.

...

 That day when Peter came home he was met with the ambulance and police cars at his door.

His uncle Ben was shot when in a brawl with a burglar!

After Peter was filled in, he hitched a ride with a kind officer to the emergency room immediately.

Peter had borrowed the hospital phone to contact his Aunt May.

She was out of reach till now, still making deliveries as their family was working poor, and a cell phone was a luxury item.

 So Peter had to continue to call the shop's landline of her job, in fear they would be perfunctory, and not convey the urgent message to her.

 Sometime later finally Peter Met his Aunt May at the hospital entrance, who had just heard the news leaving work immediately in horror when she heard!

 Peter updated her further on what happened and his condition...

 They both waited together in the E.R lobby for good news but...

After hours of surgery sadly Uncle Ben did not make it off the operation table!

His Aunt May fell to her knees in anguish, and went into shock and passed out!

All the while Peter blames himself for his uncle's demise, the reason for his actions were directly related to him!

Earlier that day His uncle had withdrawn money from his bank account savings to give Peter money to build his own studio workshop as a birthday surprise.

 Knowing his nephew's talented hands for engineering when fixing old outdated appliances, and electronics around the house, He wanted to support him.

The criminal responsible for his shooting saw him at the bank making such a big withdrawal of funds and stalked uncle ben all day until his uncle Ben reached his home.

Peter should have been home at this time according to curfew and because of his previous agreement with Uncle Ben, who's given a heads up to come home early to talk with him about something important.

But Peter had a secret of his own, and he didn't share it with anyone else.

 On a recent school trip to Oscorp, when touring the biological labs, a radioactive spider nibbled on him and after surviving the transformation process he gain superpowers!

Eager to use his ability for cash to supplement his poor family finances, and gain personal funds to build a laboratory, he began fighting in underground arenas for cash around the city.

His rise up in the ranks was easy with his powers.

So, eventually, the night where he could fight in the arenas for the championship arrived, so he skipped his appointment with his uncle ben for the grand prize cash, which he won.

If only Peter had gone home honestly, things would be okay.

In Fact, Peter had long earned enough money during the secret night activities to cover a small lab workshop, and help the family with bills, but he got greedy for money and the recognition of the crowd.

But because of his choices at the time his uncle, Ben died despite all the strength he possessed.

Regret was drowning Peter, he has so much power!

Power enough to save his uncle easily, but he was too lost in seeking benefits and broke a promise for prize money he didn't need but was so foolishly excited when he won it.

But now, the grand prize money was used on a funeral expense & to perfuse household bills for a while.

Now distraught, depressed, and distressed about the future both personally, socially, and lastly, romantically!

Peter who was at his wit's end, after experiencing the last straw simply went to sleep one night, but never woke up again.

He died of a broken heart.

(Note: Broken heart syndrome is a real thing.Death is rare but possible.)

What awakened in his barely gone cold body was a new soul inheriting his talents, memories, and most importantly his body's newly acquired special constitution.

...

Yawning awake at the class bell, I stretch my stiff body & prepared to go to the cafeteria to eat some yummy square pizza and drink an orange slice for lunch.

 For my current family's status as working poor, such meals are a delicacy.

 Especially since the breadwinning uncle of this body had already died, leaving this Aunty and nephew desparate & forced to be pinching coins at every turn.

It's been three and a half weeks since arriving here after the original Peter Parker collapsed and died.

I walk the hallway towards the lunchroom as people are talking about me, as they should be gossiping about me after what I've done in school recently, how could they not.

I gazed at a clique standing near the entrance to the cafeteria in awe.

It's truly a gathering of popular beautiful & handsome people, almost like they are cast straight out of a hit teenage campus drama show.

 Cheerleaders, the ace jocks members of different school sports clubs, musicians, rich guys & wealthy gals, and socialite girls with inherited prestige or status.

It's a real who's who of highschool social influence.

The only thing that seems out of place in this picturesque is the fresh cast on the muscular blond boy in the letter jacket's arm.

My handiwork of course.

 The recent family affair is a perfect timely excuse to change myself in the eyes of others.

Low key Peter Parker is fine, but the too low key is also a problem.

I will not let anyone ride on my head daily for any reason with powers or without them. 

So when a more confident Peter Parker returned to school despite the fact he was supposedly going through something, these bullies were still heartless and the blond numbskull Flash Thompson even said somethings about the deceased uncle of my body.

 SNAP! Was the sound made both by Flash Thompson's arm and by the restraint in my mind when those insults came out of his mouth!

I inherited the genius-level intellect, super-powered constitution, and also I received the memories with certain sentiments of 'his' in my mind.

 These emotional attachments are also inherited by the original Peter Parker, but I stuffed these emotions of my predecessor down deeply in my subconscious mind.

  Other than ideas about taking care of my aunt may, all other previous sentiments, beta thinking patterns, or passing thoughts are directly suppressed and ignored by me.

That's Perfectly healthy, right?

I'm Peter Parker, not 'thee' Peter Parker.

But Flash Thompson had to go and start pushing people's buttons, poking at my heart's inner devils.

In the depths of my mind, the emotions I've suppressed leaked out and the subsequent corresponding memories made the Outburst all more fierce!

 As I broke his arm that was on my shoulder, my claw-like hand grabbed Flash Thompson by the face lifting him off the ground & slammed his back into the hallway lockers, denting them with the impact of his body!

 I immediately regained clarity and control after the loud sound of lockers banging, and retreated immediately, leaving a wailing Flash Thompson and a stunned student body behind me.

...

 We were both suspended for 3 days & got one-hour after-school detention for two months.

With the broken arm of Flash as evidence, Flash had his family complain to the school board about keeping such violent students out of school.

When I was told the wealthy Thompson family would sue me for medical treatment and damages I immediately became infuriated.

Before I was done in by wealth, connections, or political influence of their family, I made a move first!

 I went into the school library, hacked the school server, accessed the surveillance video files, search for dates in my mind of the past bullying incidents in the school and retrieve the footage, making copies.

I took not just my incidents but copied any school bullying or cases of teachers' sexual harassment of students I came across on film.

I contacted these victimized students, and made a deal to get a cut of their final court ruling if I provide them with the proof of their 'pain and suffering'.

I pushed for them to start a class-action lawsuit against the midtown high school & lawsuits against their bully's families immediately while the chance has arrived to give public pressure.

Soon news that I raised a counter lawsuit against them, the Thompson family, and the Midtown High School itself caused a huge uproar!

The lawsuits are still pending, so I uploaded the videos online to social media to not allow them to control the narrative or destroy evidence before it's subpoenaed by court injunctions.

If the public knows this footage exists & it suddenly disappears then the outrage will be interesting to see.

 As for how I could afford a lawyer for all this, I visited a law firm in Hell's kitchen.

I spun my mostly true tale of being tired of being sick & tired.

After Ben Parker was gone, so was my restraint & I stood up for myself not knowing I was stronger than I had thought, thus accidentally injuring the school bully.

The amicable fat guy & his blind friend took the case gladly for exposure, and the other for justice.

Then news of a class-action lawsuit filed against the school and several bullies by several students added oil to the fire of public opinion.

What the hell is going on at midtown high school?!

So to the teachers now, I'm a taboo individual as some of them are named witnesses to my bullying and did nothing to stop it.

As for the Flash family, I guess for the wealthy class having your son be sued for bullying must be embarrassing.

The lawyer team is in negotiations to drop the lawsuit and settle out of court with my lawyers.

Mainly the reason for reconciliation is because Flash Thompson was sued by many of his former victims over the years, and his family is now starting to Panic.

I could use the cash for my household so I agreed with the negotiation talks.

...

I grab lunch and was about to begin to eat my precious Wednesday square pizza, when I was greeted by two peoples shadows.

I look up to notice two classmates I have complicated relations with.

One was my neighbor's niece who moved into my neighborhood last year, named Mary Jane Watson, and the other is a childhood acquaintance Harry Osborn, son of Oscorp company, Norman Osborn.

I see them holding hands lovingly, I scoffed in my mind, thinking this was the final straw of what contributed to former Parker's accumulated grief, and heartache to go over the edge before he died.

He found out in the worst way that his crush & 'friend,' were dating when he saw them from his doorstep with his enhanced vision looking down the street where Mary Jane lived.

She was making out with Harry outside harry's limousine that was dropping her off after a date.

This happened on the first day after his uncle was shot and killed.

Harry has always had a complex with Peter, who is always being complimented or compared to by his psycho dad Norman Osborn.

Harry knew of Peter's crush on Mary Jane, but he wanted to be able to hold something over Peter's head, to have a sense of superiority for once.

Just Once!

They didn't show up at his old Ben's goodbye ceremony, or burial, but showed up at his doorstep later after the funeral.

They apologize, stating Harry has coincidentally planned a weekend trip to the mountains to ski.

After they heard the news, they came back to give their late condolences, together as a couple.

After they left the Parker doorstep, they shared a kiss outside peters home before getting in the car at Harry's plea. 

 Harry's eyes during that long kiss were open & looking toward the Parker households window where a figure stood by and watched it all.

 That was the night Peter died, & I arrived.

...

'Only by coming to this fake world can I find out a frenemy is a real thing, O' the irony.

I get out of my mind of the previous Peter Parker's reflection and address these two 'lovers' in front of me.

I talked and laughed about gossip and current events with them in a relaxed, and humorous mood.

Harry smiles on the surface, but he is subtly very disgruntled that I'm not in distress.

Mary Jane can't stop complimenting me enough on how I'm being strong by standing up for myself, and keeping a positive attitude during the darkness.

Harry's face wasn't good after hearing that, he couldn't even keep his previous hypocritical smile when his in-name girlfriend praise the outlet of his complex in front of him!

Praising Peter in front of me just like...just like his Dad does!

Suddenly Harry flashed a tinge of contempt toward Mary Jane's direction.

I saw that expression with my heightened senses but pretend I don't.

 After giving the clueless Mary Jane a compliment about her new hairstyle, that Harry failed to notice, I left the two with a sunny smile while sipping on my juice through a straw.

My smile slowly fades when I exited the cafeteria.

 I will get revenge on the arrogant Osborn family, it will come in due time, so I don't want to sweat it now.

However, Harry's bad character really irks me, it evokes certain...negative feelings that I don't want to revisit.

Sigh, it's time to join a gym, a running club, or something to burn off this frustration.

The sirens of emergency vehicles wailing as they pass me by disrupt my thoughts.

I gaze at emergency workers' vehicles till they are no longer audible or visible and continue to walk forward.

Maybe if I was the original, I would rush towards an alleyway then speed changed, and dashed to catch up with the crisis, but not me.

Spiderman in this universe won't exist because of me, that is if I can help it.

That cursed phrase of old Ben Parker has no effect on me, who has heard it countless times in movies, animations, games, or read it in comics & has seen the consequences of the mantra phrase applied to real-life to the end.

In a word or phrase it's:

Brainwashing.

Brainwashing almost on the level of the 'will of fire', that can make a young talent stab his parents crazy and then kill off his kind for...peace.

Not to mention this city is full of heroes & I'm not even the only one with spider powers probably.

 I clearly remember that the Asian girl has not come to school still after the field trip.

And certain blond-haired police officer's daughter who is a college researcher's assistant was acting as a tour guide for the visiting classes during the biological laboratory portion where Peter Parker got bit. 

So they can handle it, right?

 I thought to myself as I tossed the can of the orange slice into the trash can.

Making my way home from school just like everyone else.

I'm just your Friendly Neighborhood normal high school student...well mostly normal.