Toxicity[Miguel O’hara]

Loneliness. It can be the death of you.
I have experienced it very well on my own skin throughout my life, being born and raised in a tough place.

A poor town from Southern Europe. With   barely enough to get by, I can proudly say I did have a great childhood.

I was 17 when it all came crashing down, my parents divorced, my mom moving to the UK with my baby brother and my dad vanishing from the face of the earth.

I was left to stay with my grandma. But I didn’t mind, really. She raised me well and I had my friends at school who made it all feel like it was ok.

Cass and Jay are the best friends anyone could ever ask for. They are goofy and friendly, I can always count on them. Also did I mention they both are Spider-Man? Yeah. Kind of surprising, well not really. I kind of always knew. They aren’t exactly great at hiding it. Jay crashed his universe or something and ended up in ours. It’s almost like it was meant to be, Cass needs serious training and Jay is the best person to teach her. 

Cass got bit in 9th grade and since then she has been training with Jay who is the same age as her. 

I’m the only one who knows about their little secret and it’s fun seeing them train, but amongst them I’ve always felt different. I never could swing trough buildings or jump extra high or be able to do anything really and it kinda made me sad. But I tried to be supportive and not ruin it for them. 
Wven though I secretly wished I could be spiderman too.

Apparently there were some serious problems in the spider society about a kid named Miles that willingly went out to distrupt a cannon event and my friends became busier and busier by the day. They left our dimension more often and never really had any time for me.

I’ve always asked them if I could go to that spider society with them and they said I could pay a visit, if we were careful enough not to be seen by their boss but with them being really needed there I guess it just slipped their minds.

So then again, I was left alone. I tried to distract myself from everything with painting and taking long walks.
In one of these particular long walks everything changed for me.

It was a cloudy night when my grandma fell sick. I was devastated. I called the ambulance and got her to the hospital as soon as possible. She got diagnosed with something having to do with your bones, meaning she couldn’t walk properly ever again. The treatment was beyond expensive.
My friends were nowhere to be seen and I couldn’t really ask anyone for help. The hospital gave me a 10 day trial In which I could get a hold on the money for the operation that could possibly make my grandma walk again.

I roamed the streets of my small and sad town. The lights flickered and I sat on a bench near the main park. It was a cold night. Not a single person in sight. What was I supposed to do? 10.000$ for an operation in just 10 days was crazy. So I did what everyone would’ve done.
I started crying. I cried and screamed and cursed. But after a while I calmed down and started thinking about it.
I needed to find a way. Or let the way find me.

A suspicious man sat next to me on the bench. It was kind of dark so I couldn’t see him properly but I could’ve sworn he had a hole in his head.
“Am I trippin’ or?” I thought trying not be too obvious that I was staring at him.

He then spoke: “Are you willing to work with me for a great amount of money?”
His voice sent chills down my spine. So hollow yet so deep. But was he actually fr?

“What do you mean..?” I asked confused asf.

“I can offer you up to 20.000$ if you’re willing to work with me.”
He left a card on the bench and just dissolved in a hole.

This was weird but then again he looked like your weekly average villan that Jay and Cass would easily destroy.

I grabbed the card and it was an address that I knew far too well. A shady place called “Ferentari”. It’s one of the lowest life neighborhoods in the whole town. But the dude was talking 20.000$. He’ll yeah I was going to risk it all. It was not like I had a better choice.
___________________________________________

I found myself in front of an almost collapsing house.
I opened the door quietly but as soon as I entered someone or something strapped me to a chair.
The only thing I remember is being injected with something.

When I woke up, I found myself in a hospital like room only dirtier, but with far more advanced tech.

“You woke up, how do you feel?” The weird man from the night before asked.

He looked even weirder in the light. He was an opaque color, white almost, with multiple black holes all over his body. I later found out his name was Spot.

“Except from a stinging sensation in my neck, that I take is from the needle you injected me with without my consent, I’m feeling… normal.”

He looked frustrated and looked around the room for a magnifier.

“So are you going to tell me what’s up and why you did all that?” I sarcastically asked.

He sighed and said:

“you agreed to work with me so I did some testings on you. Don’t ask what kind because they are strictly confidential. But they seemed to not have worked. You should’ve been in pain by now.”

“Just how many times would I need to make this serum for it to work atlas?!”
He shouted while throwing his magnifier on the ground resulting it it shattering.

So basically this dude drugged me in order to test me like I was a lab rat. I’m glad it didn’t work goddamit.

He got up from his chair and threw me a bunch of money.

“I am a man of my word. Here s your money. Now leave and don’t tell a word to anyone”

I grabbed the money and left, now feeling a bit of pain in my neck. This was officially the most random and weird encounter with somebody I have ever experienced. But I had the money now.

I payed for my grandma s treatment resulting in a successful surgery. I was so so happy and I was up for another surprise. Cass and Jay were waiting for me outside of the hospital room. I hugged them all.

My grandma needed to stay in the hospital a few more days so she told me I can go. She hugged me again and assured me everything is going to be ok. She told me she was proud of me, something I haven’t heard in a while.

I left the hospital with a smile on my face and invited my friends into my house for some catching up.

They told me a lot of stories from the spider society and we had a good laugh.

We did a full on sleepover with movies, snacks and everything. It was about 3 am when they told me a shocking story.

The villan all of the spider society was looking for looked a lot like the guy who injected me with the weird serum. I found it rather strange but decided against telling anyone.

I didn’t want to scare them when they had sm going on.

We went out for some night time practice. Or that s what they said to get me out of the house. They actually wanted to swing trough the city.

We teleported to NYC trough their bracelet portal things and Jay took me in his arms as Cass started swinging. Jay started swinging too but I wasn’t prepared.

I never did that before.

I wrapped myself around Jay trying not to scream of fear. The dude started freaking out I think because his webs got squiggly.

Jay has liked me for a while now, since 9th grade currently being 11th. But I never liked him more than as a friend. Plus him and Cass Were meant for each other.

We got onto the roof of a building and I sighed exhaustively due to the massive scare I just had.

It was common for them to do crazy things and include me too, I appreciate it a lot but that time, I hated them with all my might.

Jay looked at me but I tried to avoid his gaze at least until Cass got to us too. It was akward but the sight was amazing.

Cass landed on the roof shortly after and we sat in silence looking at the night sky and the lights embracing the city. I lived for that.

I always knew my soul was meant for traveling and experiencing crazy adventures but a chance never occurred.