November 29th, 2002
10:42 P.M.
Christina's POV

Christina finished scrubbing the last plate in her sink before drying it off and placing it in one of the upper cabinets, sighing with relief that she was finally done. She then took a dish towel and wiped the water and soap suds off her hands while she looked around her kitchen, a bit of an unnerved expression in her eyes. She suddenly wished that she had stayed at the hospital with Peter and Aunt May, since the latter's attack had caused a plague of paranoia to hit her full force in the gut.

The young woman was never a fan of being alone by herself at night.

It must've had something to do with her still not being used to living away from her mother and not having that care and support in her life.

But it could have been because of the fact that most of the windows in the apartment extended from the floor to the ceiling, which could allow any creeps to stop by and peek through the parted blinds that covered them.

Christina had absolutely no idea why her mother had requested this kind of apartment for her to live in; sure, she lived by herself and could do whatever the hell she wanted, but it felt as though she didn't have any privacy whatsoever.

It was worse when she first rented the place; there had been no curtains covering the windows, which really worried her and she didn't waste any time in buying new ones so that she would feel a bit safer. Well, at least there weren't windows like this in the hallway that led to the bathroom and the two bedrooms on either side of one another. After buying the new curtains, she suddenly felt a new sense of security come over her; unfortunately, that wasn't enough to make her feel entirely secure.

The events of the night before regarding Aunt May's attack filled Christina with a whole new aura of worry and concern about her surroundings. She hated feeling this way, but she knew it would be better to be aware of what was happening around her rather than being naive at all. She just prayed that one of her walls wouldn't explode and a monster came flying through her apartment.

The blonde walked down the small hallway to her bedroom in order to go to the shelf that was resting against a blank space of wall closest to the windows. She scanned through the VHS tapes on the third shelf in order to find the perfect movie – or movies – to watch. It was the only way she could calm herself down at this point in time, which was something she desperately needed. Yeah, she really should have stayed at the hospital; but she made the incredibly stupid decision of being by herself.

But maybe she wouldn't be targeted....

Right?

Christina eventually picked out The Green Mile and carried the VHS into the living room, placing it on the television. She carefully looked around once again, taking in just how quiet it was and how much it creeped her the hell out.

_____

30 Minutes Later
Peter's POV

"Wake up, Peter... Wake up," came a voice from in front of a sleeping Peter as he felt his arm being shaken. The voice startled him out of his temporary slumber as he grumbled a little out of slight annoyance, but he forced himself awake and he looked up. He was met with the sight of a healthy-looking, non-hysterical Aunt May, and he smiled at the fact that she was perfectly fine now.

"Go home, dear," May said in a sympathetic tone. "You look awful...."

"And you look beautiful," Peter responded with a caring smile as he suppressed a yawn, opening his eyes more after May thanked him. "I don't like to leave you here..."

"But I'm safe here," Aunt May replied as she jokingly rolled her eyes, smiling down at her nephew.

"Can I do anything for you?" Peter asked his aunt, despite feeling absolutely exhausted from his previous swinging adventure just three hours ago; combining that with his History homework had proven to be quite a hassle and he had blatantly passed out on the papers strewn about the empty space on May's bed. Regardless, his selfless albeit tired side took over since May mattered to him more than probably anyone since she was family.

"You do too much," May said semi-sternly as she picked her eyeglasses back up so she could continue the book she was reading. "College, a job, all this time with me. You're not Superman, you know?"

A grin broke out on Peter's face as a chuckle left him and he lowered his head temporarily. Shortly after, however, he did look back up at his aunt, only to see her smirking in return.

"A smile, finally," she pointed out with a smug expression on her face. "Haven't seen one of those on your face since Christina was here."

Peter's smile transformed into an embarrassed expression as he playfully glared at Aunt May. "Hey, you were supposed to be asleep," he said in a mock irritated tone, but he couldn't prevent the tiny grin that still remained on his face.

"Well... I'm grateful for that girl being here," May said, going back to normal conversation. "She and her mother have always looked out for us even if we're doing just fine. When I tell you that Margaret raised her daughter very well, that means she did. I first met that woman about a month after she moved here and she was the kindest person you could ever come across, and it surprised me that Christina was even sweeter."

Peter smiled at that as he thought back to earlier that day when he had almost kissed Christina, since he knew that May was right about her. When he met Margaret, she was a really nice middle-aged woman, and he had realized where his crush had gotten her kind nature from, which made him immensely happy.

Unfortunately, his mind drifted to the memory of that day seven years ago; Christina had called Peter and was sobbing over the phone, telling him that her father had walked out on her and Margaret, that Michael had cheated on his own wife. The young boy's blood had boiled and he hadn't hesitated to rush over to her house to comfort the girl, and he vowed to never see her be hurt in any way again.

And he had also developed a burning hatred for Michael Johnson since that day.

"You know," May spoke up again, interrupting his thoughts. "When Christina started the semester at your school and became friends with you, I swear you would not stop talking about her. You practically begged me to let her come over for a sleepover and, of course, I said yes. A part of me had a slight feeling that you felt some sort of love for her that you most likely didn't understand. Then Mary Jane moved in next door and you tried to pretend that you were in love with her... but I knew that my poor nephew was lying."

"Was it that obvious?" Peter said in a surprised tone, his eyes somewhat wide.

Aunt May nodded her head.

"Oh, yes," she said with a wide grin on her face now. "I thought it was fairly obvious, at least. I mean, the long spaces of time you would take to look at her, the compliments you would give her. I figured it out ages ago. I hate to admit that you're a horrible liar when it comes to that."

Peter laughed lightly at that at first, but he then sighed sadly as he sank back in his chair. "Well... I don't know if I should talk to her about it," he said glumly. "I just don't feel like I'm good enough for her."

"Isn't that up to her?" May pondered as she blinked.

"It's just that... Christina's perfect. And me? Well, I'm really not," Peter answered with a slight frown.

"Because you put yourself down too much," Aunt May reasoned with him, a saddened expression in her eyes. "Nobody's perfect, let me tell you that. But I think you would be good enough for that girl. I saw her at Thanksgiving, Peter. She made up an excuse to fix your arm, and it was because she wanted to be alone with you. I think she might just feel the same way. Tell me, would it be so bad to let Christina see the real you? The you that loves her? Would it be so dangerous to let her know how much you care? Everybody else knows."

Peter almost chuckled when he heard Aunt May say that but, just as he was about to, his heart dropped out of nowhere. He thought about what his aunt had said and he slowly began to put two and two together, which made his stomach twist into a fearful knot as he started to feel sick from the dread. If that thing knew who he was... then that meant... that meant –

"I'll be right back," he frantically said as he practically leaped out of his chair and sprinted out of the room. Peter only had one destination in mind: the payphone just outside the room in the hallway.

_____

Christina's POV

The blonde was half an hour into The Green Mile and she was currently sipping from a glass of water, trying to focus on how utterly depressing the movie was. But it wasn't necessarily easy to, especially since her paranoia had shot up an alarming amount. Ten minutes ago, she had called her mother, only for the line to go to voicemail. The first thing she had thought of was that Margaret was most likely asleep, but she also assumed the worst and thought something bad had happened to her.

Get a grip, Chris, she thought to herself. Stop doing this to yourself. But it was too late now, as her mind was already racing with the worst possible ideas.

Then again, it was close to midnight and it was natural to be somewhat spooked when she was by herself in the wide open apartment. However, she was really beginning to regret being here alone, and she began to wish that she had invited one of her college friends over for a sleepover so that way she wouldn't be so freaked out.

A chilly breeze passed through the living room and Christina shivered almost instantaneously. She looked over and saw that one of the smaller windows was cracked open; the curtain hanging in front of it swayed lightly in the small amount of wind that was blowing around outside. Thinking it wasn't a good idea to leave a window open in late fall/early winter air, the blonde got up from the couch and walked over to said window. Before closing it, however, she peeked through the glass and saw a group of younger kids hanging out way past their bedtime and talking about whatnot. Smiling a little to herself, she slid the window down and turned the lock, latching it shut.

Feeling a slight appetite, Christina then paused the movie playing on the television before walking back to the connected kitchen. She opened a counter right next to the refrigerator and grabbed a small pan of Jiffy Pop; turning on the stove, she removed the packaging from the popcorn and placed the pan on one of the burners, taking a deep breath in order to relax herself.

The cordless phone that sat on the counter rang really loudly and, fortunately, she didn't really jump that much as she had gotten used to the phone ringing in her apartment all the time. She reached for the device and pressed her thumb against the green button, activating the call, and eagerly put it to her right ear; she anticipated it to be either Harry or Peter, or even Mary Jane.

"Hello?"

"Hello," a distinctive voice answered. It was a male, most definitely, but it didn't sound like either of her friends. This person sounded a little older, which confused her.

"Uh, yes?" she replied in a puzzled tone.

"Is Margaret there?" the man asked her with a curious type of voice. This only bewildered Christina even further.

"Um, no, she's not here," she said, immediately regretting saying that. "She doesn't live here, but I'm her daughter. May I take a message for her?"

"Oh, you're her daughter?"

Christina sighed a little bit out of ever so slight annoyance. "I already said that, sir. Now may I take a message?"

"Sorry, yeah, my apologies," the man said. "I'm a friend of your mother's and I've known her for a few months now."

"Is that so?" Christina said coyly, raising an eyebrow as she smirked.

Could Mom possibly be seeing someone? she thought.

"Yeah, um... just tell her this is Richard. I apologize for dialing the wrong number."

It finally occurred to Christina that this voice did sound somewhat familiar, but she couldn't quite put it with a face.

"And I will do just that, Richard," Christina said slyly, smiling brightly and having fun with this. "But why don't you tell me what kind of friendship you have with my mom? Are you just her friend? Her boyfriend? Because I've been begging her to get out there recently."

"I don't really think that's my place to mention," the voice spoke up.

"I'm just joking, man," the blonde said in an amused tone. "Look, I'll leave you alone about it. I'll tell my mom you called. Take it easy."

Christina clicked the red button after the man said goodbye, ending the call. She then pressed the green button again and dialed her mother's phone number, placing the device against her ear again. Twice it rang... Thrice... Four times... Seven times... Nine times....

Voicemail.

"Are you that deep a sleeper, Mother?" Christina mumbled quietly with a slight giggle before clicking the red button once more and placing the phone back on the counter.

The crackling of the popcorn coming from the stove began to slow down, which informed Christina that it was done popping. Smiling, she grabbed a kitchen mitten and carefully grabbed the metal handle and placed the pan on a dish towel so it wouldn't leave a permanent mark on the marble counter. She yawned a little bit as she removed the aluminum cover from the popcorn and dumped the contents into a large bowl that she could eat from.

She attempted to call Margaret one more time but, when it went to voicemail once again, she finally gave up and figured that her mother was definitely asleep.

Or she may have gone out for once, she thought, shrugging her shoulders.

Christina walked back to the couch and plopped down onto it after continuing the movie, munching on some of the popcorn. Fifteen minutes seemed to pass as she watched the film playing on the small TV she owned and she continued eating her snack, and her anxiety began to wither away after a long time.

Ring-Ring.

The blonde flinched a little as she stared towards the cordless phone still in the kitchen. She groaned as she threw the blanket off of her legs and walked over to the counter, picking up the device and placing it to her ear.

"Hello?" she said.

"I'm sorry for dialing the wrong number."

It was the same guy she had spoken to a little while ago.

"So you wanna tell me why you're calling back?" Christina asked in a confused tone.

"I wanna talk to you for a minute," the man said shyly.

Christina sighed and shrugged, smiling just a little bit. She figured she could play along for a little bit.

"Sure, Richard," she said. "Why don't you talk to me about your friendship with my mother?"

The voice on the other end of the phone took a deep breath.

"Okay.... Well, she loves you very much," he said.

"No shit, Sherlock," Christina replied playfully. "I already know that. Tell me about how you're involved with her."

"Fine, she's very nice," the man replied exasperatedly. "She's very organized in life and she talks about you all the time when we hang out. From what I hear, she loved to take care of you before you moved out, according to her."

This really struck a chord with Christina and she actually smiled a little as she walked back to the couch and was ready to sit down.

"That's cool, I guess," she said awkwardly. "I mean, she always took care of me after my father left her."

"Yeah, she mentioned that a month ago," the man said in a sympathetic tone. "My condolences."

"Thanks."

"But, from what I'm hearing, your father shouldn't have left you two because you're both nice," he mumbled. "Back to your mother, though. She's also really pretty... I think I kind of like her."

"You think?" Christina pressed on, very amused now.

"I do," the man replied as he sighed. "I do like her. And, from what I see, you look just like her."

A chill ran up and down Christina's spine.

"W-What?" she stammered.

"I said you sound just like her," the man said, pretending as though he hadn't said the other thing that creeped Christina the fuck out.

"That's not what you said," the blonde replied, quickly walking over to her front door and locking it.

"What do you think I said... Christina...?"

"Fuck off and call someone else, you creep!" Christina snapped towards the voice before hanging up the phone and clutching it to her chest, very spooked now. She then began to walk all throughout the apartment, making sure that each and every window, as well as the balcony doors, were locked and secure. Once she was safely assuring herself, she took the curtains on all of them and drew them over the glass.

It could have been someone pranking her with a voice changer, just like in those Scream movies. How many were there now? Three? Yes, three. Now she was scolding herself for even answering the phone in the first place and her anxiety was at an all-time high, which made her sigh in frustration.

Christina then walked into the living room, her hands trembling slightly as she looked all around her. She prayed to God that there wasn't a sick psycho peeping at her through one of the windows, as she definitely didn't want to be robbed or killed tonight. She now wished that her mother had answered the phone, after all, that way she would be talking to her instead of whoever the fuck that was.

Little did she know that her mother was already long gone....

The cordless landline rang extremely loudly as she held it, making Christina jump and shriek out of startlement. She stared down at the small screen that resided just above the numbers and examined the Caller ID:

UNKNOWN NUMBER

Drawing in a deep breath, she quickly answered the call, making sure to sound as authoritative and tough as possible. "Listen to me, you motherfucker, I will call the police if you dial this number again!" she shouted into the phone.

"Chris? What are you talking about? It's Peter," came a now very familiar voice on the other end.

A huge sigh of relaxation overcame Christina as she sank to the floor out of relief, placing her hand over her chest and feeling her erratic heartbeat. She didn't hear that Peter was also comforted to hear her over the phone.

"Oh, Pete!" she said as she laughed. "I'm sorry I said that. It wasn't directed towards you, I swear."

"Clearly," Peter replied as he chuckled nervously. "Who was that directed towards anyway?"

"Just some creepy asshole trying to scare me," Christina replied with another relieved giggle. "Anyway, what's up?"

"I'm just calling to check up on you," Peter said, his anxiety growing, unbeknownst to Christina. "I just had a bad feeling something happened to you. Who was the creep you were talking to that you mentioned?"

"I have no idea," the blonde answered as she shrugged, standing up and running a hand through her hair. "He said he knew my mother and he and I talked for a little bit... until he subtly implied that... he could see me... that he was watching me."

She could hear Peter's breathing growing more frantic as he started to become scared for her safety. "Chris, I want you to listen to me very carefully," he said in a shaking voice. "I need you to quietly walk out of your apartment and get as far away from there as you can. I'm going to call the police."

Christina raised an eyebrow as she tilted her head, her heart beginning to race once more. "Why, Peter?" she said. "What's going on?"

"I just have a horrible feeling that you're in danger."

"What do you mean?"

All of a sudden, a deafening CRASH erupted in Christina's ears, which made her scream at the top of her lungs as she turned around. At first, she couldn't see anything from the shattered floor-to-ceiling window in between the living room and kitchen, as it was pitch black in the cold night outside. But a figure slowly flew into view and jumped off of something – later realized to be his glider – and stared right into Christina's soul.

The blonde's heart dropped into the neverending pit of her stomach...

"CHRIS?!" came Peter's shouts on the other end, although the blonde could barely hear him now. "WHAT'S HAPPENING?! WHAT'S WRONG? CHRIS!"

The Green Goblin was standing just ten feet away from Christina and she was seeing him up close for the first time since the World Unity Festival. And, although she couldn't see his face, she could tell he looked extremely furious. In a matter of seconds, she put two and two together and realized that he had been the guy on the phone with her minutes ago, and that he had been watching her.

"CALL THE POLICE, PETER!" Christina bellowed into the phone just as the monster charged at her with a terrifying speed.

Making a quick move, she dashed to her bedroom and tried to close the door just as the Goblin reached it. She put all of her strength against it as he tried to push it further open, both of them grunting with the effort it took to do one or the other. Eventually, the Goblin's superhuman strength won the battle and he kicked the door completely open, sending Christina tumbling to the carpeted floor.

The blonde got back up in half a second, however, tears streaming down her face as she shook her head at the tall thing standing in front of her. "Please, please, please don't kill me!" she cried out hysterically, her entire body going numb as she slowly backed up.

The Green Goblin had no mercy, however, as he forcefully grabbed her by the throat and pushed her towards the balcony doors as she screamed deliriously. Immediately, the young woman began punching and kicking at the man, growling with the strength she used to try to pry herself away from whoever the fuck this was. "LET GO OF ME, YOU FUCKING SON OF A BITCH!" she howled as she moved her hands to try to remove the man's mask.

The monster was quicker, however, moving his head out of her reach. He removed one of the hands he was using to strangle her long enough to slap her hard across the face. The force of the blow caused Christina's vision to grow blurry as she began choking on oxygen, her ears ringing as she whimpered with pure fear as her legs slowed their kicking down.

"DON'T EVER HANG UP ON ME AGAIN, YOU BRATTY BITCH!" the Green Goblin screeched in her face as her eyes slowly began to close.

Christina tried to fight the loss of consciousness but that only made him squeeze her esophagus even more, which made her let out a croak as she tried to inhale air one more time.

And she went completely still as her whole world turned black.

_____

Peter's POV

His eyes were wide with pure and utter shock as his body went rigid, the sounds of Christina's hysterical screams echoing in his head and haunting him. He knew he should have dialed 911 but he was too surprised and scared for her to even do anything, and he feared that he could have possibly lost her forever.

"CHRIS?!" he shouted again, his voice cracking as his eyes filled with tears. "ARE YOU THERE? HELLO? Please answer me..."

Peter rested his head against the wall as he tried to fight back the urge to cry out of guilt of not being able to do anything... of being completely helpless and idiotic. He was so stupid! He should have just gone over to her apartment to make sure she was okay.

All he could hear on the other end was complete silence, and he was about to hang up the phone out of distress. But, a noise on the other end caught his attention.

"Hello?" he whispered. "Chris?"

A horrific laugh – one he was all too familiar with – hit his eardrums and he clenched his fist around the handle of the phone as he paid close attention. His complete fear and helplessness slowly transformed into utter anger and fury as he listened intently to what the person said on the other end:

"Can Spider-Man come out to play?"

Peter began trembling with pure rage as a new sense of determination filled his heart... and all he could see was red.

"What the fuck did you do to her?" he snarled into the phone as he shook from head to toe.

A/N: so how are we feeling after that chapter?

what did you guys think of this chapter?! was it intense? let me know!

predictions for the next chapter?

also, let me know what you guys think of this book thus far? i've been working on it for three years now and it's probably the most effort i've put into a story in a long time.

be looking forward to the next chapter!

-denbroughswife