Little Spy | Peter Parker ✓

ALTERNATE ENDING THREE

HE HAD BEEN HAVING STRANGE DREAMS.

No, not dreams - hallucinations, spells, visions, whatever the right word was to describe his strange problem. He would randomly get blurs of faces and sentences passed to him through thoughts, almost as if it was whispered through a pool of water, and they would leave him paralysed, more often than not in a public place or while he was just going about his day. He couldn't figure out exactly what it was, but they were getting stronger and became less like dreams and more like memories.

While they were never the same, each 'dream' had the same face featured; no distinctive features through the blurry ripples, but she had a sweet, low voice and was always trying to get him to do something. What that was changed every time; sometimes she looked as if she was running from something and he was to follow, and others it was for him to turn around and face whatever foul being she stared at behind him, while others she held out a small package for him to grasp onto. However, the minute he turned or tried to reach out to her, it all vanished and he was left frozen while anyone passing bye stared in a mixture of fear and worry - and sometimes disgust. They thought he was a crazy person.

Hell, he mused, maybe he was going insane - after all, seeing things was a side effect, and he wasn't exactly sure of the theory of being psychic. Still, though he worried about his sanity, he couldn't accept it - they all seemed too real; like it was something that he had done - he had been there, he felt it inside deep down. Peter was pretty sure he hadn't lost his mind, not yet at least.

However, now, as he sat with a small box in his hands, he felt - nay, knew - that he hadn't been the one losing his mind. While he had never been given a clear glimpse of what exactly the mysterious girl had been holding, he could tell it was something that at least resembled that, and felt like he had somehow seen it before, even though it couldn't be true. Peter wasn't sure if he was ready to open it and reveal what secrets the girl had been wanting him to have, but he also knew if he didn't, he would regret it more than anything else in his life - he needed answers and he needed the strange nightmares to stop as soon as possible. If this box could somehow cure that, he was willing to take the risks.

The box had been taped neatly at each side, but he slipped through it with ease, ripping it apart like he was suddenly that little boy on Christmas day, eager to unwrap his new presents. However, it was with a much grimmer light that he opened the box; while he had no idea of the contents, he knew that it wasn't as light-hearted as he could wish.

Peter stared in shock at the contents once he ripped through, unsure what to do or think or even feel. A hand reached forward almost reluctantly and gripped the object on the top; it was a small, worn photograph of two kids clasped in a kiss, locked into a bittersweet embrace like they were the only two people in the world. It wasn't hard for him to remember just who was in the picture, but the real problem lied with the moment; he couldn't remember kissing Emily Newman, not like that and certainly not there. He was sure he would have remembered something like that, but any thought of it escaped his mind; all he had was black holes with no information to feed his thirst.

Eager and now slightly angry at the new information, the boy tore through the box, pulling out photographs of him and Emily frozen in memories he didn't recall and with strange objects he couldn't bring himself to recognise. He only paused when all the loose contents had been thrown out and were scattered around him and he sat with a nearly empty box, holding nothing but a stack of thin, yellowing envelopes at the bottom.

His hands shook slightly as he reached for the first one, and he silently berated himself for being so cowardly and afraid of a simple letter; however, it didn't stop the worry building in his stomach and the lump in his throat from growing even larger by the second.