صندلی خالی

Chapter four

An empty seat

MJ was finishing her make-up in the dressing room at the theatre. She looked at herself in the mirror.

‘Will he come’ she thought.

A man’s face appeared at the dressing room door. ‘Five minutes; Five minutes, ‘ he called. Then he was gone.

Peter was on his bike and he was nearly at the theatre. Suddenly, a big car drove up behind him very fast. ‘Jump up’ his spider sense told him. Peter jumped high above the car. His bike fell under the car and broke into pieces. A moment later, he was standing safely on his feet again.

‘How did you do that’ asked a boy at the side of the road.

‘I do a lot of exercise,’ Peter said, ‘and I eat my green vegetables.’

‘My mother always says that,’ said the boy. ‘I just never believed her.’

The big car was driving very fast up the road now. A gunman was shooting out of the back of the car at the police.

‘Why can’t I have just one night off’ thought Peter.

Suddenly two police cars crashed into each other. One of the cars flew up high above some people. They cried out as the car fell towards them. But then it stopped still. It didn’t hit the people! Everyone looked at the car above them. Something was holding the car there.

‘It’s a web’ said a woman.

Suddenly, something blue and red swung over their heads.

‘Go, Spidey, go’ the woman shouted.

The men in the big car saw him. They both started shooting at Spider-Man. Peter was really angry. He wanted to be at the theatre. He jumped onto the back of the car. He shot webbing at the two men, then pulled them out of the car.

Next, he pulled the webbing over a street light and the men were hanging high above the road. Peter jumped into the driver’s seat and drove the car to the theatre.

MJ wasn’t having a good night. She wasn’t thinking about the play, she was thinking about one of the best seats in the theatre. Peter’s seat. It was empty.

Peter walked into the theatre and pulled his ticket from his pocket. He showed it to the man at the door.

‘Sorry,’ said the man. He pointed to a sign; ‘You can’t go in when the doors are closed,’ he explained.

Peter crossed the road and waited opposite the theatre.

MJ came out after the play. She looked up and down the street. No Peter.

‘Could you sign here, please’ said a good-looking young man.

‘What are you doing here’ smiled MJ. It was John - MJ’s new boyfriend. He put his arms around her and they kissed.

A police car drove by fast. Then another and another.

‘Are you hungry’ John asked.

‘Yes,’ smiled MJ. ‘Very!’

One the other side of the road, Peter watched sadly as MJ and John hurried away. Then he remembered the police cars.

‘Why do I always have to rescue people from fires and criminals’ he thought. ‘I only wanted one evening at the theatre.’

He changed his clothes in a small street. He ran up the side of a building and jumped onto the roof. For the first time ever, he didn’t want to do it. But he was Spider Man. He had to do it! Soon he was swinging from building to building towards the police cars. He brought his arm around to shoot a line of webbing…but nothing happened. Spider-Man was high above the street with no webbing. ‘Aaaagh’ he cried as he crashed down onto a building below.

He stood up slowly and looked down. Then he looked at his hands and tried to shoot some webbing. Nothing. ‘What’s happening to me’ he thought.

Five minutes later, he was in a lift. A man with a dog got in.

‘Cool Spidey clothes,’ the man said.

‘Thanks,’ said Peter.

All through Dr Connors’ class Peter thought about MJ. After the class, he phoned her from the university. There was no answer so he left a message.

‘Hi, MJ, this is Peter. I was on my way to your show and, well, I was on my bike, e r, Are you there? I’ve been thinking about it all day and ‘

CLICK! The phone cut off. Peter didn’t have any more money, but he continued, ‘I want to tell you the truth,’ he said. ‘Here it is. I am Spider-Man. So…I can’t be with you. A lot of people want to kill me…I can’t put you in danger. I think about you every day. I really want to tell you…but I can’t.’

MJ wasn’t going to hear the last bit. Peter knew this, but he wanted to say it anyway.