Spider-Man 0X

Ch: 168 [Liz’s nightmares]

Ch: 168 [Liz’s nightmares]

Liz Allen sat on the edge of her bed, staring at her reflection in the mirror. Dark circles framed her eyes, indicating a lack of sleep. Ever since the incident with the truck accident where she almost died and then Misery trying to take over her body, followed by Rhino pressing a gun at her forehead and then the Symbiote throwing her out the helicopter... She couldn't get a wink of sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, she would be haunted by these nightmares, making her wake up screaming.

The worst of all was the brief, agonizing memory of being run over by the truck. The impact, the searing pain, and the momentary blackness before she woke up screaming. It was the most vivid, the most horrifying, and it lingered with her throughout each day. She knew she died that night on the road and was alive right now thanks to Misery. But she could only curse every time she remembered that freaky betrayer.

Ever since that day, she had been seeing a therapist to help cope with the trauma. It helped somewhat, but she still found it difficult to sleep peacefully at night.

Liz took a deep breath, trying to steady herself. She needed to move forward, to find a way to live with the trauma. The nightmares might never go away completely, but she couldn't let them control her life. She couldn't allow fear to hold her back anymore. She had to be strong.

She took another deep breath, then stood up and walked out of her room.

Liz went downstairs to the kitchen. She skipped breakfast today. Last night's nightmares kept her awake the entire night and in the morning, she fell asleep for a few hours only to jump up by the sound of the alarm clock. Every was blurry for a moment before her vision cleared. She turned toward the old alarm clock that was supposed to be on the table, but it wasn't there.

"Tsk." She took her phone from the desk. It was 1:30 PM right now. She prepared sandwiches, took a bottle of lemonade, and went to her room with the food.

As she sat on the bed and placed the plate of sandwiches on the desk, a slight knock on the window caught her attention. Her heart leaped into her throat when she saw Spiderman outside her window.

"Spiderman!" she exclaimed, opening the windows and letting him in.

"Hello, Liz," He jumped into her room.

"I didn't expect you to come here anytime soon. You know, with how busy you are," She smiled, moving away from him. "Make yourself comfortable. I'm sorry my room is kinda mess."

Spiderman noticed her gloomy look and those dark circles under her eyes. He knew exactly what was going on with Liz. Misery must have left a small part of herself within Liz, which was slowly consuming her mind. And the shock from that day must be haunting her.

"No problem," He moved to the chair in front of the table. "So, you look like you could use a good nap. Bad dreams?" He asked, sitting on the chair.

"Yeah..." Liz sighed, sitting on the edge of the bed. "Bad dreams... Every time I close my eyes, I keep having nightmares about that night. About dying and waking up in a hospital bed with a parasite in me... It's driving me crazy."

"Yeah, it's hard to forget that moment... That brief split second before everything goes black is terrifying..." Spiderman sympathized with Liz.

"You probably faced death more than me... How do you deal with it? You know, that split second..." Liz asked curiously.

"Hmmm... At first, it was terrifying. The feeling that I could die at any moment... the fear of never seeing my loved ones again... or being buried six feet underground," He answered and paused for a moment as he remembered his past life where he was tormented every single day when death was the least of his worries. The horrible memories filled his mind, making a shiver run through his spine. Although he had his revenge and everything was over in this reality, those bastards are still alive in his real world.

Liz touched his hand and squeezed, bringing him back to reality.

'Wha-?!' She felt a weird sting in her palm, so she quickly removed her hand from Spidey's hand.

"Well, before this all started, I thought that death would be the worst thing possible," Spiderman continued. "But after facing that reality, and waking up afterward... it makes me appreciate being alive so much more. Nightmares will come and go, but eventually, they'll fade. As long as we keep going forward, we can overcome anything. For me, after I survived that blast, I decided to live my life to the fullest without holding back or regrets," He added with a smile. "And as I continued to live like that, those bad feelings, that split second, also faded away."

His words rang true in Liz's heart. If anyone understood her pain, it was the hero in front of her.

"Anyway, you are alive, aren't you? Instead of focusing on your fears, live your life. Do everything you want to do without having any regrets! Now, eat up your lunch. Then we'll talk more..."

"You want one?" Liz held up the plate, offering a sandwich to him.

"Sure," Spiderman chuckled, taking one sandwich.

They ate in silence, and Liz finished all her sandwiches. Then she sat down on the bed while he was still sitting on the chair in front of the table. While eating, Spidey noticed the broken alarm clock in the corner of the room. Then his eyes went to Liz's hands, but there wasn't any sign of cuts whatsoever.

"So, you noticed anything weird after that incident, other than nightmares?" Spiderman asked, straight to the point, regarding the matter that brought him here today.

"No not that I know of, why?" Liz wondered what brought this sudden change of topic.

"That alarm clock..." Spiderman pointed his eyes at the corner. "You smashed it in the morning, didn't you? You don't remember?"

"What... I..." She looked at the shattered glass, trying to remember. It was all blurry. She remembers hearing the sound of the alarm, but when she woke up it wasn't there on the desk. Did she smash it unconsciously in a fit of rage from a nightmare? "What's going on here?" She noticed that there weren't any cuts on her hands. "I mean, my hands are fine. I must have thrown it at the wall... I don't know." She seemed genuinely confused. "My thoughts have been quite fuzzy for a while since that incident and all the nightmares too... "

"Get out of her body unless you want to suffer the same fate as Misery," Spiderman said with a sigh.

"You? How do you know about me?" A deep, feminine voice came from Liz.

"What?!" Liz jumped down from the bed in shock. Just when she thought she got rid of the parasite, another had come to torment her. "W-what's happening..." She felt a throbbing pain inside her head. It was as if another consciousness had overtaken her and was fighting her for dominance. "Nnngh... ahhh..."

"Stop hurting her. I won't say it twice, get out of her without leaving an imprint, right now!" Spiderman demanded as he retracted the nanites and touched Liz's head, and his immunity power kicked in, forcing the white blob to flow out of her body.

"So, quiet... Ah..." A sense of calmness washed over Liz. Her face immediately lit up, and the fuzziness in her mind faded. "Uuuughhh," She heaved a breath of relief.

The white blob tried to cling onto her, but Spidey pulled it out with his right hand as a nanite-made container formed on his left hand. He placed it inside a containment container. The blob jiggled violently inside the container. It didn't matter if he tried to get it out, the container was strong enough to cage a newly born weak symbiote.

Spiderman helped Liz sit on the bed, "Careful now. It's all over."

"Did that alien just..." she asked while rubbing her eyes.

"No worries, you are free of the parasite, for real this time," Spidey assured her and smiled. "You should get some rest now." He used a simple magic on her to put her to sleep and added a spell for good dreams. "Sweet dream."

After that, he placed a spider bug on the table and left her house. He made his way toward the penthouse.

"Time to feed Venom."

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Read 16 advance Chapters

Next Ch: 169 [No time to rest- Cyborgs vs Spidey]

Ch: 170 [No more holding back]

Ch: 171 [Revelation pt1]

Ch: 172 [Revelation pt2]

Ch: 173 [Victor Von Doom]