-Taking tangled mess too literally-

  Downtown TB—Shiromori Residence, Ryu’s Room

  Our gazes were fixed on Asri’s phone, now covered with sticky webs that I just shot out of my wrist.

  “Dude, you shot…weird sticky liquid out of your body.” Asri said, stifling a laugh.

  “Try webs, you perv.” I retorted.

  “But why the hell are yo–” Asri's eyes widened. “The spider from our Neuroflex project.”

  “Yeah, I'm thinking that has to be the reason, as well.”I said, before handing Asri his sticky phone. He winced as he grabbed hold of it.

  “Dude, you're like…a spider mutant now.”Asri said as he removed the webbing stuck on his phone. “Or man. A spider man.”

  The tingling behind my skull hadn't stopped, but this time it was soft, slow, like a guiding voice. I could feel everything around me–the air flowing around this room. My PC is stacked with reference books. The fly resting on the windowsill is about to take off.

  Thwip! A webball shot out of my wrist, slamming the fly–encasing it in sticky webs.

  I looked at Asri, barely able to contain my excitement .“Dude, you're thinking what I'm thinking?”

  Asri's eyes widened, filled with curiosity. “Testing? Let's go! To the rooftop!” He bolts out of my room, heading to the back of my house.

  Me? I cracked open a window, and carefully placed my hand there. Yeah, this is sticking. I then started climbing the wall, all the way up to my roof. Imagine if a neighbour saw me!

  Scaling the wall felt unusually natural, like I was crawling on the floor, but vertically. It didn't take long for me to reach the rooftop while Asri had just started climbing.

  My best friend pulled himself up to my flat roof top, slightly surprised to see me leaning against an AC unit. “You know, normal people use the stairs.” He dusted off his hands.

  “Can I really be considered normal at this point?” I smirked before approaching him.

  “I guess you've always been…unique.” He said with a laugh, and I threw an empty plastic bottle at him.

  “Alright, jokes aside about your uniqueness, I have a few ideas that I want to test on you.”

  “Like what?”

  “First, a jump test. If you could climb like a spider, could you jump like one?”

  I looked down to my feet, as if expecting an answer there. I crouched down, feeling my legs coiling up like a spring, and jumped.

  I shot upwards–higher, higher, until the rooftop felt miles away.

  The cold air bites against my exposed skin, ruffling my mulet into my eyes. By the time I looked down, the rooftop was far below me–30 feet at least!

  I landed back down low, parallel to the ground, with a soft thud–my right palm absorbing the impact, while my right foot stretched out for balance.

  “Dude…” Asri's jaw was hanging. “That was cool.”

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  “It is, literally.” I stood back up, dusting off my hands. “It's cold as hell up there.”

  Next test–web-slinging.

  Asri placed a couple of bricks onto my AC unit, challenging me to shoot them off like a gunslinger from the old west.

  I focused on the rightmost brick, took aim–THWIP.

  The webball missed by a mile.

  “Okay, this is hard actually.” I said, as Asri observed me like a lab rat.

  “Hm, you caught my phone midair yet you can't shoot a stationary object?” He rubs his chin. “Skill issue, much?”

  I glared at him before taking aim a second time. Thwip!

  The webball hit against the AC unit.

  “Maybe it's because I'm aiming for it.” I said, looking at Asri.

  “Could be. Try just feeling for the bricks instead of relying on your eyes.”

  I nodded, and set my gaze on the line of bricks. That buzzing behind my skull again. It's like a voice–a sensation. I could feel the uneven gaps between bricks, the distance between us, how high they were from the ground.

  THWIP–

  And it strikes the rightmost brick clean. A rush of accomplishment surged through my body as I shot another webball off the AC unit.

  THWIP–

  A webstring was attached to one now, and with a swift pull, it soars towards me. Panic sets in. I squeezed my eyes shut, my hands flying to my face–but the buzzing was back.

  A warning sensation.

  I instinctively swiped my hand across the open air, catching the brick.

  “So it really was instinct.” Asri noted, still rubbing his chin.

  I lowered my hands–the brick firm in my grip. “It's not really instinct. It's more like…I could feel it.” I placed the brick down. “Like I could see but with my whole body instead of just my eyes.”

  “So like…a sense?”

  “Yeah–a spidey sense.”

  Then an idea hit me like a lightning bolt. Thwip. A webstring launches, sticking firmly against a street lamp.

  Asri, crossing his arms, was catching on. “Dude, if you pull that out, I'm reporting for vandalism.” He joked.

  But I wasn't listening. The curiosity, excitement and nervousness was overwhelming. If I could pull objects to me, can I pull myself into objects?

  With a firm tug, the webline stretched taut, tension building like a bowstring, before slingshotting me forward.

  I scream as I glide through the air. Momentum was fading fast, and the asphalt road was coming closer by every second.

  Without thinking, I shot another webstring, sticking it to another street lamp with a thwip. I pulled against the string as hard as I could, hoping to slow my speed, but instead I started swinging…straight into a pile of uncollected trash. CRASH.

  Garbage was everywhere–and the stench was horrible! I got back up, removing the molding banana peel off my shoulder with a wince, before walking back to my house.

  … Why am I walking?

  I shot a webstring against the street lamp, and slingshot myself in the air again. At the apex of the jump, I let go–feeling the weightlessness of my body, before shooting another webstring against the corner of my neighbour's house.

  And I started swinging again. The cold air slicing against my exposed skin, excitement and fear mixing like a cocktail of adrenaline and bad decisions.

  Shoot. Swing. Release. Fall.

  Shoot. Swing. Release. Fall.

  I was swinging around my neighbourhood. The houses blurred as I soared in the air. With a quick thwip, I zipped myself onto my roof, landing right next to Asri with a fumbled roll.

  “Asri,” my wide smile couldn't be contained. “I think I'm gonna enjoy the new me.”