Squash That Spider!

MARK

I sneak around, though she's wondering why. I have powers, and she desperately wants me to use them.

Not about to give in, I ask, "Hey, you ok?"

"Come on, Mark, you know I'm not, just use them already!" she hisses.

"I'll only use them if you use yours, and you'll only use yours in case of an emergency," I tell her, like I do every week.

This time, I was too loud, and someone in the distance said, "Someone's there!"

They run across the floor, their feet pounding on the hard marble floor that make many people slip, including me. Marissa and I both look at each other, nod, and then transform. When I'm invisible, I look around, knowing that she'll be in a weird place. The kids arrive, just as I spot Marissa, who's morphed into a small spider. While the kids move around, searching for us, Marissa changes into a fly. No one notices, and she decides to be risky.

"Mark, you good?" she whispers.

The kids don't hear, but they see her, which is just as bad. They quietly inspect her, and the only thing I can do is hope, hope that she flies away like most flies, but no luck. She stays where she is, and the kids, being the unintelligent beings they are, decide that they're satisfied. They walk away while we return to our original forms.

"That's why you have to use them!" she tells me, as if I didn't already know.

"Okay, okay, I'll use them, but only if you don't shape-shift into something you know I hate," I bargain, knowing that she'll agree.

"Deal." she agrees, and we're off.

During this time, life is easy. I turn invisible, and she turns into a spider, and I think of something I can do. It's boring with this power when you're doing this specific exercise. I decide to run away from her, and because she won't notice, she won't shout. The only problem with that plan is that it's against the rules.

Rule 123:?[~ =~\| \|!? :(|* ?[~} {!}|+%} !| !-- |(=%\, %`````` %+ [+ &}(--\

In case you can't read gibberish, here's what it says:

Rule 123: You MUST stay with your partner at all times, even during drills.

Anyway, paying no regards to rule 123, I decide to abandon Marissa, and sneak off. Little did I know, that was the worst idea of my life.

MARISSA

I sigh, and, relieved that I had finally won the argument, carried on scuttling toward the door. Traveling as a spider wasn't easy, so I changed into a fly, where I could soar across the room. Once I was outside, I would turn into a butterfly, and then see how Mark was doing. I knew he would probably be way ahead of me, because he doesn't like to follow rule 123. I sigh again, this time from annoyance, and continued flying. I passed that obstacle, I flew behind a wall, and smoothly transformed into a butterfly. I ignored the churning in my stomach, and took off to where Mark and I always meet after we get outside. I wait for a minute, then two, than three. After that, I was worried, and starting saying "Mark! Mark! Where are you?"

No response.

"Mark! Mark! Where are you?" more loudly this time, but still no response. I'm worried now, and shouting my head off. It's a miracle someone hasn't seen me, but I don't care.

I just carry on yelling until finally, finally someone tracks the sound. I whirl around expecting Mark, and all I see is... Nothing. Nothing but net. I was caught. For the first time in the twenty years of my career, I was caught.

MARK

By now, you must be wondering where I went. Well, the answer to that question is no where. In fact I was by Marissa's side until outside. Then, I ran off to the neighborhood park, and stayed there until I heard Marissa shouting. The park isn't that far away, so I ran back in record time. The last time I saw her was when someone caught her in a net. When she had changed into a spider, I knew that she was found out. She had been caught, and it was all because of me. If i didn't want to play the trick, this never would've happened. It was a silly trick anyways, and the boss wouldn't be happy. Now I have to race against time to stop her from getting killed. This wasn't what I was planning to do on my drill, but here I am, trying to find a way to get Marissa back without anyone noticing. My first course of action would be to follow the guy who had caught her. I sighed, this would be harder than I expected. I thought that all I had to do was find the guy and take Marissa, but that wasn't possible anymore. Another guy had just went over to guard Marissa, making sure that no one took her. I sighed again. I couldn't just waltz over there, and pick her up, so I'm stuck. What strategy should I use. Strategy was never my best subject, I usually needed Marissa to help me with that.

"Great," I muttered to myself when I came to this conclusion.

MARISSA

After that, I looked around to see where the person who had caught me had taken me. Just around the corner, I saw Mark. If he was there that whole time, I swear, I will do something awful to him when he comes to rescue me. But, I guess he is trying to rescue me. I recognize one of the boys who captured me, and I can see that Mark does too. His name is Justin, and he's very annoying. He finds ways to humiliate me, and I don't get embarrassed that easily. He knows how to get on everyone's nerves. Anyway, back to the point. Mark is now coming over to Justin, and asking him something. I want to change into something, anything that would enable me to hear him, but I know it's too risky. I need to know what he's planning, but I have no way of doing that.

"Great," I mutter, coming to this conclusion.

MARK

I have a plan. In order to carry it out, I quickly go to a supply closet, and grab the materials I need. A vest, a clipboard, and a badge. It's a collectors vest, meaning that I collect all the bugs that people catch. I go back to the school gardens, where Justin captured her. After I see Marissa, I know that he doesn't know that she's a human. He's about to squash Marissa, and I run over.

"Excuse me," I say, just in time. "I'm a collector, so please give all of your catches to me."

"Aren't you a magic guy?" He's suspicious.

"I have all the equipment needed to be a collector, so no, I am not a magic guy." I say, desperately wanting to correct him.

"Alright," he says. "Take the spider, it's all we got."

Just as he says that, Marissa decides to change. She changes into a... into a... heart??? I don't look at her for a few minutes and when Justin finishes signing stuff on my clipboard, I walk over to her. As soon as Justin turns around, she's back into a spider.

"The butterfly we caught must've flown away." he says, winking at his friends.

"OK, um, I'll take the spider now." I say, letting her scuttle into my hands. It tickles at first, but I'm used to it. I've accomplished many things today, but I'm sure that it wasn't worth all the trouble I'm going to get into.