Splintered Arrows

After I ate breakfast that morning, I said goodbye to Clint and his family. He walked me out to my car and gave me his number (and I screamed internally), telling me to call him when I made it to Colorado.

“After you get to Colorado, ONLY use this for emergencies.”

“Okay, Clint. You changed my tire, fed me twice, gave me a place to stay, and I have your number? This has to be more than just you being nice to me.”

“Alright, fine,” he said. “I stopped because I always do. I always just check to make sure that whoever is stuck on the side of the road has help coming, and I help them if they don’t. But, you seemed really worked up about being late to Colorado. I guess I just wanted to make sure you were okay before you took off again.” I smiled, honestly shocked that a complete stranger would care so much. Sure, he’s an Avenger, but I’m just a kid from Ohio; I didn’t think he would really give me the time of day, let alone a bed for the night.

I got to Colorado right around dinnertime. I called Clint and let him know that I made it there safely. I hung up, got out of the car, and looked at the house, where my aunt was standing on the front porch with her arms crossed. I sighed, put on a fake smile, and waved as I grabbed my bag.

“Well,” my aunt began, her arms still crossed when I walked up to the porch, “look who finally decided to show up.”

“Hi, Aunt Clara. I told you, I got a flat tire in Missouri and Hawkeye changed it for me, and he insisted I stay at his house for the night.” She uncrossed her arms, put her hands on the porch railing, looked down and sighed.

“You really think I’m supposed to buy that? That an Avenger lives in Missouri and just happened to change your tire then give you a place to stay?”

“It’s the truth, Aunt Clara. Why would I lie about that?”

“You know, your parents always lied about things. They told us they were having twins; they didn’t. They told us you were going to go to college as soon as you graduated high school; now you say you’re not going.”

“Well, I was planning on going until my parents were killed, or did you forget that small detail?” My aunt stood there in shock.

“How dare you suggest that I would forget that? She was my sister. I knew her her whole life.”

“And I knew her my whole life. I lived with her my whole life. It’s not my fault you two had a falling out over something that never even concerned you.” I stopped and sighed to collect my thoughts. “Look, I’m telling you the truth about this. I had a flat tire, Hawkeye changed it, and he gave me a place to stay. I told you I would be running late, and I was. I know the past two and a half years have been hard on you; they’ve been hard on me, too. But, I just want to enjoy these next few days with my family.” The screen door opened and closed behind me.

“I thought I heard a familiar voice,” a voice said from behind me.

“Uncle Darren!” I dropped my bag and gave him a hug. When my parents died, Darren was the only one who called to check in on me. When I had to go to Colorado that first year, he offered to drive all the way to Ohio to pick me up, but I said that I wanted to fly. So, he paid for my ticket and picked me up at the airport.

“I missed you too, Alex,” he chuckled. He took my bag from my hand and led us inside.

After we had dinner- during which Darren asked me question after question about Clint, and Clara seemed less than interested- I told them I was tired and ready for bed. I went to the spare room that I had used the past three times I came to Colorado. I changed into my PJ’s and climbed into bed.

***

My mom was never super close with her sister. Sure, they loved each other, but they tended to argue more frequently than one would expect out of sisters. But, Clara was almost ten years older than my mom, so they didn’t agree on a lot of things. Clara didn’t like that Mom didn’t want to know my gender before I was born. She didn’t like that my parents were raising me the way they were. And she definitely didn’t like when my dad came out as transgender, and my mom stayed with her. That was the final nail in the coffin, so to speak.

She came out a couple years before my parents died. When she told Mom and I, it just seemed natural to call her Maggie or Ama. I couldn’t care less; she was still the same person, and I loved her just the same. Clara, on the other hand, was furious. She and Mom fought for days over the phone, and I could tell it was doing nothing but wearing Mom down. At the same time that was going on, Uncle Darren was texting me and making sure Mom was okay. At first, I was furious; he didn’t seem to be doing anything to help the situation, just making sure it wasn’t getting too out of hand. Eventually, I realized what was happening; while Mom was getting worn down, leaving Maggie and I to calm her down, Darren was trying to censor Clara while texting me.

We stopped visiting each other after that, and we only talked to Darren. Then, two weeks after my moms died, Clara decided that I needed to live with her and Darren in Colorado instead of staying in Ohio with Charlie and his parents, where I had been staying. The courts almost got involved, but Clara finally agreed to let me stay with Charlie and his parents as long as I came to visit her and Darren in Colorado during the summer. The first year, I stayed for a month, then she let me leave after two weeks last year. This year, Darren and I, along with Michael and Alice, managed to talk her into letting me leave after a week.

While I was laying in bed, I texted Charlie like I always did. Usually, we talked about how much I wanted to go back home. Obviously, we talked about Clint.

Charlie: So, how did they react?

Me: Darren was ecstatic. Clara? Not so much.

Charlie: Be honest. Are you really that surprised?

Me: Not at all. Darren was asking me all kinds of questions at dinner about how nice he was and what he said to me and did you get him to sign anything?

Charlie: Well? Did you?

Me: No, Charlie. I did not get him to sign anything, which made Darren a little upset. But, like I told him, I did get his number so that’s something.

Charlie: I still don’t understand what twist of fate led you here.

Me: Bitch, you act like I know how I got here. I still can’t wait to get back to Ohio though. I already miss you.

Charlie: I miss you, too.

Charlie: Hey, at least when you get back this time, you’ll have something more exciting to talk about than whatever you did there.

Me: As if we ever do anything. Maybe we’ll actually do something this year.

We kept talking for about an hour, until Charlie was going to bed. I stayed up late, trying to figure out how I not only met my favorite Avenger, but met his family, stayed at his house, and got his phone number- even if it was only for emergencies.

Over the next few days, Darren and I would either go on a hike or go get ice cream. Clara would join us every once in a while, but she usually stayed home. That was fine by me, though; I much preferred talking to Darren over Clara. After my moms died, I couldn’t get out of bed for a week. Charlie brought my homework to me, and he would just sit with me. Sometimes, he would tell me about what happened at school that day; other times, we would just sit in silence. Every day, Darren would call me. I didn’t have the energy to answer, but he would always leave me a voicemail.

Once I found the energy to get out of bed and function, I listened to all of them. There were at least 20; they were all simple things, like “just thinking of you, Hope you’re doing okay,” or “I’m here for you whenever you’re ready to talk.” The one that really got me was “I’m not going to say that I know how you feel, because I don’t. I am going to say that I understand if you need to take time before you say anything to me. I understand if you want me to stop sending you these messages. But I will keep sending these until you tell me to stop. Because I want you to know that you're not alone. I know Clara hasn’t said anything to you; I’ve been trying to get her to text you, but she refuses. She claims that you’d reach out to her if you wanted her to talk to you.”

I had always been closer to Darren than I ever was to Clara. He was much more open minded than Clara was. He didn’t care how my parents raised me, as long as I was happy. When Maggie came out to the two of them, Darren welcomed her with open arms and offered to buy her old clothes if she wanted to get rid of them. He never questioned the close relationship my moms had with Michael and Alice. Even though Clara was my mom’s sister, Darren always seemed like my mom’s big brother.

When it was finally time for me to leave, I said my quick goodbye to Clara, then Darren walked with me out to my car.

“I know I don’t need to thank you, but I’m going to anyway. Thank you for believing me about Clint. Thank you for everything you’ve done.” I hugged him, and he was hesitant to return the hug.

“Why does this sound like you’re saying goodbye forever?” I sighed, my head in his chest.

“Because I’m turning eighteen this year; I don’t know if it’s worth the mental energy to come out here anymore. I love you so much more than I can put into words, but I don’t know how much more of her talking shit about my moms I can take. If I’m being honest, I’ve only come out here because I have to, because she makes me. I love you, but I just can’t do it anymore.” I thought that I was saying goodbye to him for a couple years, at most. Little did I know that I would never see him or Clara again.