Chapter 8
"Here we go." Said Wanda as she opened the door. "Here's your room Sweetheart."
I followed her in to the room and was taken back by how nice it was. Immediately I noticed the large bed in the center of the room. It must have been a king size and looked so comfortable. At either side of the bed was a small bedside table, white with a matching lamp. Above the bed was a strip of small windows that let in just enough of that beautiful orange sunset. There was some standard furniture too: an empty bookshelf, a large wall length wardrobe on the left and a desk to the right.
"The bathroom's just here if you want to freshen up before dinner." Wanda said, gesturing to the closed door behind her. I suddenly remembered my sacrifice of personal hygiene that morning and felt horribly ashamed. I wasn't even wearing fresh clothes. I hoped it wasn't too noticeable.
"Oh shit, my stuff." I said, mostly to myself as I realized I had absolutely nothing with me but my phone, rucksack and a Great Gatsby paper.
"It's all here hun." Said Wanda as she pointed down by the side of the bed.
Confused, I walked further over to her and saw a row of suitcases by the bookcase. I grabbed one and threw it on the bed, opening it in a hurry. When I did I saw it was filled with my own clothing.
"How did you get this here?" I asked. "This was all in my dorm."
"You'd have to ask Tony. All I know is we had to get you here, so I assume he sent someone to pack your things for you this morning." She said, apologetically.
I sighed, still in disbelief at how quickly my world had been uprooted. I hoped that Cassie hadn't been in when they did that. She'd have so many questions and I couldn't face trying to explain something as complex as this to her. I didn't even understand it myself. I shot Wanda a quick smile to let her know I wasn't angry.
"Okay, I'll leave you to get settled. Dinner should be ready in about an hour. Will you be joining us or would you prefer I bring you something?" She asked.
"Um, I'm not ready to meet everyone just yet." I said truthfully. Aside from that, I was exhausted and didn't think I'd be able to maintain a conversation.
"Sure I understand Sweetie." She said softly and gave me a small wave before leaving the room.
I locked the door behind her and flopped back onto the giant bed. It was just as soft as it looked. I took my phone out of my pocket and unlocked it. I'd had a missed call from a College number, the Dean no doubt. There were no other notifications waiting for me on any of my social media accounts, which I was used to. I went to the contact menu and hovered above Erica's name. I still couldn't bring myself to make the call and was still furious about how she'd kept all this from me for so long.
Just as I was about to close the contact menu I saw Clint's name a few above Erica's. I scrolled to the top and went down the list, taking note of all the new contacts. Adam, Adrianna, Bethan, Bucky, Bruce, Cassie, Clint, Colson, Dad, Dana, Erica, Fury, Georgia, Harry, Justin, Lou, Nat, Peter, Rueben, Ross, Sasha, Sam, Steve, Stewart, Tony, Tom, Wanda.
I couldn't believe it. Obviously they'd found a way into my phone to do this. Another part of my privacy taken away. I rolled over and put my face into the pillow. I was so tempted to scream but thought better of it, I couldn't deal with any of the Avengers breaking the door down to make sure I wasn't being murdered.
Instead I decided to check out the bathroom and grab a shower. I felt disgusting after all. I saw that the shower was fully stocked with my favourite products. Aussie shampoo and conditioner, Blood orange shower gel, a Walnut body scrub. They were all new, these hadn't been grabbed from my dorm. In fact I knew I'd ran out of the body scrub a few weeks back and hadn't gotten around to replacing it. My mind wandered back to what Fury had said about how they'd monitored me for seven years. If they'd been monitoring me in the shower then I would be throwing hands, that's for sure. I reached over and turned on the faucet.
While I waited for it to heat up I looked at the rest of the bathroom. There was a huge countertop where the sink was with drawers and cupboards underneath. I opened them all and saw countless skincare products, body butters and lotions, hair removal products, feminine hygiene products, towels and hand towels and wash cloths, packets of tooth brushes, toothpaste, picks and floss. They really had stocked up for me, as if it made up for the whole kidnapping thing.
As I was in the shower that all too familiar sense of relief and serenity hit me. I felt so much better in just minutes. I washed my hair and let the conditioner sit, as I relished in the feeling of the warm water flowing over me and chilling me out completely. I would have stayed in there for hours if I could have but a knock at the door snapped me out of my relaxation.
I shut off the water and jumped out, wrapping myself in the softest bathrobe that had been hanging on the back of the bathroom door. I hesitated for a minute wondering who it would be. I couldn't face anyone new right now, especially not when I was 90% naked. Whoever it was knocked again and I called out "Just a minute."
I walked to the bedroom door and cracked it open, peeking around to see Wanda stood there smiling cheerfully. I breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn't someone new.
"Sorry lovely, I didn't realise you were showering!" She said looking at the drips my wet hair were sending down to the floor.
"Oh it's ok, I was done anyway. Come in." I replied and opened the door fully.
"I just wanted to talk to you, tell you something before you got a big shock." She said, sitting delicately on the end of the bed. She looked down at the creases her own body made in the comforter and tried to smooth them out with her delicate fingers.
"Ok?" I questioned as I stood in front of her, my arms folded across my body.
"The dreams you had, where we sent someone to send you our message.." She started.
"Yeah? The one's with mystery man. That had me waking up shaking and screaming." I confirmed, sarcastically.
"Um, yes. Well, he's here. Mystery man I mean, he's not here now, but he does, well he lives here. He's an avenger." She said. She looked just as anxious as I felt. I didn't even have to say anything before she continued.
"Oh, and his name is actually Bucky. Well technically it's James, but everyone calls him Bucky. I swear to you he is a nice guy and he wont hurt you. He would never. But I know you must have some reservations about him from your dreams." She said.
"Yeah and the fact he's been following me around for the last week. He scares me Wanda. I don't want to see him!" I had tears in my eyes from remembering the way he'd made me feel.
"And you don't have to, not yet, not today. But you should meet him soon. He feels terrible about scaring you Melissa. He tried to come to you in person but each time he did someone else came along and he had to leave." she said. "He didn't even want to send the message because he knew he'd probably scare you, but he drew the short straw."
"Literally?" I asked, envisioning them sat round a table pulling straws and arguing over who was going to haunt my dreams.
"Technically it was spaghetti, but.. yeah?" She confessed.
"Oh my god! Wanda!" I said, bringing my hands to my face totally unable to hide my laughter.
"I'm sorry!" She laughed too. "I wanted to do it but I'm not allowed to go into other people's dreams so they drew spaghettis!"
I sat down on the bed next to her and laughed along until tears were streaming down my face. I couldn't remember the last time I had laughed like this with. I laid back and she joined me, grabbing my hand in hers and holding it to her chest.
"How are you feeling honey? This must feel like such a confusing time for you." She asked, as our laughs faded. She seemed genuinely concerned how I was and that was such a novelty to me. Aside from Erica no-one had taken much of an interest in my wellbeing for so many years.
"Honestly? I think I'm ok." I said. "I've lived for so many years being numb to everything around me. Not caring about whether I'm coming or going. I haven't had any hopes or ambitions for the longest time but, I don't know, I feel like this is different. Like I'm going to get some answers about who I am and like this is the start of some big change."
"Oh Melissa I really think it is! I'm sorry about Shield messing with your memories. I know all too well how invasive it is when someone gets in your head and messes with your mind. If you have any questions about your past then let me know and I'll help you get the answers you need." She said.
"I have nothing but questions Wanda. But I think if I start asking now, we'll be here all week and I really need to sleep, I'm exhausted." I said, as a yawn started brewing. It can't have been much later than 8pm but the day had taken it's toll on me.
"Sleep soon, have something to eat first." She said. "Are you sure I can't convince you to come have dinner with us? Most people are still out, it's only Peter who has come back from helping with the move. I think you'll really like him."
I gave it a few seconds thought before deciding it sounded like a good idea. I'd have to meet them all eventually so if I could do it one by one then that would be better for me. I just had to try and brave it out.
"Yeah okay, I think I will actually. I just need to get dressed, can you give me five minutes?" I asked.
"Yes! Of course! I'll wait in the hall for you!" She said, absolutely beaming with delight that I was joining them. Her happiness was so contagious.
I went over to the suitcases and picked out the same one I'd opened earlier. I grabbed a pair of white sweats, socks, one of my favourite bralettes and a black sweater and threw them on. I couldn't be bothered to rummage around for my hair brush so I grabbed the compact one from my ruck sack and set to detangling my still soaking wet hair.
As I joined Wanda in the hall she still had the biggest smile on her face and she reached out to link arms with me as we walked towards the kitchen.