Chapter 2
When I finally saw you again, we were both exhausted. I was both physically and mentally drained, but I couldn’t stop thinking about what I had done to that guard. It was horrendous; I was horrendous. I couldn’t believe I had done that to him. I was so scared; scared of hurting someone like that again, scared of my new powers, scared of what I could do, scared of myself.
I saw you at the opposite end of the corridor one moment and you were right next to me in the next. I hadn’t gotten used to that yet, and at the time I didn’t think I ever would. I tried to bury what I had gone through that day, hide it from you. But you saw my hesitation.
“Wanda, are you alright?” your voice drowned in worry even though you seemed just as worn out as I – obvious in the way your breathing was hard and ragged. I wondered just how bad I was at hiding things from you. I supposed it was because I had never had anything I felt I needed to keep from you before.
You were panting, exhausted; I didn’t want to know what they had put you through and a pang of anger rose at the possibilities. The emotion made whatever they had put in me stir so I forced it back down with effort. I didn’t want to make you worry about me so I lied, “I’m fine, Pietro. We need to get you some water,”
I started to turn around but you put your hand on my arm, “After you tell me what’s wrong,”
You were looking at me with pain in your eyes, you knew I had lied to you and it hurt. I’m sorry; I want to say that now, for everything. I decided right then to never lie to you again. It felt wrong, like I was betraying a part of myself. “I- They- They’re so harsh,” I could feel the familiar closing of my throat and the tears behind my eyes as you pulled me into a hug. “I’m- I hurt so much. An-and I’m s-so scare-ared,” I cried into your chest.
I hadn’t so much as sniffled when I was training; I didn’t want them knowing I was weak. But now that it’s just us I let my tears flow freely.
“We’ll get through this,” I heard you say into my hair. You said that to me a lot back then and I’m only now realizing that it was maybe for yourself as much as it was for me. You seemed so much more mature even though I was nine minutes older than you. I looked up to you, I still do. But maybe that’s why I couldn’t see that you were just as scared as me.
Your breathing was still abnormal but you kept talking.
With shortness of breath you explained the infinite
You told me again that we had to keep living because it was a gift. That our lives may be hard now but that if we just keep going, it will get better. That just having the courage to live was a thing of wonders.
How rare and beautiful it is to even exist