The Other One(STOPPED WRITING)

Chapter 97: Are You Real..?

Hey everyone, I know I haven't updated in a few days. I went on vacation, so I didn't exactly have time to write. I promise, though, I'm gonna try to write more every day. Anyways, I REALLY want to see your theories on what's happening with Erik. PLEASE COMMENT THEM. It's fun to see ideas, even though I already know what's happening. I kept making my sister guess, but she had no idea, so I eventually told her. To me, it seems a bit obvious with all the clues, but I just want to see what you guys have to say:) happy reading.
.....

Again, another two weeks go by. The days seem to go by quickly anymore. Erik continues to be odd sometimes. Just last week, he went crazy, it seemed. For the longest time, 30 seconds, he stood up again and put his hands on the glass, his eyes darting around the room. He looked confused. He looked at Steve, who had been in the room at the time to keep an eye on him. From the camera, I can't see his exact facial expression, but I could tell he was confused when he saw him. I could hear him say, "You're Captain America?" He said it as if he wasn't sure about it.
Once he said that, Steve looked up at him finally, and nodded, because he obviously is Captain America. After he nodded, he backed up away from the glass, and he just kept looking around everywhere. It was the same look on his face, that I saw. It looked like he didn't know where he was, or what was happening around him. It's almost as if he just suddenly became aware of his surroundings.
He kept doing this for a few more seconds. It looked like he was struggling to get anymore words out. Almost as if he wanted to say something, but he either couldn't, or he looked to confused to say anything. He's confusing me.
After 25 seconds, his eyes kept blinking, and he put his hands to his head, and then to his eyes. Once the 30 seconds hit, he went to sit back against the glass again, acting as though none of that just happened.
There were more incidents that happened in the past two weeks, but that was the one that stood out to me the most. He actually spoke that time, and that's the only time he spoke. I haven't spoken to him again at all. I was going to, but I decided not to. I didn't want to overthink anything, but now, I'm contemplating whether I should speak to him again. Bucky told me that if it was important to me that I know what's going on with him, I should talk to him again, and keep an eye on him. He even suggested an interrogation as a joke. But every time anyone brought the subject of him being odd to Erik, he couldn't recall it happening. He claims he never did any of the things anyone explained to him. It's confusing. So, I might as well talk to him. Nobody knows when he's gonna act weird again, it just happens randomly.

I sit up from my bed, and make my way toward the room that Erik was held in. Neither Sam nor Loki were around right now. I've convinced them to come to a peace agreement. Plus, Loki's kind of trying to be on Sam's good side, whilst also being able to pull pranks on him. He's trying to get to know him better for my sake, so I told them to go to the mall for the day and keep themselves busy. Sam hasn't seen much of the world, and a lot of things have changed, so he wants to see all the new things that he's never had the chance to see before.

When I walk in the room, Clint is sitting there. It seemed as though Tony, Peter, and Bruce were never watching him. I figured Bruce wouldn't be allowed to keep an eye on him, considering Erik could make him hulk out or something. Tony probably doesn't watch him just because that's just how Tony is, and Peter probably isn't allowed to watch him since Tony has a soft spot for him, and doesn't want to see him getting hurt.
"Can I talk to him for a few minutes?" I ask Clint. He had no choice but to say yes. Tony allowed me to come down and talk to him any time I want.
He nods, "Take your time." He stands up, leaving the room. He glanced at Erik one last time, though. Everybody that has watched him has seen him acting odd at least once.
"J.A.R.V.I.S, open this thing." I command. He always had a chain around his leg, so he could walk around in the cage, but that's all he could do. He can't escape if somebody opened the cage.
As soon as I walk in, J.A.R.V.I.S closes it behind me.
"You're gonna tell me what's going on right now." I tell him.
"What are you talking about?" He asks, speaking as if I'm the crazy one.
"You know exactly what I'm taking about."
"You know," he says, standing up so he's looking down at me, "Everybody keeps telling me I'm doing all this weird shit, when I'm not doing anything. All I do is sit here, every every minute of every day, staring at a damn wall."
"Then explain the security footage that I check every single day and explain the amount of times that people have told me you're acting odd." I demand, backing up a bit.
He just shrugs, cause he really believes he hasn't done anything odd. I can't tell if he's joking. I don't believe he's joking, but what other explanation is there?
"Explain it!" I ask, a bit too loud.
"I told you, I have nothing to explain," he shouts back at me, "Now get out of here! It's bad enough I'm locked up in here. I don't need to see you every couple weeks, too."
I'm not getting anywhere with answers. All he's gonna do is shout and deny every bit of evidence. I'm probably overreacting, but whatever is going on, it's not funny.
"J.A.R.V.I.S, open up and lock it behind me." I say.
I walk out of the cage and watch as he attempts to walk out with me, but the chain prevents him from getting out.
"If you don't want to see me every couple weeks, stop fucking around and making me concerned." I say, heading toward the door.
I take a final glance at him before reaching the doors. He had tripped over when he tried to leave. The chain pulled him back, making him land on his stomach. And then he looked up, and there it was again. Something was off. He looked around at his surroundings, slowly. He didn't get up from the floor, he just lay there continuing to look around. Except, this time, he knew his surroundings. He was still confused, but it was different because it looks like he's just recognizing it all over again. I was about to leave, but now that he's off again, I'm staying until he goes back to whatever is his normal.
Eventually, he faces forward, noticing a person in front of him. Me. He slowly looks up to look at my face, and his face is filled with confusion. His eyebrows narrow and his eyes widen when he sees me, for some reason. He stands up quickly, not taking an eye off me once. I take a few steps forward, but not too many. This could still be a sick joke. Right? I mean, it can't be. He wouldn't be that good of an actor anyways. It would be pointless to act off, anyways. It wouldn't do anything for him.
Nobody's ever talked to him when he was acting off before. I should take advantage of the time he's acting off, and speak to him like that. Who knows how long it'll be until he's just sitting with his back pressed against the glass again.
"What's going on with you? Are you okay?" I ask, calmly. I don't know whether or not to hope he's joking. If he's joking, I could put this all behind me. If he's not, I have a bigger problem to worry about. Figuring out what's going on with him.
He doesn't answer me, he's just staring at me as if he hasn't seen me in a really long time. I don't know why or if I'm right about it.
"Hello?" I say.
He doesn't say anything, he kind of just waves for me to come closer to him. I didn't want to get too close, but nothing terrible can happen if I do, anyways. He can't hurt me, not physically at least. I walk toward the cage, as close as I could get. There was only a few inches between me and the glass, now.
"Are you real? Are you alive?" He asks.
This was getting confusing for me. But if I want answers, I need to play along with what's going on. Joke or not.
"Yeah, I'm real. I've been alive." I answer. He reaches his hand up to the glass, where I would be if the glass wasn't between us. I don't know what's going on. His facial expression changed. Not like she's back to normal, though. He doesn't look confused, more surprised, and for some reason happy?
"Are you okay?" I ask him.
"You're alive." He mutters, looking like he's in awe.
"Yeah, I am. Are you okay?" I ask.
I need an answer before he goes back to normal, or whatever it is.
He chuckles, almost sadly, and shakes his head, "I will be." I can't tell if it's just the lighting or the reflection, but it looks like there's a small tear in his eye from this angle. I could be imagining it.
"What does that mean?" I ask. He needs to answer quickly.
He shakes his head again. He starts to blink pretty fast again, holding his head with his hands.
"What does that mean?" I ask again. Last time when he did this, he went back to normal afterwards.
"Not enough." He mumbles, rubbing his eyes.
"Not enough what?" I ask. I don't know when I'll catch him like this again.
He shakes his head again.
"Not enough what?" I ask, louder than before.
"Time." He mutters out, before letting go of his head. He's back to normal again. He looks up at me.
"What are you still doing here? I told you to leave me alone." He says, pressing his back against the glass again. I don't move, I just stand there, stunned. I witnessed it in person, this time. He actually spoke. He only spoke one line to Steve, but he actually had a small conversation with me. I back away, slowly, taking in what just happened. I stare at him for what seems to be a few minutes, waiting to see if anything else happens. But he just sits there.
I swallow hard, still shocked. I open the doors to the room, and let Clint back in.
"Are you alright, kid?" He asks.
"I'm fine." I answer, before walking slowly back to my room. I need to think about this. It has to be more than a joke. It has to mean something.

I collapse back onto my bed, without realizing it. I'd lost track of where I was by thinking. But it didn't matter.
His words are repeating in my head. Trying to figure out what he meant. He didn't know if I was real. He asked if I'm alive. When I asked if he was okay, he said he will be. Then, before he went back to normal, he said there wasn't enough time. Enough time for what? To explain?
I don't know.
...

Two hours probably go by. I couldn't tell. I hadn't kept track of time. This whole time I've been thinking about what happened, and all the other times it's happened to him.
Finally, my thoughts are broken when the door opens. Both Loki and Sam come inside. Sam had a bag full of snacks and Loki had a bunch of random stuff. God only knows where he got the money for everything.
"Hey." I smile, watching as they dropped the bags of stuff onto the middle of the floor.
"Hello, darling." Loki says, kissing me on the forehead.
"Have fun?" I ask both him and Sam.
Sam nods, "The phones look crazy."
"You didn't steal one, did you?" I ask, hoping he'd say no.
"I thought about it, I really did," he admits, chuckling, "But there's these cameras everywhere nowadays. Cant get away with shoplifting anymore."
"What do you mean anymore? When did you shoplift?" I ask, laughing.
"Never." He says, a bit too quickly. I wouldn't be surprised if he had shoplifted before, maybe when he was younger. It was probably candy that he stole.
"And what about you," I turn to Loki, "Sam didn't talk to much, did he?"
"He did, he talked an awful lot. I did, however, considered taping his mouth shut again." He admits.
"Did you, though?"
"I was going to, but I didn't have any tape."
"Well, that's just rude." Sam jokes.

Sam continues taking about how shocked he was with the mall, and all the things in it, for another 20 minutes. He even talks about how both him and Loki managed to prank a bunch of people at the mall, just because it seemed fun to do. Turns out, Sam nearly got kicked out, and someone nearly recognized Loki. I guess they could get along somehow, even if it means a bunch of innocent people have to be pranked.
"What about you? How was your day?" Sam asks, tossing a rubber ball up in the air. He must've bought it at the mall.
I shrug, "Confusing."
"Why, what happened?" Loki asks, rummaging through his bags to find a small toy snake. He's gonna have a collection of toy snakes by the time it's Christmas again.
"I spoke to Erik today, and just as I was about to leave, he started acting strange again." I answer.
"What did he do?" Sam asks.
I really didn't feel like reliving it again when I haven't even figured it out myself.
"He said some things," I say, looking at the time, "Can I tell you tomorrow? I don't want to talk about it right now."
Loki nods, "Of course. Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I guess I'm just tired." I say. It's only 6:42pm.
"Rest, then. I won't be a bother," Loki says, "I cannot make any promises for him, though." He points to Sam.
I nod, pulling the covers over me. I probably wouldn't fall asleep. I just need time to think, so it's alright if everybody things I'm asleep. Then, I won't have any interruptions.
"Rest well." Loki says.
If I did fall asleep, I definitely wouldn't rest well.