Ghost

Chapter Seventy Eight

                                       Nats POV

"Well, you know how I was taken by hydra?"

As Spencer mentions hydra, I tighten my grip on her, hoping to comfort her but also wanting to protect her from this in some way. Hopefully her knowing I'm here does that.

I see most of them nod their heads in response. Some looked confused but still stayed silent, not expecting the conversation to take such a solemn turn.

        But Spencer takes it as her cue to keep going.

       "Well, like I had said yesterday, they experimented on me and I wouldn't show any sign of having any sort of powers.

        "This, of course, would piss them off to no end. They didn't understand why, after so many years and tests, why I hadn't made some kind of improvement.

        "When I just wish I would.. when I was pretty low and giving up on fighting, they were still determined to get something from me. 'They didn't waste all this time and precious research for nothing'" Spencer imitates some doctor as she speaks the last part.

        Everyone is looking pretty grim. This isn't easy to hear, and it's only a small portion of what really happened. I don't know if we'll ever know everything. Or if I will. Or if she even remembers it all. I hope she doesn't.

        "Right. So, they would get.. creative in how they would try to get my powers to come out. I won't give you details into it as I doubt you want to hear them and I don't really want to.. relive them. But they were never pleasant. Usually some kind of punishment or torture.

       "However, one of their genius.. whatever you want to call them, well she figured that maybe I would be triggered by other emotions besides pain.

       "Since they weren't about to show me any kind of love or compassion or try to make me laugh, they brought a tv into my room.

       "Started out with horror movies, because clearly their torture wasn't horrifying enough. Those didn't work, despite their best efforts of trying to make those movies come to life.

       "They did, eventually let me watch other genres. And I fell in love with the escape from my reality. They would play movies from all over, from every country with every genre, just waiting for something to happen.

      "My favorites were comedies. I forgot what is was like to laugh, so it felt odd, but good. I got into action and romance movies. I knew none of that was going to happen to me or for me, but for a couple of hours, I could pretend.

     "They liked that it got some kind of rise out of me and took it as a good sign. I guess I was playing dead for so long, any sign of life from me encouraged them.."

      She drifts off at the end, this clearly bringing up a lot for her. I can see her trying to push beyond it, to push it back into the corners of her mind she had it hidden away in.

     She swallows harshly, but continues with a broken voice and tears threatening to spill.

      "I know it sounds stupid and pathetic.. but those movies I was allowed to watch, those few hours they would give me, it was a sense of freedom. They were what helped bring me back to life, if even to just pretend I was someone else living their dream in a movie rather than being me in the hell that was my life."

       She stops speaking for a few moments and it's all silence. Safe to say no one knows what to say or do. I can see a few girls wiping tears away from their own cheeks.