The Assistant AvengersxOc

4 -Stranger

I always feel a sense of dread when I'm unlocking my door. Maybe it was the coldness of my keys.

Or perhaps the color of my dull green door with the old rusted numbers on it. But I always seemed to feel dread.

Until the door is unlocked and I remember. I didn't feel dread because of the cold sting of the keys in my hand.

Or the dull green paint on my door that seemed to chip every time I opened it. Not even the rusted numbers that used to be shining gold.

No, I felt it because of him. The man that was behind the door that rancid door. I grew to hate looking at.

Not because of the color or the bubbled paint at the edges. But the monster it shielded me from.

The monster I came back to every day. Without a single thought. I knew what I was doing.

I knew that deep down it wasn't right. But I also knew that it wasn't anything undeserved. I was the one exposing myself to the monster.

As I held the keys and I chose to stay. So why was I standing in front of the very door I seemed to dread so much.

It's because I didn't want to go in. Today, today was Friday. Fridays were the nights he would stay up late and drink.

And when he was drunk his punches hurt more. I couldn't just shake them off. They bruised and they bruised ugly.

So as I stood still keys in my hand I hoped he had fallen asleep before taking a deep breath and putting my key into the lock.

It didn't take me long to get the lock open. He only ever left the bottom one locked. That's how I knew he was home.

Sometimes he stayed out late with his friends drinking his cheap beer and hitting on the young college students from down the way.

Tonight, tonight I wish he was doing that because as I entered the apartment I could hear the t.v on in the background.

Loud. He always left it on loud. So no one would hear my screams of pleads for help. He was always good at that.

So as I softly closed the door with the lightest click known to man and locked the locks I let out a shaky breath.

For once I was hoping that he was actually asleep. Passed out from all the beer he drank. In hopes he wouldn't wake up until after I left for work.

Until I was in the safety of Stark Tower. Away from him. It's interesting really. How terrible it seemed to be there.

Having to be around people who you know are fated to be yours. But thinking deep down your not good enough.

It wasn't as simple as just telling them now. I was too deep. I was too far into my own abuse that I fear I couldn't even climb out.

But all that didn't matter at the moment. Because all my hopes had fallen into deaf ears as I heard his footsteps.

The one's that haunted my nightmares.