Cuts and Bruises

IV

A cold chill fills the once warm room, tired eyes fluttering open. Shaky hands pull the covers away feet meeting cold marble flooring.

Cold marble?

Cold marble.

Glancing down warily in disbelief; every ounce of denial disappearing. 

Marble...

Marble.

MARBLE?!

Looking around in utter confusion, tiredness having dissipated within seconds. 

Where the hell..? 

"-We can't keep lying to her."

A quiet voice sounds from the other side of the dark red door. Her body moves on instinct, her feet carrying her swiftly to its destination.

"-Tell her the truth and it'll destroy everything."

Who was that?

Who was talking?

"We need to."

"She'll die then and it'll be your doing. Not mine."

Silence follows after those last two words, the voices gone and the room slowly filling with an inky black mist.

Her feet stood frozen in place her mind begging her body to move but she stands still watching every bit of furniture become encased in the substance.

The mist reaches her body surrounding her vision with black. She blinks praying that her eyes haven't become blind.

Darkness.

Silence.

A voice...a deep, calming voice.

"-Standing still encased in a black room, my mind swirling, my body falling."

She follows the voice her vision still clouded by the inky black abyss. "I wait for your hand but come up empty."

Sad.

So, so sad.

She reached out hoping to come into contact with something but she comes up empty-handed.

Once surrounded by a void of black she now stands in the center of what looks to be an old library, dust covers everything in the room; the smell of old books and furniture filling her nose.

"She needs to know, I don't care what I have to do to tell her."

A slight pause.

"I need to save her."

She gasps sitting up in her plush bed light leaking through her window curtains. Her eyes glance at her end table her digital clock displaying 6:58 am. Sighing she rubs her sleep-filled eyes hoping to rid some of the exhaustion but to no avail.

She slides her feet off of her bed her toes touching the soft fluffy rug.

So different, so off.

What was that dream anyways?

A warning?

A tall tale?

She felt so lost in this very moment wanting answers to that absurd dream.

She pushes her body off of the bed her legs shaking as if she hadn't walked in months. Her body felt so, so weak.

So tired.

She carries herself towards her bathroom desperately needing a shower. One look in the mirror causes her to freeze. A dark hand-shaped bruise covers her neck, specks of blood on her cheeks and lip.

What the fuck.

She can't move.

Her eyes stare at the mark fear consuming her mind her lip trembling.

Why did she feel dread?

She felt this feeling before, this exact feeling.

But what exactly was making her feel dreadful and terrified?

Maybe the fact that she remembers this exact mark on her neck. It felt like it was so long ago.

Yet it wasn't her memory.

Or was it?

So many emotions.

Fear, anger, dread, sadness.

Her fingers delicately touched the mark a slight burning sensation following after her fingers as they moved across the purplish-blue bruise.

How was she going to explain this?

Maybe she can fake being Ill so no one will bother her.

She glances in the mirror again noticing the tear stains on her cheeks.

"J-Jarvis, tell Tony I won't be attending breakfast today. I'm not feeling well. Tell him it's cramps." Tony never liked touching the subject so it was a guaranteed alone time.

Alone time to try and figure out what the fuck left this mark.

She needed to clear her head, it felt as if a fog was surrounding her mind giving her a dazed feeling. She hated it.

She needed to hide this mark and she knew makeup wouldn't do shit. She needed something actually helpful. Something magical.

She needed Loki.

She sat down on the floor in front of her bathroom sink wondering if she should ask him to help hide this god-awful mark or just sit in her room until it fades. She knew after two days Tony and Nat would get suspicious and she didn't want either of them to worry over something they don't know the cause of.

She had to get Loki to help her, but she needed a shower first. Her body was covered in sticky sweat and specks of blood. She pulled off her shirt a sharp gasp leaving her chapped pale lips. The same hand marks covered her hips; her body fell to the floor the skin on her knees tearing at the sudden fall.

Silent tears cascaded down her cheeks some part of her knowing where these came from as if she had it happen before.

A long, long time ago.

All her mind could think about at this very moment were two words.

"Déjà vu."

Sorry about this short chapter. I hope y'all enjoyed it!

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