Home

Chapter 35

Jo stared at the ghoulish version of her brother, standing in front of her. His face was that greyish white again and his cheeks still hollowed out as if he had just rolled out of the grave. Yet, he looked young, wearing his favorite plaid green shirt and khakis. "What do you want from me?" She hissed again, her eyes flicking to the door watching for Bucky.

"I think the better question, is what do you want from me, Jo? Why am I here?" His voice had the same underwater garble as it did on the boat.

"I don't know. I didn't ask for you to be here!"

"That's not entirely true. Is it?" His head clicked to the side, quirking a brow. "I just wish he was here, Bucky—Why isn't he here, Bucky" He whined, mocking her. "You wanted me back, baby sis. Here I am!" His arms flew out from his sides, the smile creeping across his face, full of teeth and menacing.

Tears began to sting the corners of her eyes as she watched him. She remembered everything. The conversation with Luka, the serum, Aleksi's knife, and long gangly fingers caressing each part of her body, and Steve screaming at her. All of it. She doesn't know why she lied to Shuri knowing full well that Shuri can help her. Jo just didn't want to see Bucky and Sam look at her like she was a kicked puppy even though she had been literally kicked.

"You can't be here." She whispered, "Please, go." Jo squeezed her eyes close, pressing the palms of her hands into them again till she began to see stars. "Just go." She pleaded.

"You really think that's gonna work?" His laugh echoed off the walls of the room.

"Stop, please stop."

This wasn't her brother. Her brother was kind and would have never spoken to her the way this thing was. She shook her head as he continued cackling. "You aren't real, this isn't real." Jo felt like a broken record trying to convince herself that this wasn't happening. She knew PTSD was a real possibility after she woke up, but Jo would have never guessed that what she assumed to be a fever dream of her brother was now standing in front of her. Seemingly alive and cruel.

"Tell him the truth, Josephine. Tell him you remember and watch him run." She felt the bed dip as he sat on the edge of it, grinning at her. Jo recoiled further into the raised back of the bed. "Watch him leave you just like I did."

She shook her head, "He wouldn't—He wouldn't run, He loves me."

The wide full toothed grin appeared on his face, sending a chill down her spine. "I loved you."

Bucky pushed open the door, her eyes flicking to him. His brows furrowed as he typed on the screen of his phone. Jo looked back to where Steve had just been, seeing only the faint indentation of the blanket. She let out the breath she didn't realize was stuck in her throat as he sighed. "Sam is gonna go back to New York, grab some things from your apartment and mine, there's a few things he has to take care of while he's there, Torres hacked into like ten different mainframes tryin' to find you." His eyes met hers, "Is there anything specific you want him to grab?"

Tears welled in her eyes. Jo could feel the guilt rush through her body. "I don't want them to get into trouble—" She hiccupped, trying to hold back a sob. "—They don't deserve that." She buried her face in her hands, feeling his arms wrap around her. That part was true. The last thing she wanted was for Sam or Torres to be in deep shit for whatever laws they broke trying to find her. She was sure there was plenty of them already. But as he cooed her, whispering soft "you're okay's" into her hair, not telling him ate at her. She needed to tell him. What if Steve was right? Or whatever version of Steve that was now haunting her, that crept in the dark corners of her mind, the one that waits for the right moment to break her down again. Bucky still struggles with his PTSD, what if hers is too much to handle as well? What if he leaves her just as her brother did?