Untold Stories On An Alternate Earth

Part 4

 One Month Later

I was having so much fun having nightmares that foretold destruction and death. It's just the best thing to do right before going to my first day at a new school. In my dream I saw Wanda, Peter, Steve, and pretty much everyone that I care about getting captured, tortured, and nearly killed by unknown assailants. I was being dragged through a dungeon where I could see all of them in really bad shape. I saw bloody noses, bruises, and arms and legs bent in strange positions. When I got to the room that they were dragging me to, I saw a man sitting in a large, black throne, but I couldn't see his face. It was hidden in the shadows.

As I lay there sprawled on the floor, the man said something to someone next to his throne, and when he whispered back I heard evil laughter. Then a door opened behind me, and when I turned around I saw Wanda and Peter being dragged in with their hands and feet bound. As they looked over at me I could hear only two words coming from Wanda, and she exclaimed, "WAKE UP!"

I woke up to Wanda shaking me so hard that I was probably going to get whiplash if she shook me any longer. Terrified, I looked around only to see a small bookshelf with a handful of books that I had collected over the years, a Star Wars poster from six years ago, and a small desk for doing school work (even though I usually end up doing any kind of work that I have in the living room while trying to get caught up on Stranger Things). When I finally calmed down, I remembered what day it was and wished that I had stayed asleep. The date was August 20th. The first day of school.

As I got out of bed and started getting dressed. I could hear Wanda asking, "Are you up yet? You need to get there early if you want to get a good locker."

"Yeah, I'm up!" I yelled in response while tying my combat boots. Then as I came out of my room I asked, "What's for breakfast?"

Then I saw Wanda in a panic, looking around for something. "I put twenty dollars in your wallet. I figured that you could get something on your way to school. I would take you, but my 9:30 meeting got bumped up to 8:00. You haven't seen my phone anywhere have you?"

"Um, the last time that I saw it, it was in the kitchen. I think."

"Thank you so much," she said to me as she picked her phone up off of the counter. "Do you have all of your school stuff? Your backpack? Pencils?"

"Yup. I have everything that I'll need or want. My laptop, phone, text books, earbuds. You know, typical high school gear," I responded with a smile.

"Good. Now get a move on or you're going to miss your train. Don't forget to eat breakfast!" she yelled as I was leaving.

"Bye!"

As I was walking down the street, I saw someone that looked familiar. It took me a moment to realize who it was, and when I did I yelled, "Hey, Peter! Peter Parker! Wait up!"

"Hey, Kaitlyn. How you been? We haven't talked since well you know," he said looking down at the ground. What he was talking about was right after Tony's funeral.

"I've been alright. About a month ago I had a big confrontation with a gang lead by a kid that I used to babysit, so you know. Same old, same old."

"Wait a sec. Are you for real?" he gaped.

"Yeah. I'm for real. He broke my arm. It's still a little sore if I'm being honest," I admitted. After a moment, I remember what Wanda had told me, and an idea formulated in my head. "I just had a great idea."

"Alright. Shoot."

"Do you want to go get breakfast? I haven't eaten anything yet today, so. And, I mean, Wanda gave me money for breakfast and if I don't get breakfast she will know."

"Alright, I'm in. Where do you want to go?"

Being the indecisive person that I am, I wasn't sure where I wanted to go, so we went to the first we came across that we could agree on: McDonalds. It would've been better if we had gotten to sit down, but we would've missed our train if we had.

"Are you ready for your first day at Midtown?" he asked.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"I like your outfit by the way. Great for making good first impressions."

I, too, liked my outfit. I was wearing jeans that were ripped at the knees, black leather combat boots, a white Imagine Dragons t-shirt, and an army green cargo jacket. I was also wearing a leather cuff on my right wrist and a small arrow head tied to a leather cord as a necklace.

"Thanks. You know, I was going to wear a hat but I thought 'too much'. Know what I mean?" I said with a laugh. Together we walked across the street to get to the A-Train across town and laughed. Real laughter. It was probably the first time that I had really laughed in a long time.

"So, how is living with Wanda?" he asked. "Has there been a lot of mind reading or anything like that?"

"No, not that I know of. I don't know if she might be reading my mind in my sleep, but I have a feeling that if she had read my mind then I would've been grounded a month ago," I remarked sarcastically, even though it was pretty much true. As we reached the subway station, I said, "Now, let's go catch our train."

About half way to Midtown, Peter got a call from an unknown number. When he hit decline, I was going to ask who it was, but he motioned for me not to ask. My mind instantly thought of at least thirty people that it could've been, all of whom I had met through Wanda or some connection with the Avengers. Each one seemed more unlikely than the last. The only thing that I really knew was that Peter was definitely going to tell me who it was later. A few minutes later the train stopped at a station on the way to Midtown for more people to get on. When the last person got on, a wave of panic went through my whole body, and the only words that I had to say were, "Oh crap."