Kairosclerosis

Chapter 9

I didn't expect to wake up again, but when I did, I was very unhappy to find myself in a hospital bed rather than somewhere in the afterlife. I didn't want to open my eyes. I could hear the beeping from monitors and dripping from the IV. I could feel the pain all over my body and the scratchy blankets laid over me. That was good, I guess. If I could feel that, then I wasn't paralyzed. But, I didn't want to look on the bright side. I wanted to be mad that I wasn't dead.

I opened my eyes after a while, thanking whatever being was up there that the lights were dimmed. My lips were chapped and my throat parched. There, there were some more bad things to focus on. The only good part of this situation was that I was still alive, and I didn't want that. So, I had to focus on all the bad things. I looked around the room and didn't see anybody. Another bad thing to focus on; they were probably all mad at me. I just made their lives harder. I didn't want to see anyone, so I just sat there until somebody inevitably came in. It's not like I had much of a choice. Everything hurt and I could breathe without wincing.

Unfortunately, the door opened soon after I woke up. Whoever was there didn't come in right away. They were stopped by a muffled voice on the other side of the door. That's when I recognized who was walking in. I couldn't hear what they were asked, but their voice was familiar enough when they answered.

"I don't plan on leaving longer than for food and coffee until she can." Pietro's voice leaked into the room. The door stayed ajar for another moment. "Just go without me. I can miss a few missions," He said. A few seconds passed as the other person spoke. "Yeah, be safe, Wanda." That must have been the end of their conversation. Pietro walked the rest of the way into the room and halted the moment he saw me. I locked eyes with him for a second, before turning away.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled, tears already forming at the corners of my eyes.

"Don't be sorry," he soothed, suddenly at my side, grabbing my hand. "I'm sorry. I should have-"

"No. Shut up. It's not a lonely thing. It's a misery thing. It's a missing her thing. It's something that's only getting worse." The tears were spilling over now, leaving tiny grey dots on the white blanket draped over me. "You can't really make it go away, Maximoff. It's not that easy."

"Let me help you, Lola. I know how you feel. Almost. Both of my parents died when I was younger." Pietro's voice was sympathetic. I could tell he was trying to help. I looked up to his face and saw a single tear rolling down his face.

"My mom and I were really close," I said, opening up. "We didn't have anyone else, but we liked it that way. Tony was okay. He left when I was younger, but he called every birthday and christmas." Pietro's eyes met mine as I spoke. "She and I traveled the world. We ran all over country after country. That's why I'm fluent in so many languages. We would celebrate holidays super small. On our birthdays, we would eat cake and binge Harry Potter." My words seem to have caught him off guard. His brows were furrowed and his head tilted. "Anyways, life was nice. We were more like best friends than mother and daughter. About two years ago, she got cancer though. We kept traveling as much as we could, but once she got worse, we stayed in San Diego. She could still work until about six months before. Then, she stayed home most of the time. And, then, about a week before she died, she had to stay in the hospital. Then she died and I had to move here with Tony." I finished my story, hating to have to hear the word come out of my mouth, almost finalizing it. Tears were pouring down my face, but I kept a blank expression.

"When Wanda and I were ten, there was a bombing in our hometown in Sokovia. Our parents died. We were stuck for three days, hoping that the defective in front of us didn't go off. Just after we got out, we got caught up with Hydra. The experiments enhanced her powers and gave me mine. Earlier this year, Stark and the rest of the team saved us," He explained his much shorter story. I imagined there was more, but didn't believe it wasn't something he would want to talk about if he was with Hydra. There was one thing that he said that piqued my interest.