[1] 𝘿𝙀𝙑𝙄𝘼𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉 | 𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙨

✰ 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐲: 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠

➸ 2015
📍IOWA
tw: depictions of self-harm
Beverly
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GALINA SHOT up in the bed of the familiar guest bedroom, gasping for air.

Thank god, it must've been a bad dream, right? she thought.

"Hey hey hey." Laura cooed softly, a hand pushing back sweaty strands of hair upon the girl's forehead. "Breathe, you're alright."

"Where am I?" she asked with wide eyes. "Where's Aspen?" she began to get up but was pushed back down by Mrs. Barton. "Where's my sister?"

"Lay down, you took a hit." she picked up a cup of tea from the nightstand beside Galina and passed it to her. "Drink this. It'll help with the headache that i'm sure you have."

She sat up slightly and sipped on the warm peppermint beverage. "What happened? Did we win?"

Laura chuckled lightly. "Yes you won."

"Where's Aspen." she asks in a small voice, eyes still brewing with unshed tears. "Please."

The sincere soft expression fell from her face and slowly merged into one of sadness. "Honey..."

Galina's nose scrunched up in a grimace as she turned her head away from the woman to avoid her from seeing any tears falling down her scratched cheeks. "Why am I here?" she questioned, her voice was thick of emotion.

Laura swallowed thickly before clearing her throat. "Well for starters the tower is all mucked up and Washington is pretty crazy right now so Nat didn't want you to go there with her — same with Steve so Clint brought you, your sister, and the twins here for the time being until the new facility is all done."

Oh right, the Avengers Compound. The thing that Tony has been talking about for a year or so now.

"How long was I out for?" she asks.

"About a day or so. It's currently..." she craned her head back a bit to try and catch the time on the cable box in the living area through the crack of the door. "Three-thirty in the afternoon."

Her trembling fingers pinched the bridge of her nose as her eyes fluttered shut. "Can you...Can you leave?" she asks as politely as she could.

"Yeah, of course." she replied gently, rising up from the chair that was parked beside the bed. "If you need anything, i'm around, okay?"

Galina stayed silent and curled into herself from where she laid on her side.

She didn't make a move to uncurl herself when the door shut as shock still sank deep in her bones.

Aspen is dead.

The thought of that sent a harsh pang into her stomach, making her veins go ice cold — but it wasn't a thought, it was reality.

A reality that she didn't want to accept...and it made her feel numb.

Laura ended up venturing into the living room where the trio sat around on the floor playing cards.

The minute they noticed her presence, they halted their game and looked up at her.

"Is she alright?" Petra questions as she fiddled with the Uno cards in her grasp.