Shadows and Secrets Book Three (A MCU FanFic)

Chapter 34: Harry (Finale Part 1)

trigger warning: language that may be offensive or upsetting to some readers

trigger warning: dark themes that may be offensive or upsetting to some readers

Marjorie's POV

The screaming child tugged on his mother's grip, trying fruitlessly to escape.

"I'm so, so sorry about him," the mother of the child apologized to Mary as the kid threw himself on the floor and wailed.

The other people in the waiting room pinched their faces and grumbled to themselves. Whispers of disapproval and annoyance were directed at the mother for not rearing her child properly. Marjorie could tell the woman heard the cruel words from the way her shoulders curled in and the way her shadow vapor reacted in time with the whispers.

Mary sighed and joined the woman in coaxing the small boy off the floor. "Hello," she said kindly to the four year-old child. The woman shot her the typical surprised glance at her accent, which Mary ignored. The boy continued sobbing. "My name's Mary. What's yours?"

He dragged his sleeve across his nose. "H—Har—ry," declared the young boy in between sobs. He was still laying face down on the floor. "I don—n't wanna sh—hot."

"No one likes shots. But you need them to be healthy." Marjorie hated the words that had to come out of her mouth. Only twenty more minutes, and then she would never again work for this side—the wrong side—of the war she had been fighting since birth. "It's only a little pinch."

"No!" wailed Harry, beating his fists on the ground. "Everyone always says it's a little pinch, and then, it really, really hurts! I! Don't! Wanna! Shot!" Marjorie couldn't help but agree: she didn't want a shot (especially this shot) either.

"Please," begged the mother, "please, Harry. You're causing a scene. Please get up."

Harry stubbornly shook his head and started screaming unintelligible sounds at the floor. The mother cringed. "I'm so sorry," she repeated to Mary, wringing her hands. "I knew this would happen. I didn't tell him ahead of time because he does this every time, but he must have found out somehow when we got here."

Mary sighed. Time to bring out the big guns. "Harry," she asked like it was a matter of national security, "do you want a sticker?"

He stopped screaming and looked up at her. "W—what?" He sniffed. "Stickers?" She had gotten him.

Mary reached into her purse and pulled out a roll of stickers triumphantly like they were precious diamonds. "I have stickers!" she announced to Harry's awe and the mother's bafflement. Harry eagerly reached up but she held them away and showed them off. "I have so many stickers! Cars, fish, spaceships, avocados, monsters, and cupcakes!"

There were stars in Harry's eyes at the riches shown before him. "Can I have a sticker?"

"Oh," she said sadly. "You can only have stickers after you get the shot."

"No," he whispered with anguish.

"I'm afraid so," she confirmed. "I wish I could give you one, but those are the rules."

He determined wiped his face once again with his sleeve and rose to his feet. "Come on, Momma," Harry said. "We have to hurry!"

The mother gaped openly at her son. "How did you do that?" she whispered to Mary while they proceeded to the small room where the nurse and the neutralizer waited.