Chapter 16: IN HIDING

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Peter sat next to Wanda for a long while. He wanted to ask so many questions, he needed answers, but he knew she needed rest. It hasn't even been an hour since she escaped from the Raft. Just looking at the state she was in boiled his blood. Most of her wounds were not healed, and she was constantly losing blood, but he could see in her body language and her tired eyes that it wasn't the physical pain that bothered her as much, but something a lot more. His hands were already completely red from blood as he tried to patch her up.

Wanda: Ow!

She reacted when he tried patching up a wound on her arm. The state she was in created extreme emotional sensitivity and the brief touch made a tear fall down her cheek.

Peter: I'm so sorry! Are you okay?

She nodded.

Wanda: It... hur-ts.

Peter: Whoever did this to you will pay.

Wanda took a short breath as she thought about Chthon. She now not only had a name for the thing that she feared her whole life, but she now feared him even more, after realizing he was the one who did those things to her, not to mention the chill inducing fact that he turned out to be real.

Peter: Did that doctor tell you his name?

...

Peter: Was all this... Just him?

...

Peter: You can talk to me.

She stayed silent, lost in her own tortured thoughts. As would anyone be after such torment.

She didn't realize the underlying effects of the trauma that would befall her. She was afraid to speak. Though right now she didn't have the energy to, even if she wanted. The idea of being punished just by saying a single word, was ingrained in her mind. It felt wrong to speak.

In there, she was deemed too low to speak, same as every other inmate, among many other things. And because of the way they treated them there, the inmates start to believe it themselves. They begin to adopt this mindset of being lesser than human.

Every word Wanda  uttered, made her tense up in anticipation for something horrible. And those were not even Chthon's doing, but the various guards in the facility.

Peter: Wanda... Please talk to me.

She replied with a tone that was barely audible.

Wanda: I... C-c... Can't.

...

Wanda: T-too... painful.

This time she meant it both physically and emotionally. Peter sighed with sadness in his heart.

Peter: I understand. Can you at least try?

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