Still Breathing

Chapter 24: Take a Bow

Marley Pov present day 2022

1 month later

"I'm glad you finally came out of your room. I was beginning to worry about you." Wanda sits down on the lounge chaise next to me. she leans forward to look into my face when I don't respond. "aren't you a little hot in all of that?" she gestures to my sun hat, robe and towel I have around my neck. I'm also wearing big dark sunglasses to hide the yellow and purple bruises on my face and my black eyes. there is also a bandage on my face because I had to have surgery to repair my broken nose and jaw.

I don't talk, I barely eat. But that's mostly due to my jaw being wired shut. Even if I could speak, I don't have much to say anyway.

Wanda waves her arms in front of me and says, "make some kind of noise or wave or something. please?"

She cant see it, but my eyes glides over to her as I sigh. I try to say I'm fine through my wired mouth but the fact it takes so much more effort just to say that, cause me to start crying. I lift one hand to cover my face, but I wince when my hand makes contact with the bruises.

Wanda moves to comfort me. she carefully wraps her arms around me to give me a hug. she is careful not to disrupt my cast from my broken wrist, and my broken rib. I wince and she backs off. I'm still sore from all the bruises and the hole they had to make in my side. When Stephen broke one of my ribs, he punctured my lung.

"can I get you something? more painkillers?" Wanda walks over to the poolside bar and pours me a glass of lemonade with a straw.

I shake my head. when she comes back over to me, she sets the glass down and then removes my sunglasses. She takes some tissue and dabs at my tears. She scowls and says, "I never thought I would hate someone more than I hate my father." She lifts the glass of lemonade and tries to put the straw to my lips. I turn away from her and put my sunglasses back on.

She sits back on her own chair and says, "I can't believe I trusted that idiot to protect you. I should've listened to Pietro." She mutters all of this more to herself.

I sit and I watch the sun glitter off the pool. a few exotic birds fly around and none of this means anything to me. I don't remember much of the last few weeks. I have glimpses and flashes of him. of his smile. Of his touch. Of him saying 'I love you, you know.'

But everything else is a blank. Two weeks ago, I wake up in the hospital from a medically induced coma. It hurt to move, and I couldn't speak. I laid there while the doctors listed off all my injuries to me, then say, drinking and driving is dangerous. Your lucky the family of the man you hit doesn't press charges.

The doctors and nurses judge me due to my lack of emotion and empathy for the man I supposedly hit. They told me this man, will never walk again because of me. but I know the truth. I may not remember, but I know it was Stephen who did this to me.

Once I was released 2 weeks ago, Stephen showed up, looking battered and bruised to take me straight to the airport. I wondered, to what extreme did he actually go to, to cover himself. Did he actually run over a man and hit the side of a building. Is that why he looks like he's been hit with a car?

Up until today, I've been in my room, refusing to come out. I'm being held prisoner in one of the Maximoff's mansions in Spain. Wanda has been trying to help the servants care for me and raise my spirits to no avail. Pietro wont even look at me. Hes angry at me for letting this happen. Hes also mad at his sister for thinking "He" was different.

I try not to think about him. I refuse to even say or to even think his name. all I do is sit and heal and try to fade away. that's my new skill, I've been working on. fading so well into the background, soon no one will be able to see me. or touch me. today, I'm practicing being a poolside plant.