Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
⧗
After drifting in and out of consciousness for a few hours, Anzhelika awoke.
Everything was spinning.
The lady in the corner? Who is she? And the muscle in the corner?
Right next to her, she could make out the sight of auburn hair through her still-focusing vision.
She sat up, groaning. The woman in the corner stood up, walking over to Anzhelika's bed.She was tall-ish. Hair orangish like Natasha's. She pulled back a chair and sat down on it.
"Hi, kid," said. "My name's Doctor Novak. Can you tell me yours?"
Anzhelika didn't speak, just craning her neck to face the woman. Her expression was guarded and tired.
"Can you tell me what happened?"
Still, she didn't answer. Instead, she turned her head towards Natasha. She managed to squeak out, "How did you know?"
"Know what, kiddo?" Natasha asked.
"Don't fail me. How'd you know?" She mumbled, her voice hoarse.
Natasha gave her a confused look. "What do you mean?"
"You said it. When I was panicking. You said 'Don't fail me now.' You said it."
"I wasn't in the room when the doctors were helping you, Anzhelika."
The girl mumbled incoherently, she had been there. Why was she lying?
"We believe you suffered a condition called Brief Psychotic Disorder. You were under a lot of stress, and it may have triggered hallucinations," Novak said.
"I am not a fucking psycho."
"Nobody's saying that."
"But you're thinking it."
"Anzhelika," she sighed, shifting in her seat a bit, "Sometimes, when someone has been through really intense trauma, especially over a long time, the brain can almost 'short circuit'. You might feel like things aren't real, or hear things that aren't there, It's a temporary protection method when your brain is handling too much at once. It doesn't mean we think you're crazy."
Her face scrunched, looking confused, she slumped back against her pillows, looking at the ceiling.
"He is in my head." Her English was stiff, and she was exhausted.
"Dreykov?" Novak questioned.
She nodded, looking at Natasha, who had suddenly gone quiet.
Natasha cleared her throat. "Give us a minute?"
Novak smiled, "Of course," she walked out.
Now it was just Anzhelika, Natasha, and the dude in the corner.
"You know," she said, "When I got out, I had a lot of shrinks poke and prod at me too. Never did much."
A smile tugged at the corner of Anzhelika's lips. "Really?" She spat, her voice deadpanned, "How did you become so perfect?"
Natasha scoffed, "Trust me, kiddo - I'm far from it. But you know what helped?"
"Enlighten me."
"When I was 10, I used to take my sister and my friend Emma to the local comic store. We'd buy the coolest-looking comic and make collages in this old picture book. We'd spend hours on it. Sometimes, after I got out, I'd walk by a comic store and try to find the same ones I used. It helped me feel emotion again."
"Clearly, I have a lot of cool memories," she retorted.
The two sat in silence until Anzhelika's voice was heard again, "I was hand-selected by my old supervisor to go on undercover mission for retrieving compromising KGB information when I was seven years old. The house, it was in big suburban town. Blue wooden planks and white picket fence, and big American flag hanging from window. Classic "American Dream," but it was in Canada, near border to Michigan. I made friend there, and the Red Room agent, who was acting like my father, he let me go with her to local store for buying a toy. And there we see this stupid alien blob, covered in some kind of green goo — very... weird looking. We bought it and spent whole evening throwing it at each other like children. The agent, he was standing, watching with look in his eyes — you know, the look when someone wants to kill you, yes? But he could not do it, and he knew this too. And I think... I think that was one of only times I was really happy."
Natasha smiled, "Sounds fun."
"It was fucking stupid," she said, shaking her head, "But I was happy, you know?"
She stared at the ceiling, her eyes fluttering occasionally. She was tired.
"After Nadzeya, I realized I wanted more. That maybe this stupid life should not be all there is to it."
"There is more to it, kiddo."
"I really, really hope so."
⧗
authors notes:
first and foremost I'd like to apologize for like not updating when I said I would
as reparations I will now be posting weekly updates :))
I don't like this chapter but hey ANZY SMILED !!!
psa: keep an eye on novak 😛
YOU ARE READING
Scarlet Silence
Fanfiction'ɪ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ɢʀᴇᴡ ᴜᴘ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʏᴏᴜ, ᴀɴᴅ ʏᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ɴᴏᴛ ᴍʏ ᴡᴀɪᴛɪɴɢ ʀᴏᴏᴍ.' ⧗ Anzhelika Lukyanova is a thirteen-year-old Black Widow in training. She was orphaned at the young age of 7 months and taken by the Red Room, who at the time were disguised as social servi...
