That Damned Spider

Stella Maximoff

Shooting up from slumber in a cold sweat and looking at the time for it to read, 5 a.m, Stella sighed. The nightmares of Sokovia was really getting to her. Running a hand along her braid, she stood and stretched. Stella looked outside her window while resting her forehead upon the glass. It seemed for her that she would never get a good night sleep. Every night it was the same thing, waves of tiredness, then she would lay down to sleep but that is when the sadness would wash over her. By that time it was normally 1 in the morning and she would just silently sob herself to sleep. Asleep at 3 awake at 5, she never seemed to be able to sleep for longer.

The rest of the team was sleeping as Stella silently walked out of her room and towards the kitchen. She quietly rummaged around the kitchen to grab what she needed to make a pot of coffee. After turning the pot on, she walked to the comon room and turned the tv on and the volume down. She sat there on the couch, staring into the darkness of the hallways with her mind racing. Standing up and walking back to the kitchen, she fixed herself a cup of coffee and sighed. She just stood in the corner, leaning her back on the counter while she kept her eyes on the ground.

"Up early I see." Said a male voice with a british accent. The voice caused Stella to jump out of her trance and looked to who the voice belonged too. Vision stood at the edge of the island, looking over at Stella's form as she nodded.

"So are you." She said barely above a whisper. Her voice in that moment was not to be trusted, it felt cracky and her thoart dry and sore. Being caught with her eyes swollen and red and with black bags underneath was something she wasn't prepared for. She set down her cup and made her way past Vision, trying to hide her face till she reached the bathroom in her room. When she got in, she turned the light on and saw what she did every morning, a shell of her former self. She turned on her sink and splashed the water onto her face. She took out her braid and let her messy gray curls fall around her shoulders before reaching to her concealer. Applying it to the bags under her eyes gently, she looked at herself. The person staring back at her looked exactly like her but didn't feel like her. Sokovia changed Stella but not in a good way, it took a real toll on her, made her mentally and emotionally unstable.