Only a Memory | Bucky Barnes

Chapter 1: The First Day

Five years later, September 2017

Bucky wasn't too pleased about having to move back to Brooklyn. He had made some good friends in Konakovo, Russia, and suddenly his life would be torn apart yet again.

Moving away to Konakovo had been hard at first, but he had made friends pretty quickly. He didn't want to leave Steve, and it hurt when they officially cut off contact with each other, but his new friends helped him to forget fast.

Now, he would be going back to his old life. He hoped it could be like it was before, but he knew that it was pointless to have his hopes up. Steve most likely made new friends, too. Bucky wanted Steve to have made new friends.

Bucky had already spent an entire summer back in Brooklyn and hadn't seen Steve once. Occasionally, he would walk past Steve's apartment—his excuse being that sometimes he wanted to take the scenic route home from where he worked at Starbucks—but Steve was never anywhere around. If Steve was as frail as he was five years ago it shouldn't have come as a surprise, but Bucky had been hoping to catch a glimpse of his former best friend.

He missed Konakovo a lot. It was beautiful there. He missed speaking Russian. He couldn't believe how in just five years he had already begun to forget a few English words. Thankfully, he picked back up on the language pretty quickly.

What he didn't understand was why they had to move back in the first place. His parents wouldn't give him an explanation. Whenever Bucky asked, they just became all closed off and wouldn't talk about it. He noticed his sister, Rebecca, was acting quite different too. In fact, he figured out a year ago something was wrong with her. She pretended to be happy, but Bucky knew she wasn't.

The first day was creeping closer and closer, and before Bucky knew it he was being shaken awake by his mother, Winifred.

She shouted something about setting an alarm, and how he was going to be late for the first day. Bucky wasn't really paying attention. He groaned and slowly sat up, rubbing sleep out of his eyes.

"Teenagers," Winifred muttered before she left his room, slamming the door behind her.

Bucky let out a heavy sigh. He didn't see the problem. He had gotten up, hadn't he? Maybe it was a little later than intended, but here he was, not begging for five more minutes.

He checked the time.

7:49 a.m

Well shit. So maybe it was a lot later than intended.

Bucky threw his covers off and sifted through a laundry basket of clean clothes he hadn't bothered to fold or put away yet. He grabbed what he needed and headed for the bathroom.

So it's ten to eight now, Bucky though. First bell rings at eight, but I have to be in class by five after. Technically, that gives me fifteen minutes. It takes six to eight minutes to get there, depending on traffic. I should have at least seven minutes to get ready.

He stared at himself in the mirror for a moment. His hair nearly reached he shoulders. He made a mental note to get it cut sometime later that week. For now, he would have to tie it up in a bun to keep it out of the way.

Bucky got ready in record timing. Five minute later he was grabbing an apple and heading out to his black Chevy Cruze. Not without saying goodbye to Winifred, of course. She made sure to stand by the door, giving him a bone-crushing hug before he could leave.

He sped off, probably going enough miles an hour to get a speeding ticket. Somehow, he was pulling up in the already full parking lot of the school only five minutes later.