Alpas [Lacuna #3] {Ongoing}

Chapter Five

"Paramnesia (n.) a distortion of memory in which fact and fantasy are confused"

~Erin~

"Again." Steven Strange commanded.

Erin took a deep breath and closed her eyes. After two weeks she finally mastered turning on multiple lightbulbs without them exploding. Now she graduated onto feeling different forms of energy and turning them on without disrupting the others. There was a lamp in one corner of the room, a cell phone, and digital clock in the others. Her task was to turn the light on, shut off the cell phone, and change the hour of the clock, all in order without disturbing the other piece. But for the last hour, Erin had felt so overwhelmed that she was beginning to feel nothing at all. She blinked her eyes open and shook her head.

Strange sighed heavily. Never a good sign. "Erin, what do you know about this power you have?" He asked her.

"I told you. My grandfather was experimented on-"

"No," He interrupted her. "I'm not asking how you inherited the power, I'm asking what you actually know about the entity itself."

Erin thought for a moment, "The Tesseract was a powerful energy source-"

"No. That's not what I'm asking you either."

Anger boiled inside of Erin. She was almost at her tipping point and she was only now realizing it. She missed Bucky more everyday and she didn't understand what was happening inside of her. Sudden tears of frustration clouded her vision.

Strange crossed his arms over his chest. "I became a master of the mystic arts because I studied the energy and power behind it. I studied where it came from, what forms it can take, and everything in between. I observed other masters and learned from them. I suggest you do the same."

"It's not like there's a whole academy for someone like me." Erin said coldly. "My grandfather was the only one who could possibly help me understand this, and he's dead." Erin spat coldly.

Strange sighed again, "He didn't show you anything about his power? He didn't leave you anything?"

Erin hesitated before answering.

Strange narrowed his eyes at her. "There is something isn't there?"

Erin swallowed, "It wouldn't help, it's just an old journal of his." She'd gone this long without opening it, she wasn't about to now.

"Erin, significant things are found in the simplistic." Strange told her as if she were an idiot. "Your grandfather was a smart man. If he left a journal for you, then there was something in there he wanted you to read."

"Reading my grandfather's personal journal isn't going to change the fact that I can't control whatever is inside me-"

"You know why you can't control your power? It's because you aren't willing to do everything in you power to understand it!" Strange snapped. "And you don't seem to get that."

Erin glared at him.

He glared right back. "I think you're done for the day."

"Good." Erin turned on her heals and made b-line for the door.

Wong opened the door before she could open it. "Ah Erin, I was just going to ask the two of you what you want for din-"

"Not hungry." Erin said as she walked past Wong and slammed the door behind her.

*****

Erin laid down on her bed in the Sanctum staring at the ceiling. Strange's words kept echoing in her mind. It's because you're not willing to do everything in your power to understand it.