Akrasia

Chapter 9

Lainey's Point of View

My eyes flutter open only to find a blinding light shining in my eyes. I feel cold bindings around my body. As my eyes dilate I'm beginning to take in my surroundings. A metal desk in front of me, gray walls, and a mirror. The mirror portrays me. I'm sitting in a chair with metal bindings around my wrist. WAIT WHAT!?
Looking down at my hands I can confirm that I'm being held hostage. I'm just 15 why would anyone do that to me? Oh my gosh, have I been kidnapped? My mom and Dad are going to go crazy. Wait what am I saying, my dad won't care.
Why am I here. I don't remember anything. The last thing I remember is my getting in the car with my mom. Everything else is foggy, like I can't tell if they're actually memories or me just daydreaming, which I do a lot.
My thoughts are interrupted by a man in a black trench coat and an eye patch strutting in the room. To be honest, he's very intimidating.
He walks over to the table, looks me in the eye, and then out of no where slams his fists in the table.
"TELL ME WHY YOU'RE HERE, NOW!" He commands. His actions actually make me jump.
"I don't know, shouldn't you." I retort. I regret that greatly.
"YOU DO KNOW YOU MURDERER. NOW CRACK OR ILL FORCE YOU TOO!" Eye patch man yells raising his fist in the air.
I brace for the punch, but it never comes. I pry my eyes open slowly, only to find him standing there observing me.
"You don't know?" He asks quizzically. Lowering his voice and no longer yelling at me like a maniac. Hopefully he was just trying to intimidate me and isn't actually like that in real life. If he is he probably doesn't have friends.
"No, sorry sir." I squeak out avoiding contact. After his last move I don't want to push him any farther.
I hear something in his ear, but I don't question it as he begins to talk again.
"We're going to need to watch you for a while. You'll be staying with the Avengers till further notice. They'll come in anytime." He states. I'm really confused now. Just a second ago he was yelling at me and calling me a murderer. Now he's telling me to stay with the Avengers. Oh, maybe it's because of my dad and his stupidity. Even that doesn't make sense though.
"Why? Is it because my dad was abusing me? Also, why do the Avengers need to why not just some random foster care family." I question taken aback at my current situation.
"Oh. Well, yes, it's because of your dad and also something with who your mom worked with that makes it dangerous. This makes you better off to stay with the Avengers, you'll be safer." Eye patch dude states. Wait my moms job.
I was going to question him again when all of a sudden the door opens revealing seven avengers walking my way. They all give me mutual nods and smiles.
"Wow. Hi." I say astonished at their presence.
"Oh it's all cool kid. Do you want my autograph? I bet you do." Tony grins and pulls out a pen. Of course I know Iron Man is Tony Stark. I mean who doesn't, but I really don't care for his autograph.
"Oh, no it's fine." I say. He looks genuinely hurt but puts the pen away. This earns a few grins from the super heroes.
All of a sudden it dawned on me. Why can't I just stay with my mom.
"Why can't I stay with my mom?" I blurt out. All I get is worried glances exchanged between the group.
Eyepatch dude speaks up. "Do you not know? Your moms dead. We weren't aware that you didn't know this information..." he kept on talking, but I don't care.
How could my mom be dead. She was with me, wait when did she pick me up from school? Oh my gosh. I can't remember anything from our last minutes together.How could she die? She left me with Dad. I thought she cared about me.
      I felt my breathing become heavy and thick. My whole body began shaking as I think deeper into this matter. My vision turns blurry and can't hear anything. Is this what it feels like to die? At least I'll be with my mom, right?
I feel calloused hands grip my arms and shake me. I duly hear the person tell me to breath. I concentrate on their breathing and copy them. My breaths calm and the world starts coming back to me.
     When my eyes focus I'm looking straight at a man with shoulder length, brown, and curly hair. His face softens at my sad eyes.
      "My Mom died. My mom died. No, no, no, no." I whimper.
     "Shhhhh. It's okay. It'll all be okay." He says comforting me. I nod my head calming down.
     What am I doing. They can't see me like this. They're supper heroes. Who knows maybe they're lying. I mean can I even trust them. They captured me for crying out loud. Maybe my moms not dead. You know what Lainey, she's not dead. She's not dead. When I get out of this mess she'll be at home at 11:15pm waiting for me. She is not dead.
    Snapping back to reality I see a lot of confused and guilt ridden faces staring back at the pair of us. He immediately moves away from me receiving perplexed glances from his team.
    "Sorry." I whisper, but everyone hears it.
     "What's to be sorry for." He asks, who I presume was the Winter Soldier.
"I'm being a pain and don't remember anything since, since I don't know when, so I can't help you guys at all. Although you probably don't even want my help. You probably just need me to be safe or whatever and you don't even care. No one cares." I whisper my tangent while looking down at my still bound hands.
       "You're fine, trust us." Someone else says. I realize it was Black Widow, huh. I wouldn't think she'd be the sentimental type. Clearly no one else does either because of the looks on their faces.
"What day is it?" I question dismissing the last matter. The last thing I remember was getting in the car with my mom on Tuesday.
"It's Friday." Black Widow answers.
"FRIDAY! Oh my gosh. The last thing I remember was on Tuesday." I whimper shaking my head at how messed up my life is at the moment.
" It's Okay, I'll help you, we'll all help you." The winter soldier says making me relax. I'll figure this out later and they'll help me. I hope.
     "Well, you are going to be staying in the Avengers tower and your leaving now. And, you're driving." Eyepatch says looking sternly at the Avengers trying to get this over with.
     "Whatever." Tony says rolling his eyes and strutting out of the room.
     I muster enough courage to ask about the stupid metal clamps around my wrists. "Would you please take these off." I ask quietly gesturing with my head towards the clamps. "They sort of hurt." I add.
     "Oh, yes." Black Widow walks over to me and hits a button making the clamps undo. I rolls my wrists and ankles around while asking,
    "Why did you put them on in the first place?"
      Everyone looks to Eyepatch, who groans but answers my question.
      "Well, ...when people wake up in a strange place they tend to get really worried. Also, ...telling you specific things could ...heighten that worry. We didn't want you to try and run away because then we'd need to ... sedate you. All in all, ... we thought this was a better idea." He states, but it wasn't a very thorough explanation, yet I take it anyways. "I'm leaving and you guys need to also." Eyepatch says once more before walking out into the halls.
      I manage an "oh." out of my mouth from his last explanation and whatever else he said. I wasn't paying that much attention because when he said "all in all", all I could think of was "you're just another brick in the wall". Good times.
    Anyways. Everyone starts filing out of the room and I find myself following them.
    After a little walk I'm with the Avengers at two cars. Tony's already in a fancy shmancy sports car and then there's a navy blue mini van that Captain America was crawling into.
    "You're with ME kid." Tony exclaims.
     "And us" Black Widow intervenes gesturing to herself and The Winter Soldier.
     "Why?" The winter Soldier let out a whine
     "Because Fury said so." Black Widow answered while crawling into the back seat. She catches my confused face at the name and clarifies. "Tench coat, eye patch." Ohhh. Him. Eyepatch is Fury. Got it.
    I follow her lead and do the same crawling into the back seat, while the Winter Soldier went into the front. Right when everyone was in Tony sped off with a roar from the engine leaving the other Avengers and the blue mini van behind.
     "So tell us a bit about yourself kid." Tony said glancing at me from his rear view mirror while taking his hands off the wheels. Surprisingly I'm not surprised at the fact the cars driving itself. I mean this is Tony Stark I'm riding with.
     "My names Lainey and I'm 15 years old." I state.
     "Well I'm Tony Stark." He grins.
     "I know that. I just don't know Black Widows and the Winter Soldiers name." I say hoping they tell me.
     "Oh, I'm Bucky." Bucky says smiling and looking towards Black Widow.
     "I'm Natasha, but seeing as you'll be with us for a while you can call me Nat." She says looking at me. Boy, she doesn't show much emotion.
    "She can call you Nat, but I can't?" Tony exclaims offended. This earns a snicker out of me.
    "Yes, and that's simply because I like her more than you." Nat snaps back. Tony just drops it and rolls his eyes.
     "What school do you go to?" Tony asks changing the conversation.
     "Midtown High in New York." I state. It's weird I can see Tony's mind working and then he stiffens.
     "What classes do you take?" He questions. By this time the others aren't really listening.
     "You know, Chemistry, the basic math and world history you take as a Freshman." I say not really caring for this conversation.
    "Oh." Was all he said and then we fell into a comfortable silence.
     Sooner or later Tony starts blasting music. Out of no where . I don't mind if though. It's AC/DC which is pretty good and my type of music.
     "Stark, turn that off." Nat yells.
     "YES, PLEASE!" Bucky yells even louder.
      "How bout we let Lainey decide." Tony smirking says and everyone looks at me.
      "I like the music personally, but will you turn it down at least." I say blushing because I'm taking his side and not the two Assassins.
     Honestly the other two look shocked and Tony is just grinning wildly. He complied with my request and turns it down a lot. The tunes are actually making me really tired, which is weird considering it's AC/DC. When I lean my head against the window my eyes drop and I can tell that I should sit up right away or else I will fall asleep.
     "It's okay to go to sleep. You probably need it. You've had a long day." Nat says studying me, but her gaze is softened which I must say is weird, but still sort of comforting.
     "No, I'm fine really. I think I'll just rest my head on the window because it gets annoying to carry if you know what I mean." I say while letting out an awkward laugh realizing the context of what I just said out loud.
    I hope no one noticed that last bit while I leaned my head against the window watching the shadows go by. Too soon my eyes become droopy and I'm engulfed in an unpleasant sleep.
———————
Everywhere I turn I see innocent people fall around me. Moving through the dark, thick mist of shadows I only bump and trip over lumps of bodies. All are different. Some have arrows for wounds. Others have stabs marks all around their bodies. Occasionally a few have gruesome bruises on their necks. No matter how far I run I always see a different person who has different injuries that lead them to their death. After ages of running I clear through the mist and come to an opening. It's peaceful. Trees and flowers blooming. The grass as green as can be. Clouds scattering the bright blue sky that's being illuminated with sunlight. The slight breeze causing everything to sway. Right when I found myself enjoying it, all of a sudden it changes and a storms rolls in. Lightning strikes inches away from me and the rain pelts my body mercilessly. I look down at my body to see blood being washed off of it. The rain trickling down my body took blood with it that then stained the grass and everything around me. Red blood travels across this old haven staining it with my sin. Lighting still strikes causing me to look towards its last appearance . When I do a broken mirror appears in the middle of the field. Feeling drawn to it I hither towards the broken mirror. When I reach it I find myself staring at a merciless and evil creature. It looks exactly like me except it has burns and stab wounds all over it. Worst of all, it's eyes, my eyes are black. Straight black. Nothing showing other than the reflection of fire. My hands reaches out to touch it and as I prick my fingers on the cool glass I fall into it. Eternally and forever falling. I feel my body being shaken. The entire hole began to shake until it all exploded.
——————
      My eyes shoot open and I scream at the top of my lungs. Someone talks to me trying to calm me down. Im shaking, a lot. I think the person is Nat. The hands are smooth and warm on my skin. Which is probably not Tony or Bucky.
     As my surroundings start to become clear I shake her off and slump against the car seat with a sigh.
     "Are you Okay Lainey?" Nat asks sympathetically.
    "Yeah" I breath out closing my eyes and squeezing the bridge of my nose.
    "Nightmares. Do you get them a lot?" Tony asks sounding genuinely concerned.
    "Yeah. It's okay I'm used to them." I say still trying to even out my breaths.
     "What was it about?" Bucky interjects firmly.
      "I don't want to talk about it, sorry." I answer quietly. Not wanting to explain anything at the moment I say, "wake me up again when we get there, please. Also, I'm sorry I'm a pain to you guys. You don't have to argue, I know how it is." I say quieting towards the end of my sentence.
    No one speaks of it, which I'm grateful for as I fall asleep again.

Thanks for waiting again. I'll try to do one every weekend. Also, thanks for the 42 views🤗have a great day everyone