The Stars We Dream Of | A. Romanoff-Barton

Chapter 8: The monsters under my bed

Alivana woke against an all too-familiar cold metal surface. She tried to move her arms but they were tightly fastened with chains, and the same situation with her ankles. Her head ached, no, it pounded. She felt her breathing quicken, had this all been a dream? Was she really never saved by her Mama and her Papa?

Connor Piece emerged back in the room and Alivana wanted to cry out at the cruelty of the world. He plunged the blade into her abdomen, dragging it across, clearly enjoying her discomfort. He laughed when she screamed and he laughed when she cried. He smacked her if she was too loud and he smacked her if she was too quiet. Just as he was about to drive the blade into her heart, someone shook her awake.

Alivana quickly opened her eyes and threw her arms over the first person in her sight. She started sobbing and begging for someone not to hurt her. A warm and steady arm rubbed soft circles against her back and the other was rubbing the skin at the back of her head. It wasn’t until the person spoke that she realized that her Papa was holding her. “There there, it’s alright.” He huffed as he planted a tender kiss to her forehead. He carefully lifted her off the hospital bed and onto his lap, pressing her side against his chest, “It’s okay, it was just a dream. You’re okay. You’re safe see? No one is going to hurt you, I promise you.”

Alivana was still crying in her father’s arms, trying to get as possibly close to him as she possibly could. She noticed that there was no one sitting in the seat next to him. Clint answered before she could ask, “Mama’s coming, she just had to use the bathroom.” Alivana threw her arms around her Papa, not wanting to ever let go.

She hyperventilated, begging, “Papa, please don’t let him take me! I’ll be good, please don’t let him beat me!” She was sobbing harder, as if she were begging for her very life, “Papa, please don’t let him kill me!” She broke down crying against her Papa.

Clint nodded, “Alright baby. I won’t. I won’t. I won’t let him come anywhere near you. No one’s going to hurt you okay? And no one is going to kill you. I promise you. It’s okay. Ssh, you’re alright.” His face was in a worried expression as one arm was rubbing circles on his daughter’s back and the other was guiding her head back down against the crook of his neck. He spoke gently, “Ssh, it’s alright, you’re okay. No one’s gonna hurt you.”

Alivana asked as if she were two once again, “Can you please turn on the lights? Don’t like dark. That’s when the monsters come out.” Natasha had just entered and turned on the lights, just a little bit. She sat down, gently stroking her child, her child who looked so damn terrified, “Baby, what’s wrong?” Alivana spoke brokenely, “I don’t want him to hurt me! I don’t want him to kill me!”

Natasha nodded intently, taking her daughter’s bandaged hands in her own and softly kissing them. She wiped the tears that were racing each other down Alivana’s peach-colored face, “There, there, no one’s going to hurt you. That man, wouldn’t get anywhere near you ever again, you get me?” Alivana nodded her head, despite still looking terrified out of her mind.

Natasha patted her knee, “We promise you alright? You’re safe with us okay?” Alivana nodded once more, her face looking a bit less scared.

Clint pressed another kiss on the top of her head, before shifting his position so that Alivana could lie down against his side. He lightly hummed as he ran his fingers through his daughter’s     blood-red tresses, “No one is going to hurt you ever again. I have already lost my baby once, I’m not about to lose her again.” Alivana kept her arms wrapped around her Papa as she began to doze off.

Once both parents were sure that Alivana was asleep, Clint spoke. “She, she looks so sick Nat. So sick and scared. She was begging.” He choked on his breath, “She kept saying that she would be good. She’s so hurt.” Natasha nodded, “I know, this was our fault. If we hadn’t looked harder, done something, anything, she might not be this hurt. She looks so damn terrified.”