salvation ; 𝐛. 𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐬 , 𝟐

015. ghosts, warnings, and plans

SAM HELD ME up as my knees gave out, my body nearly dropping to the ground. My vision blurred and I was sure that I was going to pass out if it weren't for Sam's reassuring touch on my arms, keeping me in reality. If this really was reality. 

Steve swore under his breath. "Is that...?" He asked, his eyes not leaving mine.

I nodded, unable to speak. Finally, as I slid from Sam's arms to my knees on the ground, I was able to whisper hoarsely, "My brother. Cade." My hands laid on my knees, palms up as I stared down at something that I knew was real, unlike the figure on the front steps that was darting towards me, their feet heavy and stomping on the ground. 

The damp mud sank into the knees of my jeans, and the cold sensation washed over my body, dragging me back into my head space. The grass grew exponentially, sliding up my arms and pulling me forward toward the earth, pressing my face into the ground. I whimpered as I squeezed my eyes shut, smelling the scent of sweet grass mixed with the sour taste of blood in my mouth. I lifted my head and saw him there, saw Bucky kneeling, forbidden from moving. 

I saw the strange woman behind him, her dark hair hiding her face from my view. She lifted the syringe with the bubbling orange liquid menacingly, and no noise that I made, no words or protests I screamed would stop her from bringing it down to his neck, pressing the needle into his flesh and inserting the fluid. 

I let out a wild scream, clawing at the air, trying to get near him, trying to save him from the fate I knew he would ultimately face. I crawled to him, scraping my hands on the rough ground, but something held me back, no matter how hard I kicked at it to let me go. I was so close to him, I could feel the fabric of his shirt under my fingertips, and I yanked on it hard enough to bring him closer to me—

"Elda! Elda, stop it!" A man's voice, the voice that slowly registered in my foggy brain: Sam. The pressure on my back was gone, but it had migrate to my shoulders, where he was holding me. My eyelids fluttered, giving me a partial glance to his wide eyes staring at me as he yelled my name. 

I could hear him, and I could hear a voice in my head telling me to reach for it, to latch onto his voice and his face and pull myself out of whatever I was in, but I couldn't do it. I was so close to Bucky, I was so close to saving him and keeping him from the dangers that he would face in the hands of those people, in the clutches of that woman with the hidden face. 

With my face scrunched into a soundless cry, I reached one last time for Bucky's shirt, but when I grasped the fabric, it disintegrated under my touch and disappeared from my view as soon as I grabbed it. I choked on my sobs as I watched him fade, his eyes only just meeting mine before he was gone forever. 

A softer voice was caressing my ears, a gentle hand on my back to guide me back to a sitting position. "Elda," it whispered, the light lilts breaking my screams and calming me. "Elda, look up."

I obeyed the voice, looking up into the dull sky. The eyes that met me were kind, the woman's mouth turned down in a concentrated frown. "Elda," she said, and I watched her mouth as it formed my name around it. "Elda, it's me. You're okay. Take a deep breath."

My chest constricted, though, and when I tried to follow her directions again, I was stopped harshly. I choked on the air that didn't enter my lungs, gasping for oxygen. My chest rose and fell sporadically, my heartbeat thundering loudly. 

Somewhere far away, I heard a man's voice yell, "She's losing it! What do we do, aren't you supposed to know how to deal with this sort of thing?"

"Elda," the voice kept repeating, centering my thoughts. I squeezed my eyes shut again, and when I reopened them, I saw my hands, I saw the grass that was exactly the right length, and I saw the empty space in front of me. I saw the woman hovering over me. I saw her worried eyes, paired with a worried frown. "Elda," she breathed, her fingers ghosting over my face. "It's okay. You're here. You're real."