Nightmare

Why Are There So Many Secrets?

(April 6, 2011)
"Dad!" I call out.

"What?" Tony Stark—and I'm proud to say, he's my dad—yells back.

"I'm going to Livvy's house!" I say loudly. "We're supposed to do a project together!"

"Okay, love you, stay safe, be back by midnight, look both ways before crossing the road, don't walk into any alleys, don't lose the crutch, drink enough water! What am I missing?"

"Nothing! Love you, bye Dad!" I yell back as I walk out the door of Stark Tower, sunglasses on my face even though the sun is setting. I have a black backpack slung over my shoulder, filled with a binder for school, a SHIELD file, and a costume.

As I'm limping along on my crutch while listening to music, I pull my hoodie over my face so no one recognizes me.

I take a deep breath and, at the bus stop nearest the tower, I pull up the Old World Form I discovered on the iPod almost two years ago. By the time I get there, I have an internal monologue going for the people out there that can see into my mind and know a few basic facts about me. I can't imagine why.

I don't really want to die anymore—it's a miracle what loving parents can do—but I still wouldn't mind if I did.

I also don't cuss out loud that much anymore. The inside of my head, however, is an entirely fucking different matter.

Sometimes I can limp without the crutch, but I never get very far before I have to use it again. Wade's been helping me with that, and I can fully fight now. Except the kicks, but who needs those when you have these cool-ass bladed Mortal Kombat Kitana fan things, and poisoned claws?

I'm not actually going to Livvy's house right now. I'm gonna go work on that dumb project later. Right now, I'm going to Wade's apartment to work on walking.

And then, according to Old World Google, I have an appointment—ahem— tomorrow night at New Mexico.

My online friends from the world I grew up in haven't been responding since around their February 2021, or my February 2011, like three months ago. I was hearing things about the world ending or something in 17 months just before I got here.

There are only a few people alive now, and very few of them are rich, or ever were. It was never about money.

No one, it seems, was prepared for what was coming, and only the people whose side sheer luck decided to be on are alive. But alive in a world with almost no inhabitants, all alone, with those you love gone? Is that luck, destiny, fate, or hell?

All the accounts I follow on Twitter, Instagram, and Wattpad have gone inactive. The ones I've found where people are still online said that something happened to their Earth, similar to what happened in the movie 2012.

I can't watch the movie, because none of the Old World websites work anymore, except Google and YouTube, and there are no new videos on there. Only the ones from before, and they're laggy.

I checked, and apparently this world has none of the songs, actors, or movies that we had in my world. Except for Disney movies. Some-fucking-how.

I've gained a small reputation as a 'vigilante' called Nightmare by many people, almost none of which know that I've actually been working to track down Hydra recently.