𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕊𝕦𝕟 𝕚𝕤 𝔾𝕖𝕥𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕃𝕠𝕨𝕖𝕣- completed but editing

Chapter 31

"Do we have any more of those strawberries?" Georgia asked, her head buried in the fridge.

I opened the other side and pulled out the container. "Here, we're going to have to ask Happy for more. This is all we have."

Dad came around the corner into the kitchen, his glasses on, reading a stack of papers from the lab. "Did anyone check the mail today? I'm expecting a package."

"I did," Georgia said as she washed off the strawberries. "It came. I put it on the table in the entryway."

I giggled. "More frog potholders, Dad?"

"No!" Dad defended himself.

"Frog potholders?" GiGi asked.

She handed me a bowl of sliced strawberries and a fork. "He ordered some pot holders because we messed up ours. And when he did, there were frogs from the lake everywhere. It was just funny at the time."

We waved to my dad and went out on the back porch, peeling off our baggy t-shirts and workout shorts, revealing our brightly covered bikinis.

When Tony built the house, he added a huge back porch with chaise lounges and a dock at the end. It was becoming Georgia's and my favorite hangout spot.

"So, I've been putting off this conversation," Georgia said from behind her gigantic sunglasses. "But it's been over two weeks so I'm going to ask because this is the fourth night that you've screamed in your sleep."

"I have?" My pale legs felt warm in the bright sunlight.

Georgia stretched her arms out. "Yes, every night since you came home from the hospital."

I looked down. My dreams had been demented. Bloody knives, screaming Bucky, GiGi's parents dead on the floor. My distress had leached through the barrier of reality. "Oh."

"I'm thankful that you've been letting me in. Talking about Loki wasn't easy for you and I'm so glad you told me, but this is serious, Li Anne."

"Dad did all this. It's all his fault. I lived in his house for six years and I couldn't even see that he was planning to use two of his own children as lab rats."

"What did they do to you?"

I showed her my arm. "This was my experiment number. I wouldn't say it so someone carved it into my arm."

A tear rolled down Georgia's cheek. "No," she whispered.

My throat hurt when I swallowed. "Hydra is evil. So was Dad. But you're going to be safe again. I promise."

"I'm not worried about me. I'm worried about you! I'm not the one they sliced open, kidnapped, and tortured."

Why didn't she see it? I'd thought my sister was safe from Hydra but they had hurt her almost as bad as they had hurt me.

I sat up, flipping my loose curls over my shoulder. "They killed your mother and brother! They kidnapped your sister, putting her on every villain's radar! Georgia, they murdered your chances at a fresh start!"

"Li Anne, you have to stop protecting everyone else for once! You can't save everyone!" Georgia stood up, yanking off her sunglasses.

I rolled over on my back and jerked my feet over the edge of the chaise lounge. "I couldn't save the people important to me so now I have to save everyone else! Even if I don't succeed, I have to try!"

"Anne, I love and respect you and your privacy but these things you keep trapped in your mind are going to tear you apart one day. I want you to swear to me, swear, that you tell someone about it. It doesn't have to be me but you need to talk it out with someone."