I'll Do My Best Not To Be My Worst (Starker eventually Tony, Peter, Steve)

Chapter four

Nightmares, discussion of nightmares, molestation, attempted rape, guns, gun violence, death. I think that covers it.
Last chapter I'm giving warnings
You made it this far

Autumn leaves danced with the chilly wind that pushed past the family of three. Two adults, an aunt and an uncle and their nephew. While the adults spoke in hushed tones keeping their distance from the boy as they walked along the muddy trail, he opted to run ahead chasing after a small blue butterfly. It’s wings flapped in a rapid pace, antennas pointed forwards as it glided a good bit above the ground, just out of his reach. He huffed and puffed but no matter how hard he ran he just wasn’t able to grab onto the small bug. That was until it stopped. Well, it landed. The butterfly had made a quick turn dropping to rest on the young boy's nose. His wide hazel eyes struggled to look at his nose watching with pure amazement as the bug slowly flapped its wings. He began to laugh, smiling widely somewhat proud of himself, as if it was him who had gotten the butterfly to land and that it wasn’t at all the bugs' choice. However, his bright eyes began to fill with uneasy confusion as the trees that once sang and danced with the breeze began to grow silent and still. The once bright blue sky that peeked through the cracks in the branches above began to darken into a light red, the sun slowly fading from view. Grey and black clouds started to circle in the sky small crashes of blue and purple lightning spitting out from within them. Strangely, no thunder accompanied them. Panic rose inside him as he turned to search for his Aunt and Uncle who had seemed to have gone missing. The butterfly clung onto him as he raced back up the path from which he came, wincing at the cries that left the child as he called for help. When he arrived where he last saw them he was shocked to see they weren’t there. He blinked, once and then twice, and then began to cry. He was lost and confused and no one was there to help them. The boy would call himself rather independent, if left home alone he would take on the scary task of turning on the stove to make some Kraft mac and cheese. Or even opening the door to greet the mailman quietly taking the mail that he gave. But, being alone in the woods with the ones he loved nowhere to be seen left a weird feeling in his belly. Like when you get caught breaking the rules and the moment the teacher yells your name you get that weird warm feeling in the pit of your stomach. That slowly travels up and down until it stops in you chest, filling your lungs until you take in a breath. Except, when he took in that breath no relief came. Only dread. The boy opened his eyes and turned to travel farther up the path, his new mission to get back to the car. Surely his Aunt and Uncle would be there. Yet when he turned he was horrified to no longer see a path. Only trees surrounded him. Unlike the trees from before, these ones stood tall with old and dark wood. They felt rough and the few branches that poked out of them held no leaves but only large inky black ravens with blood red eyes. Their talons clenched onto the branches violently as they screamed and croaked at one another. His breath now caught in his throat, the boy took comfort only in the butterfly which stayed on his nose. Slowly falling to the ground he wrapped his arms around his knees and began to cry even more. He buried his head between his knees and took no notice as he bug jumped up and off of him. Tears began to soak through his jeans as he angrily wiped at his teary eyes. They had left him. His Aunt and his Uncle had taken him deep into the woods and left him. They left him with no escape, they took the trail with them. They didn’t want him. He was quickly pulled from his pessimistic thoughts as he felt a hand grasp his shoulder. Head shooting up, the boy tried to quickly scoot backwards yelping when his back made contact with the harsh bark of the tree. In front of him stood a tall man who was crouched down to meet his height. His black hair was pushed back against his head, little hairs sticking out where two…. antennas laid? He wore a black suit to match his hair along with shiny black boots. The two bright blue wings contrasted beautifully with the suit. Wings? Since when did people have wings? He eyed the man, looking him up and down struggling to understand what stood in front of him. Surely this man wasn’t a man. Wasn’t a human. He frowned when the stranger tilted his head and smiled. “Hello.” The stranger's voice had a weird accent to it that he couldn’t quiet place. Choosing not to respond, he turned his head staring farther off into the dark woods. “It’s rude not to respond when spoken to.” He sounded almost offended.