FROM THE DUST ─ tfatws

chapter eight ━ the forgotten

    Mama has told her countless times to forget it, to hold her head up high and forget all about them. So Reine has. Every time an intimidating tourist or an exchange student at her school makes a faceat her, Reine gives them the best death glare she can. She defends the others at her school, too. She fights back against the bullies and the mean girls who laugh at how Reine's skin is paler than theirs, that Reine's papa, whoever he was, wasn't Hispanic.

    Reine doesn't understand it. No yet, anyway, so it's harder for the others to get under her skin.

    Her rampant thoughts are interrupted by a small noise. She peels back her eyes slowly, and cranes her neck to look at her closed door. The noise comes again, and this time she hears it more clearly. A whimper, like the ones she sometimes lets out when she pokes at bruises on her legs.

    Reine sits up, shaking off the dream that edges along her mind, and pushes the covers off her. The whimpers, louder this time, sound from in front of her. Then, quietly, a door opens. Mama's door. Reine purses her lips. That means the sound is coming from Bucky.

    Reine gets to her feet, limbs aching, and walks over to the door, opening it silently. Her usually clumsy hands, filled with a strength she still hasn't been able to manage, move like a mountain cat. Her feet make no noise as she tiptoes down the hall. The whimpers getting louder, now combined with the sound of someone moving on the ground.

    When she rounds the corner, she's met with the sight of Bucky being cradled in Mama's arms, his eyes closed shut so tight it looks like he's in pain. Marina sits behind him, her hands wrapped around him. Bucky's metal arm clenches and releases, his legs shaking under his thin blanket.

    In all the time Reine has known Bucky Barnes, she's never once seen him go to sleep anywhere else but the floor. Now that Mama and him have kissed, Marina has offered many times for him to share her bed with him, but every time he refuses, needing to be on the wooden tile of the living room, barely any support under his muscular back.

    This is where he is now, shirtless and sweating, his long hair draped over his clenched face. Reine puts her hands on the wall, peering around the corner. She watches, not saying anything. The pain on Bucky's face is all to familiar, and it scares Reine.

     She has nightmares too, dreams that turn dark, that make the bad men that harass her on the street become monsters that chase her in her mind. The edges are red, a burnt ruby that reminds Reine of the pits of fire, underneath the ash, where it's hottest. She has the same symptoms, too. The sweating, the whimpering, the fear. This is why Reine doesn't move, why she doesn't go to help Mama.

    "Bucky, Bucky." Marina says soothingly, pushing a strand of his hair away from his face. "Despierta, Bucky, Despierta." Bucky shakes his head, almost hitting Mama's face. She doesn't wince, she just looks more determined.

    Reine looks at her mother's face. It's free of makeup, and she glows like an angel. Reine often thinks her mother is from another world, somewhere heavenly. From what she's seen, there's no one else as kind, and there never will be.

    "You're safe," Marina whispers, still holding onto Bucky as firm as she can. "You're safe, Bucky."

    The man's eyes open instantly. He bolts upright, and Marina doesn't have the strength to stop him. She leans back, pursing her lips, as Bucky heaves in breaths, gulping in air. When he looks up, Reine has never seen more terrifying eyes. They burn, as if they're filled with fire, and Reine takes a step back. Bucky keeps his gaze on the girl, which alerts Marina of her daughter's presence.