Spirit in the House

Chapter 3

Bucky gestured to the sofa in front of the television, allowing Pietro and Wanda to take a seat. He looked around quickly, but you were not there.

"I don't feel anything," Wanda said, closing her eyes to focus. "You sure there's a spirit?"

Bucky mumbled a 'yes', his eyes still roaming about the room. Pietro put his feet on the coffee table and you suddenly appeared next to Bucky. Wanda tensed immediately.

"Tell him to take his dirty feet off my table," you snarled, looking at Pietro. "Who are these people?"

Bucky didn't reply, his lips curled up in a brief smile. Wanda slapped Pietro's feet off the coffee table, her eyes still closed. He groaned loudly and slumped back in his seat.

"I can feel something. She's here," Wanda said, drawing in a deep breath.

"Here we go," you sighed and sat in front of her on the coffee table. "After the priest, the psychic..."

"She's hostile." Wanda nodded and Bucky snickered loudly, making you turn to glare at him. "She wants you to leave this place." She opened her eyes and looked at Bucky. "If I were you I'd leave right now. Her aura is... menacing."

"I have a menacing aura?" You put your elbows on your knees and cupped your chin in your hand. "I like her."

"I'm not leaving, she has to leave," Bucky whined.

You waved him off, which made him wave back at you and before he knew it, you were both trying to slap each other's hands. To Wanda and Pietro, it looked like Bucky was chasing invisible flies. When he saw the look on their faces, he stopped and cleared his throat.

"She just has to accept that she's dead and walk to the light."

"There is no light, I'm not dead!"

"She's not dead," Wanda replied almost at the same time. "But you? You have the darkest aura I've ever seen. What's going on with you?"

Bucky's shoulders tensed, "I'm fine."

"Understatement of the year," you scoffed. "In two weeks you left the house twice, the first time was to get beers. The second time you came back with these two weirdos."

"You don't know anything about me," Bucky hissed.

The room fell into a deep silence. Pietro and Wanda were looking at Bucky with concern. Bucky stared at the floor like it was the most interesting thing in the world. After a few more seconds, Wanda put her hand on her brother's shoulder.

"We should leave them alone."

Bucky walked them back to the front door. Wanda glanced around the room while the boys were waiting in the hall.

"To the woman haunting this apartment," she called out, knowing you were still in the room. "Don't be too hard on him, you're not the only one haunting him."

Still sitting on the coffee table, you looked up at her and frowned, wondering what she was talking about. She joined her brother in the hall and left without saying another word. Bucky closed the door and leaned against it. He stayed like that for a moment before he returned to the living room.

At first he didn't see you and thought that you were gone, but then he saw you trying to pick up a box from the console.

"Don't touch that!" He mentally scolded himself for forgetting that you couldn't touch anything.

"I can't," you pointed out. "What's inside the box? It's the only thing here that isn't mine. Well, that and the pile of empty beer bottles."

Bucky took the box and held it against his chest as if he was protecting it from you. He put it on the kitchen table.