Life Isn't Always Fair- The Winding Path III

May We Never Forget

She still took my breath away; the wind was softly toying with her waist-length hair, her shawl was wrapped around her tightly. Taking a deep breath, I walked to stand behind her. I knew she heard me coming, but didn't even give me the slightest recognition.

Her jaw was clenched, her face set and her eyes were red and puffy from crying. I felt a sudden pang of guilt at the look on her face.

That's when I remembered what I had come to talk to her about, "Melissa, look, about last night-" but she cut me off.

"You ran, Bucky. You ran away. Why?" she didn't look at me when she said it and there was a blank look in her eyes.

"I didn't want to hurt you." I knew it was a feeble excuse.

"I can take care of myself. I'm an Avenger, remember? I've saved the world a couple times. I'm pretty sure I could handle a single, one-armed man." she said indignantly.

I sighed, knowing that she was right, but I'm not ready to admit why I ran, "It was the only solution I could think of.".

Melissa glared at me fiercely, "No, it wasn't. You were just too big of a coward to stay and talk about it."

I opened my mouth in protest, "That's not true!".

"Yes, it is! You want people to think that you're okay now, but you're not! Do you think I don't know that you were having a nightmare?!".

"It wasn't a nightmare. It was just instinct that led me to grab your neck." I shot back.

She rolled her eyes, "Bullshit." she jabbed her finger at me. "Wanna know how I know? Because I suffer from the same thing! Do you think that saving the world won't bring nightmares?! Do you think that going on missions to Afghanistan to protect people from the Taliban wouldn't cause nightmares?! Do you think that fighting an army of robots in a flying city won't do it?! You try to hide your wounds because you're embarrassed!" her heart was in her eyes. "Because you're afraid of what people will think or say about you if they knew the truth! Well, if you're not going to explain why you left, and truthfully explain, I'm not going to speak to you.". She walked away, leaving me stunned.

Everything she said cut to the quick. It was all true, but that doesn't mean that I'm gonna admit it. Fine, if that's what she wants to do, then oh well.

Melissa's pov

Bucky tried to talk to me several times recently, but I would just ignore him or walk away with a stuck-up air in my step.

One day, I was at the well with the other women when something hit me in the head. Wincing, I rubbed my head and turned around. I saw Bucky with a group of boys playing ball, one of the boys was standing with a guilty look on his face.

Bucky jogged up to me and stooped down to pick up the ball. When he stood up, there was a vulnerable look in his eyes. It was as if he was asking, "Will you forgive me?". I shoved down the rising urge to give in and gave him an icy glare.

A defeated look came into Bucky's eyes, "Uh, sorry about that. We'll go play somewhere else.", he rubbed the back of his neck.

Swallowing my pride, I answered, "It's okay." for a fleeting moment, Bucky's eyes light up. But then he noticed my condescending sneer. Turning my back to him to retrieve my jug, Bucky said, "Well, have a nice day.". I ignored him as I pulled up my jug and when I straightened, I encountered the stares of the other women.

Slamming down my jug, I asked, "Why are you all staring at me?".

"What just happened between you and James?", Tirzah asked me.