The Crime of the Widow

5|. An Invitaion

CHILDREN'S LAUGHTER filled the air, giggling at every move that made. A small smile crept on my lips as I twiddled with my fingers in my lap, trying to avoid the blonde's questioning gaze. My feet were crossed and laid on the edge of the table, my torso leaning back on the chair. I tried my best to ignore the perpetual pain coming from my whole body, especially my shoulder and I still hadn't told them there was a bullet sinking into my flesh.

"You're smiling."

I lifted my head to find a smirking Yelena staring at me, raising an eyebrow at my sudden happiness. With a shrug and a roll of my eye, I pushed her off. "No. I was not smiling. Your delusional."

"No, I know what I saw. You were smiling. I haven't seen you smile since..." My younger sister trialed off, looking up to the sky as she thought for a moment. Her hands fiddling with the white cloth wrapped around her arm. She said as annoyed by it and hated that she was injured, just like the same Yelena from the 1990s.

"Since Ohio 1995 or if you want to get technical Russia." I nodded my head, annoyed and angry yet nostalgic, while biting the inside of my cheek. My arms crossed, staring at the blonde girl with a smirk. She obviously saw my mix of emotions flash across my face and looked away, head down with pursed lips. No one spoke for the next couple minutes, it was so uncomfortable. Natalia was out getting some beer for the three of us, forcing Yelena and I into the worst small talk I had ever had.

With a click of my tongue, and a roll of my head, I gazed at the youngest sibling. "I remember, you used to hate getting hurt. True, every kid hates getting hurt, but you? You practically fainted at the slightest scratch."

Yelena looked vacantly at me while smirking at me. "Whilst you got hurt, You would pretend nothing happened. A big hole in your head? No problem, like a little scratch. An arm broken? Just like a small bruise. I've always wondered how you did it." A small chuckle escaped her lips as she looked up, probably remembering everything from 1995 and before.

"She always said pain makes us stronger and I... I wanted to be strong like Natalia, her, and him. Now, I'm not sure if want to be like them anymore." I stared back at the children, watching as their father comes and picks them up, swinging them all around until they got dizzy and screamed papa. Instead of smiling happily like I did last time, I smiled somberly, not even wanting to gaze at them anymore.

"I wanted to be like you."

I whipped my head over to Yelena, squinted my eyes in a quizzical manner. As she was looking at her hands before, she smiled at me when she met my eyes. "You were the coolest sister. You would climb the highest things, get away with everything, and you would always bring up the most random facts in the middle of a conversation."

I opened my mouth to say something back but was quickly interrupted when the red head made her to our small table, holding our favorite drinks. Yelena began to fiddle around with her wound, wincing at every time she touched it. My eyes traveled to the small red vials in the bag and apparently the same thing happened to Natalia as she sat down next to me , causing Yelena to notice.

"That gas, the counteragent, it was synthesized in secret by an older widow from Melina's generation. I was on the mission to retrieve it, and she exposed me and I killed the widow that freed me." The blonde banged the table, giving up on her wound.

"Did you have a choice?" Natalia asked, gazing at the vials.

I let out a laugh causing the two girls look at me with curios eyes. "No. We did not have a choice. I didn't."

"What you experienced was psychological conditioning. I'm talking about chemically altering brain functions. They're two completely different things. You're fully conscious, but you don't know which part is you. I'm still not sure." Yelena spoke softly to her older sister. Natalia was confused and was trying to understand everything, a part of me was absolutely aggravated, but I knew I needed to give her time.