wandanat au - that first summer

chapter one - the meeting

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ THIRD POV

The world was moving outside, birds chirping, the leaves rustling against the soft wind. And yet inside, under a wooden table, sits young Wanda, stricken with hopelessness, her bottom lip trembles as tears sail down her cheeks one after the other. The girl, left to care for herself, holds her knees to her chest tightly, compressed within the restraints of her own frail arms. She rocks herself in hopes of calming down, but nothing can stop the streams of audible whimpers slipping past her mouth.

Sensing her owner's distress, Misha (Wanda's beloved cat) quickly purrs her way towards Wanda, and jumps into her embrace. Wanda latches onto the cat carefully, intending to grasp onto any comfort her cat could provide. Hugging into Misha's neck, the tears she originally wiped away upon Misha's appearance, were falling again. Misha responds by nuzzling herself back into Wanda's shoulder.

Pulling herself together, Wanda distracts herself from the pain, choosing to feed Misha some food instead. Then slowly after, she heads to the nearby sink to clean up. But upon turning the tap, the gurgling of the water sends her back to a night she prays to forget. The water collects within the basin of the sink and the yellow sponge swims across the surface. Reminding Wanda of a familiar pale yellow dress, dancing in the depths of water, bubbles surrounding the fabric before fading into darkness.

✮

Deeper in the forest, a tender girl, Natasha, is seen walking beside her bicycle towards a lake that was once taped off. Now the blue tape waves in the wind like a flag around a tree. The girl stares out into the lakes, a look of worry found on her face. She inches closer towards the bank before cycling out and down a long rocky path. Once again the world seems to be moving on, fields of trees surround her as birds sing above her. The girl halts at the sight of a rusting gate, blocking off a foreign pathway, a road not taken by many. With curiosity, she finds herself walking down the path, glancing at everything around her.

Natasha stumbles upon an old house, hidden out of sight. It's mostly yellow, with a door painted sky blue. A porch that doesn't stretch out far, but still there. A makeshift swing out of extra rope and a piece of wooden plank, tied to the large tree that overlooks the house. She peers through the window for any form of life, calling out for anybody, she knocks lightly on the door. When suddenly she hears the meows of a cat, she quickly turns in the direction of the sounds.

Coming from around the house, said cat cautiously struts towards Natasha, but trusting the girl, Misha allows Natasha to caress her.

"Hello, what's your name?" Natasha speaks softly as she looks for a tag with a name, "Misha." She whispers to no one.

The cat begins to stroll off from where she came from, within the trenches of bushes and flowers.

"Where are you off to?" Natasha mustered out with a hint of unease, but equally interested she followed behind the cat, coming across another iron gate, guarding out a secret. As she walks in even further, her eyes search through the beautiful garden she found herself wandering into. Glass panes curve into a greenhouse, and a colourful umbrella hovers just underneath. Flowers rooted into the ground, the soil crumbles at the touch of her feet.

Hidden behind a fragile shed, Natasha gawks in shock at the mysterious yet so familiar girl quivering in her own body, holding onto Misha as tight as she can. Wanda, in defense, juts out her garden shears before her, completely alerted by the presence of the stranger.

Natasha, without a look of fear but rather sympathy, speaks out, "Hey, it's okay." before kindly adding, "Your cat is really cute."

Blinded by the fear of losing the one last thing Wanda lives for, she quickly spits out. "Don't take her!"