CARSON OPENED HIS EYES and looked around at the room he suddenly appeared in. It took him a few moments to realise where he was but once he did, his heart warmed at what he was seeing. He walked around the room and took everything in, grazing his fingers over the picture frames that was propped up on the fireplace as he walked past, the smell of vanilla candles that his mother used to love so much filled his nose.
He was home.
Carson turned to his right and chuckled when he saw his dad's jacket folded over the couch, the one that he always used to let Carson wear as a child because he loved it so much, because he wanted to be like him.
"We're home!" A voice spoke up through the halls.
He looked up to see his dad walk in the room, a 6 year old Carson in his right arm and a bag of food in the other. Carson watched as his dad placed the bag of food down on one of the side tables before playfully ruffling his younger selfs hair and setting him down on the floor.
A small smile grew on Carson's face as he watched the interaction between him and his father, so much time had passed that he'd forgotten what his dad looked like when he was like this. When he was happy, when they all were.
His attention was moved from his dad when he saw his younger self run across the room into the arms of a woman who had just come from another room. She lifted him into the air before holding him close in her arms, planting small kisses all over his face.
It was his mother.
She held out one of her hands and Carson's dad smiled and made his way over, giving her a kiss on the cheek. His mum opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by the sound of a sensor going off outside, alerting his parents.
The moment was cut short when Carson realised what was happening, what was about to happen. He quickly looked around the room, looking for anything to confirm that his fears weren't true. That this dream wasn't going to show him what he thinks it was going to show him. He didn't want to relive this moment again, he couldn't. His eyes came to a halt when he looked upon the pile of unopened birthday presents in the corner. He glanced over to his right at the newspaper on one of the side tables and looked at the date.
November 18th, his birthday.
As soon as he saw that date, he instantly tried to rush over to his mother. But his legs didn't move. He looked down and grabbed his leg, pulling at it to try and lift it but. Nothing, no progress. His feet were locked in place.
"No, no, no, no!" He yelled.
He waved his arms to try and get his parents attention, but neither of them looked up or heard him. It was if he was invisible.
His parents looked at each other, worry spread across both of their faces, his mother took a deep shaky breath before giving the younger Carson a kiss on top of his head and gently placing him down on the floor. Carson's parents both gave each other a subtle nod before his dad made his way over to the front door.
"Alright sweetie, Do you want to play a game? How about hide and seek?" His mother knelt down to his level and smiled as the younger Carson nodded. "Your dad is going to count okay? So you go to the special hiding place in your room and I'll join you soon."
Before he could run off to his room, she gently pulled on his arm brining him back.
"I need you to promise me that you'll stay in your hiding place." She took a deep breath, trying to keep her hands steady so she didn't worry Carson. "You can only come out if you hear me or your dad shout for you alright? Promise me."
"I promise."
"Good." She smiled and looked down at one of the rings on her fingers, before taking it off and holding it out to Carson. "Here, take this. This is a very special ring alright, so you have to keep it with you while you're hiding so you can win the game."
She jumped slightly as the sound of clattering and yelling rang through the halls. They were here, it was time.
"I love you Carson, so much. Always. Never forget that."
She placed her hands at either side of his head and placed a gentle but lasting kiss on his forehead before pulling him into a tight hug.
Carson watched from the other side of the room as his younger self smiled at his mother for the last time, hugged her for the last time, looked at her for the last time before running off into his room completely oblivious as to what was about to happen.
He watched as the three armed men barged in, throwing his father into the room and beating him up to the point of him being on the floor. One of them making their way over to his mother and pushing her down to her knees with a aimed a gun pointed to his mothers head. Their begs and his mothers cries filled his ears as the men began demanding answers.
Carson kept trying to move his legs but still it didn't work. He wanted to do something, anything. Anything to stop what was about to happen.
But he couldn't, he was helpless.
"This is the last time I'm going to ask!" The man yelled. "Where is the boy?!"
"Get.. the hell.. away from her..." His dad managed to cough out, struggling to move on the floor. The man holding the gun to his mothers head looked over to one of the men that was standing near his father and gave him a nod. The man proceeded to kick him in the stomach repeatedly.
The man took a deep breath then let out an eerie laugh, sending shivers down Carson's spine. "Perhaps I wasn't clear enough." He pushed the barrel of the gun harder against his mothers head.
In that moment, her final moments, everything seemed to slow down. He watched as his dad was beaten back down to the ground, his mother begging for them to stop, the man behind his mother slowly pulling down on the trigger. Carson's eyes widened when he looked back at his mother, who was already making direct eye contact with him.
"It's okay." She whispered, a single tear rolling down her cheek.
"No..." He shook his head.
Once again Carson tried to move and to his surprise, this time he could. He looked down at his foot being able to take a step forward then looked straight back to his mother.
This was his chance.
Carson wasted no time and began sprinting from the other side of the room desperately trying to reach her.
But it was too late.
The trigger was pulled.
She was gone.
Again.
"NO!"
Carson shot up violently in his bed, his hand grasping at his neck as he gasped for breath. He swallowed and closed his eyes, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself down and become grounded once again.
As his breathing began to return to a normal pace, he moved to the end of his bed and placed his feet on the floor with his hands at either side of him, clenching the sheets in his fists and his head drooping down looking at the floor.
Whatever Wanda has done to help him had clearly worn off. He'd been drifting in and out of sleep all night. Every time he managed to get to sleep, he just have a nightmare again. But this time it wasn't the one he knew all to well, it was worse.
Carson lifted his arm up to his forehead and wiped the thin layer of sweat that had formed before falling back down onto his bed and closing his eyes once more.
He was there for at least an hour, eyes closed, tossing and turning trying to get back to sleep. Nothing was working. Every time came close to drifting off images just came flooding back into his mind, her voice ringing in his head.
"Always."
After another few attempts at getting a decent ish sleep Carson became extremely agitated. He sat up in his bed and ripped the covers from off of him in frustration.
"Fuck this." He groaned.
He shuffled from off the bed and made his way over to his wardrobe to grab some black sweatpants and a jumper, throwing them on. Before he left his room he glanced over at the clock to check the time.
2:46 AM
He sighed and quietly opened the door, making his way into the main room to look for his shoes.
Carson spent the next few minutes trying to find his shoes, first looking on the rack at the front door, then in the living room, then in the kitchen, then under the couches. Still couldn't find them.
"Where the fu-" His mumbling was interrupted by the familiar sound of light footsteps coming down the hall towards him.
He huffed and placed his hand on the wall for support as he leant on it. "What are you doing, Maximoff?"
Wanda slowly came from around the corner, rubbing the tiredness from her face. She leant down to one of the side tables next to her and turned on the lamp so she could see more clearly, making Carson squint slightly as his eyes adjusted to the light.
"How did you know it was me?" She asked, furrowing her brows in confusion.
Carson tapped his ear, pointing it out to her. "Remember? Now answer my question."
"I went to your room to check on you because.. I could s-" Wanda stopped and paused. She was clearly trying to be cautious with whatever she was about to say. "Is everything alright?"
"I'm just looking for my shoes." Carson deflected. "It's the black trainers I usually wear. I could've sworn I put them over there on the rack but I-"
"You mean those?" Wanda pointed towards the rack by the front door.
And there they were, on the top shelf. The only pair of shoes on that shelf too. Strange.
"Oh." He began, tilting his head in confusion at the sight before looking back to Wanda. "Must've missed them, I guess." He let out a tired, half chuckle before walking towards them and putting them on.
Wanda frowned as she looked up at Carson, growing more concerned when she noticed the dark bags under his eyes. "Did uh.. did something happen?"
"No." Carson cleared his throat, closing his eyes for a moment as he tried keep his breathing from becoming rapid again. "I just need some air. Go back to bed."
"It was another.. nightmare, wasn't it?" She gently asked, watching as he sighed and scraped his hair back with his hand.
Carson scrunched his face up and finished up tying his shoe before looking up at Wanda. "How did you-"
"I could just feel it." She shrugged. "I don't really know how, or why but I could sense your discomfort and I just..." Wanda took a deep breath and stepped closer, carefully placing her hand on his arm." I wanted to see if you were alright and if you wanted me to do what I did last time to help?"
Carson looked down at Wanda's hand, her thumb gently rubbing back and forth on his arm. "I'm fine." He moved his arm from her grip and began walking over to the door.
"Where are you going?" She whispered.
"For a walk."
"It's nearly 3am."
"I'll be fine."
He placed his hand on the handle of the front door and opened it but before he could step out the sound of rustling caused him to look over his shoulder, seeing Wanda reaching over to the coat hangers pulling off a random hoodie and slipping on her shoes.
"What are you doing?" He turned around.
"I'm co.." Her voice became muffled as she pulled the hoodie over her face, causing Carson to let out an almost inaudible chuckle.
"I'm coming with you." She said, pulling her hair out of the back of the hoodie and shuffling past Carson. She walked outside and stopped after taking a few steps then turned around to look at Carson who was watching her from the doorway, a smile forming on his face.
"Who's the one staring now?" She smirked.
"That's my hoodie y'know?"
She looked down at the hoodie, fiddling with the sleeves and pulling them over her hands as she smiled to herself. "Are you coming or not?"
Carson nodded and stepped out of the building, shutting the door behind him. He made his way down the steps and did a slight jog to catch up to Wanda who had began walking again when she saw him come out.
"So, where are we going?" Wanda smiled, looking up at him as he joined her at her side.
"Where do you want to go?"
~~ ᗢ ~~
A/N: idek if i like this chapter that much ngl but anyways enjoy ig ;)
also this is unedited sorry bbys