"They what?" Bucky exclaims.
"They want me to help them turn her into a weapon."
"And you said 'yes'?" He yells out.
"My family is in danger! What else am I supposed to do?"
Bucky shakes his head in incredulity. "I still can't believe they would do that."
"Don't act so surprised." I snap. "I can only imagine how terrified Ophelia must be."
Bucky places his hand on my shoulder and gives it a reassuring squeeze. "You may make her stay here a lot more bearable," he says and sends me a small smile. "Maybe it's better this way."
"How is this any better?"
"Because she doesn't have to go through this alone."
I feel my shoulders slump and the aggravation fade as I realise that I have a chance to help a person who is stuck in this place.
I know it's not ideal but it's something.
***
I sit down on the bench that is a couple of feet away from the boxing ring that is in the centre of this large room.
I grab the ends of the sleeves of my worn sweater and ball them in my fists nervously as I wait for Ophelia to start her training. She's not here yet but I assume they're bringing her in soon.
I see a man, almost thrice her size step in the ring and start warming up. I grip on the edge of the wooden bench, the fact that Ophelia is going to train with this beast is nerve-racking.
"Marie!" I hear her call out for me and I turn around and see her running over to me, setting a towel on the bench next to me. "Why are you here?" She asks in surprise.
"I'm—" I stop as Ophelia is called to the ring. "I'm here to watch you."
She smiles before rushing to the ring.
I take a deep breath before they start their training session. I'm really not looking forward to it.
***
I sit in silence, mouth hanging open, eyes wide as I observe the training session. Ophelia is incredibly gifted for her age. She can handle swords and is amazing in hand-to-hand combat.
The training session ends, Ophelia gets scolded for getting hit a couple of times which to me seems ridiculous. She's amazing! She barely got hit.
I grab the towel from next to me and stroll over to her. She's resting in the corner, leaning against the ropes. I tap my fingers on her arm and se turns around, smiling as I hand her the towel. "You did great," I tell her with a smile and get in the ring myself. I sit down next to her as she wipes off some sweat from her forehead.
"That's not what they say," she mutters as she plays with her fingers, avoiding eye contact with me.
I sigh, scooting closer to sit right next to her. "Well, I think you were fantastic," I say while I nudge her shoulder with mine, earning a small giggle from her.
"Want me to show you some moves?" She asks excitedly as she stands up.
I turn to look at Whitehall who is in the same room again. I'm not sure if he's looking after me or Ophelia but that guy gives me the creeps nonetheless. He gives me a small nod and I turn to Ophelia, smiling. "Sure!"
***
"So, how was it?" Bucky asks as I'm locked back in my cell.
"It wasn't as bad as I thought," I say honestly as I make my way to my bed. "It was still harrowing to watch her fight. I was afraid she might get severely hurt."
"You care for this girl."
"Well what do you expect?" I ask in annoyance, throwing my hands in the air. "She's about nine years old. She's just a child."
"Calm down," Bucky says which makes me roll my eyes. "I wasn't saying it as if it was a bad thing."
"I'm sorry," I sigh, "I don't know what's wrong with me. I keep losing my temper over the smallest things."
"Yeah, I've noticed." He mumbles under his breath.
I scoff and roll my eyes before lying down on my back and closing my eyes, trying to get some sleep again.
I seem to do that quite often nowadays.
***
I wake up, hearing the rattling of the cell door and I sit up and back up against the wall behind me. Although this happens pretty frequently, it still startles me every time.
I don't see anyone coming in and sigh in relief. I then turn to look at Bucky who's slowly waking up and I feel my eyes widen in fear as I see someone at the door of his cell. The person seems to be having some trouble with the door, it's stuck.
I place my hand on Bucky's shoulder and start shaking him, telling him to wake up.
Please, for the love of God, wake up!
Bucky sits up abruptly as he sees someone at the door. He curses, begs, panics. It's hard to watch.
I place my hand on his and he turns to look at me with fear in his eyes. I feel my eyes tearing up as I think of what they might do to him. I take his hand in mine and pull it closer, placing it on my chest.
I would tell him everything is going to be okay but I don't want to lie to him. Nothing will be okay after this.
I feel him pulling his hand away from me and placing it on my cheek, he looks at me, his eyes gazing every inch of my face as if he was trying to memorize all of it, even the smallest details.
"B-bucky," I say with a whisper. "What—"
"I'll never forget you," he says.
I feel a tear escaping my eye, falling to his hand but he still doesn't pull away. "Bucky, you don't even know if you'll come back or—"
"Never," he says lowly. He leans forward and places a gentle kiss on my forehead, letting his lips linger on my skin for a few seconds.
Then the cell doors open and he is pulled away from me. I scream, I shout, I beg for them to leave him alone and take me instead. I've been through the pain, I could do it again. For him.
I try to pull on the bars, as if I magically found the strength to rip them off and go over to the other side and knock the guy out just so he would leave Bucky alone but of course I am not strong enough to do any of that.
I scream, I cry and I beg some more. That is all manage to do.
I go over to the cell doors and place my hands on them, yanking, making them rattle. I watch in horror as Bucky is dragged away. He is fighting too of course, but he can't seem to do anything to get free.
I rest my back against the cold bars as I can no longer see him and let myself slide down to the floor with my knees bent in front of me. My cheeks are stained with tears and I feel like I can shed no more, still my sobs cannot be contained.
I hear the large lab doors closing and I tense up. Nothing good ever happens there.
As I start hearing Bucky's screams, I cover my ears with my hands, trying to drown out the awful, heart wrenching screams of agony. I shake my head and bite my lip, squinting my eyes closed.
He doesn't deserve any of this and I know that. If I could, I would take his place. I would much rather have it be me in there experiencing all that pain than him.
I know I've said "No sane person would ever take someone else's place to go through this hell." And I still stand by those words.
The thing is, although I do think what I said was correct, I can't help but want to change places with him right now.
For I am all but sane.
I'm going to try and update weekly starting now.
So... Bucky was taken away. How do you feel about that? What do you think will happen next?
How are you feeling about this story so far? I'd love to hear your thoughts.