Past:
" This is an A. Can you say A? " The winter soldier asks the small girl sitting next to him. " A. "
The girl tries. "Ah-ay. " She traces the letter written on the wall.
" Good girl. That's an uppercase A, a big A. This is the small a. " He writes lowercase a next to the bigger version on the wall.
" A. " Dorothea does the same action with the smaller A as the bigger one.
" Good. " The soldier moves onto the next letter. " This is a B. Can you say B? "
" Bee. " Dorothea looks up at the soldier.
" Yes. Good. This is the lower case b. " The man draws the lowercase letter. " Here, try to draw the same letters. " He hands her the small piece of chalk.
Dorothea holds the chalk in her tiny hand, glancing at the chalk and back at the wall. She traces the letter with her finger again before finally attempting to write the letter. Her letters are wobbly and messy. The Winter Soldier smiles.
" Good job, Dorothea. Why don't you practice writing them again a few more times, huh? " He asks.
" Okay. " She grins at the praise and turns her head back to the wall. She traces over the letters again before once again trying to write them.
The two spend a little while working on the letters together, saying and writing them over and over so Dorothea can learn them.
The door is thrown open suddenly, startling Dorothea who lets out a squeak and drops the chalk onto the ground.
The Winter Soldier stands up, blocking the view of the scared child. " Sargent. " He says stiffly.
" Soldier, you've got a new mission. You leave in five. Becker will give you the information. Prepare to leave. " With that, the Sargent leaves the room and closes the door, the lock loudly clicking.
The soldier sighs, not really wanting to go out again. He turns to Dorothea. " I've got to leave, okay? Be a good girl. Practice your letters and numbers, alright? " He picks up the chalk and hands it to her.
" I don't want you to go. " She whispers.
" I know. " He sighs again. " But I'll be back. Behave, alright? "
Dorothea nods. " Okay. " She watches as The Winter Soldier prepares to leave. He glances at her one last time when the door opens again.
" Let's go. " The other soldier barks, ordering The Winter Soldier to get out of the room.
The Winter Soldier follows directions, praying silently that nothing will happen to Dorothea between the time he's gone and returns. He's led out of the building and into a vehicle where other, stoic men are waiting. They inform him of a mission, threatening Dorothea's life if he fails.
The soldier nods, fear making his heartbeat slightly faster. Not fear of his life, no, he wasn't afraid to die, but fear of the child's life. A child's life shouldn't be put on the line. She wasn't going to die of his mistake. No. He'd keep her safe. If he hadn't known her, he probably would have still tried his best to protect her. The child didn't ask for this life, she didn't place her life in his hands willingly. These men would kill her if needed to, he knew it. They were ruthless, dangerous, angry men who didn't care for much. They'd have no problem executing Dorothea, they'd probably killed other children many times before.
The soldier is led to a ghost town. He's kicked out of the car, threatened one last time, and left in front of a falling apart building. He watches as the car drives away, leaving him and his mission alone.
He turns to look around the building, pulling out a gun. He'd finish this mission. For Dorothea.
Dorothea sets the piece of chalk gently on the table next to the bed as the room slowly gets darker and darker. She crawls under the shabby blanket, curling up in the corner. She eyes the room nervously, afraid something might jump out and hurt her. She whimpers when she hears a creaking sound from somewhere in the room. She never liked staying alone in the dark. The dark always scared her so much. It reminded her of when she was alone in the dark. It reminded her of when she didn't know The Winter Soldier.
She would rather the soldier stay here with her, to comfort her and make her feel a little safer, but she knows he has no other choice. He has to listen to them or they'll do bad things. Really bad things. They're bad people.
She just wishes it were different. She wishes they could both be free. Maybe then she wouldn't be so scared and maybe then he could finally be happy.
Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please vote and comment if you liked this chapter! It means a ton. By the way, if any of you guys have any ideas on what I should do for the cover, let me know. I'm trying to think of something cool to make as the cover. Anyway, have a good day! -N