The Widows Daughter

Part ninety

This chapter has depictions of suicide, so if you're not comfortable with that, you can totally skip past where I'm placing a warning later on.

(Chloe's POV)

The first thing I realized when I came to, was that my head was laying in something relatively soft. The second thing was the vibrations that slightly shook where I was laying.

"Where am I?" I mumbled drowsily.

"Safe." Someone said. I opened my eyes to see blonde hair, which was mainly confusing because I didn't know anyone with blonde hair.

Wait, did I? Did Thor have blond hair? Yeah, he had blond hair. Did Steve? No...yeah, he did.

As my senses adjusted to not having as many drugs in my system, I realized where I was. Slowly sitting up I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. "What happened? What's going on?"

"Chloe, calm down. It's okay, you're fine. You're safe." I heard mom say. I looked over at her and realized her hair was different.

That would explain it...

"What'd you do to your hair?" I asked her.

"I dyed it. Why? Do you not like it?" She frowned.

"No, I love it. It's just...well, you're...blonde. It's just weird, that's all." I told her taking in her hair.

She didn't look bad per se, it was just a new look.

Mom smiled but it was soon gone from her face. "What do you remember?"

"About?" I rubbed my forehead trying to release some of the pressure that was building up.

"Back at the Raft. What happened?" I stared at her frowning.

"What do you think happened? I got angry, they got scared and drugged me." I told her absently rubbing my neck. When my hand went to my neck, however, it wasn't flesh that it made contact with, but metal.

I immediately panicked, of course.

I could feel my heart rate spike and my breathing became heavier. My hands clung to the ring of metal around my neck as I tried pulling it off.

"Chloe, calm down. I'll get it off." Mom touched my shoulder.

"Get it off! Get it off!" I screamed. "I can't breathe! I can't breathe! Get it off!"

Through the blurriness caused by my tears, I could make out Clint in front of me. I felt hands on the sides of my face and could barely make out words being said.

The weight from the collar disappeared from my neck and gasped as it left. My knees gave out and I fell into Clint. His hands rubbed soothing circles on my back as he spoke quietly to me.

I stayed like that for a while until he decided that I should get up. Clint held my arm and helped me sit down back on a seat. He brushed the hair out of my face and rubbed my cheek before his hand was replaced with Moms.

I immediately put my head in her lap and closed my eyes. She pulled my hair away from my face and rubbed my head soothingly. Silently, I cried into her lap.

Although I suspect she knew.

Eventually, Clint kneeled in front of me and smiled softly. "I'm gonna go now. This is my stop." He said looking above me.

"Alright. Do you want me to come?" Mom asked.

"No. It's fine. You just take care of our girl here." Clint smiled at me while gently squeezing my hand. I weakly squeezed his in return and he chuckled softly. "You be good for your mom, yeah?"

I hummed in response but didn't say anything. "I'll tell them you both say hi.  I'll also tell Cooper you say hi." Clint whispered the last bit to me and I blushed before hiding my face in Mom's lap so no one could see.

I wasn't sure if I was more embarrassed that he knew, or that he was somewhat supporting it.

I heard quiet laughter from around me and mumbled a muffled 'shut up'. "Be good Chloe. I'll see you later." Clint told me. This was followed by a muffled 'bye' on my part. After that, the world faded into black.

                        ———————

Italy, December 26, 2014.

Zari and Annie watched me from where they sat. They were treading around the subject very carefully, and rightfully so. It was still fresh in all our minds, more so mine than theirs though.

I could hear Annie whispering but Zari had a distant look in her eyes. After what happened she was quieter than usual. I think she felt like it was her fault. That it should have been her.

That was something we had in common.

The doors opened and Zerks walked in. "Line up." I quickly moved in line with Zari and Annie standards ng with our hands by our sides.

A man handed Zari a knife and pulled her forward. She looked at the marital in her hand, at the man in front of her, then back at us. "It's time to test loyalties," Zerks spoke.

We looked at him questioning. "You, my dear," he shook Zari's shoulders gently, "Get to pick who lives, and who dies." Zari looked at us in horror.

My heart started racing at what he said. Being put in the same position I was in a few weeks ago was unbelievably cruel. I'm sure she thought the same.

Waiting for Zari to make a decision was terrifying. Mainly because I knew who she would pick. Just like how she knew who I would pick. It was horrible knowing what your fate was.

Skip the rest of the chapter if suicide is triggering for you or if you're uncomfortable reading about it.

What happened next was probably one of the worst things I've watched. Zari looked at us with tears in her eyes and I could tell something was wrong. "I'm so sorry," she mumbled.

"Zari..." I cautioned but she was looking at the floor.

"Zari, what's the matter?" Annie asked softly.

"I really am sorry, Annie. I'm so sorry." Zari cried.

"Zari..." I tried to snap her out of it.

"I'll tell Luke you say hi." Zari smiled before raising the knife.

I screamed as she slit her own neck. Blood flowed from her neck in thick streams. Annie wailed as Zari's body fell to the ground limply.

I stared in shock at Zari's body. I knew something was wrong with her, but I didn't think it was this. I knew she felt like Luke was her fault, but I didn't know it was this bad.

She killed herself. Holy crap, she killed herself!

I looked at Annie who was on the floor sobbing. I felt myself fall to the ground in both horror and dismay at what had happened. I felt numb and sick like all I wanted to do was throw up but yet couldn't. I couldn't feel my hands or feet either.

It was like my whole body shut down.

Oh my gosh! I updated?! What?! Crazy!!
I know it's been like two months, and I swear I've been working on it, I just literally had no inspiration for this chapter. I've had sick a hard time figuring out how to transition to the next part of the story, so I had to figure out that.
I've had a really hard time personally too. I'm not giving to get into it but a lot of crap went down within like the last two months, and I've just had a hard time with it.
Hopefully, I'll start working on this again and get something out soon.😁 Let me know what you thought.
A bit more of what happened near the end of Chloe's stay with Hydra. I felt really bad writing the ending of this, but I planned for this to always happen.
Hopefully, I'll see you all soon! Bye😁