Spirit in the House

Chapter 10

It had been almost four months since you had left the hospital. Your apartment was oddly silent and you were starting to feel like something was missing. There were days when you would catch yourself staring into space, smiling, as if you were living another life in your head. A life you didn't have access to.

Your therapist told you to be patient, you had to let your brain recover and adjust. It was a topic that even Peggy and Tony avoided. You realised the past few months had been hard on them too, so you decided to pretend everything was fine.

But you were not fine. You were sad and lost.

One evening, you were making dinner for yourself when the phone rang. You quickly wiped your hands on a kitchen towel and held the phone between your shoulder and ear while you continued to make dinner.

"Hello, this is," the man cleared his throat. "This is Detective James Barnes." He paused briefly. "I- We caught him... the man who ran you over."

"Oh..." you replied, suddenly focusing all your attention on the call.

"His name is Alexander Pierce," Detective Barnes continued. "He was late to pick up his son and didn't pay attention to what he was doing-"

"Clearly!" you cut him off. "He almost killed me. I lost five months of my life because he was a few minutes late."

"I know, he's a piece of shit."

You made a sound, half sob, half laugh. "Yeah. Well, uh, thank you for taking the time to call. And for your hard work. I'm sure it wasn't easy."

"It's my job." He paused to take a deep breath. "I'm really glad to hear your voi- to hear that you're feeling better," he said quickly, a hint of sadness in his voice. "Goodbye."

A few days later, you decided that if science couldn't answer your questions, maybe paranormal could. And that's how you found yourself in the best-rated occult bookstore in Brooklyn.

It wasn't a quiet place. Everywhere people were talking and arguing. One man was giving a lecture on UFO sighting to a group of people. You wandered around the shop, feeling a bit out of place.

"What about 'Adventures beyond the Body'?" Wanda asked, tilting her head to read the title.

"I already read that one. Didn't help." Bucky let out an annoyed sigh.

"And 'Surviving Death: The Second Chance'?"

"I read it last week."

"I think you've read all the books we have on near-death and out-of-body experiences." Wanda turned to give him a sad smile.

Bucky sighed. "I just want to jog her memory!"

"Here's an idea," Wanda clapped her hands once. "She doesn't remember you, but it's not that important. You seduced her once, you can do it again! Sure, you'll be the only one remembering her out-of-body experience, but it's still better than nothing, right?"

"I want her to remember me." Bucky rested his palms on the table in front of him. "The night she woke up, I told her I loved her. I just... I need to know if she feels the same. I can't give up. If she doesn't love me, then I'll leave her alone, but I need to know."

He sucked in a deep breath and looked up at Wanda. When he saw the tears in her eyes, he realised how desperate he sounded.

"I have all these memories and no one to share them with."

He tried to mask the quiver in his voice as Wanda put her hand on his shoulder. She could feel his pain, his sadness, it cut through her like a knife.