Widow (001/Peter Ballard x reader)

008

Just as I let my guard down I heard a scream. It was in the hallway. I rushed to get the door open again. My mother stood there, in the middle, screaming at something. I didn't know what she was so scared of, but just as I was about to help her my body froze.

Not the scared kind of froze, the paralyzed kind of freeze. I heard loud thuds, footsteps. They sounded like an animal.

The next moment, the vicious creature I had seen earlier had violently struck her. I wanted to scream, but nothing got out of me. I had to sit and watch as that thing ate my mother. It wasn't the danger the thing caused, but it was seeing someone who once was full of life and who brought me joy be ripped into shreds. To see them suffer was my worst fear.

I finally screamed and broke out of this dream.

- 

Dying didn't really scare me, it was just where people went afterwards. When you lost a loved one, you really lost them. Now, you don't know where they went, you don't know if they even have memories of you and it's just sad to think that you can't make anymore memories with them. It's just all over. 

A tear rolls down my cheek. I look to the floor, which had been clean, since I was the only one who spent time in the white room and they cleaned it everyday. 

"What's on your mind?" The simple sentence just indicated to me that it was Peter. 

I looked to my right slowly, where he sat next to me. "There are children here. Peter." My voice shook. "They test on children too." 

He just stared at me.

"I saw it. Rainbow room." I shook my head. "The shit they put me through, they probably put them through the same things. It's just-" My nose scrunched up and my eyebrows furrowed in disgust. 

Peter didn't say anything, we just sat there in silence for a few seconds. 

"They had abilities, not like mine though, why?" 

He pursed his lips, thinking. "Everybody's mind works similarly, correct?" 

I nod my head. 

"Yours however, acts as the minority, so the outcome is different. Now tell me, when'd you get these abilities?" 

"Since I was born.. I think." 

"Your mind is structured differently. It works differently. It's so chaotic and mixed up in there, that instead of moving objects you produce fire." 

"I understand now." 

"That's a first." He smirked, I slapped him playfully on the arm, letting out a small chuckle and letting my head drop. 

I looked up at him again, but he already had been looking at me and.. smiling. "You should do that more." 

"What?" 

"Smile." 

I looked back down again, face now red. My smile dropped now that I thought of the reality I was in. I was trapped in a lab and most likely to die here. It was funny how one person can give you a moment of bliss in a totally horrid environment. 

I changed the subject. "You said this place was a prison?" 

"I did." 

"So why don't you quit your job?" 

"I'm afraid I can't do that." He put his hand over mine, which rested on one of my knees. "You're not the only prisoner, Y/n. The guards, the nurses; we're all trapped here." 

"Why?" 

"I can't tell you that right now. There are eyes and ears everywhere." He says more quietly, gesturing to the guards who stood at the doorways. "I'll tell you when I get the chance, just not here." 

I looked to where he was looking. "Not now." 

I slowly looked back to him. "Where were you... before this?" 

He sighed. "Well.. " He looked up. "I was a normal boy. Just like how you were a normal girl. I had a mom, a dad and a sister. I was fond of spiders." 

"Really?" I smiled. 

"Most people fear them. But, I found them endlessly fascinating. They immobilize and feed on the weak. They bring balance and order to an unstable eco-system." 

"Hm." 

"Now it's your turn. Tell me, what you were like- before all of this?" I squint at him. I know, I know, that's a habit I have to break. But, I looked for the genuineness in his eyes. I saw it, the twinkle in his eyes. I trusted him. 

"I was a veterinarian." I told him.  

"You liked animals?" He questioned.

"Yeah. But, I don't think I could do that job again." 

"Why not?" He tilted his head. 

"Hospital outfits, the lights; it just remind me of this place. I can't work in anything that's even similar to this place." I leaned back, placing my hands behind me, getting in a more comfortable position. "Maybe I'll go to school again and become a lawyer or something. Definitely not a mathematician. I suck at math." 

"You want to go to school, another time?" 

"Yeah." I swallow. "I have the rest of my life, maybe I'll just try to do as many careers as possible, see which one I like the best." I look up at the ceiling, "I wish I could just you know.. go to a club, drink my worries away, or just like.. hang out with friends." I looked back at him. "Right now.. we should be living. We shouldn't be slouching here in a lab all day wondering if we're going to die here or we're going to finally get out. But, even if we do get out we're still scarred." A tear rolled down my cheek. 

Peter brought his hand, using his thumb to swipe it off my cheek. "I promise you, I'll find a way for you to get out. We just need to plan it carefully. Someday, as long as I'm here." He brought his hand down. "And.. if one day one of us eventually get out, at least I'll get to look back and remember you." 

My heart melted a little bit at that moment. "And at least I'll get to remember you." I said back.