Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
EVEN THOUGH SHE PRAYED NOT TO, NATASHA STILL MADE ANASTASIA GO TO SCHOOL THE NEXT DAY. Still having no friends or no one there to hang with her, she still chose to keep trekking along. She eventually got to her theatre class and dropped her bag before taking a seat. Everyone was with their friends, chatting away about their weekends, except Anastasia.
In her mind she was imagining how a conversation with a friend or someone in the class would go. 'Oh my weekend was good. My mom's boss passed away and Captain America left me. How's your weekend?"
The teacher eventually silenced the class. "Today, we will be holding auditions. I'm going to put up the paper and you can all start signing up." She put a paper under a magnet and stuck it on the white board.
Something inside of her snapped. She couldn't stay in that class. She needed to get out. She needed to breathe. What was happening? She felt like her heart was beating a thousand miles per hour and it became hard to breathe. She sprinted out of the room and into the bathroom. She pulled out her phone and tried to find someone to talk to. Her first thought was her mom, but she would have been in meetings all day with Maria and other members of S.H.I.E.L.D. So, she called the second person she could think of, Steve.
"Hello? Annie? Are you okay?" He answered.
"I..I don't know. I'm breathing really hard and I feel like the walls are closing in on me. I think I've been drugged or something." Anastasia clung one hand onto the bottom of the stall.
"Annie, no one drugged you." Steve spoke softly. "You're having a panic attack. I want you to breathe."
"I'm trying." Anastasia's nose started to burn and she felt water in her eyes pour down.
"Annie, I want you to count with me. I'm gonna count to four and then you are gonna breathe in. I'm gonna count to four again and you'll exhale. Can you do that for me?"
"Yeah..yeah I can try." Anastasia spoke.
"Okay. Breathe in: one, two, three, four." Anastasia inhaled and held it. "Okay, exhale. One, two, three, four." They repeated the process a couple more times. Until, eventually her heart rate and breath went to normal. "Now, I want you to describe to me something you see. Can you do that?"
"Um..I see a toilet.."
"Good. What do you smell?"
"..the toilet water..."
Stevechuckled. "Okay. Something you can taste."
"My mint gum."
"Something you hear and feel."
"Your voice and...the stall.."
"Good. How are you feeling?" Anastasia replied with a small 'good'. "What happened?"
"It's stupid. I don't know why I'm being like this. I should probably go."
"No..hold on I'll be there in a second."
Anastasia tried to figure out what Steve meant. Yet, sure enough, she heard herself on the speakers being called down to the office. She went back into the class, grabbed her bag, and left to the office where Steve sat in a chair, waiting for her. "What are you doing here?"
"I told you I would be here in a second." Steve replied. He grabbed her backpack and carried it for her to the car. He opened her door to let her inside the passenger seat and closed it and ran over to his side. "Okay, what happened?"
"Like I said; it's stupid. Let's just move on and go." She rested her head on the window.
"Annie..." Steve paused, but nonetheless started the car and drove, trying not to push it. Eventually they pulled into a fast food parking lot and he stopped the car. "Please...don't invalidate what you're feeling. You had an anxiety attack and that's horrible. You don't need to act like nothing happened. What happened?"
Anastasia sat up straight and looked to Steve. "I don't know...I think it had to do with school, or theatre. I was in the class and the teacher put up an audition sign up sheet and I just panicked. My poor moms gonna be mad when she sees I didn't put down anything to audition."
"Anastasia, I don't think your mom would mind you not doing the play. I'm pretty sure your health matters much more." He gave a wink before pulling her in for a hug. He rested his chin on the top of her head. "I love you, kiddo. And I'm sorry that happened. I know how it feels to see something like that and freak out. Maybe you just don't want to be in the spotlight and that's okay."
"Yeah...I guess so." He let go and she pointed to the joint. "Are we getting ice cream?"
"I don't know." Steve replied. "Do you like ice cream? Would it make you feel better?"
"I think it was scientifically proven that ice cream makes everyone feel better." Anastasia joked.
"Well whatever scientist figured that out, is a genius." Steve joked back. He pulled into the drive through and they got some ice cream, for free of course (the employee freaked out about Captain America and immediately saluted him and gave him free ice cream). They then made their way to the hospital, again.
"Wait, where are we going?" Anastasia asked.
"I was planning on talking to your mom here for a second. Do you know anything about a Winter Soldier?"
Anastasia took a second to think. She had heard Maria and her mother mention the name a couple of times, but other than that, no. "Not that I know of." She replied.
Steve gave a light nod and he opened the car door and went inside with Anastasia.
She was certain she didn't know who the Winter Soldier was. She had never looked up who it was, or what they looked like. So why did she feel like she did know?
(6.30.22)
Ew this is a cringe chapter. Execution was terrible but oh well 🤷♀️
I get to see fall out boy today with Madzobsessions so that's fun
