The Snapshot {An Agents of Shield Fanficton} [1]

Coffee Break

The mind is a beautiful place. It fills your world with pleasant memories, thoughts, and emotions. It allows you to feel joy, happiness, and relief. But it also allows you to feel fear, pain, and hate. If the wrong thoughts and memories fill your mind, it's not easy to shake them out. That's when you have flashbacks, ptsd, and seizures. But for me it's different. It's like adding the wrong ingredient to the soup. It gets mixed up, and just turns the whole thing bad.

I guess that's why I dreamed. I used to dream a lot. About certain random, useless, and sometimes pleasant things. But tonight was different. I wasn't aware I was in the dream. It felt real, more like a vision or a hallucination. Again, the mind is a strange place. Especially when you have a power that sucks up people's emotions like a vacuum cleaner. I can't really explain what the dream was like, but it went a little something like this.

I was running. Don't know where, don't know why. Just running. My arms were pumping and my chest was heaving and my feet were pounding. I kept running. I felt this fear, the type that sinks in at the pit of your stomach and drives you mad. I felt it. I felt the everlasting need to get away from whatever I was running from. So I kept running.

My surroundings became more clear. I was in a forest. Huge oaks with full canopies watched over me as I ran. I dodged them left and right. I kept running.

I started to hear something. Footsteps. Voices. Coming closer, closer. They didn't stop. Just grew louder. The fear in my stomach twisted my gut I felt the need to run faster. I had one, single desire. To get away.

I kept running. But I started to tire. I felt my body failing me. My lungs burned and my legs faltered. I couldn't go on much longer. But the need. The need to get away was so much stronger and I couldn't give it what it wanted.

But I didn't have to. Because I stopped running. The forest had ended and in front of me was a cliff. A gorge with a black, empty bottom that said death. But that wasn't all. The footsteps. They arrived.

As I whirled around, I saw men. Black armor and huge guns surround me. Block me off from the forest, all pointing their guns at me.

The ball in my gut grew and consumed me to the point I just wanted to dig a hole and hide, but I couldn't. I wanted to cry and scream and yell all at the same time. But I couldn't. I had a choice to make and I couldn't make it.

And then I woke up.

I sat up straight in my cot and light blinded me from the window. I looked out and saw the white, fluffy tipped clouds we were flying over. The sun was peeking out over them. I squinted and covered my face with my hand, quickly realizing where I was. I sighed and rubbed my face. It was just a dream. Just a dream.

I stretched and reached down for some pants from my bag to replace my shorts. I slipped them on and brushed my hair with my hands to look the least bit presentable. I swung my legs over and quietly tiptoed out. I looked at the other slots. Fitz was in one, Skye was in another. No sign of Ward or Simmons. I stopped and listened. I didn't hear any voices or sounds, save for the humming of the plane.

Might as well take this time to shower and maybe eat. It's been a while since I've done either of those. What day was it again?

I tiptoed to the bathroom in the next room and turned on the shower. The water was ice cold, but it felt so good to wash all the sweat and dirt of my skin. I worked some shampoo through my matted hair. Can't be going back to the Sandbox looking like a horse. When I was done, I turned off the water and reached for a towel.

A few minutes later I was in fresh, clean clothes. I was quite comfortable in my soft black pants and burgundy crew neck. I brushed through my hair and dried it with a towel, braiding two strands and tying them in the back. I laced up my ankle boots and decided they were a bit dirty. I took a hand towel, wet it, and began to scrub. The white cloth became brown and the black leather of my boots shone. I kept rubbing the toe until I saw a spot that wouldn't come off. It was crimson red and was a single small splatter. I frowned. It - it was blood. Probably from...well...you know who. I shook my head and scrubber harder until it came off. Satisfied, I placed the cloth down, gathered my things, and tiptoed back into the cot slot room.