Shattered Thoughts : Book One(Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier)

Chapter 8

  To say the Willow was worried about Bucky was an understatement. He'd been fine that first day, but then everything had spiraled downward. He barely ate, and Willow knew he hadn't been sleeping. And when he did sleep, he would scream out in sleep, begging someone to please stop. When this would happen, Willow would wheel her chair into Bucky's room as quickly as possible and try to wake him up. He'd often thrash about and get tangled in his sheets. 

 Willow had just finished making tea, and had balanced the tray on her lap and was trying to open the door to Bucky's room. He'd locked the freaking door! A flash of panic stabbed through Willow, what if Bucky had tried to kill himself? She knocked again, but no response. Willow stared hard and the door, and then closed her eyes, she focused on turning the lock. Using her mind to slide the bolt back, this was Willow's biggest secret. She was a mutant who had telekinetic and telepathic abilities, but when her back had been injured something had gone wrong with her powers. She couldn't control them well anymore, so she tried not to use her abilities. 

 She pushed the door open and found Bucky sitting on the ground next to his bed. His hair was tangled and he had his head in his hands, as though he was trying to block something out. As quietly as possible, Willow set the tray down on the bedside table. 

 "Bucky," she said quietly, steering her wheelchair so that she was right in front of him.  "Tell me what's going on inside your head."

 When he didn't respond, she leaned forward and grabbed his hands, prying them away from his head. "Barnes, look at me."

  When Bucky raised his head, Willow noticed first that his eyes were red, as though he'd been crying. The second was that his eyes were glazed, Willow put the back of her hand to his forehead. "Oh my god, Bucky you're burning up."

 His skin was hot to the touch, he obviously had a horrible fever. With lightning speed Willow wheeled out of the room and into her bathroom. She opened the medicine cabinet and pulled out a bottle of tylenol. 

 Back in Bucky's room, he was still sitting motionless, staring at the wall.