Search for the Soul Gem

Chapter Thirty-Seven

     Over the next weeks, Tony was basically non-existed. I barely saw him other than for a few moments at a time. JARVIS said he was working on something important but would never tell me exactly what it was. There was also something else strange that I started noticing. Every time I went anywhere, there seemed to always be the same man following me. I didn't know who it was and every time I tried to confront him, he disappeared. And though I wanted to tell someone about the stranger, I didn't actually see anyone else. The heroes had all disappeared. The only people I ever saw was the stranger and every so often I caught a glimpse of a boy who couldn't be older than a high schooler. He would skirt around corners and into rooms faster than I could follow him and try to get his attention. This went of for weeks until I felt like I was ready to go crazy.

     I felt like I was an intruder in someone's house as I got ready for bed alone, in Tony's room. It was the fifth night in a row of going to bed without Tony. When I'd asked JARVIS to ask Tony to come up to bed, all he'd said was "goodnight sweetheart" in Tony's voice. I sighed and pulled one of Tony's sweaters over my head and closed the closet door. I crawled into the giant bed and lay lonely in the center. JARVIS flipped the lights off and I was thrown into darkness. I started up at the dark ceiling, the feeling of loneliness gnawing at my stomach. I curled myself into a tight ball and buried my nose in the sweater. It wasn't the same as falling asleep with Tony, but it was all I've got. I closed my eyes and forced my mind clear to try and fall asleep.

     The hallway I stood in was long and narrow. There were no side doors or turns to this hallway. Disks of light fell on certain parts of the floor, leaving portions of the hallway still dark. Far down the hallway, there was a door. As I began down the hallway, I got an uneasy feeling that something bad was waiting for me on the other side of the door. The hallway seemed to stretch on forever as I tried to make it to the door. When I finally reached the door, it felt like I'd been walking for hours. I pulled the door open and came face-to-face with a faceless figure. It hulked over me, dwarfing me in size. I staggered back from the figure and stumbled to turn away. I tried to run back down the hallway but every light in front of me began switching off. I ran blindly down the hallway, attempting to cry out for help but my voice was lost. Fingers bit into my shoulders and I screamed.

     I forced myself out of the nightmare painfully, pushing myself upright in bed.

     "Miss, please calm down. Your heart rate is dangerously high and you're screaming," JARVIS's calm voice broke through. It wasn't until he pointed it out that my throat felt scratchy. I clenched my jaw to stop screaming and struggled to calm my breathing. The fear in my chest was thick and wouldn't go away. In every dark doorway, I was scared the faceless man would appear. As the fear sat heavy in my chest, the same high pitched ring from before filled my ears. Suddenly it was like I was in a trance. The fear was still present but pushed down further. A foreign calm replaced the fear in my chest. Again, this trance felt like I was watching a movie through my own eyes and I had no control over my own body anymore. I pushed the blanket away from my legs. I slide out of bed and made my way toward the door.

     "Miss, can I ask where you are going?" JARVIS asked. I pushed the door open and entered into the stairwell that led down. I peered over the ledge and down through the space that led all the way down. I smiled and pushed myself away from the railing.

     "I am going to find Mr. Stark, I think is how you refer to him," I said trotting down the stairs rather quickly.

     "I can get him for you miss-"

     "That is not necessary JARVIS. I can find Anthony all on my own," I said, passing the door with the number 97 on it.

     "But miss-"