For an eternity... (Doctor Strange x OC)

༻The paths of life༺

September... October... November... December... I could sense the passage of time in the fallen leaves of the trees and the ice flowers on the window glass, but in my eyes every single day was like every other day. I no longer knew the difference between day and night, beautiful and ugly, salty and sweet, noise and melody. I almost totally lost the connection with the outside world around me.

I rarely left my apartment in Westminster and if I did, then only because of Medivh. Sometimes I went to the convenience store not so far from my home, but only because I had to fill my fridge with a variety of deep-frozen foods. No one called me by my name since I left Kamar Taj, because in the recent months I excluded the world, avoiding any way to contact my family. I knew that all three of them are alive, because after the genocide the governments took a census all over the world and the results were public, but I wanted to be alone. I excluded the human emotions from my life to spare myself from pain. I lived my life as if I was a soulless marionette which has no purpose in life. I no longer admired the crystalline snowflakes nor the beauty of the sunset. I did not care about anything or anyone anymore...

The Christmas Eve also was like every other day of the past few months. At the stroke of midnight I was sitting at the dining table, swirling a mug of poppy tea. Since the beginning of autumn, drinking morphine-containing tea has become part of my daily routine, because the morphine kept the nightmares away from me and provided peaceful sleep for me. As I was swirling the hot tea I was wondering what is happening in Kamar Taj, but moments later I excluded my thoughts again. I glanced down at the vortex in my mug and I began staring at its brownish golden color as if I was under the influence of hypnosis. With the teaspoon in my hand I was repeating the same circular motion over and over and over and over again. Hours passed, but for me the hours were only seconds. My poppy tea was already cold, but within a moment I drank every drop of it, then as soon as I put my empty mug on the dining table the silence was broken by two tiny beeps of my smart watch. I instantly glanced at the gadget around my wrist to check the unexpected notification.'05:02 – New message; Marion Meyers', written on the display. I ignored the message, instead I laid down on the couch and started staring at the white ceiling, but a few minutes later I grabbed my laptop. Logging in my e-mail account, I opened Marion's message, then I began reading its lines.

'Dear Ella! I really hope that this messgae will reach you and you are not one of the lost ones. I know that Dr. Strange also vanished, so I assume that you feel deeply devastated. I'm so sorry that this tragedy happened to you too. Unfortunately, Bucky is also one of them. I returned to America and now I live near the Avengers. I worked for a while, but because of the state of my health I'm not allowed to work for a while. Before the snap we had a beautiful life and soon our life was crowned, although we had no any idea about what we created. Recently, I found out that I'm gonna have a baby boy. If you want to, then come and visit me when you are around NY. Ella, I hope you're here. I'm waiting for your answer... Marion.', written in the message. Marion's words reached my mind, but my emotions have not responded. I should have been happy that my best friend survived the genocide, but I already forgot what is happiness a long time ago. I was staring at the screen, thinking about how to refuse the invitation politely. I had no reason to alter my days and make a differ from the other monotonous days of the past months, so I wanted to avoid the face-to-face meetings. I was about to ignore the message and go to sleep, but deep inside my heart I wished for change. I felt... 'No! I already don't even know what it means to feel...' I decided that maybe it would not hurt if I leave London for a few hours, so finally I accepted the invitation. I had no feelings or thoughts to put them into words, so in response I wrote only one word into my message. 'Tomorrow'...

I was hoping that the time will cease to exist around me for a while, but Christmas morning reached London pretty soon. Although, I slept through the day and I wanted to stay in bed, but the time has come to fulfill my promise to Marion. It was almost eleven o'clock at night when I took a last glance at myself in the mirror. Harnessing interdimensional energy, I hid the scars on my face, adjusted my red dress and my dark brown cashmere hooded shawl, then finally I opened an interdimensional portal to New York, travelling five hours back in time.