Rebecca Barnes: Another Winter Soldier

Chapter 17: Broken Family, Broken Mind

Rebecca had no idea where she was going. She had been flying around aimlessly for about two hours and a half. She knew that she had to land before she ran out of energy and crashed, so she began searching for a place where nobody would be able to find her. She spotted a reasonably tall mountain, and decided that it was suitable enough to stay there for the time being. She flew over to a ledge that was on the mountain, and landed without making much sound. Perched on this ledge, she began to dive deeper into the endless abyss of memories that were waiting for her in her mind.

It was a normal day in the year 1927. Rebecca was just casually taking a peaceful walk, admiring the light snowflakes that fell gracefully from the sky above her. She didn't worry about a thing, as she made peaceful steps on the sidewalk. She wasn't really going anywhere, but she knew that she had to be home soon. Bucky and the others were probably getting worried about her by now, she knew that she had lost track of time. She always cared about what her family felt, she didn't want to scare them for no reason. As she made her way home, she heard somebody approaching her. There was a man, that looked to be about in his forties, who reeked of alcohol.

"Hello, sir. It's a nice day today, isn't it?" Rebecca said cheerfully.

Despite Becky's friendliness towards the man, he picked her up and threw her into a back alley.

"Maybe it's about time you get a taste of reality, brat." Said the man, who was very drunk at the time.

He grabbed a pipe that was lying up against a wall, and walked threateningly towards Rebecca. She curled up into a ball, thinking that she was about to get really hurt. This wasn't the first time that a random guy decided to beat her up for no reason, but usually the injuries were able to be easily hidden from the others; she never wanted them to worry about her. She was constantly getting injured, even before HYDRA found her.

The man then swung the pipe behind his head, but was too drunk to aim properly. He clunked himself in the back of the head, knocking himself unconscious. The back of his head was gushing red. Instead of running away, like any reasonable person would do, Rebecca walked towards the man with a worried expression on her face. She knew he wasn't dead, she could see that he was breathing. There was a hospital nearby, she knew the area really well. She tried to drag the man, but he was too heavy. Instead, she ran to the hospital as quickly as her feet could take her, entered the building and looked for someone who could help. She spotted a nurse that seemed to be on break, as she was leaning against the wall not really doing anything.

"Hello mam, can you help me for a second please? There's a man that looks really hurt down an alley."

"I guess I don't really have anything else to do right now. Where is he?" The nurse asked.

"Follow me, I'll show you. I would've brought him here myself, but he's too heavy."

Rebecca then ran back to where the drunken man was.

"Here he is." Rebecca said. "Can you help him?"

"Of course I can, dear. But what happened?"

"I think he was drunk. He must've accidentally hit himself in the head."

"Oh... here, I'll take him back to the hospital. You can leave now, if you want."

The nurse than carefully picked up the man, turning to leave.

"Wait. Will he be okay?" Rebecca asked, not wanting to be responsible for hurting this man.

"I'm sure he'll be fine, dear. He might have a minor concussion, but that's about it."

"Okay! Thank you, mam."