A/N Hi everybody! My name is Sarah. I'm a long time reader, first time writer. I'm very excited to share this story with you. As this is my first story, please review with everything you think I'm doing right, and things I should work on. I want to be able to improve and I need your help to do it. So please review and let me know what you think. Thanks!
Little warning about the first chapter. Laina finds herself in a pretty intense and violent situation that could trigger some strong reactions from people. It's not graphic but it is a bit intense so I felt like I should warn you all.
(P.S. I'll respond to every reviewer, either as an author's note or as a message so please review, review, review!)
*ding*
Laina looked up as the bell on the door rang. That's strange she thought. No one comes here this late. Laina works the graveyard shift at a 24hour convenience store. She glances at the clock on her laptop. It's almost three o'clock in the morning! Who needs to shop that late?
She looked at the security monitors underneath the counter and saw a young looking man wandering down the soda aisle. Probably just looking for a midnight snack.
Laina ignored him and went back to watching her favorite movie The Avengers. Since there's hardly ever someone there that late, she can normally watch three to four movies a shift which is great. She generally watches superhero movies like Thor and Captain America; mostly because they're awesome with the added bonus that they keep her awake that late at night.
Laina is sitting behind the counter in her red, white, and blue Captain America t-shirt and black skirt. Her hair is short and dyed red, giving her a slightly alternative look that makes her feel unique. She is a self-proclaimed nerd, hence the movies and the t-shirt. She is usually pretty oblivious to the world when she gets caught in the movies of her favorite universe.
"Excuse me." Laina looks up startled from her screen. "I'm ready to check out."
Laina pulls her earbuds from her ears and apologizes. "Sorry, I'm not used to people shopping this late."
The young man says, "That's fine. I'm sure this is pretty unusual for you… What are you watching?"
Laina looked at the young man again. He seems nice enough, she thought. Not bad looking either. She smirked at that. "The Avengers. It's probably my favorite movie ever."
"Oh cool." The man said, fidgeting a bit. "Are you normally here alone by yourself this late at night?"
"Yeah I guess. Not many people need to buy milk and cookies at 3am so it's usually pretty quiet… Well, your total is $15.23. Cash or credit?" Laina asked after she scanned all of the items.
The young man snapped back to the present. "Sorry, what?"
"Cash or credit?" Laina asked again.
"Oh sorry. Here," he said as he handed her a twenty, looking around nervously.
"Are you ok? You seem a little worried about something," Laina asked concerned. She's a very empathetic person who always seeks to help people in need.
"Yeah, I'm fine." The young man received his change, and grabbed his bag. "Have a good night."
"Thanks," Laina said.
Laina spent the next two hours of her shift watching movies alone. At five, her replacement showed up so she gathered her things quickly and left.
It was still dark that morning as the sun wasn't due to rise for at least another hour. Laina never had any problems walking to her apartment three blocks away before so she didn't expect anything different. As she walked passed the alley next to the store, she heard a familiar voice say, "Hello again."
Laina turned and saw the same young man from the store walking towards her.
"Umm… hi." Laina turned to walk away when the man grabbed her arm and pulled her toward him.
"Please let go of my arm," Laina asked, forcing her voice to stay calm even though she felt her heart rate increase.
"No, I liked talking to you. I thought we could continue our conversation. Maybe go somewhere to…talk." At that, the man gave her a sideways glance full of bad intentions that made her involuntarily shudder.
Laina tries to pull away again so the man pushes her up against the side of the building. He puts his mouth next to her ear, so Laina can feel his hot breath as he says, "…or we could just stay here."
He runs his hand up her leg and slowly pushes up Laina's skirt. Instinct takes over and Laina kicks him in the groin. He lurches forward in pain, and she breaks away and screams as she starts running. However, the man recovers too quickly, and he manages to grab Laina from behind. Laina stops struggling when she feels something cold press against her neck.
"That's right, sweetheart. Stop struggling and you might even enjoy this."
He drags Laina back into the alley with the knife at her throat. He throws her onto the ground, and climbs on top of her.
The knife continues to press into her neck while the man's other hand starts move up her leg again. He pushes her skirt up, and then starts to unzip his pants. He pulls the knife away from her neck to remove her underwear, but Laina takes the opportunity to struggle against him in one more attempt to stop what she knows is going to happen next. The man gets irritated when she manages to scratch his face with her nails.
The knife goes back to her throat. "Bitch! You're more trouble than you're worth." Laina feels an intense pain in her neck, and then… nothing. No more pain, no more man on top of her, no more dark, dirty alley, nothing. She can't see or feel anything as her consciousness slowly drifts away.
Ever since he woke after being frozen for almost seventy years, Steve Rogers has had trouble sleeping. He usually can't get to sleep until about after midnight but he can never stay asleep. Every time he slips into sleep, his mind replays his last minutes before the ice over and over again until he wakes up covered in sweat with an acute aching in his chest.
He started taking walks around the neighborhood once he realized this pattern was going away anytime soon. His early morning walks were usually pretty peaceful; generally, no was around so he had plenty of time to think to himself and get reacquainted with the town he grew up in. Everything was so different than how it was before; it was amazing how much the world had changed.
Steve always took the same route during his morning strolls, but something caused him to walk down a different street than usual. He was lost in his thoughts for a while, when he passed by a dark alley and heard a small whimper.
He broke out of his thoughts and turned toward the alley.
"Hello? Is anyone there?" Steve calls out into the darkness.
He hears the whimpering again and decides to step into the alley and see if something, or someone, needed help. He was about half in the alley when he located the source of the whimpering.
Curled up on her side against the wall of building, lay a girl. She was wearing a slightly stained t-shirt and ripped skirt… and, to Steve's horror, was covered in blood.