So... you all hate me... a lot. Good. That was the main objective.
I believe I had my chance to tell pretty much everyone but Coulson will redeem himself. You'll get to know his reasoning on an upcoming chapter, though it is not him who says it. However, on the two last chapters he will say with his own words TO SKYE why he did what he did. So, rest assure and please don't have thoughts of punching him again. As you'll get by the end of this chapter, there's really no use to be upset at Coulson because this story will change.
One last thing I should tell you: kiss 'phase I' goodbye and embrace 'phase II' (using Marvel's vocabulary to tell you that the story action will change)
(Skye is still 6-years-old)
5 months later
Essex, New York
Essex was a quiet county, fairly busy, in perfect harmony with the countryside views. Leyton, a small village of the state, was a tranquil place as well. The countryside was mainly very green, sloppy hills with wild flowers and tall grass, and in one of the valleys a stream with clear silver water trickled by. Up in the highlands, the cowherds mowed wheat and rye, and the cowbells tinkled as the animals grazed in the farms big cereal crops.
In the depths of the woods, kids played hide and seek or pretend to be knights fighting dragons and magical creatures. But only for as long as the sun was up in the sky. Once the sun settled, the forest was deserted and left alone to be devoured by the darkness of the night.
The county was provided with all public services. It was a small town like every other, with streets that looked the same as every other.
Mr. Smith's barber shop had a small bell on that door that rang every time a costumer walked in. That was where all the men and boys got their hair and beards cut and trimmed. And all who passed by him stopped by to say hello to the old man of white hair and trembling hands.
In the fire station lived the bravest yet most idiotic man of the whole street. Horace Gump was a firefighter who solved the town's problems and kept time by hourglass. He hadn't been to school and was limited in all aspects. Gump spent most of his time in the station, cleaning and oiling up the fire trucks. He only loved two people in his life, and he kept their photos with him at all times: his mother and the President.
Behind the stall in the middle of the roundabout, the pretty nurse Eleanor sold poppies whenever she was not working in the town's hospital. Between selling one or two poppies, she'd sigh, dreaming of how much she wanted to be an actress. And every time Daniel, the teacher of the elementary school, walked by, she'd grab a bunch of flowers and start singing and dancing, daydreaming that her life was a play and that Daniel was in the front row, smiling only for her.
Olivia ran the local market and Martha was the owner of the small town's pub. They were neighbors and they started fights as often as they talked when hanging their clothes on the clothes line. What everyone but Martha knew was that Olivia was sleeping with the other woman's husband. Martha's husband was discharged from the Gulf war, leg amputated. The only thing that gave him a thrill anymore was his extramarital affair and his appliances' store, where he repaired and sold all sorts of appliances.
But if the street was so apparently normal, what separated it from all the others?
The orphanage. The St. Agnes orphanage distinguished that street from any other. The institution was a two-story property, guarded by an ornamented, squeaky, red gate, surrounded by a relatively high wall and red rusty railings. It had a large courtyard where the children played, and in the back, the few trees that adorned the yard were high, almost touching the suburban blue sky. The ground floor of the house was the common area where the kids and the employees spent most of their time, and where they had their meals. The first floor was the children's rooms, and it was rather shadowy and damp.
Skye (now given the name of Mary Sue Poots) felt like an outsider, but she was starting to mingle, and she found refuge in the new little friend she made, the only one she really had. Oliver (his name given to him by the orphanage personnel because of his olive eye color) was a foster child ever since he could remember, and unlike the other kids in the orphanage, he was the only one who didn't set her aside.
The two kids walked through the forest even though they weren't supposed to be there. It was a deep and dark place, and dangerous enough for the tiny feet of the children to trample through. But they couldn't care less.
"I shall be a brave knight who will save you, milady," the blond six-year-old boy spoke, looking back at Skye as they walked the earthy path, "from the almighty dangerous dragon. With my sword-"
"Pfft," Skye scowled, "save me? I could save both yours and my butt easy! I don't need a charming prince to save me."
"I said I was a knight not a prince!" the boy retorted. "And if you're so fine by yourself, be a knight like me too. I'll go ahead and get some berries. I'm starving."
Oliver started to vanish into the depths of the forest, picking wild berries here and there.
"Ouch!" Skye groaned as a briar scrapped her leg. "Wait for me, Ollie!"
"Come on, Mary," Oliver called, running in little hops, jumping over the wild vegetation that was scratching his legs.
Skye moved faster, ignoring the briars that caught at her leg, and the damp leaves that grimed her skin. She lifted her face, watching the fading sunlight. New shadows and dark patches were being created around her. The wind wailed between distorted trunks. The birds chirped up in their nests, settling in for the night, and an owl was hooting mournfully in the distance. There was a minty and woody smell in the air, and the sound of the leaves crushing under their feet filled the air.
Suddenly, Oliver was nowhere to be seen.
The eerie sounds intensified. The wind felt chiller than before. It was getting dark far too fast. Skye took a deep breath while looking around. The only thing louder than the surrounding sounds were her pounding heart and heavy breathing.
She gasped as her mind played tricks on her, making her see things where there were none. The ghostly monsters kept hovering around her, coming closer with every breath. It didn't matter how many times she'd turn, they were everywhere. Blood stained the trees and shrieks of pain and terror surrounded her. The monsters kept coming closer and closer and –
"Get back!" she yelled loudly, on the verge of tears. "Get back, don't hurt me!"
Hearing Skye's screams, Oliver turned back, believing she was playing a distressed princess, waiting for him to rescue her. Panting, his cheeks smudged in purple and red from the berries, he found Skye sitting on the ground, back leaning against a tree trunk. She had her knees against her heaving chest and droplets of sweat were running down her blood-red cheeks.
Skye was having a panic attack. She kept looking around frantically, mumbling things to herself between sobs. Oliver tried to get a hold of her, but as soon as he grasped her arm, Skye rebelled and pushed him away. Her eyes darkened with fear and anger; she was still trapped between her delusional world and the present world.
Oliver was scared. He looked around, clueless, but then decided to return to the orphanage and tell them about Skye.
"Mary," he spoke softly, "I'll get help. Don't go away. I'll be right back."
The boy was back with one of the employees of the orphanage who ran straight to Skye as Oliver led the way. He grabbed Skye strongly by her forearms and forced her to stand up, but she didn't have strength to hold herself up. From afar, Oliver heard Skye yelling and crying, and he was terrified. He knew her as a playful and cocky girl, and now she was succumbing to a dreadful thought haunting her soul. The man ended up being stronger than Skye's rebellion and carried her back to the home, and then she was taken to the hospital. On the way to the hospital, Skye sniffled with tears in her eyes, still shaking with fear and asking for her daddy.
Skye was lying on a gurney in the infirmary of the hospital. The orphanage worker was there with her. The girl was calm due to the medication the doctor administrated her. She had a nurse (nurse Eleanor, actually) wiping her forehead and changing her clothes, as she was drenched in cold sweat. Eleanor tied Skye's brown hair into a messy ponytail and provided her with some Legos for her entertainment as they waited on a child psychologist to try to understand the cause of Skye's panic attack. It didn't have any effect, because Skye only talked about 'monsters' this, and 'monsters' that, nothing concrete. The truth was that those monsters had been always been living in Skye's head, she had just never had a traumatic experience to trigger those memories. The surroundings of the forest and the fact that it was night and that she suddenly saw herself alone had activated those memories.
A man in a grey suit, spotless white shirt and a black tie entered the infirmary. With his hands in his pockets, he slowly walked towards Skye, who frowned, not knowing him. He pulled out a chair and sat next to her gurney.
"Hello, Skye," he greeted.
Skye was petrified and mute with fear. He knew her name, her real name.
"Don't be scared," he said, going through the inner pocket of his jacket and pulled out of some sort of leather wallet. "My name is Aaron McQuaid."
The leather wallet turned out to be his badge, which he put in Skye's hands. She opened it up and immediately recognized the eagle shaped logo.
Skye let out a relieved sighed and asked, "Are you gonna take me to my dad?"
"I don't know yet. I'll have to report to Director Fury and he'll tell me what to do. But for now, how are you feeling? Has this ever happened before?"
"No," she shook her head, "But I have seen those monsters before. They kill people in a bad way, there's blood everywhere and people screaming-and-and-"
"It's okay," McQuaid rubbed Skye's arm soothingly. "No need to panic. Everything's alright, you're safe."
"Can you-can you call Fury now?" Skye asked between sobs as she controlled her breathing. "I wanna go home."
McQuaid nodded and got up. "Alright, I'll call him. Don't worry, ok? Everything's alright now."
The SHIELD agent returned after a short time. She was going back to Washington, but he ignored her when she asked him if she was going to be with her dad. Not even McQuaid knew that; Fury had told him to take care of Skye's transference back to DC, and that he'd decide her fate there.
SHIELD'S Headquarters, Washington DC
Director Fury paced around his office, pondering about what decision to make regarding the information he had just been given. He had an 0-8-4 child, who apparently had just recalled memories of a time when she was no older than two months. Those monsters that she had mentioned were referred to in Lumley and Avery's reports upon finding her. They were not good news. He couldn't keep her so far away from SHIELD's primary base of operation and in the care of civilians. She could have developed something inhuman that no one noticed. Skye needed to be examined by the finest doctors and scientists the agency had. There could be something new, something that she didn't manifest in six years.
"Secure the office," Fury said to the AI. The whole room was left in the dark as blinds shut the windows. Fury turned around, to face the monitor on the wall in front of him. "Search for retired agents' directory in the past 36 months,"
"Search complete, 29 files found," the robotic voice answered.
Fury didn't want that much. "Restrict search to the past 18 months."
"Restricted search completed, nine files found."
The Director didn't even hold his breath when it came to choosing one of the archives. "Open file May, Melinda Q."
Fury was sure that May was the right agent for the task. She had retired from the field half a year ago, working in the office of SHIELD, filling up paperwork and putting stamps on sheets, classifying documents according to clearance levels. May deserved better than a desk job.
McQuaid was astonished as Skye walked through the Triskelion's corridors as if it was the house she had always known. She was obviously given an ID card at the entrance that allowed her entrance to a select few doors, but she knew which ones she could enter, how to swipe the card, and she even recognized agents. She was completely at ease when McQuaid first took her to the medical room for initial tests. Skye wasn't unperturbed, but she was used to being submitted to exams.
"Where do we have to go?" she asked once she left the medical room and met up with McQuaid.
"To the office room; do you know the way there?"
"Yeah, sure. I've been there once, but I know where it is."
On their way there, Skye ran to a man that McQuaid didn't recognize, but she wrapped her arms around his legs and said, "I even missed you, jerk."
"T-thank you, Skye," Sitwell said awkwardly after having been insulted. Skye never tried to hide the fact that she didn't like him.
McQuaid left Skye in the office room, pointed to the agent she had to meet, and then left. Skye walked in slowly, looking everywhere in hopes of finding Coulson and giving him a gigantic hug, telling him how much she had missed him. Instead she found May. The girl's face lit up anyways.
"Melinda!" Skye said with a smile.
May turned her head to meet the girl and then looked back at the paper she had before her, pressing the red stamp on the top of the sheet. "Hello Skye," she greeted gloomily.
Skye's smile faded away slowly. That woman wasn't the same May she had met before. It was true that she had only seen her four or five times and that she never had easy-to-read expressions, but there was a different feeling about her. May used to have a cheeky side, a smirk, and a whole sense of happiness around her. The May that Skye now saw in front of her had strained and tired features, wrinkles on her forehead from constant worry and a mournful feeling pinning her down.
"Are you going to take me to my dad?" Skye asked, cocking her head.
"I'm stuck with you, and you're stuck with me, whether we like it or not."
"He's okay, right? Where is he?"
"Last time I heard he was in Peru, on a mission." May over used her strength to press the stamp to the sheet. "Sold the apartment in DC, and sold your dog too because it wouldn't stop whimpering."
(Coulson actually gave Chip to his friend John Garrett who named it Buddy)
"Why did he go to Peru? I mean, you said he's on a mission, but he has done missions before and I was there too. Why am I going to stay with you and not with him?"
"He was the one who turned you in to the orphanage. He was tired and couldn't take care of you anymore."
This new May was even sharper and more straightforward than the old May. Skye sunk down, depressed. She looked around and dragged an office chair from another cubicle over. She sat next to May, mulling over that recently learnt truth. There were many questions popping up in her head while in the search of an explanation for Coulson's actions. Skye was too young to have an elaborate thought. Her tender age lead her to a linear conclusion: she hated him.
Skye broke the silence after a while to ask, "When do you leave?"
"When I'm done," May harshly answered her.
Luckily, some SHIELD agents were already taking care of everything that Skye would need. May only had to host her in her apartment and hope that Skye wouldn't bug her too much.
So, yes, this will start a new phase of the story and from now on, keep attentive for small indications that look like the actions seen on the show. This story will tie up with the actual time-space action of the show, so from now on, little details may be in the wind.
If you enjoyed it, give it a review and tell me if you're excited about this new era.