Chapter Thirty Two
There is something Steve never told anyone. When he was unconscious under the ice, he dreamed.
...
He stood in an empty wasteland, covered in a blanket of snow.
"Is this heaven?" he wondered.
"No," came a voice. He turned behind him, and saw a young girl, of about fifteen. "Hello, Steve,"
"If not heaven, is this hell?" he asked.
She gave a little laugh. "You're not dead, Steve. You're just asleep. And you will sleep for a very, very long time. And I'm sorry about that."
"Why?" Steve asked.
"Why am I sorry, or why are you sleeping?" she asked.
"Both," Steve replied.
"What you did…it would have killed a normal person. But you were protected. And you will not age."
"Wait," Steve said. "So I'll be asleep for, what, months? And I won't age?"
"Not months," she said, coming closer. "Years."
...
He slept for years, yet his dream felt like minutes. And when Nick Fury told him that over seventy years has passed, he didn't want to believe it. But he realized that the girl had spoke the truth. Steve just wished that she would have elaborated…like maybe told him that all of his friends would be dead.
"I'm sorry," she had said. Now he understood why.