Chapter Nine : Welcome Home

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     She was tired. She travelled for days to find the people she loved and she was tired. She slept in crappy motels and even if she did manage to fall asleep, her mind was plagued with nightmares from what she had endured while she was trapped under HYDRA's thumb. She would wake up in the middle of the night with her heart racing and her skin covered in sweat. But every day, she reminded herself of how close she was to finding her family and once she did, she could finally be at peace. And finally, she was back in her old neighborhood.

     Valencia kept her hood over her head as she walked through the neighborhood with her parents' address being repeated in her head. When she did find the house, she stood a few feet away and her heart was beating wildly. Her stomach was doing somersaults and her head was pounding. She could walk right up to the door and knock but she would risk giving herself away. Finding a solution to her little problem, she looked around to make sure no one was looking and made herself invisible. She walked right up to the front door and raised her hand to knock but she hesitated. After taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door and when the door opened, her heart stopped.

     Right there was Daniel, a whole foot taller than she remembered and his hair was a little longer. He looked around to see who had knocked on the door but when he didn't see anybody, he closed the door and Valencia's breath shook as she exhaled. Her brother was right there in front of her and he didn't see her, even though it was for the best. Her eyes filled with tears as she walked away and when she was alone, she made herself visible again and she let the tears fall down her cheeks. The last time she cried was when she was captured by HYDRA but seeing her brother alive and okay struck a chord in her chest. She didn't realize how much she missed him until she was so close yet so far away.

     She quickly wiped the tears from her face and took a few deep breaths to steady her breathing. Once she had her composure, she walked back out onto the streets and kept walking. Now that she knew her family was okay, she didn't know what she was supposed to do now. Was she supposed to just watch them from the distance and further torture herself or could she just go up to them and finally be with them again? That was the question that kept nagging at her brain for the next few days as she watched her parents and her brothers carry on with their lives. It made her heart ache to see them smiling and laughing when she couldn't be a part of it, not when she could possibly have a target on her back after everything that happened.

     When she saw her seven-year-old brother playing outside during recess, she just couldn't help herself. She walked right over there and stood right behind the fence and watched him play with the other kids. She watched him smile and laugh and it made her heart soar yet clench at the same time. She didn't know what to do with herself. She loved him so much and it was tearing her apart from the inside.

     She nearly gasped when the little boy turned around and saw her standing there looking at him. But instead of running away, he ran straight to her and smiled at her.

     "You're very pretty," he said with a smile and Valencia noticed that he was missing a tooth at the front.

     "Thank you," she replied with a tight smile. "But you shouldn't really be talking to strangers."

     Her throat clenched as she said those words and judging by how Jaden was interacting with her, she wasn't sure he remembered that she was his sister, even though that he was only five years old when she was taken away. There was no way he could just forget about her in two years but she didn't know what else she was supposed to think.

     "You look like my big sister," Jaden said and Valencia's heart skipped a beat.

     "What's your sister like?" she asked.

     "I don't know. My mommy said she was dead and she's never coming back," he replied.

     Valencia nodded shortly as she thought about the words he had just said. Her mother had always been a very blunt and straightforward person but she thought that it was a little too forward for a five-year-old child to learn that his big sister got hurt in a car crash and died before the doctors could help her. He didn't really understand death before she got in that accident but maybe he learned a lot more than she realized while she was away.

     "Do you miss your sister?" she asked as she kneeled down so her face was leveled with his but they were separated by the chain link fence.

     "Yeah, but my mommy said I will see her again someday," he said and Valencia sighed lightly.

     "I bet your sister misses you too and loves you more than you'll ever know," she said as she swallowed the lump in her throat.

     The bell rang which meant recess was over and it was time for the kids to go back inside. Jaden said bye before running to join the rest of the kids and Valencia's shoulders dropped as she watched him disappear from her sight. She was just so close to him but she had never been so far away. She wanted nothing more than to just pull him close to her and hug him and never let him go. It was more painful than anything HYDRA could've ever put her through and that was saying something. HYDRA could tase her, beat her, shoot her, experiment on her or even get the Winter Soldier to hurt her, but nothing would ever be worse than what she was feeling now.

     She turned around and walked away from the area before someone saw her and interrogated her on why she was standing right outside an elementary school full of children. Clearly, Jaden didn't forget what she looked like but he still didn't recognize her enough to know that she was his sister. Children often bounced back quickly from things they may not have fully understood. Maybe he didn't understand that she was supposed to be dead but now that he was seven, he was aware that she was supposed to be gone and never come back.

     As she walked down the streets, she stopped inside a coffee shop to get a drink and waited in the lineup. Once it was her turn, she ordered her drink and watched closely as she went to the other side and waited for her coffee to be made. Once it was ready, the barista called out the name she gave them, which was different from her real name. She sighed as she looked at the fake name that was written on the cup before taking a quick sip. She walked right out of the building and continued down the street but with a cup of iced coffee in her hand to wake her up.

     The sleepless nights were catching up to her and she was constantly looking over her shoulder to make sure nobody suspicious was following her. She walked a few more blocks before she ended up back at the motel she was staying at and went to her room. Once she was inside, she put her bag down on the bed and sat down. She took her hood off and ran her fingers through her tangled tresses to ease some of the tension in her scalp. She zipped her bag open and took out a small plastic container of instant noodles and filled it with water before putting it in the microwave and taking her shoes off. Once it was done heating up, she grabbed a fork and sat down on the bed with her legs crossed. Her situation wasn't ideal but it was tolerable.

     After a while, it was dark outside and the only thing lighting the small motel room was the lamp on the nightstand. She already tossed out the empty container and changed into a tank top and a pair of sleep shorts and then crawled back onto the bed. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail with a hair tie and pulled the blanket over herself and turned off the lamp. She almost didn't want to fall asleep but eventually, she did.

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     The sound of violent knocking on the door was what roused Valencia from her slumber and she quickly and quietly got out of the bed. She pulled her sweatpants over her sleep shorts and put her shoes on and tied the laces. She put her hoodie on and made sure she had everything in her back as her heart started racing as the knocking got louder and more violent. She opened the window wide enough for her to climb out of and was halfway through when the door was knocked down. She looked over her shoulder and saw someone in a mask with a gun aimed at her.

     "Don't move!" the intruder shouted, his voice muffled by the mask.

     Valencia looked at the gun and then dropped her bag. She made herself invisible and quickly moved away from the window as the intruder started shooting in random places, hoping that one of the bullets would hit her. She generated a force field surrounding the intruder to keep them from shooting her and grabbed her bag and moved towards the window as she kept her hand up in order to keep the force field up. Once she was out of the room, she brought down the force field and made herself visible again and started running.

     She looked over her shoulder to see if the person was chasing her as she turned a corner and ended up on the streets where other people happened to be walking. It wasn't as crowded as it was during the day but it was enough to ensure that whoever attacked her wasn't going to just shoot her while others watched.

     After a while, she slowed her pace and was walking instead of running. She went inside a convenience store to catch her breath and buy some water, energy drinks and extra food with whatever money she had stashed in her backpack. Once she paid for everything, she made sure nobody suspicious was watching her as she left the store and continued walking down the street.

     After what just happened, it made her realize that no matter how painful it was, she was right to stay as far away from her family as possible. And if the intruder found out where she was staying, it meant they were watching her. And if they were watching her, they probably saw her near her old address and at Jaden's school. The thought that maybe she got a little too close and possibly put her family in danger made her stomach churn. She was going to have to stay away from her family's house and her brother's school entirely if she was going to keep them from becoming a target, especially if she was being watched and followed. She had no idea what time it was but it was still dark outside and she couldn't go back to the motel room after someone broke in there and tried to kill her. She didn't have any other place to go so her only option was to walk around the city streets until the sun came up.