pov. Nat
I sat on the black leather seat of my room with one leg pulled up and stared out the window. I was still in my sleeping clothes, a pair of short black shorts and a red lace top, and hadn't moved much since I woke up. There was too much to think about, too much had happened. My eyes briefly touched the girl who was lying in my bed and was still sleeping peacefully. I really gave my parents credit for not saying a word when Clint carried a sleeping girl who was a total stranger to them up the stairs. I was sure that they would bombard me with questions as soon as I set foot down the stairs, which was part of the reason why I hadn't left the room yet. That and Leila. I was sure if she woke up in a completely strange room without a familiar face she would freak out. A gust of wind blew through the open window and pushed Leila's hair, which was almost as red as mine, aside. In her sleep she looked so innocent, like a normal teenager whose biggest concern was graduating. I ran my hand through my hair and changed my sitting position because my leg was starting to fall asleep, and the chair made a slight creaking noise.

Leila winced in her sleep and started muttering incomprehensible things to herself in her sleep. I bit my bottom lip worriedly and quietly walked over to her. When I looked at her closer, I could see that she had clung to the green and white bed linen and that she was covered in a cold sweat of fear. I gently shook her shoulder a little. "Leila?"
The redhead opened her eyes in panic and instinctively threw her arms in front of her head to protect herself. "Leila, hey, calm down, it's Nat," I tried to calm her down.

It was difficult to calm someone else down when you were fuming yourself, and that's what I did. I was angry at what they had done to her in that hospital that she was now so traumatized. I gently took her wrists and carefully but firmly pulled them away from her face. "You see, it's just me." I smiled encouragingly at her. I could literally see her tension melting away as she looked at me with her green, sparkling eyes that had tears in them. "I...." she pulled away from my hands and ran her hands through her long hair "I'm sorry." She murmured so quietly that I almost didn't understand her. I balled my hands into fists

"You have nothing to be sorry about" slowly to give her enough time to slip away in case she had a hard time with physical contact I sat next to her on the bed "everyone has nightmares sometimes." She just looked at me like she didn't know what to say. I wondered when the last time anyone had shown this girl kindness was, apart from Tony. "So," I clapped my hands and rubbed them together, ignoring the fact that Leila flinched. With traumatized people you always had to find a good middle ground, it was important to be considerate of them but you also couldn't treat them like a raw egg. My mum is a therapist so I sometimes picked up on a lot of things: "Now let me see if I can find something else in my closet for you to wear." I got up from the bed swinging up and down a bit and took a few big steps over to my closet on the opposite side. The dark-colored, wooden closet doors squeaked a little when I opened them.

With furrowed brows, I threw one shirt after the other aside, because the fact that Leila was easily a head and a half taller than me didn't exactly make it easy to find a suitable outfit for her. When I had almost rummaged through my entire box I noticed a black oversized shirt with a red hourglass on the back. I grabbed it and took a pair of black, torn jeans that I had to roll up a few layers on my legs to make them fit me. I pulled my head out of the closet again and handed Leila the clothes with a grin. "They should fit." I looked again at the garment on my hand. "If you need anything, I'll be right back, okay."
She took the clothes and hugged them to her as if they could be taken away from her at any moment and nodded weakly. I smiled encouragingly at her again, then grabbed a pair of blue jeans shorts and a black top that had a deep neckline at the back and flowed.

Just before I left the room, I turned around again. Leila had her back turned to me and was pulling her white shirt over her head. I had to swallow. Even from five meters away I could see the bones protruding from her body. I breathed against the anger building in my stomach and forced myself to close the door quietly. With quick, loud steps I walked down the short hallway to the bathroom. I energetically turned on the tap and splashed cold water on my face. I ran my hands through my hair while breathing heavily, which wet it a little and slowly calmed me down again. I quickly brushed my teeth and slipped into my clothes. Finally, I quickly brushed my short hair. I grabbed another brush in case Leila wanted to brush her hair too and went back to my room.

When I arrived I rapped it with my knuckles. "Yes," came quietly from inside. I went in and found Leila sitting on the bed again, her old clothes in her hand "You can give them to me" I pointed my hand at the dirty robe "if you want." Then I held out the brush to her. "I thought you might need it."
We swapped the dirty clothes for the brush and Leila started brushing her hair, and for the first time I could see that she had the beginnings of a smile on her face. I just carelessly dropped the bundle of fabric in my arms into the corner of my room. "Is there someone you want to call?" I was sure she had someone out there. Some relative or a friend. Her hand stopped for a moment and rested next to her knee. "Yeah but," she looked down embarrassed, "I don't know her number anymore." She murmured so quietly that I almost didn't understand her.

I grinned, that was the least of my worries at the moment. "Do you remember her address?" She nodded slightly, her hair bouncing up and down. I pulled out my cell phone. "Then we'll go there." I quickly opened Stephen and my chat and typed the message I'll be a little later, I have to do something for Leila. and hit send.
"You would do that for me?" Leila looked at me with wide eyes. I put my phone back in my back pocket. "Of course, but first we're going to eat something." As if on cue, our bellies began to rumble at the same time. We just looked at each other for a moment, then I started laughing, with Leila joining in shortly afterwards: "Come on, let's see what the fridge has to offer." I laughed and led the way out of the room. I heard Leila follow me into the kitchen.

Luckily my parents were already gone because they always did sports on Saturday mornings and wouldn't be back until three in the morning. Our kitchen wasn't particularly big. On one wall there was a work surface under which there were a few drawers in which our bowls, pans and pots were located. Above this work surface were some more shelves that were open and stored our dishes. To the right of the counter was a sink, right next to the dishwasher. The stove was embedded in the middle of the footprint. To the left of the work surface was the large refrigerator, with another cupboard directly to the left of it for food that didn't need to go into the refrigerator. Opposite the work surface was a medium-sized square table made of oak with four armchairs divided into it. A basket of fresh fruit stood in the middle of the table. A lamp dangled from the ceiling directly above the table, illuminating the entire kitchen. I headed for the fridge and took out jam, butter, as well as Nutella, yogurt and milk.

Then I moved on to the other cupboard and pulled out some sliced bread and a box of cereal. All this food was piled dangerously unstable in my hands, but I managed to balance it on the table without dropping any of it. When I had put everything on the table, my eyes met Leila, who was standing uncertainly in the corner. "Sit down already, I'll just quickly get the dishes." I grabbed two plates, two bowls, two glasses, some spoons and knives and finally I filled a jug with water. Once again I managed to get nothing from the tower in my hands to land on the ground and shatter. I sat down across from Leila and spread butter and some jam on the pre-sliced bread. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Leila doing the same with Nutella and looking at it overjoyed before biting into it. We ate in silence. Then I quickly put the groceries away and put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher.

"Okay," I walked towards the anteroom and turned to Leila as I walked, "where do we have to go?" She frowned as if she had to think about it: "South Street corner 4" she looked down briefly at her feet, which were only in socks, and then back at me. I was slipping into my boots when I noticed the same thing. With a quick look I looked for shoes that might fit her, after all she could hardly get on a motorcycle without shoes. I reached for my black Converse, which were already a bit worn out and should therefore fit her, and held them out to her. "Here, you can keep them." I decided that once she got settled in, we would free Bucky and Sam and close this insane place forever. A shopping mall with Wanda and her was due.

I waited a moment until she had tied her shoelaces and then let her go through the front door first. As I walked past, I fished my keys from the dresser in the front room and pulled the door behind me. With a few steps I was down the driveway and jumped onto my motorcycle, holding out a helmet to Leila, who was close behind me. "Ever been on a motorcycle?"
She pulled the helmet on and closed it without looking. "A few times." her gaze wandered a little into the distance. "Andrea has one too." She jumped onto the motorcycle behind me. I grinned, Andrea, I was almost certain that the person we were going to was Leila's girlfriend before the whole thing. "Okay, hold on tight!" With a whining sound, I started the engine, folded down my black-tinted vesier, and shot out of the driveway.

Half an hour later, after weaving through the grueling Manhattan traffic and causing several accusatory honks, we arrived at our destination. I dismounted, took off my helmet and shook my hair a little. Leila had also taken off her helmet and was staring at the medium-sized, two-story single-family house. "Hey, are you okay?" I looked at her worried.

She nervously ran her hand through her hair. "Yes... yes, everything is fine." She murmured and took long steps towards the door. I just quickly pulled the key out of the ignition then followed her and stood at a moderate distance. Leila took another quick breath, then rang the bell and tapped nervously on the door frame while she waited. Less than two seconds later, the door was thrown open; the girl, perhaps a year older than Leila, had turned her head towards the inside of the house, revealing her brown hair which reached up to her shoulders and somewhat obscured her face. "Mum, Patrik has forgotten his keys..." she roared before she turned around and Leila saw "again." she barely managed to say. Her brows furrowed angrily and she crossed her arms over her chest. "What are you doing here?" She glared angrily at Leila, who was overwhelmed by the wave of anger and stumbled back a step.

"I wanted to see you, I..." Leila paused a little and I didn't have to look at her to notice that she had started to cry. "I missed you so much." she breathed and wanted to take a step towards the brown-haired woman. But she simply took a step back. "After almost a year, you remembered that, yeah!" her hand clenched on the door "YOU DIDN'T EVEN SAY GOODBYE!" I couldn't watch this any longer, something was going completely wrong. I was at the door in three big steps. "Leila didn't have a chance to say goodbye!" I didn't know where Andrea thought Leila had been for the past year, but she certainly didn't know the truth.

Andrea just laughed mockingly "Oh, did she have to get the plane to Europe or what!?" Next to me I heard Leila start to sob.
"Now listen to me," I took a step forward and glared at Andrea, "I don't know what they told you, but Leila wasn't in Europe, she was here in Manhattan !" I paused briefly to take a breath. "Have you ever heard of St. Helens?" Her eyes widened, she seemed to know what was going on behind the walls of this hospital "MUM!" she shouted up the stairs. Then she looked back at Leila, who was wiping the tears from her cheeks. "You really thought I wouldn't even say goodbye?" she whispered hurtly.

Andrea looked down, shocked. "Come in." She kept the door open and we went into the spacious anteroom, closing the door behind us. A middle-aged woman announced with a slight creak. She had braided her brown hair, which had already had a few gray strands running through it, into a loose braid wore a simple pair of jeans and a T-shirt "Andrea darling, what's wrong?" then her eyes fell on Leila and she froze for a moment. "Leila, are you back from Europe yet?" She came down the last few stairs and put on a fake smile.
Andrea's blue eyes sparkled with anger. "Did you know?" She looked at her mother, trembling with anger.

She just laughed nervously "I don't know what you're talking about?" People could lie, their eyes couldn't and this woman's eyes betrayed her, she knew it and she had kept it a secret from her daughter. Andra let out a shaky breath and went to Leila, a spark of love briefly lighting up in the sea of anger that raged in her eyes. "Do you still know where my room is?" Leila nodded slightly. "Okay then go there" she briefly put her hand on Leila's cheek, anger crept up in me when I saw the disgusted look from Andrea's mum "this is getting ugly now I don't want you to see that." She took her hand away and slowly turned back to her mother.

I felt Leila tap me on the shoulder. "Come on, let's go." I followed her up the stairs, some of them creaking and temporarily drowning out the argument downstairs in the living room.

pov. Andrea
Every single cell in my body was anger as I turned to my mother. "Mum, I want an explanation!" I couldn't believe that she knew what kind of place Leila had been in for a whole year and hadn't told me anything, she had made me believe she had left me.
"I just did what I thought was best." She looked at me coldly, a coldness I had never seen in her eyes before.

I laughed at "The best for me" I glared at her, I had been devastated for weeks after Leila left "I thought she had left me, that she broke my heart, but it was you!" I had started screaming "You broke my heart mother why!" She tore her hair desperately. "I thought this would make you normal again!" She started pacing back and forth while I stood frozen in anger and disappointment. "If you weren't with that girl anymore, you would go back to normal on your own and I wouldn't have to put you in an institution like that!"

I felt my heart in my chest, my blood rushing in my head. She had never accepted it. When I came out to her, I had been so relieved that she had accepted it, but now that I learned that that acceptance had been just a lie, that lie choked me. But what made me furious was that she saw Leila as just a distraction, something that was ruining my life.

Leila was the only person who had ever made me feel alive. "LEILA, HER NAME IS LEILA!" I roared in rage and stormed towards the stairs. But before I could run up it, I felt a tight grip tighten around my upper arm. "I won't let you ruin your life!" my mother grabbed me by the upper arm and looked at me sternly. There wasn't a single emotion on my face as I looked at her. "That's not your decision!" I tore myself away and stormed up the stairs, ignoring my mother's orders to come back. A tear made its way down mine Cheek down. I roughly wiped it away. My whole head was pounding. I was so confused, but I knew one thing for sure, that woman down there was no longer my mother.