4

You woke up to familiar surroundings, desperately catching air as if you had just resurfaced from the waters, almost drowning. Laying on your bed, your hand immediately  slipped to the back of your head, feeling for any wound or anything that hurt, afraid of the blood you'd see. Nothing of the sort came, not even any tinge of pain as you massaged your scalp.

Weird. That would have been a vivid nightmare. However, you were not sure if the relief flooding inside you was because it was all a dream or because your crush next door wasn't a murderer.

Mind still hazy as if not aware what was happening, your phone rang through the silence of the morning, breaking you out from your thoughts.

"Hello?"

"Y/n?" It was Steve.

"Steve, hey, it's still early," you complained, slumping back on the sheets to prepare for a nap, or continuation of your disrupted sleep.

"Early?!" he exclaimed, tone a bit upset and disappointed, which made you wonder what you could have possibly done to him. "Y/n, you didn't show up to Gamora last night. What's the matter with you?"

You ran your hand through your hair as your mind hurt from trying to remember. "What? I thought that's tonight."

"What tonight? It was yesterday, Y/n," Steve explained. "Today's Sunday already. You know what..."

Steve kept on talking through the speakers of your phone but you weren't even listening anymore. The hair at the back of your neck had stood, blood must had run out from your face. So it wasn't a dream after all.

You straightened up on your bed, heart beating fast as you tried to remember what happened. How did you even get here? You didn't remember getting here last night. You didn't remember wearing these clothes.

"Y/n, are you still there?" Your friend's voice brought you to the present.

"Hey, Steve," you called out, barely a whisper. "I-"

"Y/n, are you okay?" he asked, suddenly lost, his voice raised up a note. "Why are you whispering? God, I swear I'm still mad at you right now-"

"Steve, listen...," you interjected, getting up from your bed as you peered through your window, checking if the streets were busy enough. "I... I think I am in trouble... Can you... can you meet me at my new place?"

"What?" he snapped, protesting exasperatedly. "Are you kidding me right now? Is this your way to get out of what you did to poor Gamora?"

"Please, Steve," you pleaded. "I think my neighbor is-"

"Your neighbor's what?" Wanda's voice behind you made you let go of your phone, the device hitting the floor with a thud.

"Shit. Fuck." You stepped farther away from the brunette, hitting the wall of your bedroom. "What are you doing here?"

"The door was open so I let myself in." Wanda looked like she was alarmed to see you scared of her. She killed someone, for Pete's sake. "Y/n, what's wrong? Your face is so pale-"

"You... you... last night. You-"

"I what?" Her eyebrows only furrowed deeper, stepping closer towards you.

"Don't lie to me..." Your hitched up voice made Wanda stop.

"What would I lie about?" she asked, disbelief in her face as she shook her head. "Okay. It looks like you're not in your right mind right now. So, I'm going to head back to my apartment..."

You grabbed the nearest lamp you had, a gift you received from Secret Santa last Christmas. It was the only thing you could use as you wielded it as your weapon.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Wanda exclaimed, stepping hurriedly towards the door. "Are you gonna hurt me with that thing?"

"I would if you would," you warned her, gripping the item in your hand tightly as you moved closer. It was as if you suddenly found courage when you had something to fight with, as if the item could protect you from harm.

"What?!"

"I remember what you did last night," you blurted out, panting. You even stumbled on the boxes you had at the foot of your bed, but Wanda thankfully didn't attack you at your short moment of vulnerability.

"I didn't do anything last night," the brunette went on.

"Don't you fucking lie to me!" Your raised voice made Wanda flinch, scurrying to flee. To the untrained eye, you looked like an idiot.

"You're being crazy right now. Fuck you!" With that, Wanda finally left the room.

Your hands immediately flew to retrieve the phone on the floor, to call Steve. Gratefully, he was still on the other line.

"Steve, where are you?" you asked, hands trembling as you pressed the phone into your ear.

"Where am I?" His voice somehow made you relax. "I'm heading to your place right now thanks to you... It's still quite early in the morning, Y/n."

"Good, in case you couldn't find me, call 911." You then ended the call, picked up the lamp before heading out of your apartment. You had no idea why you decided to follow Wanda but as she was about to close the door to her apartment, you stopped her.

"Fuck, what the hell is wrong with you?" she gasped, unsuccessful on closing the door as you trudged in after. "This is trespassing... I can literally scream for help right now and let our neighbors call the cops on you-"

"Do you really want to do that?" you taunted.

"And you're still holding your lamp, are you trying to kill me?"

"Kill you?" You scoffed, shaking your head in the irony of it all. "Kill you?!"

Wanda only stepped back away from you as you walked deeper into her apartment. She grabbed the nearest weapon she could find - an empty vase. It was more lethal than your lamp. But then your eyes caught something from their peripheral, noticing the place was all sparkly clean, even the carpet and the open bathroom, no trail of blood present. "What did you do with the body? Where is it?"

"What body?" The brunette asked.

"Oh, I'm not a fool, Wanda... I know you killed someone last night."

Wanda scoffed in disbelief. "You are a crazy woman, Y/n... God, I can't believe I had a silly crush on a crazy person."

What she said made you loosen your hold on the lamp. "What?"

"Get out!" Wanda hissed, pointing towards the door.

"Wanda-"

"I said get out!"

You hesitantly exited yourself out of her apartment, where she immediately shut the door behind you. Were you going insane?

Minutes passed by when Steve finally arrived at your unit. When he saw you leaning back against your kitchen counter, he said in relief, catching his breath. "Oh thank god you're okay. What was that call about, huh? You got me scared there."

"Nothing. I...," you tried to come up with an excuse. You couldn't just tell your friend you were going insane, he'd immediately send you flyers about all the best psychiatrists he could find. "I think it was just a silly nightmare and all."

"What?" he asked, eyes glaring daggers at you. "You made me come here for nothing?"

You let out a tired sigh. "Well, would you rather have something bad happen to me?"

"No, of course not," Steve immediately answered. "Sorry..."

"I'm sorry for making you come here too..." You rubbed your head from the incoming migraine you could feel.

"Look," Steve started as he walked closer towards you, patting your shoulder. "I also want to apologize for forcing you to go out with someone when you're not ready yet."

His apology made you look at him as he continued. "I... I didn't know that breakup could be tough like this but you're gonna be fine. I'll always be here whenever you need me."

Could it be the reason you were going insane? Yelena. The cheating. The breakup. Moving out. Paranoia. Distrust.

The next day as you got back from another shift, you saw Wanda with groceries in hand as she climbed the stairs. You tried to match her pace but she seemed to be avoiding you. "Hey... I'm....I'm so sorry about yesterday. I... I didn't know what got into me."

Wanda still didn't speak and continued on until you both had reached your floor. She quickly fished out the keys from her pockets as she opened her door.

"Wanda, please," you pleaded, moving closer. "I'm sorry..."

The brunette only paused shortly, making you think she was thinking about accepting your apology. But then she only went to enter her apartment, leaving you in the hallway alone. Ignored.

You probably deserved it. The breakup and stress from work had certainly taken a toll on you, not realizing you were mixing your dreams with reality. You had come up for the reason why you thought Wanda was killing someone. You were heavily watching a news about a murder on your phone while getting ready for your date with Gamora. Thinking you probably still had a bit time, you lay on your bed, not realizing sleep had taken you. Yes. That could be the reason why you were acting weird.

An hour later, you heard a knock on your door. You were about to cook ramen, after moments of deciding which was easy to cook that would satisfy your hunger. When you went to open it, Wanda was right there in front of you, a pot in her hand as she carried it covered with cooking gloves.

"I cooked Chicken Paprikash," Wanda said, a forced smile on her face. She was being cautious, knowing any moment you'd mentally break. "Not sure if you would like it."

"Oh, sure, yeah," you replied, opening the door wider for her to enter. As if you were afraid a minute longer would change her mind. "Of course, please come in."

That was what happened, an unannounced dinner in your apartment with none other than Wanda. The one who you thought was a murderer just the other day.

"God, that was amazing," you mused, hand rubbing your full stomach as you savored the dish she cooked for you. Could she be any more perfect? Sweet, understanding, unbelievably gorgeous woman who knows how to cook and handle a crazy person.

"Delicious, right?" Wanda seconded, proud. "My mom taught me how to make it when I was a kid." Another episode of How I Met Your Mother played in the background, a continuation of where you left your first night together.

"She must be amazing..." It brought sadness into her eyes as she stared blankly at the now half-empty pot.

"She was...," she softly confirmed, making you want to kick yourself for being way too ignorant.

"Oh, sorry-"

"It's okay," she butted in, shaking her head. "It was a long time ago... Mom was also a great storyteller. She used to tell me and my brother unique bedtime stories when we couldn't sleep." The memory turned her frown into a smile, making you smile back at the beautiful sight before you.

"Is that why you decided to be a writer?" you asked.

"What?"

You forced a nervous cough as you went to explain, not trying to sound as if you were eager to know everything about her. "The first time we met, you said you were finishing a manuscript."

"I didn't think you'd remember that," Wanda teased, a smirk in her face. You'd never thought it was more lovely and hotter than her smile.

You gave out a small chuckle as you denied.

But Wanda went on. "Yes... I may had gotten mom's creativity on imagination... Sometimes, I'd lose focus in conversations, my head already living in another universe, if you know what I mean."

You nodded, laughing. "I do... I sometimes do that, especially during meetings..."

You talked and laughed about anything for hours until it was already too late. You found out she grew up from a small town in Russia and moved to London for college and work. When she mentioned she just broke up with her girlfriend, you realized two things that immediately made you ecstatic. One, Wanda was single. And two, she was into girls.

Hell, she was actually into you if you would consider her accidental blurtout yesterday how she had a silly crush on you. Not to count the crazy part.

You walked the brunette back to her apartment later that night even when you didn't need to. She wouldn't lose her way.

"Wanda," you called out to her, your voice so small, you thought she hadn't heard it. But she did, as her eyes probing questions met yours.

"Mm?"

"About yesterday-"

"Don't worry about it," she interjected. "It was my fault, barging inside your apartment early in the morning, when you just got out from a nightmare."

Wanda gave you a genuine smile, the one you wanted to see for the rest of your life, as she bid goodnight to you, quickly placing a peck on your cheek, turning it pink.

And you slept happy and peacefully that night, no nightmares, with the thoughts of asking her out some day if you had the chance, praying that you didn't lose yours when you blamed her for murdering someone because of some silly nightmare you had.

The following day however, your stomach hurt like hell. It felt like you hadn't eaten, intestines gripping your insides, but for sure, you were full from last night's meal. So you quickly made yourself a sandwich, something to sate the inexplicable hunger you felt.

After your shift that night, you were brought out from your musings when you caught a police car just leaving the building of your apartment. You didn't put much thought on it but when you saw the lobby personnel was there, it wouldn't hurt to ask. He was talking to an old lady from 3rd floor, seeing the number in her keys dangling from her fingers.

"I swear, it's that new girl from unit 407," you heard her murmur. "She's weird and all and she moves furnitures around the unit at early hours in the morning-"

She stopped talking upon noticing your arrival, giving the fakest smile to you. Now you knew it wasn't Wanda who reported you to the admin before.

"Excuse me..." you began, facing the lobby personnel. "Is something wrong? I saw a police car leaving the vicinity."

"Hi, ma'am," he greeted. "Sorry. They found a body near the area and the police just asked questions and all."

You froze. Did he just say body?

The old woman continued for him. "Parts of him, I guess..."

"What do you mean?" You didn't care if she was mean to you. Curiosity won you over.

"No need to worry, ma'am," the personnel continued. "The police checked the identity and they have identified him as part of a mob. Accident gone wrong, it happens around the place a lot. That's the fifth case they had, always a mafia boss going mad..."

"Well, if you ask me, I think it's a Dahmer," the old lady butted in. The personnel shushed her out, asking her not to raise any concern need not to be raised.

"A what?" you asked.

The old woman stared at you funny, still speculating if you were someone you were not. "A Dahmer.... Since only parts of his body were found, the killer could be cooking him as main ingredients for food."

What she said made your stomach set in turmoil. The lobby personnel added, "That's horrible, but it's just silly rumors."

"Are you okay, my dear?" The old woman noticed you feeling uneasy. You couldn't breathe, and you found yourself dying to explode.

You held up your finger, you thought you were going to be sick. "Excuse me-"

The personnel hurriedly held out a trash can your way as you puked all the contents of your stomach into it.

"Okay, you're safe. I thought it was you," the old lady went on, crashing you out from her lists of suspected murderers.

But your mind was already filled with Wanda and how the chicken in her Paprikash couldn't be chicken meat after all, wondering why you couldn't remember any leg or wing part in it.