#bucky tho is in such a small spot lol poor lad i'm so sorry

[justsomeoneunordinary]

The Wailing Winter Soldier

Week Two of the SarahBucky Month @fleurdelouvemonth/@fleurdelouve

Day three: Fantasy: Haunted House

(W1,D1 / W1,D2 / W2,D1 / W2,D4 / W2,D5 / W3,D2 / W3,D4 / W4,D3 / W4,D5 / W5,D1 / W5,D2 / W5,D4)

G, 520 words, Fantasy AU, Ghosts, Curses, Ambiguous/Open Ending | AO3

As far as Sarah can remember, the screaming had always been there. Those whines of desperation, the cries of agony.

It’s being said that it’s been going on for centuries like this. A house, deep down in the woods, haunted by an evil spirit. The howling would get worse around days of winter, and whenever she’d get closer to the forest, she could feel the heartbreaking misery of those cries. The townspeople call it the wails of the Winter Soldier.

Sarah had never seen the house herself. Never been allowed to approach the deepest parts of the woods, where the ominous omnipresent mist would greet her. Her parents used to say that certain death awaited her there. Sam though, her brother, he had been at the house—multiple times even. He never told her, but she knows.

It took her a while to notice that every now and then Sam would pack some food in a lunchbox and disappear for hours. Hours, during which the faint cries would find a sudden stop. Sam must’ve gotten to the same conclusion she has: nothing capable of such anguish screaming could be of evil nature. These are painful cries of someone suffering and in need of help.

But whenever she asks, Sam evades the question, and Sarah has had enough of it. She is no innocent child anymore in need of protection—it’s been over thirty years and she’s a grown woman capable of making her own decisions. So, on a cold November morning, she packs a lunchbox and heads out.

It’s a reckless action, she’s aware. She’s got two boys waiting for her to come back home, and no husband anymore who could take care of them should something happen. But Sarah is no fool—she wouldn’t do it if she wasn’t positive she’d come back safe and sound. Sam is a fighter, and Sam never looks like he’s been in a fight when he comes back from his trips to the house.

For the first time, Sarah steps foot into the deep ends of the woods and lets the mysterious mist engulf her. With every step she takes, the screaming gets louder, almost bone-crushing, causing shivers to run down her spine and having her hurting more and more for this poor pained soul.

Eventually, she reaches her destination and dares to enter the abandoned house with thrill and a healthy dose of fear pumping through her blood. When she finally gets to the attic, where the cries seem to be coming from, she learns three things right then and there, and none of them are what she expected:

For one, the Wailing Winter Soldier is no ghost or evil spirit. It’s a man. A man, bound to the house for eternal torture, cursed by no one else but the Clan of HYDRA.

For another, it’s not the man who’s screaming, but the house itself—expressing what the man is repressing.

Lastly, the man’s name is Bucky. And Bucky has the bluest eyes and kindest smile Sarah has ever seen, making her heart beat faster as if she was again a teen.