9th Tale: Losing Hope

[theboywiththebook]

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[A little over two months he's been dealing with this. The inability to read anything. While he's held onto the hope that he knew he'd get to read soon, he just had to see if he could do it on his own again. Maybe by some stroke of luck or miracle he could finally read the pages of his book.

But, instead of staying at home and reading, where Steve and Bucky are, he's in the village square. If Bucky and Steve saw him looking so upset while he read they'd only feel worse. They were there when he died and they blamed themselves for it. He doesn't need to give them that kind of stress or depression. They've dealt with that stuff enough. 

Sitting by the fountain he stares down at his story book with a very focused look. He can do his. Henry can read it. But, he sits there for hours by the fountain continuing to look at the one page he's stuck on. No matter how hard he tries none of these words are recognizable. They may as well be chicken scratch.

It gets to the point where Henry can't stand it any longer. Slamming his book shut, he hurls it as hard as he can.

Does it hit someone passing by or land at their feet? Either way Henry folds his arms and just kicks the ground in front of where he's sitting.

Later, when night starts to come, Henry's sitting by the lake. It reminded him of Storybrooke, Maine. They were always close to the water and when he had his castle he would always retreat to it whenever he was feeling like this. Angry, upset, all of it. Watching the waves helped leech all those bad feelings away, and watching this lake had a similar effect.

He loses track of time, 8 PM, 9 PM, 10 PM. The hours tick on by as he just sits there. But, it gets to the point where he realizes it's probably time to get back.

He now wanders back to the apartment in silence.]