Love Always, Harry

Marvel's hand shook as she read the last letter Harry sent her. He had been in Tampa, the same fucking shop she was in, and she possibly could have seen him. Fuck. Just her luck.

She couldn't believe her mother kept all of these from her.

--
"What the fuck are these?"

Marvel's mother stared at the bundle of letters in horror. Her blue eyes were wide, her jaw dropping just a little. Marvel was sure she could see her shaking just a bit. "Where did you find those?"

"It doesn't matter where I found them!" Marvel bit back, not covering up any anger. "Why the hell were they in your closet?"

"Marvel, honey, you have to understand—"

"Understand what?" Marvel felt like crying. Harry. He'd been writing to her for over a year. She couldn't believe it. After all this time. He never had given up like she thought. "You kept these from me. How could you?"

Marvel's mother took a step towards her, but Marvel was quick to take two steps back, making sure to grab the letters and hold on to them tightly; no way were these letters going to get out of her sight. Not now. Not after all this time.

"I wanted to protect you, Marvel," her mother said, pleading with her to just listen, to just understand.

"Protect me from what? The boy I loved—"

"The boy who hurt you!" her mother yelled, and Marvel shut up then, letting her continue. Protect her from Harry? Her mother sighed deeply, stressed, "That day you found him doing God knows what, you were so heartbroken. I had never. Never seen someone so broken before. I wasn't about to let my baby get hurt anymore."

Marvel clenched her jaw. Her mother had a point, but there was no reason, no right for her to keep these letters from her. Marvel couldn't even fathom the fact that she could've been with Harry this entire time. This whole time. "I hate you, Mom. And I mean that. I'm leaving for Tampa early. Goodbye."
--

And now it's been a few days since her arrival back home. Marvel started sobbing. She didn't know what to do anymore. Her relationship with her mother was gone, and her relationship with Harry was nonexistent, broken. And she didn't know what she could do about it.

"Marvel?"

Marvel looked up through her blurry vision and rolled her eyes, wiping at her cheeks. She didn't need any of Willow's sass right now. "What do you want?"

"Come on, don't be like that," said her sister softly, a small smile on her face. She shut the door behind her and sat on Marvel's bed, a little too close for Marvel's liking, but didn't anything, didn't have the energy to. "Marv, you can cry in front of me, you know. I won't tell anyone."

Marvel looked at her sister then, and despite all their fights and distance between each other, and all the cold conversations they had in the past, Marvel broke down. Willow took her sister in her arms, rocking her back and forth. "It just sucks, you know? I. I can't believe. Believe she would do that!" Marvel was hiccuping and sobbing and just frankly letting it all out. "You wanna. Know what the letters said?" Marvel sniffed loudly, wiped at her nose with her sleeve. "He said he still loves me, and that he thinks about me everyday. And that he'll never. Never give up on me," Marvel started sobbing before she even finished her sentence, and she felt like her chest was going to cave in. All this time, and Harry was confessing his love for her every single week. "How could Mom keep that from me?"

Willow paused and looked at her sister, teeth worrying her bottom lip. "M-Marvel, I've got something to tell you."

Marvel pulled back and furrowed her eyebrows. Her eyes were red, and her cheeks were wet from her tears. She let out a broken, "What?"

"Promise you won't get mad," Willow said quickly, and Marvel started glaring, demanding to know what Willow had to say. Willow sighed, "Well. Mum, she kind of. Told me. About the letters. Four months ago."

"She what?" Marvel screeched, and Willow cringed, quickly defending herself by saying, "But I was the one who moved the box of letters so you'd see them when you got your bag! I didn't know you still loved him!"

Marvel's head spun, her hands shaking. She tore her body away from her sister, who started pleading with her to understand, to just listen, just like her mother had. But Marvel wasn't having it. First her mother, now her sister? She couldn't trust anyone. Not anymore. And she definitely couldn't live here anymore. She had to leave, had to get away from the people who kept her love away from her. Why couldn’t everyone just let her make her own decisions?

Marvel had packed her bag and was out the door before the clock rang out the hour. She'd live on the streets if she had to. She just hoped Harry’s mother remembered her.