18 Memories

In a childish room with a blue tone, a little girl was sitting on a blue-themed princess bed wrapped in a quilt.

"Wendy?"

Not long after, the door to the room was opened, and Martha, wearing pajamas, came into the room with hot milk and sat next to the little girl.

Looking at the little girl, who was silent and just stared in front of her, Martha reached out her hand, rubbed her head, and asked.

"What's wrong? You haven't been in a good mood since you came back from school; is someone bullying you?"

"It's nothing." She buried her head in the quilt and said it in a muffled voice.

"Your expression doesn't look like 'it's nothing.'" Martha smiled and tapped her nose, then put the milk on the table next to her and said, "Actually, I know even if you don't tell me, because of your skin color, you were bullied, right?"

"..."

She did not speak, but her lowered eyes proved that Martha may be right.

In fact, calling it bullying is a bit exaggerated; it's just that the children at school ignored her and would laugh at her at certain times and make fun of her skin color.

Although the little girl is an adult at heart, at the end of the day, she had the body of a child and was easily affected by her body's impulses. But because they are too young, she can't hit them, so she had nowhere else to vent her frustrations.

At this time in the United States, racial discrimination was still very serious.

Although some states in the United States have enacted laws on racial discrimination, you cannot expect that everyone will follow the laws as soon as they come out.

Many people's ideas cannot be changed immediately; at most, they are restrained because of the existence of the bill.

In fact, some people with dark skin were worse off than Wendy; at least Wendy's adoptive father is a deputy police chief, and her mother, Martha, works at Stark Industries.

The teacher did try to look out for her, but even so, being discriminated against, excluded, and bullied was inevitable; it was impossible to look after Wendy alone forever.

Seeing that Wendy remained silent, Martha continued to ask, "Are you angry because of their behavior?"

"A little bit."

Wendy said everyone was very nice to her when she was in the orphanage.

Why did she feel so annoyed when she entered elementary school?

"Then why don't you teach them a lesson? I know that you are very smart. If you want to teach them a lesson, it should be easy, right?"

After hearing what Wendy said, Martha smiled and said.

Wendy looked at Martha with wide eyes after hearing this: "But won't that cause you trouble?"

She never thought that Martha would educate herself in this way.

In her imagination, Martha should say to herself, 'This is the test of growth' or 'You have to learn to endure so that you can grow'. Unexpectedly, Martha would allow herself to retaliate tooth for tooth, eye for eye.

"Cause trouble? No, we are not afraid of you causing trouble, Wendy." Squeezing Wendy's chubby little face, Martha said with a smile, "Maybe you are worried that your revenge on them will cause us trouble, but I want to say that sometimes, when you want to do something, you don't have to think about the bad consequences at all; you just have to enjoy the process of doing it."

"Is this what a mother would teach her children?"

Listening to Martha's words, Wendy was stunned for a long time, then she asked.

Martha smiled brightly and said, "No, this is what Martha taught Wendy. We are not just mother and daughter, but also friends. I will not see my friend being bullied."

"Then I—?"

Wendy looked at Martha carefully.

Martha touched Wendy's head again and said, "Do it first, then think about it later. No matter what the process is, no matter what the result is, as long as you are satisfied, that is enough."

__________

"Do it first; think about it later."

Her hands were trembling slightly.

Wendy didn't know whether it was because she remembered Martha's words or because she had lost control of her abilities.

Electric light emerged from her body again, which represented the failure of her control of magnetism.

"Charles?"

Seeing Wendy acting like she was out of control, Eric wanted to stop but was stopped by Charles next to him.

"We have to believe her," Charles said, looking at Eric.

Eric stopped talking, turned to look at Wendy, who was using her ability, and shook his head.

Around Wendy, the iron sand surrounding her moved irregularly, wrapping around her like a black snake.

The blue electric light and the black iron sand complemented each other, making Wendy look like a queen who controls thunder and lightning, but with magnetism. Anyone who saw this situation would know that she had definitely failed.

But miracles can happen.

Wendy's expression looked like she was struggling at first. She didn't know whether it was because of her delicate control or her thinking of her deceased adoptive mother, which made her head hurt.

But Wendy's expression gradually became calmer, and the surrounding electric light gradually became smaller and less visible.

In the end, all the electric light returned to Wendy's body step by step, just like an army withdrawing its troops.

However, the disappearance of the electric light did not make the iron sand flying in the air fall. It was still circling around Wendy.

Only then did Wendy slowly open her eyes, looking calmly at the iron sand flying in her hands.

"You did it, Wendy."

Charles and Eric came over and congratulated her.

Wendy nodded silently with a smile. "I succeeded."

Eric walked up to Wendy, took out some tissues, and said, "You did a good job, but you should wipe here first."

He said this and pointed at Wendy's cheek.

Wendy raised her head in surprise and then touched it with her hand, only to find that her tears had flowed out at some point.

She cried in front of others, which made Wendy a little embarrassed. She hurriedly took the tissue and wiped the tears off her face.

"Did you remember someone?"

Charles asked after a while.

Wendy looked up at him, nodded, and said, "I thought of Martha."

Charles patted Wendy's young shoulder and said, "Family, friendship, love—these beautiful things can help you with control over your abilities. Remember that feeling; it will help you a lot in the future."

Charles' words are always so positive; whether he is training other people or training Eric, he always says this.

Wendy also agreed with his words; she lowered her head and said, "I will."

However, what Charles didn't see was the growing flame of revenge in Wendy's eyes.

Thinking of Martha did make Wendy gain more control, but it also reawakened her hatred for her enemies.

Wendy remembered that she still had enemies in the original world, and the culprit for Martha's death needs to be found.

She couldn't stay here; she had to go back.

Although the people in this world were very kind to her, in the original world, Wendy still has her own things to do; at least Larry is waiting for her to go back.