Chasing Ghosts | Natasha Romanoff

Chapter 83: Ginger-Colored Impulse Decisions

June 22, 2024

Katya's first morning back, and it was time to get her life back on the rails. Leave the past month behind her and move on.

The first step was calling Eliza and planning an emergency session for the next day. It was needed, desperately. A repetition of what happened last night had to be avoided at any cost, both for herself and her family. Maya hadn't spoken about it, but she must have heard her mom's delusional rambling through the bathroom door. At least Katya felt a bit better knowing her first instinct was to flee and hide instead of attack.

Step two included fixing her hideous hair and ridding herself of the visible part of old Katariina that wanted to come through. Literally. She'd already needed a touch up on her roots when the crash happened, so now, her outgrowth was downright painful to look at.

Was dyeing it by herself, with only one usable hand and no Natasha around to help, a smart idea? No. Did she do it anyway because she was impulsive and restless? Yes.

Mixing the stuff and changing into an old shirt wasn't the hard part. The hard part was parting her hair and putting the dye down with the same hand to cover everything. Natasha always did the back for her, which now became a game of guessing and praying. Her neck hurt, her arm went numb, but once started, she could hardly go back.

Quiet footsteps had patted through the house for a while now, the owner of them looking for something or being just as restless as her mother. They went down the stairs, into rooms, up the stairs, repeating the same thing again. It didn't come as a surprise when Maya stuck her head into the bathroom, grey shorts on her legs.

''Where's Mama?''

''To the store.'' Katya had to strain herself to talk, reaching all the way for the back of her head and therefore squashing her throat. The unsure and skeptical look on Maya's face was hard to miss when she noticed what her mom was attempting, the latter sighing in defeat. ''Probably should have waited but I couldn't.''

The girl took a careful step further into the bathroom. ''Do you need some help?'' This was typical of her, always offering help whenever someone looked like they needed it.

A smile grew on Katya's lips, lowering her hand to relax her shoulders, which hurt badly. ''I would love some help, thank you.'' A blush crept up on Maya's cheeks, her nodding shyly at the positive attention. ''There are extra gloves in the cabinet under the sink. Go put those on.''

She struggled a bit with the tight gloves despite her hands being a tad too small for them, but once she had them on, she could not stop chuckling at the weird feeling, wiggling her fingers around. She looked prepared to execute an operation. ''What do I do?''

''Just take small sections, like this,'' Katya showed, ''and then paint from the root to the bottom, really get it all brown.'' Honestly, if Maya messed up, Katya couldn't care less. She'd simply send Natasha to the store to get a new box of dye and fix it. After all, it was just hair, and there weren't many places she'd be going soon, not with this arm.

''Okay.'' Maya looked like she got it, so Katya helped her on the counter and turned around herself, her hair at the perfect height for the girl to dye. Having someone play with her hair always felt nice, even now, as Maya's precise and careful fingers ran through her hideous locks. The brush touched her scalp a couple times until a soft voice rang through the bathroom. ''Like this?''

Katya threw a look in the mirror at the piece of hair, smiling contently. ''Perfect. Then just throw it over my head.'' Maya did so, sticking it to the rest of the already dyed chunks. ''Great job.''

The redhead may have found a new profession, because the precision with which she continued to work her way around her mom's head was downright impressive. Making neat sections, painting it perfectly, turning every blonde hair a dark brown. Natasha had some serious competition for future hair dyes.