Gone by Ghosts (Natasha Romanoff x OC)

~1~The Early Bird

Kate's POV

United States, New York City 07/14/2009:

She woke up. The loud noises of the ambulance still echoed in her ears, as she was greeted by the silence of her bedroom. She's had nightmares of that day many times. In the beginning, she was tormented by them. Waking up sweating and panting. A few times actually calling for her mom. After a while, she had gotten used to it and, like today, just woke up with a bad feeling, which usually didn't subside for a day or two, but it could be worse. Although, it had been a while since she last dreamed of that day. She had been speared.
She sat up, just to realize that there was, in fact, a stranger in her bed. She met her last night at the diner, downstairs.

'Theresa! That's her name.' she remembered, 'she's a doctor in training. Or maybe a nurse?'. Last night is not as clear as Kate wished it to be. She was out celebrating her promotion and has had a few too many drinks. She pushed herself out of bed. There's no way she could go back to sleep after that, so she might as well go to work. She checked the time on her watch. 4:20 am.

'Not too bad.'

She stretched out her arms and stepped out of her bedroom right into her living room and kitchen. Kate's "bedroom" was just a small step up from the living area only separated by an empty doorway and some curtains. She walked over to the bathroom and collected her clothes along the way. She put them on top of the hamper and turned on the light. Her eyes squinted at how bright the room got. She bowed down to drink some water from the sink and looked up at the mirror above it. She looked exactly the way she felt. Very shitty. Her blond waves look greasy and her bright brown eyes looked tired; dry and red from the short night. The bad feeling in the pit of her stomach didn't make her feel any better.

She straightened her back, turned and got in the shower. The water came out cold, but she didn't make an effort to turn the handle. Instead, she hoped it could help her forget. Maybe she could shock away the dream replaying in her head. Maybe even the bad feeling, that was supposed to stay. She takes a step under the stream and the cold water hits her. Every drop feels like a needle piercing her skin. For a moment there's nothing but that sensation. To her disappointment, it only lasted so long before the cold started drawing a poignant picture of dead ice-cold eyes in her mind, like frost on glass. She felt exposed and alone. Nothing around that could guard her against the guilt she felt. She hurried to get done, just so she could flee the scene.
She put on an old pair of sweaters and kept the towel tight around her when she left the bathroom. Not because she was concerned that her guest may see her naked. No, they were way past that. But because it felt like a small coat, covering her from her own mind. She opened her closet and took out some fresh underwear, a black and white striped, sleeveless blouse and looked for some tight black pants. She found them under her couch, not quite sure of how they got there. Her outfit was pretty generic and not what she'd personally pick, but that was kind of the point. She wandered to the kitchen but decided to only drink a glass of water and take a pain killer for the headache. She wouldn't really be able to digest anything in this state, anyway. She took a notepad from the kitchen counter and wrote a message for her guest. "Sorry I had to leave for work. You can get a coffee on my tab from the bar downstairs. Can you ask them to lock my door? Thanks, :)". She stuck it on the door, put her black high heels on, grabbed her briefcase and keys and left the apartment.

She decided against the back door and instead went through the main room of the bar/diner on the ground level. She had just passed the kitchen and entered when she saw the bar owner clean up the bar.

"Mornin'", she greeted her lifting one hand.

"Good night, Layla.", the woman greeted back.

Sometimes she forgot that that's the name she knew her by but the sarcasm of that woman always made her smile. It's a good thing she got along with her so well. Otherwise having her as a landlord would suck. This way she had rent that was still affordable, a flat that was bug-free and an extra gig to earn money. There's nothing more she could ask for.