Chasing Ghosts | Natasha Romanoff

Chapter 88: Back To Where It All Started

July 7, 2024

''Would you want to find out more?''

''I would love to.''

That's how they found themselves in a dead quiet, ruin of a grey town in Russia merely a week later. With all the information in the diaries, piecing together the details had been extremely easy. They managed to figure out that Katya's grandmother Alena was still alive, simply by going into the citizens records of Russia and typing in her name. The woman was only eighty today, because Irina had just turned nineteen when she got pregnant.

The impression they got of her in the diaries wasn't a positive one. Sure, they read through the subjective glasses of Irina, and Alena was from the - usually harsh - older generation of the Soviet Union, but still, kicking her daughter out for getting pregnant before marriage was very harsh.

Nevertheless, Katya wanted to keep moving forward and down this heritage road of hers while they were at it. No more waiting, no more delays, just keep plowing. She'd waited four decades already, and the past four days between finding out Alena's location and leaving for Russia felt like weeks.

They left Maya at Tony's for the weekend and took the jet to the northwest of Russia. She wanted to stay with Yelena, but the thought of leaving their young girl with an irresponsible and sarcastic grown woman who could hardly bake an egg and didn't care about the legal drinking age, didn't feel good. Initially, Maya really wanted to come with to Russia, but Katya sat her down and explained that this was something she had to do alone and would probably not be very fun.

It felt wrong to leave their daughter behind and take a weekend trip by themselves, though. She was a part of their lives, their main jobs being her moms, twenty-four seven. But a trip - though with non-fun intentions - could be considered a nice break from everyday life. Their hotel was very old, the car they rented at the airport dated, the roads either sandy or made of broken asphalt, but they weren't there for a vacation anyway.

Katya grew both sadder and more relieved as she watched the landscape from the passenger's seat. So far up north, the landscape was bare and empty, even in the summer. Not many trees, and if they were there, coniferous trees, surrounded by endless patches of grass with only every few minutes a tiny farm or brick house.

The villages they passed through caused a heavy silence to settle in the car. Most houses were made of wood, the grass and weeds around it standing so tall that a grown person could hide in it. Starved dogs walked around freely on the mud roads, goats on leashes in the gardens. People in old clothing stared at the rental car as it passed, their eyes burning into it almost dangerously. They didn't accept outsiders around here.

The chills ran down Katya's spine, picturing herself living in one of these houses if she'd stayed with her family. It was incomparable to the life she lived now, humble but in wealth, both material and immaterial. Subconsciously, her hand reached out for Natasha's, feeling fingers wrap around it immediately and squeeze. They both now realized how good they had it. Katya would have been deeply, deeply unhappy here.

''Are you doing alright?'' Natasha asked, brows in their usual thoughtful crease. Nothing about Katya's behavior specifically worried her, but better be safe than sorry and regularly check in. Because if the hairs on the back of her neck rose, then Katya's must too.

Slowly, the brunette turned her head away from the window, surprisingly smiling when she looked at Natasha. ''Same as when you asked ten minutes ago,'' she teased lightly, receiving a much-deserved side-eye. ''I'm kidding. Thanks for asking, but I'm not as nervous as you think I am. The diaries lowered my expectations right to the ground.''