Ghost of your past

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Ana kept packing her belongings while Natalia sat at her desk looking for immediate flights back to the city.

 "I'm not staying in a hotel," said Ana

"Of course you're not, you have to leave as soon as possible I don't want you tainting anything else." Ana felt immediately offended once again 

"Taint? Oh please cut the crap, the only one tainting things here is you, with your small town, foul-mouthed sister and that peasant who's drooling all over you. I can't wait to get out of here." 

Natalia then stood up from her chair almost charging at Ana "shut up, and get out of here, now, find your own flight, take a cab to the airport and wait, I don't care, I just can't even stand to look at you." Natalia turned back towards her desk 

"You know, I gave you everything, a lost girl from a small town not knowing shit, lost, I picked you up, helped you, took you in." Said Ana trying to make Natalia feel guilty about sending her away

"You know you're trying to make me feel guilty as if you have done something extraordinary for me, but you just described me as a stray dog looking for a home," said Natalia disappointed and sad, she felt she had a mix of emotions, sadness, anger, disappointment, and everything in between. 

"That's not true," said Ana

"Are you done packing?" said Natalia not even looking at Ana in a softly spoken tone

Ana just looked at her with suitcase in hand 

"Good." Natalia could feel her eyes start to spawn tears, building up until they started falling freely.  Ana kept an eye on Natalia and felt actual pain looking at her now ex-girlfriend cry. She tried to approach her to wipe her tears but Natalia flinched as if she had a painful scar on her face. Clear to her of her ex- girlfriends pain, Ana walked towards the room exit but not before turning back to take a last look at the girl behind her.

"I'm sorry." 

Ana continued to walk through the front door of the house with her suitcase not really knowing when a cab would arrive to pick her up to the airport which was miles and miles and miles away from this small crap of a town. She pulled out her phone to check on her uber status but the driver was still about 20 minutes away. "Great." She figured she should probably leave the area of the house granted that her psycho sister might be appearing at some point and she really did not feel like having to explain. With that said she walked to town to see if she could meet her uber there with better efficiency, she took her suitcase and sat on it once she got to a comfortable place and town and just waited. 

Natalia on the other hand stayed in her bed, not moving, at all, crying. The tears down her face were falling like Niagara, she felt so stupid and so used. How could she not have realized that Ana was treating her like a dog, a literal pet for companionship and entertainment, all Natalia wanted to do was crawl into a ball and die, she felt worthless and as if she had no one. Her first love hated her and was clearly in love with someone else, her girlfriend manipulated and humiliated her and she left all those who could have possibly supported her. 

She was alone.

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Mila Hartman had always been in charge of her own destiny, when her parents died she did everything she could to take her life into her own hands, she had to learn the hard way what was right and what was wrong, what was good for her life and what was not. One thing she never expected was to be caught in a complication, she never had a plan for a complication. See, her and Jackie had met 3 years after Natalia left and dated for only 8 months, however they were some pretty decent months, Jackie was loving, supportive, and was everything Mila needed. She grew to love her in the short 8 months but there was a complication they could never seem to get over, Mila's past. For the first 6 months of their relationship Mila had a hard time not talking about Natalia, she was the only form of true love she had ever known, it was hard for her to open up to Jackie, she guessed in the end Jackie could not handle or keep up with Mila and her past, which ended up breaking the pair for 2 and some years, until now. Where Mila would hope her life was back to normal or at least out of the complicated zone, as it turns out, the universe is hilarious. Deciding to bring her first and true love with the girl who tried to fix her together. "Very funny universe," she thought aloud. Hartman's  thought was she had to focus on Jackie, Natalia Schmidt didn't exist, she is in the past, she's painted, she's... standing outside your art studio, wait what? Hartman stared harder to make sure her mind wasn't deceiving her, no, it was indeed her. She stood up "Nat?" she asked looking at Natalia who currently had her head down with slumped shoulders. Hartman walked over to her, "Natalia? Are you okay?" Natalia only walked forward and threw her arms around Mila's neck. Mila was in shock at this gesture which made her freeze for a few moments, but then instinctively wrapped her arms around Natalia's small waist, something must have been terribly wrong for Natalia to be here in her studio, sobbing, with her arms around her neck. It reminded her of how fragile and vulnerable Natalia could be, she never thought she would see that again, she pulled her in tighter during their embrace, when Natalia finally pulled back. She didn't want to, she felt safe in Mila's arms and wanted to be there forever, the familiarity of it all was addicting and now she wondered why she ever left it. 

"Nat," said Mila separating herself from the embrace even more "what happened?" she asked.

All Natalia could do was stand there sobbing, but finally mustered up the courage to say "I'm worth more than that."

Mila was too confused by that 

"What?" she said in an almost whisper 

"Ana she, she's gone." she said in between sobs. 

Mila could not process what was happening, Ana left? After threatening her and treating everyone like shit she just left?

"What do you mean she's gone?" said Mila 

"I, I left her." said Natalia finishing up her sobs 

"Okay wait, sit, take your time to settle down that way I can catch up right because right now I'm not understanding." Mila took a chair and turned it over sitting with her arms folded resting on top of the back of the chair gesturing to Natalia to sit on the bench before her, just as they had the last time Natalia was in Hartman's art studio. 

Natalia took a seat in front of Mila on the bench, looked up to look at Mila, Hartman made a hand signal letting Natalia know she should proceed with he story. 

Natalia took a deep breath she didn't want to start at the very beginning because if she did, she would have to mention the elephant in the room, when she saw Mila with Jackie, making her come to the realization that her and Ana didn't love each other. 

"Well I just realized that, Ana and I didn't love each other." Hearing this made Mila swallow hard.

"And well I told her that I didn't want to see her and have her here, hating on my small town and on the people I love. Nothing was good enough for her, and she wasn't always like this, when I first met her she was actually sweet. But I guess that was just a ruse to trap a companion she could handle like a dog." she started crying again "I just feel so stupid!" she said slightly and out of frustration hitting her own lap. All Mila could do was sit there with droopy eyes, with tears wanting to form but she tried hard to stop them.  "I'm sorry," was all Mila could say, she felt bad for Natalia but felt helpless. "Why, why did you stop here?" said Mila hesistantly. Natalia didn't really have the answer to that, she just did what she felt in the moment. "I- I don't know, I'm sorry I'll leave." said Natalia getting up to leave walking around Mila sitting in the chair when she felt a hand on her arm "I didn't say I didn't like it," said Mila now standing up. Natalia felt her heart glowing but it didn't last long due to her next thought, which was Jackie. "Thanks for listening to me, it's getting late," said Natalia leaving towards the door. A defeated Mila turned to her and simply said "You're welcome," as she watched Natalia leave her art studio.