IV: The Girl Who Ran: Red Eve

: Melanov

Natasha stood in front of the front window, staring into the street from in between the heavy curtains. The view was unobstructed now that Sam had moved the QuinJet to the mainland. The yard was small, the red plastic slide covered in wet leaves and walnut husks. No cars stood in the short driveway. The Virtues had already left for work, Mr. Virtue in the hospital and Mrs. Virtue in the clinic.

A silver car, one of it's headlights punched out, roared by, making the frames on the wall rattle. Natasha closed the curtains and surveyed the pictures, straightening them. She paused on a small golden frame tucked away in the upper corner. She lifted it up off of the nail and brought it to the faint light peeking through the curtains.

It was a black and white photo, a lot older than any of the other pictures littering the walls. Two identical women dressed in light-colored clothes sat next to each other amid a cluster of kids. The obviously older woman on the left held a grinning toddler on her lap. A little girl-- maybe nine or ten-- with hair pulled tightly back into a bun stood behind her, her hand on the woman's shoulder, her striped dress obviously a little too big.

Another seven or eight-year old girl with bobbed hair stood to her side, staring at the little toddler. The other woman, who looked like she was barely out of her teens, held a swaddled bundle in her arms that Natasha could only assume was a baby. A chubby toddler with a curly mop and a dirty face stared at the camera.

Two kids sat Indian-style in front of the group. The boy sat in front of the older woman, leaning toward the curly-haired girl in front of the young woman. The girl was looking at the boy rather apprehensively. Natasha looked a little closer an realized that the girl wasn't wearing shoes. The boy appeared much older than her, maybe a pre-teen, while the girl might've been five. The boy was smiling mischievously at the camera. She wished she knew what happened after this picture was taken.

Natasha flipped over the frame and turned the levers keeping the picture in. The back popped out and Natasha read the Russian scrawl on the back, not daring to actually touch the picture.

The House of Melanov - 1936

(from left to right, back to front)

Rebecca S. Barnes (9), Emily W. Barnes (8), Winifred V. Barnes (26), Olivia G. Barnes (2), Levina V. Ivanova (18), Anastasia V. Ivanova (2 months), Timofei V. Ivanov (2), James B. Barnes (11), Titania V. Ivanova (4).

Natasha closed the frame and studied the two children in the foreground. She could easily recognize Barnes, but only half of Sunny's face was showing. The girl in the picture didn't seem to have a white streak, and even though her skin was only a bit darker than Barnes', she was easily the darkest person in the photo.

It was a fifty/fifty chance that the girl was Sunny, but she was gonna have to operate off the assumption that she was. Natasha hung the picture back on the wall and paced to the kitchen. She was used to having patience, but she'd been in this house for three days. She could only last so long.