find me

44. Georges

22nd October

Bucky was on his way home at the end of a long day in work. His back hurt, his neck hurt, and his hands hurt. He had always been very trained, since he was a young boy, and yet manual labour did not spare him. He didn't think anyone could be spared from pain and soreness when it came to manual labour. It was a tough business.

He stretched his neck slightly. Good thing he was as tough as nails.

As he approached the house, his steps faltered. That same gut feeling that had bothered him the past few days sunk from his chest into his stomach, intensely enough that he felt almost nauseous. It had been a while now, maybe a bit more than ten days, so he told himself there was a possibility that his memory was failing him; but he knew his memory was usually pretty good. The landlord had come over with all the furniture, which they had been waiting for for weeks. It was the first time in a long time Natalie and he spent a whole day together without any drama happening. It had been quite a memorable day. And if the context of the day wasn't enough to convince him that his memory wasn't playing tricks on him, he knew that one specific thing she had said about the curtains was strange enough to be memorable too. Not that she didn't like them, but that she didn't want to put them up, that it was pointless. She had argued very clearly that they were going to be useless, because she always wanted to be able to see outside, she always liked having the sunshine coming into the house. She considered it pointless putting them up because she knew she was never going to use them. He had never heard of anyone not wanting curtains. Maybe that's why he remembered it, because it stunned him a little bit.

Bucky's steps came to a full stop. His gaze turned cold as it fixed on the window of what had become their house in the past twenty something days, the curtains drawn shut.

His mind started computing quickly all the possibilities. He looked up at the sky, the sun was about to set, Natalie would have usually been home by this hour. She could have just drawn the curtains herself, maybe she hadn't meant it as strictly when she said about never using them.

But the instincts Bucky had been having recently and the sinking feeling he had in that moment told him to be suspicious, that this wasn't normal. Natalie wouldn't use them, she had said that, and he thought she really meant it. His gut feelings told him to be careful, be cautious; this was not normal. His intuition told him it wasn't Natalie who had drawn those curtains, and whoever had, they weren't a friend of hers, which meant they weren't a friend of his.

Now the only question that remained was where the hell was Natalie. Was she in the house with god knows who or was she somewhere else entirely? He clenched his jaw repeatedly.

Think, Bucky. Think.

It would have made more sense to go and check wether she was somewhere else first, so that if she was, and the danger was somehow confined to the house, they could just run away and avoid the fight altogether. Avoiding conflict was always safer. On his own he might have made a different choice, but he had Natalie to think about. Perhaps though, going in to check the house regardless of wether she was out or not could have been the better option; because maybe she was already inside, being held hostage.

No, checking wether she was out was the wiser choice. Maybe he was going to waste some time, but if they were inside the house with her, she was either already harmed or just as safe being detained while they waited for him to barge in.