𝚂𝙴𝚅𝙴𝙽𝚃𝙴𝙴𝙽 - 𝙱. 𝙱𝙰𝚁𝙽𝙴𝚂

Chapter 1

The Apartment

Bucky stood in the lobby of the apartment building. The SALA.

For the past year, Bucky had moved from place to place, not leaving a trace, not even a hair.

There was an apartment for rent in this mess of a complex and Bucky wanted it.

Holding the newspaper he found the advertisement for it in, he opened the door and walked into the dirty yellow-coloured lobby.

In front of him was an open space with an old chair beside a decent-sized staircase. The staircase had rusted red-coloured railings and the walls were a dirty mustard yellow. Perhaps it was once a shade of green.

He heard the sound of a cane hitting the ground beside him.

"Buna ziua domnule."

He looked down at a little old lady.

"Buna seara." Good evening, he spoke back politely in Romanian.

She narrowed her eyes and glared at him, "You American?"

He nodded his head.

"Your accent good." She nodded her head. "Romanian?"

"No, but thank you, Miss."

She looked at him up and down. "Hm. You want to see room for sale?"

"Please."

"Come. I'm Mrs.Vulpe. This is my Sala."

Bucky followed the woman that was quicker on her feet than he thought she should be.

He followed her up the stairs, they passed other tenets, each looking as sketchy as the next. Except for one, a woman who greeted Mrs. Vulpe with a kind smile before practically gliding down the staircase.

Bucky followed her with his eyes, watching her look back up at them and realize he was staring.

Mrs.Vulpe coughed and Bucky stopped staring to turn his attention back to the landlady.

She smiled, a crooked smile then kept going up the stairs to the top floor.

There was only one door on that floor. Apartment 20.

Mrs. Vulpe unlocked the door and let him inside. The room was small enough for one. There was a small kitchen, with the bare necessities and room for a twin-size bed. The bathroom had a sink, toilet and a little walk-in shower Bucky hoped he'd fit in.

"400 euros a month. Plus a bit for utilities." Mrs. Vulpe said.

Bucky turned to look at her in confusion and surprise. "400?"

She looked around that the shittiest apartment in her building, and the poor man that looked borderline homeless.

"Yes." She passed him the key.

"Thank you."

The old woman left the room without another word.

Bucky turned back around to look at the room. The last person left a mattress on the ground. Perfect, he thought.

Bucky walked over to the balcony door and opened it to let some fresh air in, and then he got to work.

First, he walked to the bathroom and checked to see if the shower, toilet and sink ran decently. Then he cleaned them off with a rag and bleach he found under the sink. Bucky soon moved to the kitchen and cleaned the counters, oven and sink.

He took a broom and mopped the floors up from the dust. With rent so cheap, Bucky decided he was going to stay awhile longer there than other places he'd been hiding in. He covered the mattress in sheets he had packed in the bottom of his duffle bag. Out of his duffle bag, he pulled out a few protein bars, his flask and his journals.

The only things that really mattered were those journals.

He stacked them beside his mattress and made a mental note to steal some money so he could get a pillow, a blanket and some food tomorrow.

Bucky turned to the windows and grabbed a roll of newspaper. He found a tape in a cabinet and carefully tapped the newspaper on the windows.

Most people would call this paranoia, but most people weren't the Winter Soldier.

Bucky finished cleaning up the room as best he could and making it as safe as possible in the meantime. So, as a reward, he fell atop his mattress. He hadn't had his own mattress in a very long time. Or anything that was simply his own.

Bucky closed his eyes. Behind his eyes, he imagined what his life was like before Hydra took him. He remembered the sound of swing music playing. He felt the touch of old newspaper and the smell of smoke in the air from the cars. He remembered sitting in his army uniform and staring down at a picture of his sister, another one of him and Steve. He didn't volunteer to go in the army as Steve did. While Steve begged to go to war,  James Barnes was conscripted and had no choice. They lied in the museums about his reasonings for joining the war but they were right about why he had stayed in it until the end.

That happened a very long time ago.

Bucky's head hurt from thinking about his past, it hurt from the dreams. He tried to make himself sleep away the pain but he never could. Sometimes sleep only make it worse and he'd wake up afraid he lost years of his life like he was put on ice again all over again.

Bucky rolled onto his side and hugged his backpack under his head like a makeshift pillow. He dreamed of going home once, and now he didn't know where that home was.

The sound of music whispered in the air pulling him from those ugly thoughts. He opened his eyes and sat up, curious to where it was coming from. It was an old song, one that was familiar to him.

He remembered 40's music, a little from the '50s and '60s, only because the doctors that treated him in Hydra would sometimes leave the radio on. He couldn't remember the name of the song that was playing but it was beautiful.

The music pulled him up and walked him to his door. He opened it slightly, the music becoming louder than before.

He peered down the stairs and figured it was coming from the room below him. No one was in the hall so he walked quietly down the stairs and sat on of the steps in the middle so he could listen to the song clearer.

I'll find you in the morning sun
and when the night is new
I'll be looking at the moon
but I'll be seeing
you

The song ended and Bucky heard whoever was playing the song turn off the machine.

It was quiet throughout the apartment building, the lights in the hall a dim yellow. The sun had gone down and the dark sky appeared over Bucharest.

Bucky walked back up the stairs and into his room, giving one last glance to his neighbour's apartment. Apartment 17.