A Light That Never Goes Out (Simon "Ghost" Riley x Reader)

Headache

After having more drinks then I would've liked to have I made my way back to my room. 1:30 pm. It was late.  I laid down on my bed and like every night I stared at the ceiling. Like every night I find myself tired without the relief of any sleep. There were days when I was younger where I would go days without any amount of sleep.

The good thing about being a little tipsy is that it makes it harder to focus on thoughts, so now I won't have to worry about waking up something I shouldn't. Another thing was it actually made it easier to sleep. I find a hard time sleeping because when your asleep your mind takes over. Dreams are my worst enemy most days.

-

It took hours to fall asleep that night, and with no results because I was up at soon as the clock hit 3:46 Am.  I felt a bit of a headache building its self up.  The door to my room creaked as I opened it.  The boys weren't in the kitchen anymore, I guessed they were all sleeping.  The floor creaked under my footsteps, I tried my best to stay quite so I wouldn't wake them up.  Once I was in the kitchen I poured myself a glass of water.  "Oi, out of my way" immediately after hearing the voice I jumped and the cold water splashes against my chest.  Dammit Ghost.  "Shit- you could've said something"  I grabbed a paper towel and tried to pat down the spreading wet spot on my hoodie.  "I did, you were in the way" he glared through the mask, does he ever take that stupid thing off?  I glared back at him before remembering he was my Lieutenant... A higher up. He leaned against the counter as I placed the now empty glass in the sink. "Are you done yet?" he scoffed out. "Yeah, I am" I glared at him. As I walked passed the smell of cigarettes and a faint Musk as well as bitter coffee lingered in the air. "Are you drinking coffee? At 3 am?" I stopped and turned. "What I do isn't any of your concern Private." he spat and picked up the black mug filled with what I used was just as dark black coffee. He went to drink it but pause and turned his head to face me. "Are you gonna keep staring or get a move on Private" he stared daggers at me and I have him the exact same look. I couldn't think of anything snappy to say which was rare. It was probably from the developing headache and the fact that I was exhausted, but that's nothing new.

I closed my door behind me and immediately let out a deep breath.  I rarely do get annoyed, but I also lack the patience in dealing with fuck faces that have a ego bigger then their dick.  At least that's why I think he acts the way he does, but in all honesty I didn't know anything about the man. I knew I didn't like him and I was gonna avoid any interactions with him.

The rest of the night I stayed awake reading a book.  It was boring, bland, and incredibly repetitive the type of book where you can tell how it would end from the first page.  As much as I disliked them, they helped with some of the bad nights. 

7:46 am

There was a soft Knock on my door.  "Yeah?" I looked up from my book and over to the door.  "Mornin' Rookie you oughta eat somethin'" Soap said leaning on the door frame.  "Oh...yeah that's probably a good idea" I sat the book down and got up before stretching my arms a bit.  "What where ya readin'?" He walked next to me as I made my way back to the kitchen.  "Nothing worth pressing about," I shrugged and he nodded.  "You like to read?" He asked and I shrugged.  "Sometimes, I rarely have anything better to do" he sat down next to Gaz at the small bar in the kitchen.  Ghost was next to him with a halfly drunken mug of coffee in front of him. 

I opened one of the cabinets and grabbed a tea bag of caffeinated black tea.  I never liked coffee going up, and now that I'm twenty one I still hated it.  As funny as it sounded I really hated anything bitter and I honestly had a pretty huge sweet tooth. 

I flinched a bit when boiling water splashed on my hand from the cup leaving a small red mark on my hand.  The tea tasted fine, wasn't the best I've had but could be better.  "You ready for your first mission kid?" Price asked walked out.  "I would be if I knew what it was, I'm still in the dark" I said then took another sip from the black mug.  The warm liquid slid down my throat and calmed the cold induced goosebumps sprouting on my bare legs.  "That's right, I'll get you the file so you can read over it" I nodded as he spoke then he left once again.  After a moment he walked back out and handed my bandaged up hand the mission file.  "You sure your gonna be able to shoot with your hand all wrapped up like that" Gaz asked raising a brow.  "Yeah, I've done it before" I shrugged then started reading through the case file. 

Objective:  fine a man by the name of Leonid Abakumov.  Find out any information you can about his orders then kill him and report back.

Location: East Siberian Taiga Russia. 

...this wouldn't be my first time killing a man

There was a photo of a very unpleasant middle aged man.  He had a rough scar across his face and grey hair that looked like it had been caught on fire.  "Russia huh..." I said as I handed Price the file back.  "Dress warm kid, its colder then a mother fucker up there" as he spoke Soap and Gaz nodded.  "I never would've guessed" I didn't know if it was appropriate to joke with a captain but he didn't seem to mind.

Part of me was thankful everything you could possibly need was in these bathrooms, back at camp we weren't really given very much... Shitty food, shitty little toiletrys, shitty everything. At least here I got a hairbrush. I brushed through my hair and thought of what to do with it. I bun and ponytail felt too boring. After moments of pondering I landed on doing two French braids. It was a harder hair style but it was more comfortable and more convenient then anything else. 

The layers the fell out were pinned back with a bobby pin.  I looked at it in the mirror as a memory flashed through my eyes.  My mom used to braid my hair when I was younger... Before she- never mind.  A deep breath escaped from my lips as my knuckles grew white from the grip I had on the counter tops.  I needed to stop thinking so much, leave my passes in the dark cave it was left in. "Rain, hurry your ass up!" I heard Price said and I scrambled out of the bathroom and back to my room only to realize I didn't have anything.... No vest, no nothing.

I walked out of my room with jeans and a black T-shirt on because well that's all I had. "I don't... Have anything" I said a little embarrassed by this whole situation. "I thought so, you'll get gear when we get on the hellie"

...a heliecopter...?