"Honey, I'm home!"
Katerina laughed to herself as the only response was a curious *mrow?* from her cat. The silky orange feline didn't stir from where she had been lounging in a sunbeam, but treated Kat to a yawn and few seconds of loud purring upon hearing her name before returning to her nap.
"Love you too," said Kat, dropping her purse next to the door and sparing Honey a scratch behind the ears before collapsing onto the couch with a sigh. It had been a long, hard day at work, complete with a shouting boss and a few tearful moments where she was sure she'd be fired for misplacing a file, and she wanted nothing more than a long, scented bath and a glass of wine.
The wine she could manage, but her tiny apartment bathroom did not feature a bathtub. A nice hot shower would have to do. First, though, a few more minutes of lying insensate on the couch.
Hours later, Kat awoke with a start. A few moments of confusion ensued before she realized she'd drifted off. It was dark out now, moonlight streaming in through the open window. Kat frowned at that. Had she opened the window when she got home? The weather was mild enough, but she rarely left the window open, worrying that her cat would escape and get lost. She must have opened it assuming she would be awake to supervise.
Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she got up and closed the window, then went searching for Honey. She found her in the bedroom, pawing at the closet door. Kat kept the catnip treats in there, and evidently Honey though she deserved some for staying indoors even though the window had been open. Kat laughed at the thought and scooped the little furball into her arms.
"Not so fast, little lady. You haven't even had dinner yet!"
----
Having fed herself and her feline companion, Katerina finally felt ready for that shower. She undressed in the bedroom, not even bothering to turn the lights on, and tossed her clothes haphazardly onto the floor as they came off. Naked, she considered just going to bed as she was. She was incredibly tired, and felt like her nap on the couch had only made her sleepier. Hands on her bare hips, she surveyed the bed, which she had made up rather hastily that morning in her rush to get to work on time. Although the baby-blue comforter was wrinkled in odd places and a little skewed, it did look awfully cozy...
The king-size bed was the nicest piece of furniture in the 26-year-old's apartment, having come to her only secondhand rather than third or fourth. Being the youngest of four had its pros and cons, but Kat firmly considered the hand-me-downs to be among the pros. Why pay for furniture when you could get an older brother's old bedframe *and* mattress completely for free? Either one would have cost her a pretty penny new, probably more than she could afford.
As luxurious as it looked, Kat knew she would sleep better if she were clean. With one more longing look at her comforter, she grabbed a towel and headed into the adjoining bathroom.
Kat's bathroom was tiny and cramped, as if whoever had designed the apartment had left this room till last and realized too late that they hadn't left enough space. The toilet was wedged awkwardly into a corner, requiring Kat to practically fold herself in half when she had to sit on it, and she was a fairly small person. It was lucky she had never brought a man home since she moved in here two years ago; anyone much taller than her would have trouble getting in there.
The shower wasn't much better. It was the kind with a semi-transparent plastic door, only the room was barely large enough to allow the door to swing out. Kat always had to maneuver a little carefully to get in.
After starting the water running and hanging her towel near the shower door for easy access, she took a moment to examine her figure, or what she could see of it in the small mirrored cabinet above the sink. With her work schedule, she hadn't had much time to hit the gym lately, but she was still fairly toned. Her position was supposedly a desk job, but she ended up on her feet much of the day, running back and forth with messages, files, and coffee orders, so she was far from sedentary. She was still a little curvier than she really would have liked to be, but that had been the case her whole life, no matter how much time she spent on the treadmill.
With a sigh, Kat turned away from the mirror. Reaching up, she released her hair from the bun she kept it in for work, allowing the silky brown waves to tumble down her bare back until they just brushed the curve of her ass. Normally a practical sort of girl, Kat's long hair was her one indulgence. She had been growing it out since she was thirteen, and took a lot of pride in keeping it healthy. The more expensive hair products required to achieve that were one of the few non-essentials she was willing to splurge her meager paychecks on.
The water should be warm enough now, she thought, so she swung the door open and inched her way in. The water felt heavenly after such a hard day, and Kat just stood there for a moment, letting it wash away the stress and pain of a job she hated and a boss who hated her.
She'd quit if she could, but this was the best paying job she'd had in a long time. She wasn't really qualified for anything better. For that matter, she wasn't really qualified for her current position, if her boss was to be believed. If only she'd finished college, she thought wistfully. She'd dropped out when it had gotten too hard, but life without a degree was turning out to be a lot harder.
With that depressing thought, Kat squeezed some shampoo into her hand and began to lather up. As she cleaned herself, her thoughts drifted, wondering how her brothers were doing. She had always been close to her brothers, but adult life had separated them and she hadn't heard much from any of them in a few months. Though she was the youngest, she felt a certain protectiveness over her brothers. When their mom had died all those years ago, Kat had become the only female presence in the boys' lives, and she took a certain pride in making sure they still felt cared for and nurtured. Of her three older brothers, the oldest two were now married, each to a wonderful woman, so Kat didn't worry about them quite as much as she used to. But she ought to check in on Ryan, the brother closest to her in age. He made good money after starting up his own tech company, but she knew he got lonely. Maybe she hadn't heard from him because he had been seeing someone new? That would be nice, she thought. Ryan deserved happiness more than anyone else she knew.
As she finished her ablutions, she thought briefly about masturbating. She could use the stress relief after a day like today, to be sure. But she was awfully tired, and the shower had eased most of her built up tension. Besides, she had just been thinking about her brothers, and she felt too weird about masturbating right after thinking about them. So instead she stepped out of the shower and reached for her towel, already anticipating the cozy warmth of her bed.
--
Honey had returned to the closet door, batting at the corner with her paw. She sent Katerina a glare as the woman returned to the bedroom, wrapped in a towel and illuminated from behind by the bathroom light in the dark bedroom. Kat laughed and moved across the room to open the closet door. "All right, Honey. You've been very patient. Yes, I'll get you a--"
Her last word was cut off as a large figure burst from the closet as she reached for the door, tackling her to the bed. Honey fled the room with a yowl. Kat opened her mouth to scream, but a large hand was over her mouth before she could even draw a breath, pressing so hard she felt her teeth cut into the inside of her lip. She struggled, but her attacker was strong. He held her down seemingly with ease, capturing one of her flailing wrists with the hand not over her mouth, pinning her other arm down with his knee.
She looked up at the stranger, terror clawing at her mind as she squirmed against his firm grip. Where the hell had he come from?! The man wore a ski mask, the kind with mesh over the eye and mouth holes, so that Kat couldn't even tell what color his eyes were.