Laura accepted the key silently, tucking it away in the pocket of her jeans. She watched Nathanial discard his coat and then disappear into the bedroom. Looking around, she sighed quietly to herself. The bag of muffins was brought into the small kitchen and placed on the counter. She then walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind herself. Her reflection in the mirror was the same familiar girl, cold and expressionless.
She decided getting cleaned up would be nice now instead of in the morning, and ran the water hot enough to fill the bathroom with steam in mere moments. A shower would not work in ridding the inner chill, She undressed, folding her clothes as she went and placing them on the closed toilet seat, then climbed tentatively into the filled bathtub. The water would have been unbearable for the normal person, but Laura liked it hot. She got a sick pleasure from the scalding feeling on her skin.
Submerging herself, she scrubbed her hands over her face, then washed her body and finally shampooed her hair. It was probably an hour later when she emerged from the bathroom with a towel around her head and safely covered again in her own clothing. Making sure to keep the volume on low, she curled up on the couch with the TV on. The low murmur would help her fall asleep. In the morning when Nathaniel woke, she would be gone.