It was a soft cough, but it was enough to wake Clint Barton up from his sleep.
"...Mmmphh..."
"...Are you awake?" A woman asked quietly.
"No," the man grumbled as he slowly rolled onto his back and rested his arm against his forehead. Opening his eyes very slightly, he turned his head to squint at the clock before sighing heavily and closing them again. "Tash, its 2 am. Why are you awake?" He felt her shift her position in the bed next to him.
"I can't sleep," she informed him, almost making it sound like it was his fault.
"And that's my problem?"
"Sorry, who's in the bed next to me? You? Then yes, it's your problem." Exhaling slowly through his nose, Clint pressed his lips together.
"Wait," his eyebrows furrowed slightly. "Didn't you go to bed before me?" He turned his head slightly to face her, keeping his eyes closed. It was too dark in the room to see her anyways.
"I just woke up again like 10 minutes ago and... Okay, do you ever wake up in the middle of the night for no reason?"
"I wake up in the middle of the night only when you wake me up, Tash."
"I read on some stupid internet post this morning that when you wake up in the middle of the night between 2-4 its because somebody is staring at you."
"Mmm," Clint responded, drifting off to sleep again.
"Clint! Cmon, I'm trying to talk to you."
"And I'm trying to sleep, because again, its 2 in the morning."
"That's exactly what I'm saying," she insisted, adjusting her position again. "Not that I believe in any of that bullshit, but it makes you paranoid, doesn't it? You 'only wake up between 2-4 when someone's staring at you?' And then that night you wake up at 2 something?"
"Okay, I can kinda see why that might make someone paranoid," he shrugged slightly and crossed his other arm above his forehead as well.
"Again, not that I believe in that shit."
"No, of course not." Clint heard her sigh contently and move onto her back. Minutes passed in silence, and just as he began to drift off to sleep again, she spoke again.
"Clint?"
"Mm?" There was a sudden overwhelming smell of blood in the air and he felt something hot and wet begin to pool at his side and seep under his back through the sheets and mattress. Suddenly much more alert and awake than he had been, he bolted upright in bed and turned the light on. Next to him on the bed was Tasha's body, covered in blood, her stomach and chest torn open, her intestines spilled out over the blankets and sheets. The second he was about to scream, a long thin hand jerked his head to the side, bringing him face to face with a creature that looked like it had been dead for years. It's flesh rotting away, bloodshot eyes bulging, it's wicked teeth yellowing and browning, some fallen out, its nose hallowed out. It grinned at him as it watched his face contort in terror before it spoke.
"You should have stayed asleep."
